SEoul Free and EAsy : 5 Places to buy Pretty and cheap Souvenirs and Gifts

If you have a lot of friends, colleagues and relatives which you need to buy souvenirs and presents for when you travelled. Here are some recommendations that will get you good quality products so you don't look too stingy and also will not burn a hole in your pocket. It is like we don't want to look cheapskate but we don't want spend a lot.The places are conveniently located so you have more time to enjoy yourselves.

1. Supermarket or Hypermart
    They not only sell the snacks and kimchi that you want to buy home. They also carry a lot of other items that you can buy. They also carry Authentic BT21, Kakao, Pokemon and Line Products.
More information on Supermarket and Hypermart

2. Daiso
    Daiso? Daiso is also available in Singapore.
    Daiso in Korea has their own range of products that are not available in Daiso Singapore and Japan. At least is something available in Korea only.

The price range is definitely pocket friendly, ranging from 1000 - 5000 won.
The biggest Daiso in Korea are located at Myeongdong and Hongdik University.
They do tax refunds too.




3. Art Friend
Cheap stationery, Beauty Products, bags and the price are reasonable from 1000 won up. The branch at Myeongdong is big with a lot of places to take photos

More on Art friend

4. Beauty Products
 Korea is famous for their beauty product and it is much cheaper in Korea compared to Singapore. I will suggest Myeongdong if you need help with understanding the products as there are more staff who can speak Chinese and English. However, the staff at Myeongdong tend to more pushy. If you know what you are getting, can just walk to a random shop.  Most of the Myeongdong shops also provide direct cash refund if you spend more than 30 000. It is better to consolidate your spendings and enjoy the tax refunds. Beauty products also have special edition like Line bear package, Kakao package which make it more unique.
You can shop at Olive young, LOHBS, Lalavla which house a lot of brands.
Do avoid those shops with chinese signs and sells items at much cheaper price, there are some bad rumours about those shops. I mean it is not worth it to save a bit of money and put your skin at risk.

5.  KPOP
If you are buying for a younger generation, Kpop seems like a better gift.
The best place to buy will be at the basement of Myeongdong station, with a wide selection and reasonable price.
Just remember, albums are heavy. One album can weigh up to 0.5 to 1 kg so do not buy too much as they tend to make your luggage overweight.


The most important thing is when you are travelling, you spend more time  and moneyenjoying yourselves and buying things for yourself.

SEOUL Free and EAsy : Tongin Market (통인시장)

The entrance for the market

Somewhere in the middle of the market. There is this place. Just go up to the second floor and get your container and exchange for coins.

There is a dining area at the second floor.

The food per serving cost around 2000-5000 won. 

A tray full of food will cost around 20 000 won.

It is not really that cheap for a meal here. 

The concept of using coins to pay is interesting.

The food can get a bit salty if you just order the side dishes. 

We did not order rice or noodles because it does not seems worth it.

There is a lot of Korean food to try. However, the most special item to me is the zhajiangmian rice cake. The taste was just normal.

Some tips:

Don't buy too much coins. 

Maybe you can plan first before purchasing the coins.

If you are going when the temperature is cooling or cold, do take note when ordering food. 

Some of the food are not keep warm on a stove and it does get quite cold and not really nice.

Korea Seoul Free and EAsy : Holiday Inn Hongdae

 We decide to stay at Holiday Inn Express Hongdae for one day

Reason for choosing this hotel
1) it is just above the Arex Hongik University, it is easy to travel to and fro the airport.
2) It was Halloween. It should be more happening at Hongik University, so we decide to stay at Hongik University
3) Hongik has more interesting food and cafes. The food is cheaper at Hongik too compared to Myeongdong.
4) The hotel looks new and comfortable and it is.
5) We stayed at Airbnb at Hongik once, there was no hot water from 11pm to 6am. It makes things very inconvenient if you need a good bathe before sleeping.
6)It is near to the quiet side of Hongik, with escalator up and down riding and also near to the side (subway exit 3) which has more nice cafes
7) It is easy to travel to Seoul. It is useful for people making a lot of day trains via KTX


Reason for not choosing this hotel
1) It is quite a distance like 5-10 minutes from the subway line.Hongik university station is very big so it will be hard to reach the subway Hongik station.
2) It is not convenient to travel to a lot of other location as it is not at a very centralized location.



We enjoyed our stay. We will back for another stay.

