Myeongdong Underground & Dongdaemun Shopping

On this rainy-ish day, me and Jenny decide to go to Myeongdong and Dongdaemun. I had very much so wanted to check out the underground shopping, as I hear it's pretty sweet, and definitely wanted to go back to Dongdaemun after last week's excursion.

We get to Myeongdong, and also check out Hohyeon Underground. Trouble finding the underground, eventually find it, and it's only so-so. We hit up the main streets of Myeongdong, finding a great 10000W bag place (and I buy a sweet new cream-colored bag) and we head to Dongdaemun for some dinnz. (mmm, korean bbq). It ended up costing 10000W for the both of us, a little on the pricier side but delicious nonetheless.


Follow this up with shopping, mostly at Migliore (and my wallet becomes noticeably lighter) and next door to helloapM (barely beating their competitors by being open 10:20am-5:00am), but it's almost midnight by then and we are wiped out, so we barely skim the 1st floor (post-running into Heather and Julie) and then rush to the subway station to make the one of the last subways (subways stop anywhere from 12am-12:40am, depending on the line... line2, the longest line, runs pretty late, but they WILL kick you off the train.) and a rainy walk through Ewha Women's University and we are definitely pooooped.


But before we got to the subway station, Jenny pointed out this stream, which I really didn't know about- the Gyeonggyecheong stream. I made it a point to check it out, and she did too. Ah, next time.

When in Korea...

This week was a drain, because I am the worst student. I'm smart/intelligent (heh) but I do not apply myself and I hate studying. Srsly schoolwork, you are cramping my style in Korea!!!

Anyway, after an exhausting week, little sleep, and a midterm on Thursday, I napped, was lazy to get out of bed and go to the club event at Club Vera (exit 5 of line 2 Hongkik University, by mister donut and LG oz) that was featuring 6 of the major universities in Seoul (acronymed HUSKEY: hanyang u, uni of seoul, seoul natl uni, korea u, ewha women's u, yonsei u... in retrospect a hilarious acronym: "those huskey girls!") and headed out to the subway station with Selene, Paula, Felicia, Susan, and Diana. (so sad I didn't get to see you, Heather!)

We wait in line for about half an hour: their tactic is rather smart. before 12am, it's 10,000W to get in with a free drink. after 12am the entrance fee is 15,000W. They slowly let people in before 12am, and then packed the place so that it took forever for people to get in after 12am.

But anyway, since we GOT on the subway at 11:50pm, we knew we'd have to pay the 15000W-- but instead, we paid 10,000W: I don't think we got the free drink OR it was because we were girls (Thursday is ladies night at most clubs). It is NASTY and SWEATY and GROSS and CROWDED in the club! we can't move at all, nor can we find people. But, some guy comes up and tries to dance with the girls- but the girls I went with aren't exactly the bend-over-grind type, so I'm like, I'll dance with you! then he buys me a shot of jager and a jack/coke. Thanks, David from El Salvador, who liked that I spoke Spanish. More dancing. more dancing.
participated in a lap-dance competition, on stage, with 5 other girls and we all had a lot of fun. I should have won the free bottle of booze, but we got a free drink ticket for participating. "MICHELLE YONSEI DAE HAK KYU!!!" When I give out fake names I should probably inform my friends.
More dancing, some Korean-American who I tried to get rid of by saying "I have to go find my friends!" and he replied with "F*ck your friends!!!!", the 2 french guys I talked to at the 'sitting wall', and some Italian man who I told I couldn't speak Italian, but could speak French and Spanish, and he told me that he liked my very American accent. "You are very American!"
Monique: "WHO WERE WE DANCING WITH?!?!"

Around 4am the girls wanna leave, and I wanted to stay... but yeah, I felt pretty tired and gross, and couldn't see myself staying another hour and a half (for the subway) so I just went back with them. We had the nicest taxi cab driver, and fare was only 4000W betwen the 5 of us; got McDonalds (FINALLLYYYYYYY BULGOGI BURGER MEAL I CONSUME YOU AT 430AM) partially walked Felicia back to her apartment, and went back to our respective rooms. I watched some E! and ate my meal, watched some 500 days, talked to Sita <3 and fell asleep.

Woke up and it's raining hard, but that's not gonna stop me from going shopping!!!

Lesson of the night: knowing various languages will take you far.

Saturday is a time to play... and sightsee

On Saturday, the 10th, Julie wakes me up and off to Gwanghwamun we go: which is known for having a really famous palace.

Lunch at 12pm, but while waiting for Leslie this creepy 'businessman' comes up and talks to Julie, asking, 'como estas?' and he gets her to take his phone number. he's really adamant about it. Leslie, who is Korean, comments that Koreans are pretty friendly to foreigners, especially if they look foreign, but to me he seemed a little TOO friendly. Julie comments that most people who talk to her automatically assume she doesn't speak English. I'm sure that's gotta be so weird for her.



This blog post will be mostly pictures.


Maybe hazy days make better for pictures?

You can try on these kingly outfits FOR FREE...

