Shopping back home is so easy. Anything you want...Pick a price level. Go to that class of store. Select the one you want. Pay the price marked on the box and go home assured you got what you planned on getting.
Here in Seoul, that's possible only so long as you stay in the department stores but then selection is limited and prices are often high. At least limited and high compared to the many open markets.
Go to the markets and options widen greatly and prices become negotiable. The down side is that you often need to be pretty knowledgeable about your product or you might get burned on price and/or quality.
Buy an Izod shirt in the market thinking you got a great deal and you might discover a day or two later that your original Izod is a knock-off (or "genuine replica" as some vendors like to declare). Perhaps the alligator logo points the wrong way or maybe your clue is a button that pops off or discolors in the wash. Maybe it's a really good knock-off and you never find out. Maybe it's the real thing. This is "buyer beware" at it's utmost.
So far, we have begun to frequent 5 markets. Here's a bit about each and a bit on how the markets work to give you a flavor of market shopping...
Itaewon
Itaewon is really more of a shopping district than a market I suppose, but it fits in here as much of the shopping is with street vendors (very market like), it's probably one of the top places for knock-off shopping (extremely market like) and prices, even at many of the actual stores, are negotiable (market, market, market).
Itaewon is very close to our home. It's about 1 kilometer (1/2 mile) from our door to the point at which the shopping starts so we often walk here. It's become quite popular with us for several reasons other than it's closeness though. Number 1, they cater to westerners much more than other areas. This is where the US Army has been stationed ever since the Korean War, so in between the many bars and restaurants are loads of shops with English speaking dealers. Great for low stress buying.
Second, because of the catering to westerners, the clothes here might actually fit us. For instance, this is the only place we can get socks for Nancy and I. We now know a great street vendor here that has Nike, Polo and other brand name stuff (knock-off or not - no idea) real cheap and in our sizes. We've looked high and low elsewhere but Asian shoes pretty typically stop at a US men's size 7. Not in Itaewon. Heck, there's even a few of the big people making restaurants here (Burger King, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, and Outback).
Finally, it's absolutely knock-off heaven. Gucci, Dior and Coach hand bags = $10 to $60; designer belts $5 to $30; Izod, Polo, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Hilfiger and other big brand clothing $5-$20. Heck it's almost like being at Macy's, Nordstrom's or Sak's except for the Kimchi smell every where, the crowd, the taxi and bus horns sounding constantly, the guy behind you shouting "Hey American man, please come in my store. We have best, best tailor. Custom suit only $100", the ....well ok, it's pretty much nothing like those stores. But it's still cool. Especially when you're talking...
Watches! This is becoming my Seoul vice. Rolex, Bvlgari, Tag Huer, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Breitling. You can find "genuine replica" watches in Itaewon of medium to very high quality without trying too hard. Not as cheap as China (where a $1 garbage quality Rolex is easy to find) but much higher quality (that $1 China Rolex won't make it to the plane). Since the price still isn't cheap ($60 - $120), I have actually succumbed only twice so far but this is kind of a hobby among the Expat men here - trying to see who can get the best watches for the cheapest price. I have a Cartier that normally retails at about $3000 and a Bvlgari that would be around $5000 so far. At those prices, I'd never even be in the market, but at the "replica" price, well there's this Rolex and a Breitling at the dealer I've found and....um, well...back to the market review.
Dongdaemun (Great East Gate) and Namdaemun (Great South Gate) markets
Named for the nearby beautiful, old gates (over 600 years old) from the original walled city of Seoul, these are 2 of the primary markets in Seoul. While they are different areas, they are very similar experiences to the shopper so I'm covering them together.
Namdaemun is a set of alleys mostly with street vendors, very big crowds, and store front shops. Namdaemun is a wholesale market so while you can get almost anything here (squid to electronic gear to clothes to bikes to lingerie), you should plan to buy at least 2 of something and probably more than 4 if you want to get good prices (and why else come to the market - not for the smell). Some vendors don't even offer to sell in qualities of less than 10 so if it's one or of something you need, Namdaemun's probably the wrong place to be.
