[If you want to read my travelogue from the start, it begins
here]
My final whole day in Seoul I hade 3 hours before the evening to do some last minute shopping. Having some more work to do this evening, I will go directly for the pictures, which I know you like the most.
Korean men are no strangers for taking care of their skin or other parts, and why should they? I'm not there yet, but its probably just a question of time before (even) more men in the west goes beyond aftershave and deo in their morning duties). BB Cream above, but what is the other thing? Snail Cream! I will probably pass on that in the future too. ;-)
And again, some scandinavian culture makes it mark, at the COEX underground mall
Where I today found a record shop with lots of kpop. Orange Caramel was sold out but they had a lot of signed stuff for reasonable prices I think (like 48000 Won (320 SEK/48$) for a signed Girls Generation picture).
Yes, the election. Here we have thos student activists again with their peace-symbol looking rallying ... symbol.
So, yes, even though there is almost no snow, there is more than cold enough, -10 degrees Celcius, windy and sooo cold (I guess its the moisture).
Low fashion?
So, I may have implied, especially at home, that asian and korean fashion is just soo fine all the time, but actually thats ofc not true. There seems to be a rather thin line between high and low fashion. Rather scary things that looks like something your grandmother would have worn in the 60s 70s(?) isnät unusuall at all at street markets och the lower price range. In Sweden we have this cult of youth resulting (which is often nice but can be narrowminded) in people not stopping to trying to dress youthful after they get family or pass their 30s/40s. My imression is that in asia (yes very simplified and probably wrong) there is still a more general generational divide in styling. For a comparison sideways - the most usual election analysis have read before election day is that the 20- and 30-year-olds will wote for leftwing Moon, the 50+ for Park, and the 40-year-olds will decide. That kind of reasoning wouldn't happen in Sweden, at least not in such broad terms. Thoguh media often groups 65+ but that is more connected to their common interest as retiree's.
At Insadong, Ssamziegil, they have workshops you can participate in for a fee, one stair down.
Prices
View of Ssamziegil from second floor
Koreans love their head-,hand- and footwear. Especially in winter I am guessing.
And backbacks, god I saw a lot of nice ones. Lycky for me that I already ordered one from Yesstyle.com before I left for Seoul
Actually I did visit two new city districts, Itaewon and Hongdae. The first one is the (in)famous forigner living spot of choice, which ofc makes it both alluring and disliked by natives. You get all the kinds of stuff you get at such places all over the world. One the one hand, prostitution and such, on the other hand a thriving cultural life with many restaurants and shops you don't see in other places. JY Park
sjöng om detta i sin retrostylade låt förra året. The thing is, I came there during daytime, I really couldnät have told it was a specially un-korean neighborhood beyond maybe a few more bars with european names. But it was 98% korean(looking) people on the streets, so Itaewon have nothing on some swedish suburbs I know of, that I promise you. Good or bad, I don't know, but I think this again reminds us how important cultural and national identity are for the Koreans, which somewhat reminds me of our sister country Norway. They also have a rather recent independence from day and are surrounded but bigger nations.
So, anyway. I went on to the city area I live next to, Hongdae, which is an area with lot of students from Hondik University, and naturally then has a lot of nightlife, shopping and not so pricey stuff but preferably a little different then your usual "Mart stuff". I found it to be a very nice area for small shopping, and found lots of fun stuff for very affordable prices.
Design galleria with very nice and different presents. Sadly I couldn't decide on what to buy, finding this place at the end of my walk, already having ticked of all on my list.
So, sorry sister, but these bees on a iron hexagon grille (for notes) didnt make it past the cut
Just out of coincidence I found this store in a besement which sold vintage clothes
and heres the logo, Divineshop
There I found a really nice leather jacket, which read "McGregor" and made in korea, but the shop owner said Japan, and when I googled it seems to be a replica of WWII A-2 flying jacket, a real find for the same price you buy a sweater at home. It really completed a kind of biker-yakuza look I had been imagining, haha. It looked somewhat like this but not as original, instead more lika a fantasy of world war two, with some stickers on it (flyer related but clearly of a more "war romantic" and recent origin). I'd guess my one is from 70s-80s.
It also finallly forced me to realize I have to give up my idea of only having hand luggage on the flight back to sweden, so now I will have to let the slightly broken one serve as bearer of extra clothes and such, and I will fill my new one (another very nice find) with the more precious stuff. I will look like a Himalyan Sherpa. ;-)
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