August 16, 2010

8:00 PM

Korea Day 6, Sun Aug 15 2010

The last day didn't consist of much. Went to Gangnam to buy one more album for someone. Then took the train to Dongdaemun. As I said the day before, I was going to finish walking the length of Cheonggyecheon. Seems like I was in for more than I could take.

August 14, 2010

11:16 PM

Korea Day 5, Sat Aug 14 2010

Ah, the trip's coming to a close. Its been tiring but fulfilling.

Woke up at 10am+ today. Breakfast at the hotel ends at 10am. Oh well. Went right ahead, taking the train to Yongsan. I read from an online review that it was the place for electronics. Instead, the place was a huge megamall. Not that I'm complaining, of course.

Had breakfast+lunch there at a Japanese food restaurant. I'm practically in Japan, eating Japanese food most of the time. Can't be helped though, Korean food is equivalent to spicy hell.

I didn't buy any electronics from the mall, since you can get those back in Singapore. Got more clothes. Honestly, this was really the best time to come here. Summer's ending and fall is coming, so shops are having a seasonal clearence to quickly move their summer stocks. And Singapore is summer all year round, so... ???... profit!

They had an e-sports stadium on one of the higher levels. I did say e-sports was big in Korea, right? Much to my luck, they were having a playoff right at that time. With all the cameras around, I'm guessing its being broadcasted on TV as well. And the game of choice is............. dare you to guess it wrong. You could see from the matches that the players have trained really well. If there was a sport I'd follow, this would be it.

Back to Gangnam next. Though there were a few shopping districts around, I didn't see anything really of interest. Plus most of the buildings were business area.

Final stop was City Hall station. The starting point for Cheonggyecheon, a 6km stream flowing through downtown Seoul. The stream underwent a restoration somewhere in mid-2003. Now its a public recreation space with an eco-friendly urban design. From both times I went there (2nd day, as well as today), the stream attracted a heck lot of people, locals and tourists alike. All this in the middle of the city. How I wish Singapore was like that too. Some jungle in our urban jungle would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, it was decided that I'd walk the whole 6km length of the stream. Not sure how or why, but it was just decided. Just like how the sky is blue. Starting from the beginning, I walked all the way to the half point. 3km isn't much per se, but if you think about how much I walked over the past few days, it was a hell of a distance to cover. I stopped around Dongdaemun to fully cover the area before heading back. I'll walk the remainder of the length tomorrow. :)

Dinner at a food court in Migliore. 6,000 won for a good serving of fried rice, japanese style, complete with tiny prawns and an egg. Comes with miso soup and various side dishes. Yes.. its japanese style again.

After dinner, went back to covering the remaining shops I missed. I discovered that all of the malls there use the same format. Large number of tenants covering various floors. The tenants just display their goods all around, without any shopfront or interior decorations to speak of. The walls and ceilings are all white. Prices aren't fixed either. That's why I didn't end up buying anything. Seeing as you're a tourist, they'll most likely jack up the price. The fact that they openly tout for your attention is evidence of that. Just like fishermen laying bait... once you're caught, gg!

And yes, the pricing is even higher than the ones in the malls. That's saying something. I wouldn't recommend going here to shop.

That's all for today. I'll be completing the rest of Cheonggyecheon tomorrow, and try to squeeze in a bit of look-see time before checking out of the hotel at 4pm. Not sure when the flight is, but I'll be reaching Singapore around 1am. Until then.. see ya!

August 13, 2010

10:29 PM

Korea Day 4, Fri Aug 13 2010

Exhausting day it was. Straight after breakfast, I took the hotel shuttle bus to COEX mall. It's the Korean equivalent of Singapore's Suntec City, with the added bonus of Asia's largest underground mall. I saw a group of.. maybe 15 year old?.. kids heading toward a certain direction. Being the busybody I was, I followed them. After all, for something to attract a kid's attention, it'd had to be something big. I started seeing more and more people going the same way. Eventually it ended at a huge and long queue.. the kind you only get to see at anime or cosplay expos, or Hello Kitty giveaways. What was the queue for, you ask? E-stars Seoul 2010. For those nto up to date, that's e-sports. This would be their equivalent of soccer. I'm not kidding.. they even televise the game matches on national TV.. I've seen it for myself. The top players are practically celebrities. I do have to admit though, watching the match with the commentary was quite exciting. I can understand why the Koreans are so crazy over it.

