What to do in Seoul, Korea – Part Two

My flight was scheduled for later at night on day two of Seoul to myself. Today was a much less packed day, as I had basically walked myself to exhaustion on day one.

Deoksugung Palace

By chance i took this route on my walk to Hoehyeon. On the way i saw the Deoksugung Palace Royal Guard Changing ceremony. Its a smaller affair, and to be honest, seeing one of these routines is probably enough. But if you can’t get enough of the culture, then by all means do drop by here for a peek. I caught this around 11AM in the morning.

Hoehyeon Underground Market

However what I was really after was a series of record stores I had googled for when doing research on shopping in Korea. Seoul has alot of these underground markets, which may look familiar if you have seen the Netflix movie Okja which is based in Seoul.

The shop i hit up was called Living Inc, located in Hoehyeon. There are shelves stock full of vinyl, from the real cheap 500 Won pieces, to the more pristine condition albums. Similar to Tokyo, I was surprised by the range of 80s and 90s hip hop they had on offer, and had to dig into it.

The owner doesn’t speak English, but he knew the names of the artists i was picking up, and was kind enough to take me to the section where there was more “Jungle Brothers”

The guy had a real dinged up copy of Paid In Full, but he refused to sell it because of its condition.

Even if you are not into vinyl, its a nice place to browse around for tourist items also.

Nam Dae Mun Market

Next up was a nearby market known as Nam Dae Mun. Nam Dae Mun is one of the largest markets in Seoul, and it is known for selling homewares, food, clothing, and other stuff you would expect in an outdoor market. I think its also a wholesale market for resellers to buy in bulk. For some reason, cartoon themed socks are really cheap in Seoul, at almost 50 cents per pair of socks. I had to buy a load even though I knew neither myself or the missus would wear them regularly in Singapore

Come here not just for character themed socks, but snacks to bring back home (flavoured almonds seems to be the thing now).

I also passed by this gate. I have no idea what it is called. But it is interesting to see something like this smack bang in the middle of a modern city.

Dongdaemun Market

Another market trip after Nam Dae Mun. I heard about dong dae mun and how it was really lively at night with street food and live music. But because I was getting a night flight, i could only visit during the day.

The part i visited was the Shoe Market, which wasn’t that great. I think it catered to womens and kids shoes to be honest. Its got nothing on Greenhills in Manila!

At this point its a bit of a blur as i stopped taking notes and I only have a vague memory plus a whole bunch of photos to try and describe it. I realise now that I need to write notes and blog about these experiences asap, and not wait 6 months to do so!

This is definately Dong Dae Mun Design Plaza, or known as DDP, which brings to memory diamond dallas page from the wwf wresting era.

And finally, just to remind me that its not just Singapore that heavily polices everything that we do 🙂