We did a lot of walking today! We started out by walking from the temple to Myeongdong. The Myeongdong area is quite commercialized and a very popular destination for eating and shopping. There are plenty of street vendors that do sell Korean street food, as always (ttokbokki, ice cream, and more), along with big brand names both foreign and domestic. The gamut of cosmetics stores is of course there as well, along with cardboard cutouts of idols and actors lining the streets. The tourists who visit the Myeongdong area, however, aren't usually westerners. This area is particularly popular with Japanese and Chinese tourists, and you can hear many different Asian languages being spoken by store attendants and advertisers. The advertisers (I don't know a better word for them) just stand outside cosmetic stores and give out free things, but you have to go into their shops and try out products... We were actually somewhat forced into a store when a woman placed a basket with items into one of our friends' hands, and she had to go into the store to give the basket back.
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| he is everywhere |
The Myeongdong area isn't only popular for shopping. The Myeongdong Cathedral is also a part of the area, and it is very large and hard to miss. The Cathedral serves as a reminder of Christian presence in Korea. It is not only important for religious reasons, but also for the community. Historically, people have gathered here for organized protests, such as the movement for democracy, and labor laws. Churches are often popular places to gather for reasons that may or may not involve religion, and this cathedral is no exception.
We didn't spend too long at the cathedral, and moved on to Namsan Tower, also known as Seoul Tower, CJ Seoul Tower, or N Seoul Tower. It's located on a mountain (san = mountain), and the tower itself is only accessible by bus, cable car, or walking. The tower itself has the distinction of being the highest point in Seoul. It functions as a communications tower, but more noticeably as a tourist attraction. Large Chinese tour groups gathered here, along with hiking ajummas and ajusshis (older men and women). The walk up is a hike, and the walk down is not so easy either. The road to and from the tower is lined with many trees, so it's nice and cool even on sunny days, though today was a bit on the cooler side anyway.
After walking down from the tower, we headed to Namdaemun. There's the popular Namdaemun gate of Seoul, along with the crowded Namdaemun market. The market sells a variety of items from dried sea creatures to hello kitty socks and phone cases. It's also a bit notorious for its knockoffs. There are different kinds of purses, shoes, and shirts that all look like name-brands, but none of them really are. The market is an interesting place to shop because many things are cheap, but many things don't actually have prices. This is because a big part of shopping in Namdaemun is haggling. Even the locals won't be able to drop the prices too much, but the shop owners always know what's fair and what's not.
If you want real brands, for real prices, you can head over to the Shinsegae department store. We looked around there very briefly, but you only need a few minutes to understand what the store is like. The entrance floor was full of perfume and makeup, just like malls in the US, but with more attendants. The basement floor was part grocery store, part bakery, and part cafe. According to our professor, all the major department stores are set up like this. The Shinsegae department store is unique, however, because it's the first major department store that was built in Seoul by the Japanese. The Japanese style department stores led the way in terms of this kind of retail in Seoul, where bored housewives would shop, often in such a way that the shopping displayed wealth and status. Department stores like Lotte also follow the model set by Shinsegae, and the combination of shopping and eating is still a major part of these stores.
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| shinsegae |
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| lotte |
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