korea :: seoul :: general

[dismalfuture]

bahaha, you called it. Tell them Andrew said hi when you go in there next. If kimchigirl is bogarting the shop staff discounts in the retail war zone that is Seoul, where she knows better, she deserves removal from the DMZ.

[dizzhizz]

RAF is where, dizz? I forgot...

It was a shame, that first season of Raf for Jil was so overpriced and taxed in Korea that when the sales rolled around, both the Jil flagship store and the Galleria still had their whole buy on the floor well into December... I really wanted that keyhole neck jawn, but it was still like $600 on sale...

RAF be up in Boon da Shop along with some Rick Owens, Margiela and PRPS denim??? WTF??? Dont forget DSquared nigga and Moncler jackets for like 80만원.

ECRU also carries Raf, Acne, Margiela, Neil B., but with a very limited stock supply.

The staff at ECRU are also fucking lame and retarded.

[dizzhizz]

ok, so, dizz you atually in seoul at moment/march onwards?

Yup, I'm here and will be here for your arrival and your departure. I'm stuck in this place.

bahaha, you called it. Tell them Andrew said hi when you go in there next. If kimchigirl is bogarting the shop staff discounts in the retail war zone that is Seoul, where she knows better, she deserves removal from the DMZ.

Will do. Kimcheegirl needs to get reprimanded ASAP. A couple of bitch slaps might be required from the likes of golden gloves.

[dismalfuture]

RAF be up in Boon da Shop along with some Rick Owens, Margiela and PRPS denim??? WTF??? Dont forget DSquared nigga and Moncler jackets for like 80만원.

ECRU also carries Raf, Acne, Margiela, Neil B., but with a very limited stock supply.

The staff at ECRU are also fucking lame and retarded.

Man, fuck Boon's prices, seriously. Last time I was there some asshole in a Bentley Mulliner pulled up and took out the entire store and was my size, so I was like 'welp, thats that'... most expensive Yohji and Ann on earth. That other shop that used to be on Rodeo and moved next to Boon that has all the worn out Dior floor samples had Ann D. for half of what Boon wanted.

[dizzhizz]

Boon's prices are pretty much rape but when you have no patience and fucking department store gift certificates, a Margiela knit sweater aint bad for 30만원...i think.

Peeps are stepping up their car games here in Kangnam - lambos and ferraris have been replaced with the likes of bentleys and maseratis.

[dismalfuture]

yup, VWAG has been doing immense business in Seoul the past 8 years, they must've shipped all the dark grey six-cylinder A6's directly to Korea. BMW probably can't make enough arctic silver 320i's for Korea either. Man, what a terrible city to drive in though. Better to just build stacks off charging poor people to live, and copping one of those brown Maybach 62's like we saw down in Youido that one time and getting a driver.

You know what? After living over there 5 years, I've come to the conclusion that the only real material things worth buying in Korea are Korean-made guitars. You can cop a lot of those Gretsch Heritage series jawnz they made for Guitar Center to sell at $1000-1500, for like 30-40 man won. I copped a Gretsch parlor-style A/E with a bookmatched 10 top, doubletone burst top/cleared 10 flame sides, active Fishman guts, and more abalone than a D45, and it was like $400. Got a nice orange Gretsch archtop with a Bigsby vibe for like $350 as well, both with cases, BNWT. Good deals I reckon. Many years ago I also got one of those swiss-cheese hole blackburst Celebrity Deluxes with all the trimmings and a hard case for 220,000W when it was like 1350W/$1 so I stole that for like $180. The day I copped that I was still a total noob with the bus system and I went the wrong way from Jongro and ended up past Jungneung at like 8pm when i was trying to go back to home at Ewha. I'd passed the Pakistani restaurant that is now Napoleon bakery that was at the end of Samseon market at Hansung and knew I was in for some shit, fucking terrifying to be lost up in the shithole that is northern Seoul.

[madeinkorea23]

damn so much reading in here haha. but when i went to buy my diors over summer, the female sales associates were nice but there was this sagajee dude working who probably thought he was the shit working at dior homme and had very little enthusiasm to help me out. the female sales associate chuckled though as she waited for me to get 26 man won out of my wallet all in manwons.

[dismalfuture]

haha, i only use cash as well and somehow can never draw 수표 from those oldass Shinhan ATMs they have in there, so I often walked into the Galleria and made them count 2,000,000W at a time in man wons, haha.

[madeinkorea23]

haha countin 200manwon in singles aint no joke considering i already had a hard time with 26 man won. but yeah usually i always have 만원s in singles so it makes my wallet damn fat which i hate. korea needs to make some other bills that are larger than 만원 but less than a 수표. carrying those singles just doesn't work too well haha

[dismalfuture]

They're comin out with a hundy I think. Will be good, though they really need a 50 and a 20 spot as well. 10 man won can go up in smoke in Korea so easily these days with the strong won, it's like living in London and watching your money just vaporize. Who would've guessed Tokyo would ever be more economical living than Seoul?

