19 May 2022
Dead dong
Myeongdong is dead as there are no tourists
Test is negative! I am free to start my holiday, now lets talk about how dead the place I have chosen to come is!!
Most people who come to Seoul stay in Myeongdong. On this trip I will split my time between 2 Seoul locations, but first up, the tourist area of formerly comprising millions of cosmetic shops and cat/owl/porcupine/meerkat/baby seal cafes called Myeongdong. It is dead.
I knew this before coming from watching youtube videos of guys wandering around live streaming how dead it is. There are other parts of Seoul that are less tourist focused that have reopened, and apparently even Myeongdong has opened up substantially from when its death was at its peak, but it used to be a wall of people buying ridiculous lamb fetus creams and stickers to make your nipples a better shape, which are currently all closed. RIP my nipples.
OK I really need to go to bed now, lets finish this up quickly and probably re edit it tomorrow! Update: I did re edit it, but changed very little. I am kind of disappointed that in my sleep deprived state I did not type absolute nonsense.
The main street, my hotel is on this street. Some street vendors have returned.
There are apparently some incentives to make shops return, but when China and Japan are both basically closed to tourists, and Korea is restricting incoming flights to 20 percent the previous capacity, it is a mystery as to where they think the people wanting to buy this stuff will come from. If all their eggs are in my basket, they will be sorely disappointed.
There are still some busy areas full of people eating. Mainly mystery sea creatures. Officially you do not need to wear a mask outside anymore, as of about a week ago, however everyone does, unless they are crammed into a tight space sharing communal hot pot bbq things and blowing vape fumes on each other.