If you are a shopaholic, you will be glad to be in Seoul...because, not only are there many shopping areas and shops, the things there are also quite cheap and nice. If compared to HongKong, I actually prefer Seoul...hehe. In Seoul, most of the people (including the guys) are rather well dressed and they take effort to make themselves look pretty and trendy. I guess this is difficult in Singapore, given the weather here which is hot and humid throughout the year, even the makeup that we put on tends to melt under the sun. Anyway, I would really recommend Seoul to you, not only to the gals but also the guys, if you love to shop.

There are a few major areas to shop in Seoul namely Dongdaemum, Namdaemun, Myeongdong, Sinchon, Apgujeong, Munjeong-dong (factory outlet), I'Park Mall at Yongsan (electronic goods), Insadong (cultural and arts stuff), Itaewon and COEX.

Namdaemun market (남대문 시장), so named because it is located near to Namdaemun gate, is an open-air market which sells all kinds of products. Compare to Dongdaemun, Namdaemun market is not as trendy and has more of a rustic and traditional feel. It is something like Temple street or Women street of Hongkong.

Namdaemun market - there were also ahjumas still selling vegetables and fish at night

many hoodies

tteokgalbi 떡갈비 - meat patties

colorful shoes - converse imitation..haha

this is known as pojangmacha in korean - make-shift eating places which are very common in korea

an ahjushi selling some traditional korean snacks and tteok (rice cakes)

To get to Namdaemun, take subway to Hoehyeon 회현(pronounced as hwae-hyeon) station (line 4), exit 5 or 7.

If you are interested in handmade stuff or cultural stuff, Insadong 인사동 will be the place that you should visit. Even if you are not interested, it is still a place worth looking around. 

my lunch at Insadong - Bibimbap

Samzegil

To get to Insadong, take subway to Anguk station (line 3), exit 6.

Dongdaemun market 동대문 시장 is a very famous and large shopping area in Seoul. To visit the whole place might take you more than a day. The shopping buildings are opened from 12pm to 5am in the morning. So you can literally shop till you dropped. But note that unlike Singapore where the shopping centres are opened 7 days a week, the shopping buildings are closed on 1 specific day of the week and different days for different buildings. So make sure you check before you go. Dongdaemun market can be divided into 3 areas - the normal shopping buildings, buildings catered only for wholesale (bulk purchase only) and the night market.

These are the major normal shopping buildings in Dongdaemun - from the left 3rd building, Good morning city, Hello apM, Migliore (closed on Mon) and Doota. Each building comprised of at least 7 levels with each level having about 50 stalls. You are allowed to bargain but if they say no despite you pushing for it, then is really no.

Dongdaemun night market - there isn't really much at the night market, mainly selling fake branded goods and repeating stalls.

Digress abit...there was one night during my trip where I decided to visit the night market since despite having been to Korea twice previously, I have not been to the night market at all. Hence I decided to just pop by and have a look. I reached the market at around 9pm and went to look around at the shopping buildings too. Thinking that there would still be trains after midnight, I left the place at around 12am to board the train. But I was wrong..first wrong. When I reached the subway, the railings were down already and the station closed. Apparently only a few stations operate till after midnight. So I have 2 options, one is to take a cab and the other to just walk back to my hostel. I decided to walk thinking that my hostel is not that far from Dongdaemun. Wrong...second wrong. By the time I was halfway to my hostel, I realised it was really too far to walk. Haiz, but since I'm halfway already, so I just continued walking all the way and I reached my hostel finally around 1+am in the morning..haha. Next time I will know better than to walk.

To get to Dongdaemun market, take subway to Dongdaemun history and cultural park (line 2,4,5), exit 13.

Another thing to note, unlike Singapore, departmental stores in Korea such as Shinsegae, Lotte or Hyundai, are catered more for the rich and hence are mostly branded stuff.

Myeongdong 명동 is another well known shopping district other than Dongdaemun. Unlike Dongdaemun, Myeongdong consists of many little shops and eating places. If you are planning to go there on weekdays, I would advise you to visit after 6pm. This is because 6pm is the time where carts peddling different goods such as bags, accessories, socks, belts, shirts etc will come out to take their respective places among the streets of Myeongdong. On weekends, they are out earlier in the day. I enjoyed shopping in Myeongdong because of these little carts which offered cheap and nice stuff. Shops here are usually close at 10-11pm.

the streets of Myeongdong

To get to Myeongdong, take subway to Myeongdong station (line 4), exit 6 or 7

Sinchon, is located among the midst of 3 universities - Yonsei, Ewha Womans and Sogang University. It is similar to Myeongdong but slightly smaller.

the building in the background with the cross on it is located in Ewha woman's university campus

the streets of Sinchon

Do not confused Sinchon with Sincheon. To get to Sinchon, take subway to Ewha womans university station (line 2), exit 2 or Sinchon station (line 2), exit 3.

Apgujeong consists more of mid-range price items to designer goods. To get there, take subway to Apgujeong station (line 3), exit 2 and walk over to Rodeo street.

COEX - take subway to Samseong station (line 2), exit 6

I'Park mall - take subway to Yongsan station (line 1)

Lotte world - take subway to Jamsil station (line 2 or 8), exit 3

Itaewon - take subway to Itaewon station (line 6)

Munjeong dong - take subway to Munjeong station (line 8), exit 1 and walk

That's all for shopping in Seoul...will talk about Namsan Tower next :)