Category Archives: Travel

Korea Bonding Experiences – Club?

October 31, 2012 The Hidden Thimble Team Leave a comment

When you go travelling, it’s usually for two reasons: holiday or work/study. And when you hear about your friend’s student exchange for (XX) of those awesome months, you’re not only gonna be bitter about those awesome experiences, but also sour over all those new exotic friends they made (When. You. Were. Being. Replaced!! Ahh lolz).

But! For the unlucky few who have not experienced a foreign school experience for credit *raise hand* making friends overseas on your short time there (or most likely not even thinking about it because you so crazy busy), friendships can be hard to initiate. When we went to Seoul, we didn’t expect anything but we walked away with not only our shopping, but with some really nice memories of friends (both Korean and foreigners) we met during our trip. Friends who some are now our Facebook friends.

South Korea has some of the most generous, most hospitable strangers you will ever meet in a fleeting moment. It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak a word, just use the universal language of hand gestures to try your best to communicate and you’ll be understood soon one way or another. And ladies, Korean boys can be so gentlemanly helping you with your heavy luggage up or down the stairs even in peak subway human traffic! Swoon~ <3

So how do you meet Korean friends in Korea without going to university or work?

Well, probably the worst setting to make chit chat but the best to meet someone is…

…Clubbing!

LUSH — Clubbing + Kpop = POWERHOUSE (bigbangupdates)

I don’t want to be smug *evil grin* but no one can top the experience we had when clubbing overseas, and I literally mean best. This has to be the B.E.S.T clubbing experience we had in our lives! When in NB1, a famous club in Hongdae owned by YG, we felt a little shy and out of place at the start. We went there at 10PM, a little early for clubbing, and no one was dancing! It felt really odd being on a dance floor and not have people dance except a few couples. Is there some Korean clubbing etiquette we weren’t aware of?! But that was short lived when we met some university students who were so nice to put us out of our awkward state. They taught us dance hand gestures for LMAO – Party Rock Anthem, and also told us that the armband we had lets us have free club entry to three clubs: NB1, NB2 and Harlem for the price of ₩11,000! That’s amaze-balls!! Less than $11 for three clubs?! I don’t even!

tumblr_m817qliD3M1rzcc71o4_1280 — What clubbing looks like inside NB1. Though NB2’s crowd is more like this when we went. (tumblr)

A good couple of songs later and we were ready to hop somewhere else and under the offer of our new friends, they invited us to go to another club which was popular for foreigners with them. How nice! Accept we shall! If you ever felt shy whenever there was some really impressive dancer next to you and all you knew was the two-step and everyone was closed off to their own group, the thing I liked most about our foreign bar experience was that it didn’t feel ‘cliquey’. Everyone was just group dancing with cool random encounters and our circle just grew bigger with everyone shuffling. Horray! Oh and did I mention free shots of soju…twice…yeah your mind in blown right? But what we didn’t expect was when asked if we were feeling hungry we would stopped over at a famous street food stand for some late night tteokbokki and twigim. We didn’t get a chance to get our wallets before we left NB1 but they said it was ok and paid for us both! Double niceness! Can I tear up over how well we were being looked after?! They would be rivers I can assure you.

Since we went clubbing in Hongdae, which is a university district, we met people our age who were learning English so obviously they would be looking for friendships over hookups. Though it does depend on where you are as there will always be people who want to hook up in clubs, lucky we only encountered only one sleaze of a guy who was on a humping spree.

Anyways, enough of my bragging but have a facebook account ready as well. Though a lot of Korean people use Kakao, many prefer Facebook so keep that in mind when making friends overseas. Also you might find that your new friends would want to contact you while you are still in Korea to have dinner and show you around, unfortunately for us we left clubbing to the last week of our itinerary so we couldn’t make it as we had a lot of things to do before we left. But next time… kkkkk

Korea, Travel

Hongdae – Because Korean Hipsters are WAY cooler than Hipsters in Newtown

October 26, 2012 Talyssa 2 Comments

Talyssa checking in – beware people, this post is gonna be a long one!!