Dongdaemun is primarily textiles (clothes, fabrics, shoes, carpet, thread, yarn, etc.). Dongdaemun has few street vendors compared to Itaewon or Namdaemun, but instead has either vendors in one of several large multi-floor warehouse type buildings or single store front operations which pour out their doors into the streets. It's really the place to go and buy clothes and shoes if you want to save some money. Quality can very widely from Chinese sneakers you've never heard of for $2 to $400 Nikes or custom made leather dress shoes (real shoe makers - get measured, pick a style and show up later for your shoes). We bought Sarah's 8'x10' rug here for about $90 which is about half the price a local department store would charge.
As with all the markets, you have to play the negotiation game at the "Gate markets" as I call them. Not fun to me, but some people love it. Typically it goes like this (my house slipper purchase for example - hey wood floors beat the heck out of bare feet - no wonder everyone here wears them)...
Me: holding out the slippers I selected "Al My Yeah Oh" (how much)?
Vendor "Ship Chun won im ne da" ("10,000 won it is" about $10).
Me: " Oh!...Hmm" ("Oh...Hmm" - some stuff is the same everywhere). Make teeth sucking noise here (very important) and shake head. Long pause with disappointed look. Start to put them back then change my mind. Look around like maybe my wife is leaving. Hold the slippers and look thoughtful. Finally, counter offer..."Chill chun won?" 7000 won about $7.
Vendor: "On E Oh" No. Looks about like maybe he lost something. His turn for the teeth sucking noise. His counter offer - probably his last. "Pahl Chun won" 8000 won, about $8.
Me: "Nay" Yes. I've saved about 20% - heck I'm almost a local with that savings (typically a westerner won't do too well unless buying in bulk - usually about 5-10%).
All this took about 3 minutes or so. Not terribly long but the above was just for slippers. My watch purchases are 15-20 minute affairs, Sarah's carpet was also about 20 minutes, and back before X-mas our tree and lights took about 45 minutes...and my driver, a Korean, handled the negotiations. He got 35% off but we had to leave 3 times and there were some raised voices the 2nd time (Thank you, Mr Seo!).
Our kids think the markets are really fun. I think this is mostly because: 1) they can get toys here cheap and mom and dad are suckers, 2) they get loads of attention from the locals including the occasional free candy and 3) did I mention toys are cheap and mom and dad are suckers?
Yongsan Electronic Market
Yongsan electrical market is where to go in Korea to try to get a good deal on anything electronic. I say try to get a good deal because as markets go, you are less likely to get a bargain here than anywhere else in Korea I think. Your only real hope is to try to find a Korean brand you want (Samsung, LG, Centex, Hyundai, etc). Korean stuff lacks a tariff to get it into the country so it just starts out cheaper to begin with. Most items you aren't getting much better pricing on than your first offer. 5% is about the best I have done here.
Backing up a bit, you can buy any and all electronic stuff here. Washing machines, parts for a table lamp, rice cookers, computers and computer parts, MP3 players, digital cameras. All the hardware is here.
DVDs are everywhere and this, again is a place where knock-offs are out in full force. For 10,000 won (about $10) you can get 3 DVDs of the latest just out in theater movies. These are usually filmed in a local theater and you can see people in the audience occasionally walk in front of the screen and often you get to hear the audience laugh.
Also available for the same price are pirated versions of popular and most recent DVDs. Interestingly, the dealers are incredibly honest and will almost always tell you (accurately) the quality of the copy they are selling you and if they think it's a good idea to buy the copy yet. You often actually can get talked out of buying a movie when you go to buy these knock-offs because the dealer want's your return business and is very hesitant to sell poor product (but wants you to know he is up on the latest movies thus the reason he has any of the bad product). Who say's there's no honesty among thieves.
Real DVDs (legit from the movie maker) are also available in the market and are usually about $5 less than the US versions because the knock-off market pulls the price down.
