Seoul: Face of the Present

Post supported by Gangnam Style – because why not?

If I had to describe Seoul using one word, I'd say: unbrushed. (I know, I just made it up, but it had to be one word). It's kind of like teased fringe with the rest of the hairstyle done: looks wild and untamed, but at the same time you can see where it's heading and what it'll look like once the fringe is set too. A very girly metaphor, I know, so to help, here's more or less what I'm describing here:

A Vintage Vanity

In a longer and non-hair related version of the story: Seoul is a very modern big city – but at the same time it's still developing and growing, and hasn't completely cut itself off the Seould it used to be. So on the one hand there are shiny shopping centres or big glass offices of some companies…

… and right next to that, often in exactly the same place, there's street sellers selling pretty much everything, though mainly food.

This one, to make it more interesting, wasn't on the street, but in an underground station. Because why not?

You don't have to look far to see signs that it's not over, that Seoul keeps growing and modernising. In some places it's easier to find than in others, but so often have I been finding cranes, plots of land full of builders or other signs of constructions being undertaken.

Can you guess where this is? ;)

Clue number 1 (on a fence surrounding a building being renovated).

Clue number 2.

To be honest, this third photo, with a bit of tree and some sunset – that's where I realised that I really like Seoul. And you can laugh, because the reason why there and then is very silly, but during my second day there, when I wandered around Ehwa Women's University (good area for shopping) I found a bit of public space where I could sit down. Nothing more, just sit down. For free. And the few trees around – they were just a bonus. Silly reason, right? But before going I heard many claims that Seoul is basically the Tokyo of Korea, and despite being good for shopping and adventures, Tokyo isn't a place I'd like to go back to or where I feel good. If you don't want to sit in a packed park (packed because it's the only park there) or pay for anything just to sit down in a cafe or some other MaccyD's (also packed), then there's nowhere to sit down in Tokyo, and finding any nature amongst all this concrete is pretty much a miracle. So when I sat there, enjoying the early spring sun on a wall in some mini-urban park by Ehwa University, and when I added this simple pleasure to the fact that I love Korean food and have just satisfied a good deal of my shopping cravings – could I reach any other conclusion?

And since we're talking about food, even when eating out you can get full in Korea for peanuts. I never spent more than 6000 won on a mean, that is about  £3.40, and I always left the place really full! And it wasn't all Korean fast-foods either, it's simply that eating out in Korea is cheap. Also: I have never seen so many places selling coffee per square metre! And I'm not talking just about Starbuckses here, thouth some places literally had one Starbucks on top of another – if it wasn't a chain coffee shop, then it'd be a small independent coffee shop; if it wasn't an indie one, then it was a kiosk; if not a kiosk, then at least a window; if not a window, then a konbini; and if not a konbini, then at worst there were the vending machines. Koreans must really love coffee if it's difficult to get from one crossing to another without passing at least three coffee places n the way. Crazy!, but in a good way, I guess.

Tteobokki, rice cakes in a spicy sauce.

Bulgogi, sweet beef, with rice, side dishes and soup.

Mandu, Korean dumplings (ohmyohmyohmyohmyohmy!).

Pajon, kind of a pancake with spring onion and seafood (I once had a totally veggie one in Japan and I liked that one more, but what could I do when I don't speak the lingo?)

Anyways, it's not just food that's cheap in Korea, the proof of that being my suitcase full of stuff that I bought and brought with me. Namely I bought: lots of socks (because they were cheap and good quality), just as many accessories (for the same reason) and some cosmetics (which Korea is quite renown for and which I'll talk about some other time). Spending money on food, shopping and public transport, I still spent a lot less that I was expecting to have to spend. Maybe if I was a K-pop fan, things would be different, but I'm not (I only jut about recognize some names because of friends who are fans of K-pop), so I spent less.