[madeinkorea23]

seriously. my parents left to korea for a while and sister moved to LA for good so now im living alone for couple weeks and im eating out a lot cause i cant cook for crap except fry some spam with eggs and cook rice. i realized that im spending an average of 20-30 a day minus gas money and this is def. not good. if i was in korea, i think i could find better food for cheaper than in america though. eating at boonshik jibs and stuff would def. save me money. i mean even ja jang myun is only 3000won in korea. damn i wish i was in korea.

[DEPHT]

dool dool chicken always hit the spot so much better than pizza when I was drunk

[dismalfuture]

Koreans have been getting pretty serious, kebab and shawarma are standard drunk food nowadays in Seoul, and I for one loved it. No proper Mexican places or pho after like 10pm which is weak, but it takes time...

Mik23, why are you bitching about being left home alone by your parents? This is when you take out mom's S500 and bang tenderonis all day and night and burn J's in your living room.

[madeinkorea23]

i recently had an accident with my mom's benz so im scared as shit to take it out again. im just stressed out cause of school and midterms and theres no tenderonis i want to smash cause the girls are and buring J's aint gonna happen cause i got a yearly health check up coming up where they do piss blood x ray whatever else there is and that douche bag korean doctor who takes advantage of my insurance to draw my blood every visit will not care about keeping my results confidential even though im 18 and will tell my mom that i have been blazing.

and dismal i read in a post earlier but do you have an A4 avant?

[dismalfuture]

yeah, I've been rollin in a B6 sport packet as of late, but I'm probably gonna get something different soon, I miss my BMWs and am not the biggest Audi fan. I just got this because it was my turn to get the hand me down, my little sister got the S60R last time because I've been away. Gonna build some kind of Godzilla BMW before fall comes around I think.

[madeinkorea23]

damn i sure as hell wouldn't mind a b6 sport avant. whats your price range for your next car? im messing around with a mk4 jetta right now and plannin on sellin it soon to get the new mk5 gti or audi a3. as much as BMW's lookin nice these days, i kinda wanna stick with VAG.

[dismalfuture]

Not sure really, I guess it'll cost whatever it costs, but I still keep coming back to old-school Bimmers so it'll probably cost virtually nothing to start and a fortune to finish, which is how my cars usually go.

Been thinking about dropping by Japan when I go on my trip later this year, and sending one of those dirt cheap, clean, all-show/no-go Japanese used cars that are loaded up with rare out of production parts back home and combining one of those later with a basketcase chassis and throwing a monster built/blown driveline in and making everything mint. My heart is really set on a 500-600hp/6spd old school car, thinking blown 4.4L V8 in a malachite green E34 Touring wagon chassis, M kit and trim, rare shoes and R comps, a car I would keep for awhile.

[madeinkorea23]

damn. that would be dope. e34's are great looking and some of my friends are modding e34's right now. you don't want to keep the audi and mod it?

[dismalfuture]

nah, this is a Tip and I miss cutching. Plus I hate how Audi's handle, they plow through corners, I thought I was done with that when I sold my last hybrid Honda like 8 years ago. Hard ass seats too, and everything takes years to figure out. I still don't know how to turn on the back window wiper.

Girls hate the wagons, lol. Oh well, girls have never liked my cars, I had the first Spoon'd hybrid EG hatch in my area way way back when, I think this one girl dumped me for a guy who had an Eclipse GS-T because his car had a trunk.

[madeinkorea23]

haha damn. yeah if its tip go for something with manual transmission. thats what i hate about my jetta right now cause its an auto. i personally think some wagons are dope but i guess it doesn't have that girl-attracting factor but hey, its an audi haha

[thomas_highstreet]

dismal, if you want a straight production bima, get the 335 diesel. by far the nicest engine at the moment.. my pop has the 330d coupe, and its fucking rapid, the 335 is supposed to blow it away. with engine profile its an m3 beater too aparently

e30 is so cool. in white.

[madeinkorea23]

even the 135 thats coming out got some damn quick times but then again it was from car and driver who usually has faster times than any other source.

[thomas_highstreet]

thats the 135 petrol i think.. not sure if they make the diesel..

i know its hated on, but diesel is the way forward. more grunt accross the board!

i drive 120d and its pretty quick

[dismalfuture]

haha, my last one post about cars before this thread turns into a complete wreck...

I can't get down with Bangle Bimmers, I just won't do it. I think the newest Bimmer I like is the E46 M3 pigcar, but I'd sooner cop a 996 3.6 or something of that nature.

E30's are nice, I've had 2 way back in the day. I've had like 9 cars thus far and out of all of them, I must say that my m42 318iS that I had on Yoko A008R's (years before those Azenis came out) was the most fun for wringing the absolute shit out of in the twisties. The thing about E30's though, is that they're small, and usually complete ghetto beaters in the US now...

Which is why I keep coming back the E34... I went to Europe in like 95? or sometime around there and the E34 was like the car, at the same time they had that 540i sport in the US that was a fast car for its time (still pretty rapid fwiw).. to me, the E34 is that perfect combination of looking classic and handsome (i.e. like an E30)/being nice enough on the inside so I don't feel bad about the money it eats (not like an E30)/looks serious if done right...