A quick word on the knock off DVDs. There are no rental dealers in Korea except for places called DVD bangs where you can rent a room and watch the movie right there (really hang outs for "dating" purposes - nuff said). As I and many other people usually like to preview a movie back home by renting it before buying it, the knock-offs fill this gap for many Expats. Drop your $10 on 3 movies, then if you like one, you go buy the legit version and toss the rest like you're returning the rental. It's a bad idea to try to bring them into the states when you go home so you're unlikely to keep them outside of the time you are here anyway.
Interestingly, PC software here is not easily obtained for English speakers. I have yet to find any place to buy a legitimate English capable version of any software title in Korea. All local versions are single language Korean versions in order to try to cut back on piracy. Interestingly, the fall out of this is that if I really wanted to buy something I would have the choice of 1) getting someone to ship it to me from the states at an outrageous rate and risk loosing it to customs (it's not legal to ship in software) or 2) go to a blackmarket seller and buy a Chinese pirated copy. What a world we live in.
The Fish Market
So far I have not been to the fish market but I drive buy it (and smell it) everyday and Nancy received a tour of it from our apartment staff in February. I think her clothes will stop smelling any day now.
Nancy really liked her visit and came back with a Spanish Mackerel, a couple dozen shrimp and some great stories. Here are a few of them to go with her pictures (unfortunately the flash didn't work properly on her camera so we'll update these at some future visit and put in some better quality picts).
Fish story #1: When buying the Mackerel, Nancy got a bit of cultural education on proper treatment of a fish. First, Nancy only wanted one of the 3 Mackerel the vendor had. This resulted in a big argument between our Korean Apartment manager and the vendor because according to the vendor, the fish needed to remain in a set of 3. Buying only 1 would ruin the fish. This was resolved buy buying all three and giving 2 to the apartment staff.
With the quantity issue resolved, the apartment manager asked Nancy if she would like the fish beheaded and gutted. "Please" Nancy asked and when relayed to the vendor this touched off argument #2. A much more passionate round as it turned out, because cutting off the head and removing the guts prior to eating the fish would remove the fishes spirit and decrease it's flavor - again, according to the vendor. But eventually, the vendor decide the customer is always right and sold Nancy her dispirited, beheaded, gutted and perhaps flavor sapped Mackerel. I thought the fish tasted pretty darn good and I think the story makes it that much better.
Fish story #2: Turns out octopus are team workers and pretty good escape artists. When passing an overfilled tank full of live octopus, Nancy witnessed a team escape effort. The octopus would move over to the corner of the tank and buid a ramp by piling up on each other. Eventually, this allowed several of the octo's to rush up, and over the side of the tank where they would then splat to the ground and try to scurry away before the tank warden would grab them and toss them back in the tank. Where were they going? We aren't sure, but the old "Finding Nemo" reference, "all drains lead to the sea" is our assumption. Anyway, the vendor actually has an employee whose job is to keep catching the escapees and tossing them back in the tank.
Fish story #3: They eat some weird stuff here. No really, they do. I'm sure if you have read my Cuisine page that's a complete shock, but in Asia, they'll eat just about every conceivable type of clam, muscle, crab, skate, ray, jelly fish, urchin, flounder, cat fish, shark, octopus, squid, mollusk, prawn, sea cucumber, seaweed and starfish you can think of. Nancy now knows this first hand because she saw all of those and more displayed for sale at the market. I think her favorite to describe are the 10 foot long Squids that we're laying out until somebody with a real hankering for Calamari drops in. Not sure where you get a pan big enough to fry those 15 inch rings though. The picture of the critters tentacles is here. Unfortunately the head, sold seperately, was a victim of the flash gremlin.
Anyway, that's our info on Korean Markets. Stop and visit us and check it out for yourself. We'll send you home with a "genuine replica" squid - smell included, free of charge.
Life in Korea: Markets
Street vendors in Itaewon
Dongdaemun - The East Great Gate. Note size of motorcycles in RH picture for an idea of how big the gate is.
Market Shopping - LH is Sarah picking out handmade Korean cards and RH is Namdaemun Market
Fish market photos - Clockwise from upper left are fish, shrimp (prawns as the locals call them), octopus, very long octopus tentacles and about 32 types of muscles and sea urchins (I counted). Sorry we can't duplicate the smell for you.
