Lomography

Seoul in Night
written by wil6ka on April 27th, 2008 (2 votes)

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Seoul is maybe not such a giant city as Tokyo or Shanghai, but it is still an Asian metropolis of its own kind. This is best seen, when walking through the streets at night. It makes bling-bling and flashes everywhere, even in the remotest of the areas.

Hence the mercantile attitude of the Koreans is so important for the growth of this town of ten million citizen, they try to advertise everywhere and to lighten up the night. And you can shop all day long until the sunset. You should check out Namdaemun Sijang, a market at the southern gate, especially for their collection of branded t-shirts. From there it is not too far to a shopping street area nearby the Euljiro street. I had the impression the shopping action just starts at night, when more and more booths are pulled onto the pedestrian area. And they surely have stylish clothing for a reasonable price. Of course that doesn’t help you when you are 2 m high.

But if you are my size you can really cope with the Korean products. If you are done shopping, the night has still much more to offer to you. There are so called PC-Bangs and DVD-Bangs. First named are really popular Internet cafes and most of the socialization of young Koreans is happening there while playing online on computers. These Bangs never close and already half a dozen youngsters died, because of dehydration while playing 3 days in a row. DVD-Bangs are nice alternatives to the local cinemas, which mainly play Korean films or international films without subtitles. But in the Bangs you can choose a couple of films and then you get a room with a sofa and you can have a show with your friends alone. I don’t know much about the nightlife I must admit, but nearby to Euljiro were quite a few clubs, including a hippyesqe doors-kind-of establishment.

There are many fast-food-tents everywhere on the street and it is quite interesting having your cup of rice-wine in your hand watching what is happening on the streets. You reach both the Namdaemun market and the shopping area via the metro and any station around Euljiro. The thing is, you will have to walk around a bit, but this is very nice and pleasant at night. If you don’t want to walk you should take a cab and show the driver the name of Namdaemun market to find it.