But anyway, the main objective of going to COEX was arcade hunting. I was following a 5-year old lead that a 'Game Champ' establishment was located there. Sure enough, it wasn't there anymore. Too bad.

Next stio was Gangnam station. Following more recent info, an arcade was located next to one of the station exits. Found it after a bit of effort. The condition of the arcade was miserable to say the least. Disappointed, the next stop was Sinchon, all the way on the other side of the train's green circle line.

Two arcades there, as listed by an online forumer. I eventually found them both. Eventually, with a capitcal E. I don't really want to go on about how much time and effort I spent finding them amongst the thousands of shops around. I know arcades usually stand out among other places, but apparently Seoul doesn't work that way.

Did a bit of shopping since I was already there. Shopping without the buying part. I did see something I liked, but when I wanted to take a look, the salesman started hovering around me. I tried to shake him off, but he couldn't take the hint. They think that they're helping, but all they're doing is being irritating. Heck, he doesn't even speak english.. not like he could help me in the first place. Didn't get to buy it... such a waste.

Lunch was at one of the malls there. They have food courts in Seoul too, but their's is more high tech. You take your pick, then make your order and pay at a general cashier. The cashier gives you a receipt for your food, as well as your food queue number and table number. You go to your table, wait for your queue number to be flashed, then you go collect your food from the respective stall. Cool huh? Except the part where you make your order. I had to memorize the squiggly words on the stall for the food I was ordering, then use the crazy hand movements to point out my order to the cashier. Then I had to figure out what the three receipts the cashier handed me was for.

I couldn't really tell what I was ordering. From the picture, all I saw was some sort of rice. The stall was selling Teppanyaki, so I assumed it was some sort of fried rice. Luckily it came out something like I expected.

Next stop, Insadong again, for arcade hunting and a bit more shopping. Got two souvenir-like tshirts, one for my brother. 12,000 (S$14) won each, discounted to 11,000 (S$11) each. Not much, but hey, a dollar saved is a dollar to be spent on something else! The arcade was slightly down an alley next to a Mac's. As I expected: another sad place.

Walked straight from there to Myeong-dong, for some hardcore shopping. Quite some distance, but walkable nonetheless. Got two shirts and one t-shirt from a factory outlet at 14,000 won (S$17) each, more than half the original price. Also, a vest-jacket piece of clothing from the Lotte Young department store for 29,000 won (S$35). Looked like a really good deal. After I bought it, I found out that the original price was 59,000 won (S$70). Lucky!

Somewhere in between then, bought a pack of fried (or cooked? They used the machine that squashes it between two hot panels.) cuttlefish from a vendor in the middle of the walkway. A bit expensive.. 5,000 won (S$6) for one pack. But really delicious, and the pack was quite big. Lasted for a long while.

The final stop was Konkuk University station. Last stop in my arcade hunting trip. The arcade was located on level 3 of Star City, some large mall. As it turned out, the arcade didn't disappoint my expectations, in that it was disappointing. It looks like PC gaming has totally taken over Korea. Arcades are slowly degrading, becoming outdate, and fading from existence. Wonder where all the pro players play though?

Had a lighter dinner of Dunkin' Donuts. Waffle with apple sauce, Strawberry-covered donut, and a cookies-and-cream choco. Yummy!

Nothing else after that. Headed back to the hotel to rest my aching legs. :'(

August 12, 2010

10:29 PM

Korea Day 3, Thurs Aug 12 2010

Out on a trip! The tour group contained a total of 11 people, a whole lot more than I expected. First stop was the Jogyesa Buddhist temple. Pretty standard for a Buddhist temple. The architecture was that of traditional Korean.. kept simple. None of the wood was carved. Rather, it was painted on directly. The end result was a largely intricate look from afar, but doesn't look as good close-up. I wouldn't consider their work as slipshort, but instead, maybe the Koreans are a practical bunch?

Next stop was the Gyeongbok palace, one of the five palaces around Seoul. The tour guide says it's the most important palace of the five. The place was big alright. One of the more interesting notes.. a building has a number of gargoyles placed on the roof, the number of them corresponding to the importance of the building. The more important it was, the more gargoyles there were. The king's lodgings had 6 or 7. The party hall had 10. Hmm...

