Saturday, October 9, 2010

Korea Report: Yongsan Electronics Market and Lotte Mart




I know I've stated in my previous report that Seoul is probably a great place for women especially girls who loves cosmetics!  It's definitely cosmetics and skincare heaven but that does not mean there's nothing for the guys!  This post is to prove that the dear men in our lives can enjoy Korea as much as girls!  

I, the tour agent of this trip!  Did the itinerary weeks before I left the country.  I made sure to insert something for the hubby!  He's been way too sweet to accompany me on my shopping trips to various cosmetic brands and its even sweet how he help me carry the stuffs I purchased!  Being the considerate wife that I am *ahem* hahahaha  I insisted to take him to the electronics market!

Yongsan Electronics Market, is a retail market comprising over 20 buildings housing 5,000 stores that sells anything from computer peripherals to cameras, mobile phones, appliances, etc...  This area is super big and I don't expect to walk all of them in half a day!  We've decided to take a peek and have an idea how "Electronics Market" in Seoul looks like!

The Electronics Market is located on Subway line 1, at Yongsan Station.  Once you come out of the station, you will be walking to another building which is a train station terminal to enter the Terminal Shopping Center.  Most major stores open from 10:00am to 8:00pm and most of the stores are closed on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month!  Keep in mind that the department stores and many shops in Seoul closes on a Monday!

A picture to show that you can see an arrow pointing to the Electronics Market...


We were only able to visit one building nearest the train station and we gave up because our feet our dead tired!  Here are some ninja shots!  The place is huge and very clean!  Most of them do not have the price posted on the product which means one thing --- you are expected to bargain!


On a side note, Mr. AMW wanted to purchase the newest Samsung Galaxy S which he thinks will cost cheaper as Samsung is a home grown brand.  Learned that most of the phones there are sold with phone plans and Koreans can get there phones for free.  If sold separately, it'll cost us a millions of Korean Won which is around Php50,000+ (approx $1,100+).  Way more expensive than purchasing it locally!




On a good note, our trip wasn't a waste because Mr. AMW was able to purchase lens protector for his new lens and I also purchased a camera strap for my Canon 1000D. 


I would say it was quite an experience. Most stalls do not speak English but as always, they are always willing to try to understand your needs.  There are a few stalls who have minimal English Speaking sellers.  

On our way back, we were able to chance up a sign that says 2010 F1 Korean Grand Prix.  Forced the hubby to take a photo! hahahah 



We also passed by a lovely cake shop and purchased a couple of pastries to bring back home..


Aren't these cute?


We always laugh at ourselves on how easy it is for us to get diverted!  We've decided to leave the electronics market to take some rest but ended up seeing another building called Lotte Mart and we've decided to shop a bit more for groceries!


I love Lotte Mart, the brand Lotte is quite huge in Korea!  In most countries that I visit, I make sure to visit to supermarket as I love taking a peek on food products that regular people would eat!  I love Korean Supermarket because they were packed with food!  Would you believe the dumplings here tastes really good?  Even better than some restaurants I've tried!



Downed 2 orders of these!
Quite spicy but there's water dispenser available for you for free!


Checkout the fresh lettuce for the Bulgogi wraps! 


I have to salute Lotte Mart for using paper bags instead of plastic bags!  And boy!  Their paper bags are quite sturdy!  As I said, we easily get diverted, instead of going back to the subway station, we looked up and saw this....


Of course we have to checkout the toys!  Boys will be boys!  Mr. AMW is excited to checkout this place and hey!  It's his day anyways!  His wishes are my command! :)

Well, I enjoyed looking around anyways and I don't really like watching animes but Sergeant Keroro is my thing!  I love them!!!


Mini Gundam


Bigger version Gundam


More Gundam



One Piece Characters


Okay, seriously, we went back to Myeongdong to put down our stuffs and took an hour rest raising our feet up in the air!  We've decided to have dinner in this really famous Gyoza place!  Took our Myeongdong map and it isn't hard to locate the place!  People were lining up!


