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. :'(