Becauuuuuuuuuuuuuuse it’s about Hongdae!! I. absolutely. love. Hongdae. It’s so refreshing to be in a Hipster-esque place style wise, fashion wise and people wise, minus the arrogant, overly pretentious, clique-ish, self-entitled hipster attitude that unfortunately accompanies much of the hipster crowd in Sydney. Seriously. Sooo nice and refreshing.

I really wish Sydney had a similar place to Hongdae so I could at least describe to some extent how awesome Hongdae is…I guess Newtown might be the closest, but seriously, it doesn’t even compare. Actually scrap that. Newtown is nothing like Hongdae. Period.

We set out on our first venture to Hongdae to visit the Trick Eye Museum. Online there was absolutely no information on the Trick Eye Museum – nothing about how to get there or where it was located…so basically we took a giant stab.

Our giant stab lead us instead to a tourist information center (pink dotted path on map below). I really recommend coming here if you don’t know where to go or what to do. The customer service is amazing – they are extremely helpful and super friendly.

Not knowing where the Trick Eye Museum was, the staff provided us with maps and hand drew directions on them for us. On top of this, they gave us info on specials and Grand Korea sale cards so we could get as many discounts as possible during our trip!! How nice right!?!

Even with our amazing directions, the Trick Eye Museum wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to find…I’ll let you guess why:

It’s like completely hidden right?!?!!?!?!!? I was expecting like some separate building which was quite large with considerable signage since it is a tourist spot!!! We walked passed it once or twice – it was hard to see!!!

You do need to set aside a fair bit of time for the Trick Eye Museum – the museum itself is broken up into sections (we almost missed one section). On top of this, there are three galleries and a cat museum. We just did the museum and it took us approx 3-4hours?

You definitely want to come here at a time where people are usually at school or work…seriously…otherwise there are huge lines and a stack of couples left, right and center. If you don’t know it now, you will definitely find out when you go to Korea that Korean couple culture is INTENSE. There has never been a time in my life where I wanted to be more in love. I was like damn…I want a Korean man right now, they appear to treat their girlfriends so well!! *Filled with envy*

— End of sidetracked tangent —

So what exactly is the Trick Eye Museum? Basically it is an interactive museum revolving around a new concept that stimulates your creativity and imagination through the Trompe-l’oeil (eye tricking) technique through vision. To achieve this, the museum features a mixture of artworks and 3D installations you can interact with and take photos of, so you end up looking like a part of the picture.

A bonus – according to the brochure:

“…The trickeye artwork helps you learn aesthetic senses of form and also stimulates your creativity, which leads to the activation of your brain. Your logic and thinking abilities will enhance!”

LOL! Woahh okay I’m sure these paintings aren’t that miraculous! None the less, they are still awesome. Now onto the photos!

One of the different kinds of optical illusions at the museum. These were paintings on the floor which when looked at from a certain angle, looked 3D

Nothing better than a warm drink on a frosty Korean winter day..

This illusion was awesome!! Jokes, Siree is just a midget and I’m a giant.

Love struck. My expression is good no? That’s what I call dedication.

It’s not everyday you get to be up close and personal with a Rhino

She was like this the whole trip. What a junkie!

Siree’s tactic for stealing the Museum’s food.

Being posers in typical Korean style LOL

Siree’s typical ‘pretending to be on the phone but really I’m just a poser’s’ pose

These are only some of the AMAZING interactive artworks – there are many many more cool ones as well. All in all, The Trick Eye Museum is a great experience, a lot of fun, good laughs and results in some pretty awesome photos that friends and family were highly amused by.

For more info on the Trick Eye Museum such as transportation and pricing, check out the bottom section of this post.

The rest of Hongdae is pretty amazing. It’s just a really nice place to go to just chillax with friends. There are super cute and relatively cheap fashion boutiques (the pinkage wig store is also here, but we were slightly disappointed with it!!), really cute cafes, awesome street food, epic clubs for amazingly great clubbing adventures, and just an overall really nice youth atmosphere – really safe, REALLY nice people, and no drunkard idiots – you can actually make real friendships.

The Hongdae Charm

Hongdae by day. I don’t know why, but I really like the look of streets like this…maybe because it looks quite foreign from what we’d find in Sydney.

