Hongdae

Yesterday I forgot to tell you about my evening! Jet lag caught up to me and I woke up far too early, so I might as well do a short post.

My apartment is close to Hongdae, a trendy university-centered neighborhood in western Seoul. If most of my day yesterday was spent traversing ancient palaces and temples, Hongdae is the polar opposite of that, exactly what people have in mind when they trot out the cliché of a city being “a land of contrasts”. The main avenue is all lights and sounds and shops and lots of young people milling about and tourists and expats and even buskers doing K-pop dances to crowds of onlookers. Pretty much the first thing I ran into when I walked onto the avenue was this gig with live music and also some kind of market?

A markedly different vibe from the monk chants in Jogyesa!

As soon as I passed them I walked into Colline, a café that I had saved to my map… honestly I don’t remember when or why. I must have seen it recommended in a guide or on Reddit or somewhere! Unlike many chain coffee shops, this one has ambiance to spare, with hipster chunky wooden furniture and a beautiful, plant-filled exterior that unfortunately didn’t shine so bright at night. A very quiet, pleasant spot to relax with a drink and some sweets, although I did raise my eyebrow when they told me they didn’t have green tea, and when a chamomile and lavender herbal tea and a croissant cost me like €9. Five-euro teas are not uncommon in Europe’s trendy neighborhoods either, to be fair, and with this one at least they gave me an extra supply of hot water so I could get seconds!

(A note about maps: due to privacy or data protection laws, Google Maps does not work in Korea, I mean, you can access the app, but the information in it is out of date and it does not display directions, so you absolutely have to download a local map app if you want to go anywhere here. I’m using Naver Maps, although some people use Kakao Maps. Both display text in English and Korean, so you don’t need to speak the language to use them, but it does help if you can read hangul.)

After my 6PM pick-me-up, I kept walking up the Hongdae shopping street, checking out stores here and there. There’s a Line Friends store, which sells cute animal plushies that are apparently famous on their own? As in, not from a movie or a TV show or anything? They even have a line of BTS animal mascots.

I also checked out a branch of Olive Young, one of Korea’s biggest skincare and cosmetics store chains. As I’m sure you know, Korean skincare is extremely popular worldwide right now, so traveling here is an excellent opportunity to stock up on supplies for cheaper than you would find back at home. The problem with going to the Shangri-La of skincare, of course, is the overwhelming abundance of products. I’d done a little bit of research, naturally, so I had some idea of the different kinds of items I might be interested in (the full Korean skincare routine can include up to ten steps!! You’ll want to pick the ones most important for you) and also learned some brands to look out for, but even then I was completely lost as I browsed shelves upon shelves upon shelves of all sorts of products. This was a recon trip, though, so I took the chance to get an idea of what to look for when I eventually go back to buy something . Facial masks make for cool, light, cheap omiyage (if you buy a pack of 10 you can get them for less than €1 each), and then if push comes to shove the Buy 1 Get 1 Free offers or sales can help you make a decision.

I also looked into Troubadour, a big clothing store packed with tons of clothes of a style that is difficult to define. If you’ve seen any K-drama, you will recognize the Korean style: neutral colors, few or no patterns, baggy fit, very normal and sober but still comes off kind of trendy. Didn’t find anything that caught my eye.

By this point I’d made it to the end of Hongdae Street, so I made my way back down a huge avenue that runs parallel to it, lined with high-rises and big-name stores, like a giant Samsung glass box that looked like a flagship store but maybe isn’t?

Although I was tired and cold, I appreciated the walk as an opportunity to look at the buildings, the shops, the people, getting to know a different side of Seoul, one that reminded me of Tokyo’s Ginza or Harajuku districts. And then I got a 7-11 gimbap (Korean sushi) to go and called it a night!