Next up was the National Folklore Museum. Just learning history. Seems like Korea was pretty high class, even in the olden days. Afterward was the Ginseng Center. No one bought anything, seeing as the price of a box of three bottles cost US$238. One of the promoters looked like Mark Lee. I swear, except for a bit of minor difference, he was the splitting image. Even the actions and mannerisms. Oh well, at least it wasn't a wasted stop.

Lunch was at a Korean restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Not really 'nowhere', but you get the idea. Lunch was beef, Korean style. They cook it in front of you using the bunsen burner.. and tada its ready! Even though it was a 'nowhere' restaurant, the beef was delicious. Tasted closest to the type of beef Yoshinoya serves in it's beef bowls.

After lunch, the tour group split into three. Although the morning itinerary was the same, we took varying packages so everyone was heading somewhere else after lunch. I left my tour guide Wendy and joined another group. This group had roughly the same number of people too.

The afternoon tour kicked off with... another palace! They look exactly the same -.- . The concept was essentially the same, but at least this one had a few extra, such as the palace's "secret garden" which we didn't get to enter, as well as the king and queen's chamber which amused me somewhat. Wait for the pics.

Following the palace stop was the amethyst factory. Price were high as expected, so its needless to say that a purchase was out of the question. The factory was just opposite the Insadong market, the next stop on the itinerary, so off we went!

This is a long stretch of shops, mostly selling traditional goods such as masks, fans and mini statues. Great for souvenirs. I didn't buy any of those though.. I don't seem to have an interest for Korean culture and history. What I did get was a pair of stone-carved white owls. To keep me company though the nights :) .

One really interesting building for me was the 'Ssamziegil' building. Practically an artist/designer heaven. Most of the shops sold unique accessories and clothing. A group of two artists was doing on-the-spot caricatures. They had quite an audience going. The way they're able to spontaneously draw out something and have it look good still amazes me. I pity one of them though. He had a request from a group of 5. The other girl artist was laughing at him.

Another of the shops inside was selling miniatures. Mini-cafe? Mini-food? Mini-3D-scene-in-a-picture-frame? They've got it all. The quality of the craftwork was simply amazing. I would have gotten one of the larger pieces if not for the price.. around the S$200 range for one. The price is more than reasonable for the effort and quality. Too bad its out of my budget.

What I did get, was a hand painted t-shirt. Even got to customize the words on it. For 25,000 won (S$30), I was more than happy to get it. Check out their website if you will: http://www.bongs.kr/ .

The last stop was Namdaemun market. Essentially a huge market for food. All kinds, every kind. Not really a place for shopping, but used a lot by the locals to restock their fridges. Walked around for a bit, and that was the end of the tour. The tour guide was really great. Unfortunately I never got her name :( . I opted to stay around instead of heading back to the hotel. Went back to Insadong to collect my t-shirt (it took time to paint and dry), then went off to Myeong-Dong.

That was where the crowd was. No wonder Gasan was deserted. This place, you could say that it had the weekday crowd of Harajuku (The Harajuku weekend crowd meant that I couldn't even squeeze my way through. If I can't squeeze through, I don't think you could either.) and the maze layout comparable to Shinjuku or Taipei's Ximending. So much stuff I couldn't really decide what to buy. I'll probably come back again, maybe tomorrow or the day after.

Dinner was at Burger King. The only one I've seen since I came to Korea. The number of food outlets was intimidating. Too many to choose from, so I just settled with something I was familiar with. Shocking.. my order was ready within 10 seconds. No kidding.

Too tired to walk anymore after that. Tired legs, painful shoulder thanks to my freaking heavy slingbag (remember the stone owls I bought?). Went back to the hotel.

Tried out the sauna at the hotel. The style is much like the onsen in Japan. The onsen still wins hands down though. Can't beat the experience.

And that's it for today! Quite a lot of stuff. Next day will be shopping on my own. And hopefully... Jubeat Knit!

(Wtf that was 1000 words long..)

August 11, 2010

10:56 PM

Korea Day 2, Wed Aug 11 2010

Woke up at 7+, sleepy of course. Taking the 1 hour time difference into consideration, thats 6 in the morning. Breakfast was in the hotel, western style. The omelette chef knows how to make a good omelette without spamming oil, unlike some others in Shanghai.

Remember yesterday when I wished that it wouldn't rain? I wish I hadn't wished for it. When the weather is hotter than Singapore, thats saying something.