When I had my 540, I had it on staggered 245's and 265's on big BBS's and had it dropped to zero finger gap, and being that the color that it was, I never once got pulled over by cops or even got a second look, I used to catch old men admiring my car at stoplights all the time, and the suspension/wheels made it look tough enough for kids in Hondas and Dubs to always pull up to stoplights and want to race...

The E34 M5 Touring is one of those cars on my all-time list, and guys have been bringing them over nowadays fairly easily it seems, but I like the wide-grill E34's and it seems a lot more practical to build a mongrel US-Spec car the exact way I want it, rather than hope and pray with one of those Euro M5 3.8's with all the unobtanium parts..

Anyhow...

[thomas_highstreet]

yeh.. those 5s are so rad.

i agree the e30 is a bit small looking and probably a bit stale inside, but its more for fun, my main car will stay the 07/08 120d

but.. back on topic - homo hill?

[dismalfuture]

alright, Homo Hill...

not sure if they're showing up on Google Earth yet (i'd pin this all out for ya but I don't know the first thing about it) but if there were a place to best represent Sodom and Gomorrah on earth, I think it'd be Hooker Hill and Homo Hill, which are adjacent to each other.

The thing about Itaewon is that even if you go there swearing to God that you won't buy hookers, you will still run out of beer money at the regular pub and the nearest after-hours cash points are 1) across from the Hamilton Hotel and 2) the 7-11 next the Russian/tranny hooker clubs. Unfortunately #2 is always closer than #1, so you will get to 7-11, you will be spitting distance from Hooker Hill, and that is usually when it all falls apart really.

Hooker Hill boasts about 15 mini-brothels with fat G.I. whores, like 3 Country and Western-themed bars, and Polly's Kettle, which you will end up at sometime during your stay. Just don't drink the kettles at Polly's Kettle unless you're absolutely destitute.

The one saving grace of Hooker Hill is that it is the last place in Seoul to close up shop, and where all the other clubs and pubs are done at 6am, Hooker Hill goes to noon. I once spent an evening in Hongdae, took a palmful of amps that froze to me well, and Hooker Hill came in handy because there was nothing going off at 9am Sunday morning besides. It was so late in the morning that the subway was in full mode again, so I rode the subway over shivering the entire way. The brothels all close up a few hours after daybreak so it's just the western pubs left. Oh well, desperate measures when you need to be social sometimes. I accidentally left my Dior Homme zip up jacket at the same bar a couple years ago, and I went back the next week and they'd kept it for me even though I think that was the first I'd been in and didn't drink much at theirs. It's hard to find a good honest brothel district bar these days, A+++ will do again, highly recommended.

If you go back down the hill, be shrewd to avoid the trannies across the street, you go up the next alley on the left, running parallel to Hooker Hill, and you come to Homo Hill. I don't want to ruin the surprise for ya, but they're all like miniature gay bars, and have great names. 'Always Homme' is relaxed enough to usually not get cruised before you get to finish your beer. 'Queen' the club, on the other hand is like hell on earth where you run a good chance of being kissed on the mouth by another man, but also with a lot of unsuspecting hot girls inside.

There's a little hetero hostess bar on the top of Homo Hill, on the left, in some basement with these 2 ladies in there who were aways nice to me. I was about half their ages so they let me in and let me drink cheap whenever times got hard and chat me up, so it was a good rainy day stop.

Last but not least, another short jaunt up from Homo Hill going up, you get to What the Book? used bookstore, and the Itaewon International Market, both good shops. That International market is a Paki store and carries some groceries and produce you'd never see in Korea outside of there, no idea where they get some of it. They regularly have okra and limes, for instance.

Going back down the hill, the cross street of Hooker Hill turns into Nigerian alley if you cross the main drag, and Friday nights you usually get the loudest restaurant clientele all in one shop. There's a little taco stand on the corner that's good drunk food, but stay away from most of the Korean food carts that stay open, as you're guaranteed to be sandwiched on a bench between a transvestite hooker from the clubs above, and a muscled pimp/enforcer, eating away at scallion pancakes. Good conversation at first, but you will probably end up with your wallet stolen and a broken spine maybe.

[azn8oi]

where's the part where you're pantless with a condom hanging off the end of your knob at daybreak?

[xcoldricex]

i'm still mad you weren't in seoul when i was dismal.

[dismalfuture]

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Had a trainspotting Renton-ish moment many years ago; woke up near the top end of Hooker Hill near the staircase that goes back down to the Japanese end of Itaewon, with a 500 mil bottle of Cass (the size of beers you return for deposit at the shops and share in glasses, but Polly's Kettle just sells the big beers as their regulars) with the neck broke off and 2/3rds of my beer still in there, a broken condom on my phallus, and a yakitori stick in my other hand with that red barbeque sauce on my thumb and index finger. That late May Seoul morning humidity combined with the sound of the buses running again woke me up, so I got up and dusted myself off, checked in my wallet for my bus card and tried to cop an orange juice and smokes at LG25, but I discovered that I had burnt through 300,000W the night before somehow. I had 1200W left on my bus card so shrugged it off and figured it was a night in Itaewon.

[azn8oi]

i like that story.