This is along one of the back streets of Hongdae where most of the clubs are. This street also connects to Hongik Uni. The shopfront you see in the picture named “Mama” is actually a club. This is what most of the clubs in Hongdae look like – they usually have a small black-painted entrance with the club’s name on it in large white text. Inside you usually go down a set of stairs to the clubbing area.

Very naice. LOL. Opposite Condomania is NB1, where we had our awesome clubbing experience!!

This believe it or not is a restaurant. How nice is it?!!? This is what I mean about Hongdae, its style is sooooo nice!!

Pizza restaurant up close…completely diggin’ this style

I don’t know why, but Korea tends to have a thing for owning a shop pet (usually dogs). Cafe’s have them as well, we found it was fairly common. This one belonged to a cute accessory store in Hongdae.

HOW NICE ARE THE CAFES!?!?! Seriously Sydney!! Get your act together!!

Yup! Love Korean couple culture. So freaking cute.

Hongdae at night. Look at these cute shops!! I wish we had something like this in Sydney. I love Korea’s concept of using really visual store fonts/windows, and the clothes are just too cute!

Hongdae at night. I really love Hongdae at night – it comes alive!

Hahahaha this photo says it all!! “Why am I here?!” “I hate my job”

Food

Look at that preparation. Look at that skill. As soon as we saw it, we had to try it.

That block right there is butter. Yup. Buttery Goodness.

Although I’m not a huge fan of sweets, this was delicious – buttery, sweet and savoury all at once. YUMMMM

Our dinner. This was delish!! Spicy seafood hot pot. We also ordered a kimchi pancake…but unfortunately that was not so good…

FREE ICECREAM AT KARAOKE!! Seriously Korea’s service is AMAZING!!!! You never get that kind of treatment in Sydney. It is seriously all these small things that make Korea really stand out and your holiday much more enjoyable!

I LOVE HONGDAE!!!!!!!!! Soooo good!!

Map

Transportation:

For the general area: Take subway Line #2 to Hongik University Station, exit #5.

For Tourist Centre: Take Exit #5 out of Hongik University Station and follow the pink dotted line on the map.

Trick Eye Museum: Take exit #9 out of Hongik University Station and follow the blue dotted line on the map.
Address: B2 Seogyo Plaza, Seogyodong 357-1, Mapogu, Seoul.
Pricing: 13,000won Adults, 11,000won Students.
Opening Hours: 10:00AM – 9:00PM
Website: www.trickeye.com

How long should I spend there?

There are sooooo many things to do in Hongdae that Siree and I came here on many different occassions. You definitely need a day to look around, but you will find you need to come back here to dedicate time for shopping, checking out some of the awesome places to eat and to visit places such as the Cat Cafe and Trick Eye Museum. This is also a great place to hang out with friends, so if you have Korean friends, you will find yourself hanging out here with them often, as Siree and I did.

When to come to Hongdae:

You should experience Hongdae both at day and at night. There is always something going on in Hongdae, expecially at night, so it is definitely worth checking out. For example one night we went to Hongdae, there was a HUGE outdoor silent disco going on. FREAKING. AMAZING.

Korea, Travel

Samcheongdong – A Sweet Neighbourhood

October 24, 2012 The Hidden Thimble Team Leave a comment

Soooo I just had my birthday, and as I grow older I’ve been really keen on the idea of someday living by myself. Living with your rents has its benefits for emotional/support needs but up until recently I really do want my own place. To work. To live in an image of what I want to live in as an independent adult (hmmm… does that sound right?). And Pinterest DOES NOT help! All those gorgeous pictures of interiors ahhh makes me jealous!!

And with the ultimate home needs to be paired with an ideal surrounding. If you have ideas of living in a sweet zakka neighbourhood like me, Samcheongdong gives off that vibe of calm and space, which is pretty funny seeing as Korea is always so fast paced. Even walking! When we both came back we really felt the change just by walking down George Street in Sydney. The human traffic was so different it felt like a lazy Sunday walk in the park in the heart of the city compared to our rushed 1000 pace a second while in Seoul.

