9 September 2011
Dongdaemun
Before I headed off to Dongdaemun, I found myself at Seoul station.
Tomorrow is the start of the 5 day harvest moon holiday called Chuseok, so people were already fleeing in droves, its traditional to return to your ancestral village for the holiday. Wherever I go I seem to be there when its the big holiday season, I was in Japan for all of golden week.
I hear nothing shuts though, and public buildings like museums are all open longer than normal.
As you can see below, the tv news networks have set up for live crosses to the train station to see people leaving for their holiday.
Dongdaemun is the new shopping mecca for teenage culture in Seoul. The name is as close to DONG DEMON as you will ever get, so I was on alert, because I think I have seen that japanese cartoon.
Theres 2 distinct areas, the traditional wholesale shopping areas, and the new fashion malls. Mainly this is an excuse to set up stages out the front and let people put on their 5 minute talent shows, as you will see below.
Oh yeah, I had some Korean food...
Korea and Japan have a lot in common, including cat cafes. I havent been (yet), because I will feel stupid being the only single person, and the only person older than 20 in the place. I will save that for a special occasion.
I decided to try a coffee chain that might be Korean, or maybe its American? Angel-in-us. Whatever it is, it was absolutely terrible, so my rule still stands, when in asia, starbucks makes the best coffee, when in Australia, they make the worst!
The interesting thing though is they give you this buzzer thing whilst they take 10 minutes to make your cup of tepid brown water, which is actually a video player showing ads for nearby stores. I had never seen that before.
Looking down on the bullet trains at Seoul station.
As I walked past, these people started bowing at me for no reason other than how awesome I am.
As mentioned above, these are the tv news stations setting up to show people leaving for their ancestral villages with moon cakes and spam.
Heres the scene at dongdaemun, the newer buildings are very new, most are not completely open yet.
This ride was pretty violent, it doesnt just spin it shakes up and down and throws people out of their seats, and then spins some more before they can sit back down.
Each store has an impressive and very loud stage setup. Some had an American idol thing going, others had a line up of people who got 30 seconds to dance to whatever song the dj chose, and then some had groups of girls with routines. I decided to photograph only the girls, to throw everyone off the gay trail.
They werent very good dancers, in Sydney you can see lots of groups practicing out the front of big buildings at night, using the windows as a mirror.
Heres where I had my dinner, it was a traditional, cheap looking place with no English.
I had to take the lady out the front and point to a picture on a sign, its Mandoo dumplings with various vegetables. I am not sure whats in the dumplings exactly, I would like to thing its dog, but they were nice. I got fried ones even though I showed her steamed ones. The noodles were cold, but I expected them to be. A huge meal for $4.