DAY 7 IN SEOUL(Part 2) - Visiting Apgujeong - Seoul's high end shopping area

After settling down in our new hotel, we took the subway to Apgujeong

The affluent district of Apgujeong may not boast as wide a selection of shops as, say, Myeongdong, it's neighboring counterpart. But what Apgujeong shops lack in variety, they most certainly make up for ten fold in quality. With virtually few street stands or outdoor vendors to speak of, most of the purchasing is done indoors at lavish department stores or the myriad fashionable shops dotting the many side streets. Apgujeong has long been regarded as “The Beverly Hills of Seoul”, where fans of stylish, upscale goods wil find a mecca there. Prices there are steep of course, so if money’s no object, you can shop to your heart's content. Many nice pieces we saw there was from $200SGD onwards.

We decided to take a walk around the outskirts of Apgujeong to soak in the atmosphere beyond the glitzy shopping district and also to look for normal Korean lunch fare.


(Above) Apartments of middle class Koreans - makes us appreciate our HDB flats which look sprucier and cleaner.


(Above)Nice European architecture


(Above)We spied a familiar icon - Coffee Bean and Tea Leave

Walking is for most part faster and more interesting than taking public transport such as taxis and buses sicne most likely, you will get caught in a jam. We took some pictures of traffic in Seoul and it is not even peak hour yet.




(Above) Bad Traffic in Seoul


(Above) Crossing the road in Seoul, you can't just assume you have the right of way. Watch out for incoming traffic even if you are on a pedestrian crossing.


(Above) We saw this adorable puppy at a pet shop.

We came across this lunch eatery at one of the side streets and since there was office crowd going inside to have a munch, we decided to give it a try.

(Above) Shop front of the eatery we patronised.


(Above) Inside the eatery


(Above) Eugin waiting hungrily for lunch


(Above)Standard Korean fare


(Above) Korean luncheon meat


(Above)Side dish - Anchoivies


(Above) Sie dish - Seaweed


(Above) Eggroll


(Above)Traditional Bean Paste Stew


(Above) Prices at the eatery

After lunch, we proceeded on down the main street until we came to the road sign - Apgujeong Street.



(Above) Gayle posing at Apgujeong Street


(Above) More Street scene

You know that you are in Apgujeong when the buildings start to feature avant garde designs and the cars around you get posher!

(Below)Avant garde designed buildings










(Below) Cars start to get flashier by the minute. SMall snazzy cars like the Chevolet Spark to the usual continental suspects -BMW, Porsche, Land Rover, Audi.















(Below) Major brands are well presented from LV to Tommy Hilfinger











(Above) One thing about Korean shops is that the ymake effort to design and give each of their shop a unique decor.






(Above) The shopping queen at work : )


(Above) Space is at a premium, double level parking




(Above) range of cafes on offer for tired shoppers - Italian cafes to theme based cafes like the monopoly cafe


(Above) Singapore noodle house at Apgujeong


We came pass Once in a Blue Moon(Above) is one of the best known jazz clubs in Seoul that features two different bands playing live jazz sets every night starting at 7 p.m. up to 10 p.m. This place exudes an elegant, sophisticated atmosphere, which is perfect for a romantic date. Many Korean dramas have used the club as a filming location, such as My Lovely Samsoon where the main characters, Jin-heon and Hee-jin enjoy wine and cocktails while watching a jazz performance there. This jazz club is located on the street between the Hakdong intersection and the Galleria intersection in Apgujeong-dong. From what we read, the jazz played here is one of the best in the city -- a comprising sax, drum and piano with some voices playing mostly standard and familiar jazz riffs and melodies, with exceptional improvisitory solos from every member extending each song to 10+ minutes, which is the way good live jazz should be.

We decied to head to Myeongdong to soak in the World Cup atmosphere and to look for dinner there. That day happened to be a big world cup match featuring South Korea versus Argentina


(Above) Myeongdong shopping street entrance


(Above)Face painting for soccer fans!


(Above) Dropping by CK shop as there a sale there.


(Above) Accessories galore at Myeongdong street carts.

(Below)We had dinner at one of the crowded stew shops.







(Above)Caught in the rush, getting out of the subway station.