This restaurants serve only 4 dishes in their menu!


We ordered the noodle soup


And their famous Gyoza


Orders came in quite fast and there are a lot of take out orders!  The noodle soup is quite tasty and the dumplings/gyoza tastes really good!  No wonder people line up for this!  By the way, if you are one Kimchi eater, better taste the Kimchi they serve here, it's the spiciest Kimchi I've ever tried in my entire "Kimchi-eating" life!!!

It was a day full of food and adventure and we had fun!  And here's a final picture before I end this post to show another dream come true! *laughs*  I'm actually just teasing you, it's not Mr. AMW's dream to do this but it's actually my idea to make him do this! hahahaha


Feel free to ask me if you have any questions!
To those who plan to check out groceries in Korea, Lotte Mart is really good and it's located at Seoul Station.

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!



14 comments :

  1. Wow, Korea is becoming more like Japan now. Electronics heaven, make-up and rich culture! I haven't been to both but looks like Korea is cleaner. =)
    The food looks delicious! especially the Gyoza..!
    Have a nice trip!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG nikki! yongsan was definitely myy dad's heaven too! he was just too overwhelmed with how huge it was. As a gadget addict, I must admit there was nothing I couldn't find there. The only downside was.. it was so huge that I did not know what to look and where to go -___- but still was a great place to visit.

    did you go to myeongdong? that's sure the best shopping area, at least for me.

    good to know you enjoyed your trip^^

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nikki, your posts make me want to go to south korea as in tomorrow na! Hahahhaa! Now that I've found out I'm quite healing gracefully (my mri shows that whatever was still inside my head last july is now a little bit smaller)the urge to travel is really high.

    Thanks for sharing your adventures!

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh my the cosplayers here will drool over that collection of gundam, so cute.

    i love those friend dumplings, i'm so glad we're close to a korean convenience store and my family and i can get that anytime. plus those korean dumplings have veges and it fools my nephew into eating veges LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey great post, love the pics...Lovely blog!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you so much for so thoroughly documenting your Korea trip! I definitely want to visit and I like to have these sorts of references. (:

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great blog!
    /manilastreetstyle.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aisyah, next stop, JAPAN! I'd love to explore Japan some day!!!

    Dea, I know right? It's HUGE HUGE HUGE and I just want to keep going but our legs are just giving up! Yes Dea, I actually stay right at the center of Myeongdong district, I don't have a hard time going around na nga, medyo memorize ko na yung shopping district of Myeong-dong, yabang ba? hahahaha!

    Lanie, yay! So happy that whatever's inside your head is getting tiny! GO GO GO! Keep staying positive and I'm sure, God is good and He has plans for you!!! Stay focus on getting better and go go go to Korea once you tied a knot!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Marge, oo noh! There are more pa! I just have no time to crop them all! I love Korean convenience stores, I always shop for coffee! Love their coffee!

    Rakhshanda, thanks for the visit

    Pfefi, I know what you mean, I made it as detailed as possible because I know how difficult it is to travel with language barrier!

    Manila, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am soooo excited na Nikki!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow!!!

    Keroro and Gundam!!!

    The food made me hungry na naman!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i'm dying of envy right now, as in this very moment. as in as of 4:51 in the morning. i really love korean food and been visiting korean resto here with my friends. we even get super excited when we go to a korean convinience store. south korea have been on my number 1 list of places to visit for 2 years. my worry would have to be the visa application. any advice? i would really really love to visit seoul! :D

    btw, i'm really inspired by your post. again i'm dying of envy! haha!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. canDIshhh, awww, :) so wanting to go back!

    Angelamhiere, hahaha you also watch Keroro? That's one of the few Jap Anime I watch!

    Aawww, don't die with envy! You must live to be able to visit Seoul someday!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sis, I think we should get Keithie and Nelly a gift voucher to get the F1 driving experience. We can send them playing with 'big boys' toys whilst we hit the shops hahahahaha!

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to comment your questions, suggestions and just anything you may want to say! Keep smiling and stay happy!