BEST CITY EVER :)

Click here to read a great article about Seoul and why it’s so awesome.

I loved this article… please please read it! Then maybe some people will actually come visit me 😉 haha! I especially liked:

– #30 – G-Dragon. I never use to get all the hype about this skinny, nasally-voiced guy but have grown to ADORE him and of course his fashion is just amazing.

-#19 – because I know the answer to the first question! What’s the best transgender bar in Itaewon? Queen of course, on Hooker Hill. Fun place!

-#14 – ‘A bang for every occasion’ – now that’s just funny!

-#1 – Galbi definitely earned first place. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t want to leave Korea :P!

the doors are on your left.

One thing that I discovered very quickly (thanks to some fellow teachers :)) is Gangnam station. This underground paradise is not merely a subway station. It is a shopping haven for pretty much any female under 40. I try not to go in when I’m feeling poor, but since I just got paid…. lets just say I spent a lot of money in a short amount of time. There are stores of every kind to make girls drool. From make-up to shoes to hair do-dads and cell phone trinkets and clothes, clothes and more clothes. I recently read that Gangnam station is up there for most expensive shopping destinations, but a smart shopper can find all kinds of outfits for under $10.

Did I mention that it’s also a subway station? The subway system is Seoul is world class. It’s clean, fast and definitely more efficient than sitting in the horrendous traffic at street level. It can get extremely packed, but I’ve never been so jammed that I couldn’t move… like I have on some other city’s subways.

My two favourite things about the subways are the songs and T-money. There are two totally awesome songs – one plays at the station to let you know that a train is approaching, the other plays on the train when you are approaching a transfer station. To hear these wonderful ditties (and get them stuck in your head all day), watch the video below.

 

 

Another fabulous Korean invention is the T-money card. At first I thought it was a simple card that you swipe to get onto the subway, but it’s so much more than that. You use T-money to get on the bus, you can pay for a taxi with it, pay for groceries and use it at stores at the station and I’m sure there are more uses that I haven’t even discovered yet! Basically, as long as there’s money on it, it’s all you need! No more cash or debit cards… it’s all about T-money.

Another feature about these cards, and about the subway itself is that you don’t just pay a set fee. You swipe your card to get onto the platform and when you leave the station. Apparently it calculates the distance you’ve gone and you pay accordingly. It’s 900 won (90 cents) to get on the subway, and then depending on how far you go, you could pay an extra 0-500 won to get off.

So it’s cheap, fast and fun, but there are a few downsides to the subway. It’s surprisingly only open until midnight or earlier. This is probably intentional, as Koreans are big drinkers and it might cause some problems to have the subways open after everyone’s had a few too many soju. I’ve also experienced a couple crazies on the subway. Nothing scary, mostly just pushy old ladies preaching about Jesus.

So the bottom line is getting around in Seoul is easy-peasy and it’s definitely one perk that I missed while living in a small town.