the soul of seoul

[Guest]

will be heading to seoul for a little trip in march... any suggestions?

[c]

don't know what happened to my message...

but

will be in seoul for a few days in march.

suggestions?

[bam93270]

used to live in seoul for close to 4 yrs...

for shopping, cool shops are located in the apkujong/chongdam area, around the Galleria dept. store...walk in the small streets round and around and u shall find interesting stuff...

Boon shop is the main select shop but mostly for women...Blouson also interesting...then try to find MMMG, the only cool Korean designer brand selling stationery, t-shirts and cie..very Korean, different from Made in Japan stuff...

dongdaemun is a night market for clothes with thousands of outlets....korean designers, not always cheap but worth the look...

myongdong is for young teens and very crowded on w/e...avoid the area except insa-dong for laid back tea houses and art galleries..

for after hours...

S bar in Apkujong has really nothing peculiar except the fact that it was the first bar in Seoul to feature that long counter...Koreans usually like to sit and sip...the counter is a major pick-up place so bring yr smile and don't balk when ordering the Blue label....they have Belvedere vodka...

in the same area, newly opened Sugar next to the Doosan park in B1 had some good opening party back in Dec..(met that cute L'Oreal Korea model who's also on Toshiba ads at the airport)...my man DJ Jinwook spinning there ocasionaly...

for quiet oriental lounge, head for Sahm behind Once in a blue moon (famous jazzÂ@club) and my buddy DJ Ken plays deep house and easily goes to R'N'b and hip-hop....made the final 8 at the latest MTV DJ contest....all waiters hired on their look so dress to undress.

not far, the Underground, opening party with DJ MissBliss last Dec...very loud...check for flyers...

the real Korean night though is in the Pojangmacha...sit around the table, order some Midori-soju and some Kimchi seafood stew and you're set to meet your new best friends...try Nori People (60inch PDP, hip-hop and hot night birds) and Moya (sign only in Korean)...

for some serious underground clubbing, head to Hongdae area...Matmata runs its 'Small club BIG DJ' gig with DJ Yeonju (house, progressive)..dont get there until 3am...really amazing how they pack so many people in a Tokyo-sized apartment...also try MI, the oldest club in Seoul..packed, young crowd and DJ Unkle plays a progressive, hard beat and sometimes tech-house sound every friday and saturday...most clubs are located next to each other..just ask people...also try NB, a hip-hop joint where foreigners (i mean caucasian) are not very welcome (foreigners pay double-charge)....sweaty, young but soooo fun....

best parties in Seoul are one-off parties organized by SWAY, O2 production, Nori people, etc....check www.townmax.com, they usually advertise these kind of events (the rest of the site sucks)...also www.seoulite.com run by my friend Sonja has some info (but not always updated)...

need more info let me know.

peace.

[Jean Snow]

I went to Seoul for 2 days last Summer. Really liked the Insadong area. Check out the Do Art design shop. I bought one of these mmmg bags there (dark brown one):

http://mmmg.net/

Jean Snow

http://jeansnow.net

[iba]

you can also find Lomo cameras in that shop...

[c]

thank you bam93270!!!

[iba]

it's actually www.seoulite.net btw..

hope you have fun there..i just love this city

[adamgreenfield]

Seoul is a fabulous place; I've written extensively about the pleasure I take in its chaos. I hope you have a wonderful time. (Much of the above suggestions sound good to me.)

[joen]

the similarly-named koon is the new spot for the metrosexual (who else hates that label?) it's just up the hill from boon the shop.

mostly men's... dolce & gabbana, marc jacobs, gucci (tom ford), YSL (rive gauche), a.p.c., etc...

the popular NB hip-hop joint in the hongik university area has opened a second (more popular) club in the gangnam station area... very decent music but packed to the gills with scantily-clad teenyboppers on the weekends. cube, heaven, and underground have all opened in apgujeong, spinning hip-hop, house, trance, and a bit of breakbeat on different days.

Edited by joen on Feb 27, 2004 at 02:35 PM

[c]

seoul was fab - thanks again for all the tips!

insadong topped my list for atmosphere...

[jennifer]

Hey everyone,

If you are ever visiting Seoul, you should def. check out the site www.seoulstyle.com

it`s the hippest guide to life in Korea (restos, bars, culture, blogs) and there are loads of shopping tips. There`s even a section where you can see what trends are hot in Korea right now!!

jen