Day 2: Myeongdong (명동) the Shopping Paradise for Ladies!!

Myeongdong (명동) is my favourite shopping area in Seoul! It is an all-in-one shopping district where you can find beauty & cosmetics shops, fashion brands like H&M, Forever 21, Zara, Mango, Uniqlo, street food stalls, clothing & accessories stalls, restaurants and malls like Shinsegae Department, and Lotte Department Store nearby. It resembles Ximending in Taiwan and Shibuya in Tokyo. You can find plentiful korean brands of beauty & cosmetics such as:

Skinfood
The Face Shop
Tony Moly
Nature Republic
Missha
Beauty Credit
The Saem
Holika Holika
Etude House
Innisfree
Laneige

And there are not only one outlet, but many outlets of the same brand all inside Myeongdong! What was unusual was that most of the shops are endorsed by male korean artistes!

The korean brand of beauty & cosmetics products are VERY cheap as compared to those sold in Singapore! No wonder it is common to see many female customers with baskets full of beauty items! It is time for a beauty frenzy spree when you are there.



A row of beauty shops!

 Myeongdong seems big but is not difficult (in my opinion) to find our way as I always use the huge neon signage as my direction guide. One very prominent landmark I used was the huge Nature Republic building. If you are unlucky to have lost your way, there are volunteers (i think they are only available during the day) to help you find your way. They can be identified by their red attire and cap with the letter "i" which means information. A detailed map of Myeongdong is also available for easy navigation.

 

Myeongdong Theater

Besides shopping, there are also many street food carts at Myeongdong. As we walked past them, we could not wait to try them out! There were sausages (of many varieties and flavours), snacks made of squids (smells nice!), tteoboki (spicy rice cakes), tornado potatoes, kebabs etc.. We even found a stall selling super tall 32 cm ice-cream in cone!
    

Squid snack


  

huge cream puffs that are too sweet!



How to get there:
Myeongdong Station (Seoul subway line 4), exit 5, 6, 7, or 8.
Euljiro Il-ga Station (Seoul subway line 2), exit 5