But shopping in Korea is interesting also in terms of the shopping places themselves. There are four great places to shop (well, actually five, but one of them doubles as a great night-life spot): Insa-dong street, Myeong-dong district, Namdaemun Market and Edae, or the aforementioned area by Ehwa Women's University (and Hongdae, by Hongik University, the fifth place that's good for night life).

Insa-dong is best for those looking for souvenirs from Korea or some more traditional things (kitchen utensils, dolls, masks, anything really). What's more, the souvenir and traditional crafts shops mix with all the other ones: coffee shoop, food places, random things, which makes Insa-dong a place that really shows of this symbiotic mix of the past and the present, of the traditional and the innovative.

Myeong-dong is known as the place for shopping, but both Koreans and myself will tell you that it's a bit overrated, full of tourists and just expensive. We all know a place, a street or a shopping centre, which everyone says is the place for shopping in that area, but in reality the only ones shopping there are rich show offs and outsiders, while the locals go somewhere else. Let's be clear, you can shop in Myeong-dong without breaking the bank, but it'll be in chain shops that are in other places too – everything else is either designer boutiques or the higher end of high street.

The shopping centres (three first pictures of Seoul in this post) are Myeong-dong, so I'm only putting a little trivia here.

Namdaemun Market is right next door to Myeong-dong and you probably couldn't have had more of a jump to an entirely different world. Namdaemun is amazingly… hmm… unbigcitylike? (Yes, I'm making up words today, just deal with it). That's where you go to buy things cheaply, though not always along with good quality (or at least seemingly, most clothes there looked like the infamous Chinese knock-offs). Clothes, accessories, shoes, food, cosmetics, whatever you could think ok, though be careful and look out fot the scooter drivers (well, you've got to look out for them in the whole of Seoul – I admit, Namdaemun is on the street, but when in other places I was passed by a scooter driver on the pavement, I had to double check if I haven't suddenly been transported to Vietnam or somewhere like that). But my favourite thing there, and a cause of some minor feminine despair, were the jewellery wholesales (despair because I couldn't buy just one thing). On the outside they look like a department store or a small shopping centre – but inside it resembled a factory with good working conditions. Every seller had some table and wall space, and was making jewellery right there and then. And this goers on on a few floors, just rows and rows of working stations where, depending on the time, people work, chat with their neighbout while having lunch or do deals on the phone. You can stroll around (just be careful, there's not that much space to walk around, and try not to disturb the people who are working there), talk with the sellers (well, you know, there is the language barrier, but I have to say that these people really do try to communicate, after all if they don't, they potentially have one sale less that day) and even ask to have something made to order. I'm still amazed by this place, but maybe it's just my inner magpie sighing very loudly at the memory of all this shiny jewellery…

Before I went to Edae, I wandered off and took the wrong turn, which meant I found an interesting place, the so called Wedding Town. It was definitely interesting to see what Korean women wear for their wedding day and what in Korea passes as an acceptable Western-style wedding dress. Sometimes it was like watching a rerun of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding".

Because on that special day every woman wants to be a princess... apparently.

Hanbok, traditional Korean dress in a, well, traditional version.

Hanbok in a more modern version.

Yes, this is the window of a wedding dress shop.

And finally Edae. Since you already know that it's by a university, a women's one at that, it's probably not that difficult to figure out that this'd be the best place for shopping in Seoul, right? (Though you can say the same about shopping in Hongdae). Finally a balance between the designers of Myeong-dong and the wholesales of Namdaemun, so stuff that's good and cheap. There's no point saying too much about this place, it really is just a great shopping spot, but I have to say, I loved this place, it had a cool atmosphere and just burst with life.

This robot was moving and scared me so much I jumped a little!

Finally: the night life of Hongdae. I'm not the party type, so I can't commend on the quality of the clubs and bars. But I adored the street performers and the fun art in the most unexpected places. This is one of those places that never sleeps, so if you like places like that, ones that are full of life be it day or nigh, then you'll feel at home in Hongdae.