Went walking around with mum. Took the hotel shuttle bus to the COEX area. We didn't see anything significant there, so we decided to head off to Dongdaemun. (I only found out later, aka now, that there's a huuuge COEX mall, the biggest in Asia. Why I didn't notice it? The whole mall is underground. -_-)

We took the train there. The subway system is more or less like Japan's. One complaint I do have is the fact that half of the time, the train track is in the middle, separating the two platforms. If you went the wrong direction, you'd have to walk up, cross over, then walk down. The problem comes when you have to pass through the fare gate to get to the other side. Once you tap your ticket out, thats it! You'll have to get a new one. I encountered this problem a few times. When you need help but don't speak the language, what do you do? Wave your hands and gesture like a madman, of course. So I did the wild hand movement to the station staff but surprising they immediately understood what I was trying to say. They opened the side gate and let me through to the other side. Apparently I was just one of the many tourists who'd done the same thing.

Dongdaemun was relatively dissatisfying. You read all the reviews online.. they say theres a large number of shopping complexes there. Unfortunately as I came to realise, the bulk of them are wholesale complexes. The proper shopping malls were generic, though there was a certain "Hello aPM" mall. You could consider it 7 levels worth of Bugis Street. Got 2 pieces of clothing, the only stuff I got today.

Had lunch in the same aPM mall, japanese food. Normally people would try out the local food, yeah? I would have too, if not for every single piece of korean cuisine containing spicy shit. What the hell.. spicy for breakfast, spicy for lunch, spicy for dinner? They even poured some chilli powder in my prawn udon. Why oh why?

After wandering around a bit more, we took the train back. Too hot is too hot. But you can't spend a holiday just sitting in the hotel room doing nothing. I took a bath and an hour later, I went back out the Gasan Digital Complex area. From what I read, its more of a shopping area rather than a digital complex. I got there.. took a look. To my surprise, other than the main road, most of the other areas were either very lowly travelled, or practically deserted. Isn't Seoul supposed to be capital? And this Gasan Digital Complex supposed to be a populated district? Where's everyone? Its awfully eerie to be walking in a ghost town.

Anyway, there were a number of shopping malls, but they're all of the generic departmental store kind. The malls contained significantly more people than the roads, but that's not saying much either. Perhaps its because I'm comparing them to Singapore's malls, but from what I remember, even Japan's streets and malls contained a lot more traffic. Perhaps I'm in the wrong area. I didn't buy anything in the end. A few things caught my eye, but I had a feeling I'd get better deals elsewhere.

Heading off for a full day trip tomorrow! Looking forward to it. At least I get to see stuff, unlike today's zombie walk.

August 10, 2010

10:06 PM

Korea Day 1, Tues Aug 10 2010

Greetings from Korea! Unlike Japan, this time I understand.. nothing. I can't make out what anyone says, and all the words look roughly the same to me. Sure, its not squigglys, but its like Undead trying to make sense of Common. Gotta understand the method to the madness first.

Luckily the country has three main languages in use, in descending order of ubiquity: Korean, Japanese, English. Even without the presence of English, sometimes the signs appear in Japanese. Learning Japanese doesn't just pay off in Japan! But, the occurence of English speakers here is way more common than in Japan. The waitress was able to tell me a certain pizza contained Gorgonzola cheese (that's radioactive blue for you MouseHunters). The only thing the train station manager in Japan could say when I asked if he spoke English was: "Nnn... nnnnoo...".

First day and its all rainy already. Heard there was a typhoon hanging around somewhere in Korea. Uh oh.. but the storm has calmed at the moment. Lets hope it won't screw up the next few days.

Staying at the Hotel Riviera. The room size is huge compared to the Ginza hotel in Japan. You could have practically considered that a luxury capsule hotel. The toilet bowl comes the exact same bidet they have in Japan. Perhaps its standard everywhere in this region.

Unfortunately, the hotel's positioning sucks. Took a walk around the hotel vicinity. Its night, so most of the shops are closed, of which most are the high-end ones anyway (Prada, LV, Chanel?!), so it didn't really matter. Of the remaining shops around, 50% of them were food outlets, 45% of them were bars, and 5% of them came under "Others". Its the central business district, and that's basically all it is. A place for business, businessmen, and nothing else. Yes, shopping and entertainment doesn't come under business. And yeah, I don't consider high-end shopping to be under the shopping bracket.
To make things worse, the hotel's quite the distance away from downtown Korea. Sure I could take the train, but there doesn't seem to be any convenient route from the hotel to the station. Guess I'll try figuring that out tomorrow.

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