Recognise this street? It’s the setting of a scene in Coffee Shop Prince. Over the walls are two girl middle/high schools buildings. I wouldn’t mind going to school here :)

On the opposite side of the very touristy Insadong, Samcheongdong is definitely quieter, fusing that picturesque small neighbourhood stroll with its many (many) cafes, contemporary art galleries and handmade jewelry stores. You can also find some handmade clothing and nick-knack shops as well as the Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to visit. Definitely a great spot for couples who want some alone time and street walking real-estate ;)

One thing I noticed in Korean coffee cafes is the term “hand drip coffee.” Before Korea, I have never heard this expression being used as a marketing term for coffee consumption except “french press” (which is a different process). Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of espresso unless it’s affogato but I appreciate the art of a good smelling cupa :)

Unfortunately a lot of the jewelry stores have a “No Photography” sign so I had to take a lot of cafe fronts instead lol

Although Samcheongdong Sujebi is a must eat on tour itineraries for the area, Talyssa and I decided to try out this famous restaurant called Meokswidonna that’s popular for its tteokbokki. Ahh street food, what we do for your unhealthy empty carbs over healthy meals. Oh but this isn’t any ordinary tteokbokki. This has class it was even featured on television. Choose your favourite toppings and…. BAM!

Look how beautiful it is! Mmmm cheese and ramyun, and all for $8 per person!

I dare you to find a place that let’s you have seafood and beef for $16 of this size. I DARE YOUUUU!

Waaah cheese is in the same category as beef and seafood! I never really enjoyed American cheese (commercial Australian cheese is more natural being less processed in my view) but in this case, I will adjust :)

Walking down a bit further into the heart of Samcheongdong the scenery changes with distinctive slope-side shops with stone staircases to climb to the higher levels. Though mainly cafes, the look mixes the modern with traditional making it very charming to just walk and explore.

It became a ritual that after walking a bit, it was cafe time! So we stopped over at Palette Dessert Shop to grab some…

So the verdict? Very nice! I guess if I was to compare it to a Lindt macaroon the ganache is more gooier, which I really enjoyed as you can really taste the flavour. I got the salted caramel of deliciousness.

Though Palette is known for macaroons, they had other cakes available as well.

Need a Map?

How to get there

To get to Samcheongdong take the Subway Line 3 and is 570m from Exit #1, Anguk Station.

Duration

Hmmm I would say 2-3 hours. Maybe longer if visiting the Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Tips:

Meokswidonna has a bit of a queue so line up early to get a seat. Though some of the wait staff knows a bit of English, the menu is completely in Korean and Japanese.
Samcheongdong has too many cute cafes to try on a full stomach.

Until next time, later tatters! :)

Korea, Travel

Insadong – For all your Holiday Souvenir Needs!

October 19, 2012 Talyssa 2 Comments

Insadong is one of the most tourist-y places in Korea and is a great place to pick up souvenirs for friends and family. Unlike our Dongdaemun experience, I would like to say that Siree and I did Insadong well – exploring 80% of shops and only passing by shops which were not to our taste.

What I absolutely love about Insadong is its quirky kinda vibe blending traditional Korea with modern Korea, but at the same time still maintaining that “artsy craftsy” style that Korea does so well.

We arrived in Insadong around lunch time and instantly fell in love with this pretty looking traditional hanok restaurant called “Insadong Geujip,” located down the first side street on your left from the Insadong main street. Unfortunately we didn’t know anything about this restaurant prior to arrival so unfortunately…we didn’t order the best dishes…apparently recommended dishes for foreigners include “Insadong Seafood on Rice” or “Geukip On Rice”.

DSCN1646 — LOOK AT HOW CHEAP THIS MENU IS!!!! $6 bux for a freaking huge meal!!! You would never get that in Sydney. Ahh Korea how I love thee~

Siree and I, we needed to be exotic and order something that looked truly maginificent….

But unfortunately….our order was not so great…not that it wasn’t good, it just lacked as much flavour as we expected…probably because the food was traditional based.

DSCN1651 — Our really yummy side dishes!!

Our side dishes were super yummy! Especially the kimchi!! We ended up asking for 2 serves which we – extra sneakily – chucked into our hot pot meal to add more flavour ahahahaha! What foreigners we were at that moment.

