Places of Interest in Seoul, Day 1

In day 1 in Seoul, our team Gumihos and the Saram visited a few places of interest - the 2002 Fifa World Cup Stadium and the Lotte Shopping Mall Young Plaza in Myeongdong.

After a hearty breakfast at the airport, we quickly filed onto our bus and made our way to the first stop of the day – the 2002 Fifa World Cup Museum.

Being there, you could almost see a 66,800 strong crowd cheering its lungs out. Despite the emptiness of the venue, there was still much to occupy our minds as the soccer World Cup culture has come a long way in South Korea; ultimately culminating in her very viable presence in the prestigious tournament.

With the rain stubbornly refusing to let up, we found ourselves getting ferried to yet another destination. This time, we went on a little shopping spree to perk up our lethargic bodies – and it sure did!

We were then quickly whisked off to the underground Lotte Shopping Mall Young Plaza in Myeongdong to get some good deals as well as seek shelter from the gloomy midday showers.

Upon arrival, a cross-breed of our very own Citylink Mall and Far East Plaza came to mind; rows and rows of stores followed the perimeter of the subterranean area that mainly consisted of mid-priced boutiques, K-Pop paraphernalia shops and stores selling little traditional Korean knick-knacks.

To our disappointment, the shopping there proved to be slightly too expensive and not quite to our liking and for a good 30 minutes or so, our team just trudged around the premises, in search of something to spark our interest. Finally, we succumbed to the inner K-Pop fans in all of us and decided to browse through some K-Pop merchandise.

Soon after, all hell broke loose: the fangirls (and fanboy) whom we truly were showed no mercy as we ravaged through calendars, posters, notepads, keychains and even socks with our favourite Korean idols’ faces on them. The storekeeper Ahjumma (which means auntie in Korean) was a total sweetheart and offered us each a free item brandished by a star of our choice. In the end, we emerged with a whopping total of more than SGD$100 worth of wall posters, photobooks and many other of such products.

Although shopping for K-pop merchandise was definitely the highlight of our time in the Myeongdong Underground Shopping Area, others will surely find something more towards their preference amongst the selection of stores there.

Signing off,

Gumihos and the Saram (Felicia Tan, Zhu Yuan Laura, Kelly Choo, Zoer Ng, Kimberly Teo and Ryan Lok)

Article by Zhu Yuan Laura & Felicia Tan
Video edited by Kelly Choo
Video shot by Kimberly Teo & Kelly Choo
Photos by Ryan Lok
Hosted by Zoer Ng