Walking Around Seoul

Hongdae, Ewha, Gangnam, and Myeongdong

We spent the first week walking through different areas of Seoul. I did some clothes shopping at Hongdae and Ewha (both within walking distance from my goshiwon). I also visited the A&K Hongdae Mall, which had a floor with a One Piece store and an Animate store (anime and manhwa merchandise). I also happened to come across a Kpop idol birthday cafe for Dowoon of Day6 and they had special drinks and photo cards of him. On a different day I went to Gangnam district and visited the Starfield Coex Library, which has towering bookshelves. Also in Gangnam was the Express Bus Terminal (Goto Mall), which is an underground shopping mall connected to the subway just a couple stops away from Coex. The place was HUGE (I definitely didn’t make it through the whole way) and was packed with shops and people. Clothes were very cheap, but they didn’t let you try things on things so you just had to be careful (luckily all the things I bought fit me).

One thing about Korea clothes stores is that many of the small boutiques and underground mall shops do not let you try on clothes. The stores that do let you try on clothes tend to only allow you to try on bottoms, not tops or dresses. Overall Korea has a “one size” for clothes, so things don’t really come in small, medium, or large.

I also went to Myeongdong and N Seoul Tower. The tower is located at the top a mountain and it had a great view of the city. We took the cable car up there (the alternative was hiking up) in time for the sunset. I did some shopping at the Myeongdong Underground Mall and there were a couple shops selling Kpop albums (and for way cheaper than what I could get in Hawaii).

After visiting so many different areas of Seoul, I am now very used to catching the subway (which is pretty easy to use once you get used to it). I would highly recommend downloading the Naver Maps app (or Kakao Maps, but I prefer Naver) in order to navigate around the city. It gives detailed instructions on how to get to places by using the bus or subway, driving, or walking. The public transportation system also uses both Korean and English when announcing station names.