May 11 & 12, 2008: Seoul Experience II

Anyung,

So on Sunday, Mindy and I went to Dongdaemun, which is the shopping captial of Seoul. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. The area we walked around was very similar to an open-air or flee market back in the states. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera that day so I used the pictures that Mindy took, which will be posted soon. The most interesting part for me, was how department stores are set up here. So we went into one called Doota, which I think was 8 stories tall, pretty small floors though. But instead of having one super store like Macy's or Mervyn's there were small independent stores. It was fascinating because each was selling their own product but they were organized by type on each floor.

From Dongdaemun we walked up to Cheonggyecheon along the stream that runs through the city (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggyecheon). Luckily we just so happened to end up there while the Hi Seoul Festival was going on. So there were a lot of people in the area, and also a live band. I'm actually hoping to go back during the night time because I hear the lights are pretty amazing.

From there we headed home; it was a long day of walking. But I'm really enjoying not having a car. As some of you may know and some may not, my car was in pretty bad shape before I left. It was constantly draining what little budget I had. I also hear that gas is nearing $4, ouch. Well in comparison that's not to bad, gas in Korea is about $1.89 a liter and there are 3.78 liters in a gallon that's about $7.15 a gallon.

On Monday we went to a part of Seoul called Itaewon. It can pretty much be described as where all the foreigners go. I was amazed at how many foreigners were walking around, because there usually pretty rare. So if any of you come and visit you will definitely stick out. But I guess near Itaewon there are a couple of military bases which attracts all the foreigners to the bars. It was somewhat interesting but not really what I came to Korea,
to see. I've been told that you either like Itaewon because it reminds you of home, or you really don't. I'm pretty sure I fall in the second category. Well we made Monday a pretty short day because it's the last 3 day weekend for a long while.

I apologize that I haven't posted the pictures from this blog yet but my card reader for my camera is in Seoul right now so I don't really have access to it. But I'm hoping to start my life in Seoul real soon.

~Sunny