Sejong the Great: he CREATED Hangul! (aka the Korean alphabet system, which leslie boasts is almost the phonetically perfect language)

Photospot in the museum! you had to take off your shoes.





The palace we went to see was Gyeongbokgung (3000W for admission), which is famous for where the last queen/empress, Empress Myeongseong/Queen Min, was assassinated in 1895 (source: Wiki)





Japanese-speaking tour guide! It was super humid, so it was amazing she was wearing this outfit and walking around! PROPS!


Whee.

I like seeing that beyond the palace walls, is still the city.



Tired and sticky from the heat, we make our way to Insadong to meet up with Heather.
Insadong is known to be a great tourist attraction and has a lot of souvenirs and postcards.

Looking for a snack, we stop at Heather's favorite teahouse.

...which has little birds that sound like woody the woodpecker and are trained to poop in a certain corner!

We all order the watermelon + 5-taste tea/punch (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringnt), which comes with little puffed rice cake snacks.

So refreshing and relaxing! For 7000W I check another thing off my goal list.

Fish in the bathroom... don't miss or go in the wrong place!!

This really good pumpkin taffy. It tasted like bread but was like taffy!!

Random things you see. like wombats. NBD?

We get to pass by the Han River on the subway :]

A car parking contraption- they have 'em in Japan too. This is for valet parking- we went to Apujeoung, the rich part of Seoul. You see movie stars around this area and it's known for being hella bougie

I can't say no to writing on a good graffiti wall


We ordered pork and beef, but she basically just gave us pork. meh.

All this for 6000W~7000W/person

We went looking everywhere for a waffle and ice cream shop, but we just went to coldstone. YAY CHOCOLATE DEVOTION! 2900W for 'taste it'


The night begins to sprinkle on us so I just call it a night at around 11pm. I watch the Germany-Uruguay game, fall asleep in the middle of it, and wake up for the end. win! I streamed it on my netbook. my roommate rooted for Germany, and I rooted for Uruguay, because we believed our respective teams to really good-looking. Obviously we love the world cup for the sport of futbol.

Clubs are open till 5am, malls are open till 4:30am; & using taxis more&more

I'm blogging and it's already week 3! aka midterm week! and here at Yonsei International Summer School, mid-term actually means mid-term. I only have 3 more weeks here! z0mg!

So, basically this weekend (07/08-07/11) was pretty epic. I got to do a lot of things, homework not included, and felt pretty damn productive.

Thursday, I went to dinner at Pizza Hut- again, and got the bacon potato pizza with the rich gold crust. OH MY GOD I love sweet potatoes/yams, why isn't that on EVERYTHING?!?!?!!? oh, because I'd go into carborific shock.
Then after much debating, went clubbing in Gangnam

I really do despise Asian glow, but had a decent night and got back to my dorm ataround 430a/5a, in time for the beautiful Seoul sunrise: it was light blue and pink and lavender and it was so pretty.

On Friday I take it easy and really don't do anything at all until about 5pm, when me and Stacey, Paula, Diana, Susan, Amanda, Julie, and Heather go to Myeong-dong (a major shopping area!!) for awesome shopping. I was excited because I heard so much about this area and have been needing to go shopping for THE PAST 2 WEEKS. ugh.
Seeing this on the subway was a trip

and when we got off we saw this lady selling bunnies!!!! AHHHH

We're all hungry, so we go to this chicken place that is apparently also very famous for chicken: the skin is pan fried and crispy, and all you get for sides is sweet radish.


and you put your bones in the trash can at the end of the table


Then, because we're growing girls, we got ice cream: 32cm tall froyo!!!



To be honest it was pretty awkward eating it... the bottom of my cone was melted by the liquid of the froyo.

We fail at shopping in Myeong-dong, because they are known for their underground market, which was closed, and their above-ground shops were closing (~10pm)

Around 11pm, we decide to go to another area: Dongdaemun.





This is what I saw when I first walked in: the dresses are 10000W~15000W and my face was GLOWING. rargh!!! such good deals.


Next time (and YES, there will be a next time!) I'm going to get a picture of what the 'mall' actually looks like: you know in malls how there's different sections? juniors, petite, etc.? Well here, there are different STALLS and each floor has a different section: for example, 1F was women's casual, 2F women's casual, 3F formal/business, 4F men's, 5F/6F accessories/bags, etc. to 8 floors. and 2 basement floors. Each section/stall is managed by different people. They have racks of clothing out and up for you to see, and you choose a size and they give it to you in a plastic bag.

The sign doesn't lie. This place is POPPIN' between 12-4:30am because Koreans are crazy shoppers.


Downstairs is a fast food restaurant. you can get this meal deal and sunblock!


Now, the subway stops at ~12:30am and we are finished at around 3am, so how do we get back? taxi. taxis are cheap when you go with others; for about 9000W cab fare among 3-5 people, it's really cheap, safe, and fairly reliable, especially when you have a lot of bags to carry. All taxis have GPSes, but sometimes you have to tell the driver to stop.

A great night! I will be coming back to this place to buy dresses for my sisters (in lieu of souvenirs) and to check out the underground market. and take more pictures.