More Shopping Mania...in Myeongdong

Well, I've done a terrible job of avoiding one of the aspects of the Korean Culture--Shopaholism. Once again, Saturday morning meant another day to travel into Seoul for some shopping, starting with a huge bookstore. It was very exciting to buy a few English books...of course I got girly books...hey, I'm here to educate myself and reading to entertain myself! I did read a really great book, however...it's called "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho and it's very motivating, not to mention it can be read in a day or two if you're an ambitious reader (or a nerd like myself).

After the bookstore, we headed to Myoengdong district...it's an outdoor shopping area packed with hundreds of "Western-ish" stores I'd never seen before and thousands of shoppers. I wasn't impressed very much by the selection and even less impressed by the prices, but I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I spotted a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Ahhh...Chai Tea Lattes make any day amazing. And the view of Seoul Tower wasn't too bad, either!

From Myeongdong, I parted ways with my shopping companions and took a taxi to Itaewon, where I encountered the greatest shock in my 3 weeks here...AMERICANS...and lots of 'em. More on that in my next post!!

A View of Seoul Tower from Myeongdong Shopping District.