Giant Brown in Seoul

Seoul was a lot different from what I remembered 16 years ago. For one, K-pop trend was just emerging, a far cry from the global phenomenon it is today. There was no such thing as k-beauty and most of South Korea felt like China in the 1900. 

Food was boring and blunt but mostly cheap. Heck, the whole of South Korea was cheap. 

It is no longer the case today.

Travellers have told me the food here can be and is more expensive than Singapore, and I agree. 
Last night I walked down to the food court in a departmental store and ate two plates of sushi taken off a conveyer belt, the bill came up to 17,000 won (that's USD16 or RM64). Then I walked over to a random food stall and ordered 250g of fried seasoned chicken cubes as after-dinner snacks, the small bowl of chicken cost me 10,000 won (USD9.50 or RM38). My dinner had cost me more than RM100 and I barely felt that I've eaten anything, and this was from a food court! 

I spent an hour around Myeong Dong and was visually flooded by the sheer volume of Korean beauty products available for purchase. Thankfully I wasn't into Korean beauty products, but I could imagine how easily someone can get sucked into this world, and has her wallet emptied in one afternoon. It's a shopping heaven, and shopping I wasn't not interested in. 

Which brings me to my final point, aside from the endless fried chickens, mom and pop's korean food joints, and BBQs, Seoul doesn't have a lot to offer, at least not to me. It felt just like another big metropolitan city with too much shopping and food to offer and nothing else. Bars and drinks here aren't as good as Japan, and clubs and nightlife aren't as posh as Shanghai's. Everything else fell short when in comparison with another big city out there, and the price tag made it all the less attractive. 

I have to give them this though, Korean Fried Chickens, hands down, the best there is. 
I will miss this when I leave. 

And who can resist a photo op with the biggest line bear (Mr Brown). 

Taken at Myeong Dong's Line Friends store. 

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2 kissed Nicole

  1. You're looking so cute and adorable with Mr Brown.

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