After our meal, we ventured off to what is the highlight of Insadong – Ssamziegil. I think Ssamziegil is amazingly cool because it’s just that little bit quirky and that little bit alternative. I can’t even describe what exactly this style is, but it is just so nice and seriously something that is in the essence of everything Korean. I just LOVE it!!

Ssamziegil is filled with amazing little accessory stalls/popup shops and boutiques and every time I leave Korea I wish I bought more things from here. They have some of the most quirky/cool accessories ever!!

On the ground floor of Ssamziegil there are the snack food.

Poo shape filled cakes…this stall was always SOO busy!! I didn’t try any though, I’m not really into sweets…

I bought soo much of these rice snacks, and they are really yummy, my mum loved them. They are a mixture of rice puffs, grains, seeds, sultanas etc. but they are quite nice.

I absolutely loved this little cart stand…look how beautiful it is! It totally has its own charm and character!!! This little pop up stall sold all different kinds of tea drinks which helped you in different ways – emotionally or physically. I ended up buying a lemon honey one which was really delish.

As you go up the levels of Ssamziegil there are mainly accessory stores selling jewellery, phone charms, little gadgets, tea sets, scarves and so on. Whilst there are some clothing stores, its not really the place you go to to buy clothing. None the less, things here are SUPER cool!! I swear all the quirky earrings KPOP stars wear in their videos are bought from Ssamziegil haha.

DSCN1662 — Cute accessory store. Look at the detailing with the product labels, its all so pretty

DSCN1680 — If you’re ever in need of chopstick holders…?

Inside Ssamziegil there is also a miniature museums with little figures that are so cute. Unfortunately the store is TINY and always super crowded!!

DSCN1675 — Miniature museum! Sorry about the poor picture quality – we were trying to take the photo in secret as no photos were allowed…

Another must – do experience in Insadong is to go to a rice cake cafe. We went to Jilrisu at around 5PM but I recommended going there a lot earlier than we did, because almost all rice cakes were sold out!!

DSCN1690 — Our order~ I got the pumpkin latte!! First time I tried a pumpkin latte was in Korea and they are AMAZING!!

Hahahah check out the shopping bags in the background

Map

Transportation

As with most places in Korea, there are many ways to get to Insadong including different stations you can get off at etc, however I recommended getting off at Anguk Station (exit 6), one because it is such a short walk and two, because getting off at Anguk puts you at the beginning of the Insadong main street where as Jongno 3-ga station will drop you at the end.

How long should you spend here?

Siree and I spent 1 -1.5 days there, but really, one day I think is sufficient.

Time to go?

You definitely want to come to Insadong during a weekday (shops close around 6PMish). Weekends are usually crowded especially Ssamziegil.

Tips:

Eat as many foods as you can here because some things you cant find anywhere else in Korea. With almost all snack food places in Insadong ask to try – even if its tea or something, you can try it!

Don’t try bargaining here as souvenirs are already relatively cheap.

Make sure you shop around before buying something, many shops in Insadong sell the same things and different places can sell the same item for more or less.

Bonus Round!

Quirky AF! Check out the rooftop of Ssamziegil and you will find the Poop Cafe, a themed cafe restaurant for poop face emoji love.

If you do go definitely pick up a coffee as it comes in the most cutest toilet mug you will ever see. But before you think this place is too gimmicky for real taste, rest assured the coffee quality is no joke. The milk was creamy, the coffee taste was rich and the seasonal drink: rose water latte’s flavour had a nice floral scent that tasted quite nice with the bitterness of the espresso. Plus the addition of flower petals for that perfect Instagram shot to finish off, this place does gives a crap about their coffee!

Korea, Travel

Garosugil

October 17, 2012 The Hidden Thimble Team 2 Comments

Being in Seoul, probably one of the most recognized, if not hottest place in the world right now is….

Yep! Gangnam is everywhere now, but unfortunately for us it didn’t come out while we were still overseas*sadface*. But it’s not just a street or a small district in the city’s landscape like I originally thought. It’s actually quite a big area with 22 other neighbourhoods including Apgujeong, Sinsa and Garosugil.

