Whirlwind pt.7

(or more shopping and eating)

we left gangnam around sunset. we were meeting dan at dongdaemun market at 8, so we had some time to shop in this incredible shopping area. i would recommend this place to anyone visiting seoul... the best shopping in the country can be found here.

dongdaemun is the big black spot!

i had been looking for a pair of jeans for two days, but never found anything that fit that wasn't covered in sparkles, glitter or other weird decorations... but i did at dongdaemun. i am now the proud owner of a pair of 100% korean jeans! and actually, after wearing them for a day, they're too big... i should've gone down a size... oh well, at least i know where to go in the future!

all malls... shopping, shopping, shopping...

we ended up in this mall called "doota!" i didn't take any photos... not sure why, maybe i was justso amazed by the floors and floors of clothes, purses, jewelry, shoes, and everything else under the sun... i was dazzled and too busy looking around to take photos... how odd... i'm usually more of a shutterbug... but i got this shot of the floor plan:

'dooche'??? you can see on the map this is just one small section of one floor (there are 8)

a canal just outside the mall... very pretty at night...

after shopping for a few hours, we met dan for dinner. we were looking for tak galbi, but ended up here:
we had bulgogi, which was tasty though there were tons of mushrooms mixed in...in case you don't know bulgogi is meat that is cooked on the table in front of you. you eat it wrapped up in leaves with all kinds of side dishes... sort of like bbq, but cooked in a different way.

after dinner we headed out to the sinchon area (not too far from where we were staying) to look around and have a drink.
this is part of the wall in the subway... there were a ton of these cats performing different sports...something to do with the olympics... this was the best one though... cats with guns!

we ended up walking around the area for a long time before settling on a little bar. i wish i had taken more photos... i just always think they'll never come out when i take them at night, especially with the little crappy camera i have (more on that next post)... as we were walking around we saw a photo store... this is something i have been wanting to do since i learned about them so i was really excited to do this.

basically there are stores that are like those little booths you see in the subway where you can take your picture with your friends, only these are way cooler. you pay about $5 and each person gets to choose a prop. kim wore a wig, dan had a hat, cyndi wore a viking hat, and i had a tiara. you get into the booth (which is much bigger than the ones in the metro):

behind the curtain please!

once you get in there is a little screen so you can see your pose. we needed help since everything was in korean... thank god there was a guy who spoke really good english. first you choose a background - eight of them actually - and then you pose. after the pictures are taken you go around to the side of the machine to 'finish' them.

this computer is used to choose borders and write messages on your photos.

when the process is complete you print them out. you can choose one big one, lots of small ones or a mix of them. we got eight miniature ones - 2 of each as we were only allowed to pick four of the eight shots. here are the two i got:
i finished the one on the right and cyndi did the one on the left... love the "girls night out '07" with dan in the pic!!! it was loads of fun. they're also stickers so you can put them anywhere... you can also buy keychains to put them in, or get a mobile phone dangly thing with your pic in it... i'm just keeping them in my wallet.

after pictures we walked around and saw about a million noraebangs and bars... a lot of the bars in this area look like they could be foreign bars since they're all named after foreign bands like the doors. we ended up at the 'S Bar' for a drink and then ran to get the subway home. but we missed the last one and had to take a taxi.

up next: seoul electronics market and the continuation of the eternal search for merrells.