How to Travel around In Korea using Google Maps/Kakao Metro

I usually only use these 2 apps to navigate around Korea and I manage to get through with not much problems. They are Google Maps/Kakao Metro. To me, Naver Maps and Kakao Maps have slight differences so you can make your choice.

Use Kakao Maps, as they provide more options to choose from.  Google map is good for real time updates.
I will choose will be dependent on the time taken, number of transfer, the number to walk to the location from subway/bus stop and the cost.

I did a search of travelling from Hongdae Station to Myeongdong Station.

Kakao Maps provide more options to travelling to Myeongdong Station.
The subway option for Google Maps only have 1 option which is taking Line 2 and take a walk to Myeongdong Station. To walk to the actual Myeongdong station, it will take around 10 minutes.
Google map also provide the bus options but is only 3 options.

Google Map

For Kakao Maps, I have a total of 15 options.
For the subway options, there are 4. I can choose between changing Line 2 to Line 4 and it will be a 1 minute walk. For the direct Line 2 option, I will have to walk around 10 minutes.
They also provide information of how much the taxi ride will cost which is around 10200 Won.

Kakao Map

If I making a trip to Myeongdong with a group of 4 , I will considered taking a taxi as it is not that expensive as subway will cost 5000 won for 4 people. However, it will during off peak traffic as it do not like to stuck in a traffic jam. It is not always easy to get a cab. I had difficulties getting a cab back to Myeongdong from Hongdae at times. There is not much time saved, but your tired legs will get to rest.

I will not be taking a bus for this trip as the time taken is almost double. There are times, bus is the more direct and convenient.

For the subway, I have 2 options. I usually take the direct Line 2 ride as I do not mind walking but I dislike stairs.
However, if the weather is bad. Taking a Line 2 to change to Line 4 to reduce the walking seems a much better idea.

You can also check out the walking option with Kakao Maps, this will take around 1 hour plus which is highly not recommended. Some places are really close, for example, Namdaemun market is like a 10 minutes walk or a train station away. It is more feasible to walk then taking the train as the time taken is the same.

Pros and Cons 

Subway: Easiest to navigate because you cant miss a stop with the signs and announcements. But may have to climb a lot of stairs. There is a need to walk 5 to 10 minutes to change from one line to another inclusive of stairs. Sometimes, I choose the option that take a longer time but with less transfer as it is tiring to use the stairs.

Bus: It is more interesting as you can enjoy the sights of Korea. It is sometimes more convenient with less walking compared to subway,Is affected by traffic condition. It is hard to get track of the which stop you are at because some stops are missed. If you missed a bus stop, you may need to walk a lot to get back to your location. I will try to avoid it if there is peak hour traffic and also more than one transfer.

Taxi/cab: You may not get one when you want to get. It is affected by traffic condition. There is also quite a number of touters and dishonest taxi driver stories. It will send you to the place that you want with minimum walking. The price can be quite steep especially if there is only 2 person taking the taxi.

Walking: Good Exercise, can eat more.. Will get to see Interesting things sometimes. Will be tired out before reaching the place. It is better than changing subway lines which includes walking and stairs. May get lost. May walk to places that you are not supposed to be at

Using Google Maps for Real time update

I tried to use Kakao Maps to navigate my way around, but they don't really have real time update. I have to keep refreshing the map to see if I am moving in the right direction or whether I am reaching. They don't show me the right direction to start at times. However, they offer more bus/subway options compared to Google Maps at times. It is worth checking out to see which is the shortest route to your destination.

To walk with  google maps, I will just randomly chose an options after inputting my route.

Zoom in. I have to make sure my ray of light face the direction I am going.. Then I will start walking in the direction of my intented location. I will constantly check my map to see if I am walking in the right direction.  Check constantly as you do not want to realise you are in the wrong direction after 5 to 10 minutes of walking.

This can used for bus and taxi too. 

I was taking the bus at Ulsan, we have no idea where to get down and we had some communication problem. When I saw the blue dot reaching my intended location, I press the bell to get down. 

I used this for my taxi ride to make sure my taxi is heading to the correct direction.

I am reaching my intended location so I can get ready to get off.

The negative about using your own assume walking route, you may get to some quite quiet and dark places or walk past some expressway which will be a challenge to cross.

Supermarket Shopping at Seoul

5 Places to buy Pretty but Cheap souvenirs

Korea seoul free and easy : Hongdae free market art market ( life meets art)

 The place is interesting and worth a visit.

I shall let the photos do the talking

VEnue : hongdae( hongik) playground

hours: 1300-1800

EVery saturday ( march to november)