Shopping in Seoul- Alise Ballard

Seoul, Korea was amazing! It was a life changing experience that I never will forget and am so thankful that I got chance to visit. The University we stayed at was amazing, and after a couple of days it began to feel like home. We did everything in our 27 day stay from eating REALLY strange food- i.e. chicken feet, grilled various (which I still have no clue what that really is), pig intestines, and my all time favorite kimchi- to visiting the Demilitarized Zone-which was also very interesting considering one student was almost taken away by a North Korean Solider. (It should probably be noted that I did not try the really strange food, I enjoyed observing and encouraging other people to eat the really strange food.) However, the thing I enjoyed the most in Korea was all the great shopping around Seoul.

Seoul’s two largest markets, Dongdaemum (East Gate) and Namdaemum (South Gate), by far have the best deals on clothing, accessories, and pretty much anything else you could imagine. The stores owners and vendors speak little English making it hard to sometimes try to negotiate price with them. Both of these markets are located on winding streets with wall to wall vendors. Dongdaemum is open 24 hours and always packed. Namdaemum has been in existence for 600 years, and is more of an opened air flea-market. As you can see from the picture above, it was extremely hard to walk down the crowded rows of things for sale and take it all in. But these two areas in Seoul are definitely a bargain shopper’s paradise.

For the less serious shoppers, there are shopping areas for them too. Itaewon is the most westernized shopping area in Seoul. The shop owners and vendors speak very good English and in some stores even take American Money. This area of Seoul seems to be catered to the Westerner tourist with great souvenirs and even a few westerner type restaurants. If you are in the market for antiques and art, the Insa-Dong area is the place for that. It has second hand stores, art work, pottery, antiques, and similar items. Itaewon and Insa-Dong are much quieter and less crowded then Dongdaemum and Namdaemum, and great places to spend a day wondering around.

Seoul, Korea is absolutely beautiful. Being there for almost a month did not give me enough time to do all the things I wanted to do there. I would encourage anyone who was given the opportunity to visit. The shopping and sight-seeing is like no other place in the world.