We got the shock of our life getting back as we forgot that there was a live screening of the soccer match in front of COEX, opposite our hotel. As a result, we almost got 'crushed' by the crowd. It was so crowded that the subway train refused to stop at the station at our hotel as there was fear of stampede so we had to stop one stop earlier and walked back to our hotel. We had to use the backstreets which took a longer time as the main street was choked with people. What an experience!


(Above) The scene of the crowds at the live soccer screening from our hotel room


(Above)We watch the world cup from our room and it was an experience as you could hear the crowds roaring and floodlight and laser shows everytime South Korea came close to scoring


(Above) After the soccer match, we retired to our cozy bed for a good night's sleep.

DAY 7 in SEOUL(Part 1) - Moving to Seoul Park Hyatt Hotel

(Above) Welcome to Seoul Park Hyatt - Hotel keycard

Day 7, we woke up earlier to finish our packing and got ready to check out after breakfast at our service apartment at Somerset Palace Seoul.With our huge backpacks, we were able to stuff our shopping buys in them, making our movement much easier during our walk from the service apartment to the subway station at Anguk. We enjoyed our stay at Anguk with it's very central location to the Anguk shopping and food area and certainly recommend it as a good location to stay at.
As we were finishing up the remaining of our trip shopping at the other side of the Han river - Apgujeong, Gangnam, we felt that it would be more convenient for us to stay in that area and also to splurge a little and live the good life, we opted to book our remaining 3 nights at Seoul Park Hyatt which is conveninetly sited just outside the Samseong subway station and COEX shopping mall.


(Above)Ticket machine at the subway




(Above)Us at the subway station waiting for the train to Samseong


(Above) Alighting at our stop at Samseong station

On arrival, we got out from exit 1 and walked around outside the station, looking opposite at the buildings trying to figure out which was Hyatt.We had heard that it was quite near the station and the hotel was so exclusive that it was not featured in the tourist map. Then suddenly, Eugin looked behind and found that we were actually just standing outside the hotel entrance. It had been behind us all the time as we were preoccupied thinking that the hotel would be from across the street.


(Above)Seoul Park Hyatt building - a classy icon in the Gangnam area.

On entering the hotel, straightway, the bellboy welcomed us in crisp clear English, something we havent heard for some while in Seoul. His command of clear and articulate spoken English would have put a number of our English Language school teachers in Singapore to shame. He brought us to a guest relations officer who brought us up to the 20th floor where the lobby was located. service was extremely polite and efficient. Again, efficiency was due to the opportunity to converse in English with the staff at the hotel that one stays in during a trip to a non ENglish speaking country.It was really nice to be able to converse in clear English with people after 6 days of sign langauage,smattering of mandarin, pointing,communicating through pictures taken on eugin's iphone. After getting our loadful of information for our planned trip to Apgujeong, we headed for our room -Room 701 on the 7th floor.


(Above) Security feature. There are no lift buttons for the room floors. You just insert your keycard and yr floor number on the lift panel will light up.


(Above) Gayle in her traditional pose opening the hotel door.


(Above) Personalized welcome message on the TV


(Above) Welcome tea for us


(Above)Floor to ceiling glass affords us a paranomic view of the city area.You can see the Hotel Interconinetal on the left and COEX shopping mall and offices and world trade centre on the right.


(Above)Bringing the shades down to make the room cozy


(Above) Nice dining area


(Above)Resting our tired butts on the super comfy king sized bed


(Above)Gayle exploring her make up counter in the room.


(Above) View from the shower and toilet area - must always remember to activate the shades to prevent major embarassment from being naked in front of so many office workers in the offices opposite.


(Above)Taking a photo in our room.


(Above) While I took a short nap, Gayle was reading


(Above)The $10 000 toilet bowl from Toto - our dream toilet bowl :)


(Above)Remote control for the toilet bowl - just the thing for us lazy people




(Above) Seoul Park Hyatt is so convenient - the subway station is just outside the hotel's main entrance, now what else can one ask for - this is a boon especially when you are coming back legs tired and your hotel room is just right outside the train station exit.




(Above) Our hotel room from the street across, on level 7 - the upper one of two rooms with the shades drawn up.


(Above) Us taking a photo together outside our hotel entrance before making our way to take the subway to Apgujeong station.More on Apgujeong in the next posting.For those interested, we paid $360 a night for our stay at Hyatt.