4 March 2015
I bought a hat
Shopping in Bupyeong
Tonight I went to Bupyeong, and bought a hat.
I have been to Bupyeon before, by accident, last time I was here. That time I tried to get to Incheon, where I am now, but got lost, and ended up at Bupyeong, and got lost.
Tonight I got lost there again. It is a massive maze of underground boulevardes of tiny shops. Future site of the worlds worst ever shopping centre fire.
Last time I never made it to the surface, this time I bought a hat to keep my ears from falling off, and ventured outside into the twilight.
Up top was a mish mash of everything, and lots of it. Not too many people about though, they mostly stayed underground where it was warmer.
None the less lots of boys in bad suits tried to give me beer vouchers or special discount on girl / room / girl + room combo, whilst I walked past many love hotels.
Apparently the love hotels are actually decent inside, and a good cheap option to stay, especially if you just want a room for 1 night, as I think they kick you out each day. Its also good if you are a fan of batman and want to sleep in a king size batmobile with neon lights pulsating.
Other highlights of the evening included seeing someone else slip on a patch of ice, only this guy fell over, much to the amusement of all his friends, jokes on them though, 2 of the 'men' had strawberry blonde hair.
Also, now that I have seen camo wear for babies, including a onesie with a belt carrying a tiny fake grenade, I have decided to kidnap one of my own and dress it in camo exclusively.
Just one of the kilometre long criss crossing corridors of confusion that forms the Bupyeong underground fashion market. It is genuinely famous for getting people lost.
Above ground, and the fashion market is more of a ghost town. Except you can see the fashion being made, out the back, nannas are strapped to desks, whipped, and fed only bean sprout soup (thats a real thing) until they have produced their quota of jeans with the crotch almost at knee level (also a real thing, unfortunately).
I was hungry, and one of the two Lotte department stores nearby seemed like a good option for a food court extravangaza.
No such luck. The food court was all western style pizzas, hamburgers, pasta and fried chicken.
Luckily I headed down a laneway, and found a place with pictures.
The first dish was a beef soup. It looked like beef anyway, in reality I had no idea what I had ordered.
I am fairly sure it was beef. Some sort of flesh that had been boiled for days. Boiled so long that pretty much anything might taste like beef.
The side dishes were nice, I like kim chi more and more. Maybe thats because I know what kind of meat is in kim chi, none.
Next course was mandoo. Thats Korean for dumpling. These were delicious. Now for these I really have no idea what meat was in them. They were top on the menu so I presume they were one one of the most popular things.
Probably Pork. Could be donkey.
Random neon, the further you go the less stores, the more bars, and then the love hotels start.
This is how the world works. You buy some poor girl something, you get her drunk, then you have her trapped in a room for an hour.
I dont make the rules, it is what it is. (work people - my use of 'it is what it is', is specifically for you, because I despise when anyone says that).
Looks a lot like Japan really. Perhaps less Yakuza, real or otherwise.
This is some kind of protest for the Sewol ferry disaster. I think its the people buying yellow ribbons to tie on zippers as a protest to make the government investigate the catholic religious cult that owned the ferry that sunk.
Look up Yoo Byung-eun, who ran the company that owned the ferry, and a cult church that had power over the government. Poor Yoo died mysteriously soon after the ferry sunk!
They like to make everything a huge drama in Korea, I will be back at some point to explain the nut heiress drama.
On the hunt for the train office, where I need to pickup my bullet train tickets at some point, I came across this cheaper food court on like the 8th floor of a 15 level building for no good reason.
This ones an interesting hybrid. Each place has its own seating, but not enough seating. Everything here was cheap, and many of the people eating here looked like they struggled to pay the bill.
Saving the best until last, here I am in my awesome new hat. Purchased from a surprised and slightly frightened lady at a random stall in the fashion market. So Fashion. I promise not to say so fashion again on this visit.