After spending much of the daytime visiting idol headquarters (anyone like Kpop?), we headed to Garosugil after getting off at Apgujeong to find this one elusive bubble tea shop to the Stars called Cofioca. I’ll let Talyssa tell the story but do not get off at the Apgujeong Station as it will take you to Plastic Surgery Street and not Rodeo Street, which is 30 minutes walk the opposite direction… Oh crap how painful! So to fight our disappointment (and the cold) we went to Garosugil. Lucky for us this single street, though not a very big road, was waaaay more easier to find than some small obscure little shop in a little unknown lane way.

Along Garosugil’s boutique streets, styles range from being feminine and flowy, with lots of handmade accessory shops selling flower hairbands and cute bows, to vintage and quirky-artsy with a few rare second hand shops and graphic goods stores. Since we went to Seoul during winter we didn’t get the lovely “European” vibe that Garousigil gives off when the street ginkgo trees have their leaves on but spending time walking through the streets, browsing at cute boutiques and passing the many cozy cafes and jazz bars, it’s definitely an ‘inspired Europe experience’ and of course a place were you can expect to find the Gangnam stylish crowd at (Oppa gangnam style!).

garo3 — Home of too many cute cafes and galleries. My kind of place <3

garo2 — I didn’t take many pictures of shops since I wasn’t in “blogger” mode so here’s a teddy bear instead :)

I swear, Koreans can make chicken taste like heaven on a stick.

Probs one of the best korean chicken experiences of my life, if you know who Se7en is, his chicken restaurant is near the beginning of the street. Se7en’s music was probably my first introduction to Kpop other than BoA and Rain(Bi) when I was in high school. Besides the fact that I didn’t continue to listen to his music after Crazy… because I went on being Rain bias… I never thought celebrity chicken could taste sooo freakin good! Definitely give it a try and watch out for the chilli. It burns at level 1!!

garo4 — Other famous people who have visited his restaurant

After some walking around we went to Ginkgo Avenue (very appropriately name), a café that had a view of the street below. It was freezing cold, so natural we sat inside but close enough to the window to watch the street while sipping a chamomile teapot for two for ₩6,000.

Lights out for now!

Need a Map?

Wanna get to Garosugil?

Take the train on Line 3 to Sinsa Station and exit at Exit 8, then walk 15 minutes. There’ll be a sign that reads “Garosu-gil” in English.

Spending Time:

If you are just browsing through, I would say 3 hours to eat, look and light shopping. Add more if you are going into galleries and nightlife activities.

Tips:

Garosugil also is home to some second hand vintage stores like 9 Owls that are located off the main road. Check them out if you’re into unique vintage goods.
Keep in mind that since Garosugil is in the Sinsadong area, things can be either of average to expensive prices for clothing and activities.

Korea, Travel

Clothing Overload and Hyper-Giddyness in Dongdaemun!

October 12, 2012 Talyssa Leave a comment

Dongdaemun is, quite frankly, HUGE and overwhelming. In my life, I have never seen so many shopping places all in one area. Infact – considering Australia’s severely lacking shopping industry – I bet Dongdaemun alone has more clothing and larger amounts of shopping malls than all the shopping centres combined in Australia. I mean magine 5-6 Westfields in one spot, with some DFOs chucked in as well. That is what Dongdaemun is, the Armageddon of SHOPPING MALLS!!!

I don’t know if it is because we live in Australia and shopping here is somewhat unobtrusive, but we found shopping in Dongdaemun (or anywhere in Korea) extremely straining – mentally and emotionally. Shopping in Dongdaemun is this mixture of head spinning clothing overload and extreme hyper-giddyness over the sheer amount of clothing available to one person. It was so emotionally draining that Siree and I actually became physically tired – we had so much to cover in such little time! You just didn’t know what to buy in case you found something better elsewhere, but by the time you had looked elsewhere, you had already forgotten about the first item because there were just THAT many clothes. It is completely impossible to compare items and pricing in Dongdaemun. Just don’t even try. If you see something and you really like it, buy it. Chances are you wont find it again if you don’t!!!

DSCN2015 — The Cheonggyecheon Steam and one of the many shopping streets in Dongdaemun which we didn’t get to explore…

Don’t get me wrong, we still loved shopping here and always will.

One of my favourite highlights of Dongdaemun was the abundance of street food. So being the foodies we are, this was naturally our first Dongdaemun pittstop. We decided to stop at this little stall that sold fish shaped “pastries” filled with all different kinds of fillings.

DSCN2016 — Some of the flavours. I had pizza it was actually really yummy!! Though I really wanted to try the sweet potato one too…should have bought both.

DSCN2017 — Look at the cute menus! I love how Korea always decorates everything so nicely!!!

DSCN2021 — The process of making our pastries

DSCN2024 — LOL totally doesn’t look like the picture haha but tasted way better than expected!!

Street food vendors literally line the streets in Dongdaemun. The smell is so good, and trust me after a long day of shopping some Korean street food goodness is just what you need.

DSCN2190 — Some more streetfood…I am seriously drooling remembering the smell and taste. My favourites – Ddeokbokki as well as fish cake in this really nice broth…soo good in winter in Korea

DSCN3248 — Siree’s potato chip and sausage hotdog…? LOL Gotta love Korea’s inventive street food.

If you think Dongdaemun is awesome by day, it completely comes alive at night with entertainment, influxes of people and amazingly lit shopfront displays. One thing I got to love about Korea is they seem to really enjoy their Christmas decorations, so even though almost a month had passed since Christmas, everywhere was still filled with Christmas lights and decorations, which was super pretty!

DSCN2193 copy — Going all out with the lighting. Where do they keep all the cables??

DSCN2195 copy — The lights on this building would move and change into different animations. It was so pretty!! Unfortunately we didn’t even have time to check out the inside of the building.

Something you might want to be wary of when shopping in Dongdaemun, or anywhere in Korea for that matter, is the amount of shopping bags you are holding. Because there will be a point somewhere in your trip, where you are holding way too many bags that…you accidentally leave one of your shopping bags behind…and don’t realise until it’s too late… That is exactly what happened to me *cries*!!!! I know right how could I?!!?

The entire trip my brain was mush, but this seriously was the icing on the cake. I was so pissed off I resorted to modes of self punishment, which included retreating into quiet bouts of internal self reflection on how I could be so freaking reckless. I was so upset as my really nice (and cheap) double collared blouse was in the bag I had left behind. If theres one positive thing about Korean shopping its the fact that usually when it comes to the clothing and shoes there is usually only one piece of each item available to purchase, making your outfits more unique…however this obviously becomes a negative when you lose your shopping bags and now fear that you will never be able to find and buy that particular item again. Luckily for me though, I was reunited with my beautiful blouse the second time I went to Dongdaemun, although overall this meant it cost me 50000 won instead of 25000 won. sigh.

Map:

How to get to Dongdaemun:

Exit Dongdaemun Station exit 7 or 8. Dongdaemun has numerous shopping places, but for the “main” tourist area, you will need to pass Dongdaemun gate and cross the bridge that passes over the Cheonggyecheon river (see first image in post). 5 minute walk..not even.

How long to spend in Dongdaemun:

Siree and I spent 1.5 – 2 days of our schedule at Dongdaemun…and we only explored apM, Migliore and Doota..which is roughly (hardly) one side of Dongdaemun…soooo dissappointed at our efforts right now.

Tips:

If you are planning on shopping hardcore in Korea, go here first!!! Clothes are much cheaper here than items sold in Myeongdong and Hongdae – and often all 3 areas sell the same clothes.
Take a map with you so you dont miss any shopping areas. We didn’t take a map and therefore didn’t realise how many areas we didn’t explore!!!
Bargain wherever possible in stores like apM and Migliore…and use “aegyo”. It seriously works wonders – I got shoes down from 50000 won to 40000 won..and even ended up saving $160 on a leather jacket! Bargaining doesn’t really work in Department stores though.

Run by two travel and lifestyle bloggers, The Hidden Thimble focus’ on creating truthful and in-depth travel guides, food & beauty reviews. Enjoy drool-worthy photography from around the world!