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The Land of the Morning Calm Part 3 by DebtStar

Posted by Debt Star | Blog, Korea, Reader Submissions, Trip Report | Posted on May 8th, 2009

Myeong Dong

By day, Myeong Dong is the financial and banking district of Seoul and the location of some of the biggest shopping centers in Korea.  There are several mid- to high-priced consumer goods and tourist stores here. By night, Myeong Dong is a white-collar party spot.  Many of the young men and women that work in the Korean trading houses and bank headquarters will go out on the town here after work.  There are many excellent restaurants here with an international flare.

Myeong Dong is just east of the Namdaemun shopping district, a large night market that sells everything from durable goods and household appliances to food items, exotic liquors, and severed pig’s heads.  Curving around the southwest perimeter of MD are a series of underground arcades that run under the streets bordering MD and adjoin the local subway stops.  To the north is the government and business center of downtown Seoul, including a number of foreign embassies.  To the east is an industrial district for offset printing and newspaper publishing.  Beyond that is Tongdaemun, another large night market in a high-rise department store that specializes in fashion and leather ware.  To the south is Namsan Park, with Itaewon, Yongsan Army Garrison and the Han River over the mountain and further to the south.

How do you get there?  Once again, we will start from Inchon International Airport.  The same location that serves as a bus stop for the deluxe busses that go to Itaewon will also serve the deluxe shuttle bus to Myeong Dong (Bus 605-1).  The bus will take you to street that runs along the south end of the district.  Specifically, it will go to the front of the Sejong Hotel.  You can either check in here or go to one of the other hotels in the area.  The Seoul Prince and The New Oriental are within walking distance, but other hotels may require you to hail a taxi. The Seoul Metro system has a stop here on Line 4 (the light blue line).  There are also some low priced Yeogwans in the area, the Myeong Dong Guest House near the southwest corner of the district being an example.

Off to the northwest is the Westin Chosun.  Probably out of many travelers price ranges to stay there, but there is a cool Irish Bar in the basement if you are looking to hook up with a fellow tourist.

Restaurants in MD run the gamut from street cart snack and cola vendors to the usual fast food suspects (including a TGIF and an Outback Steakhouse) to some expensive three-star joints.  The type of restaurant I favor here is the Maekju Hof.  These are small beer bars with wood panel interiors that will serve fried chicken or vegetable dishes along with a couple of brands of Korean beer on tap.  For this reason, they are sometimes called ‘Chicken Hofs”.  They are usually on the ground floor or basement level of whatever building they are in.  Since they are not normally frequented by Western tourists, they menus and service tend to be in Korean, so if you can’t read Korean you may have a tough time ordering in one.

One nice thing about the Hofs is that Korean ladies going out at night with their girlfriends will stop in them to get something to eat before hitting the town, or wind down afterward in them before heading home.  I always thought that, if I knew a little more spoken Korean, I could have picked up a couple of dates in these places.  Another fun thing to do is to just try and pick through a Hangul menu in front of a crowd of Korean party goers.  They are always curious about foreigners, and will interrupt you and ask if they can help translate.  On one occasion I used this as an icebreaker to tag along with (crash some might say) a mixed group of Korean office workers heading out for a night of club hopping.  No scores that night, but found some pretty cool music clubs and basement level bars, all in central MD.

As for nightlife, this is as close to a regular night of clubbing and partying in Seoul as you will get by Korean standards.  No P4P here, so don’t even bother asking.  If you want to pull from a club here, you will have to dress reasonably well, brush up on your Hangugeo, and above all be polite and patient.  This is where the ‒good Korean girls” hang out.  If you can speak Korean, or meet a lady with reasonably good skills in your language, you may not pull but you can be assured a more interesting conversation than ‒you hansum man” or ‒buy me juicey!”  If you keep at it, you may end up scoring in the long run.

MD is where the mid-so and hi-so go to play.  It is a refreshing change from Itaewon as the GIs never go here, and the crowd is happy-drunk and not spoiling for a fist-fight like in Itaewon.  It is also close to the geographic center of Seoul.  So other points of interest, as you discover them, will be equidistant from you.

A few quick words of warning:

1) The last time I was there, the Seoul taxi drivers were protesting the raising of Seoul tunnel toll fees by refusing to pick up any fares from locations near the Namsan tunnels (MD included) from 11:30 PM to 1 AM.  I wanted to go to Itaewon from MD one night, and in order to flag down a taxi I had to step out into the line of traffic and wave a couple of 10,000 Won notes in the headlights of an oncoming cab to get it to stop.  Fortunately for me it did, and I made it over to Kings Club in a 5,000 Won taxi ride that only cost me four times the price.  So be mindful of your transportation challenges.

2)  MD is a popular spot for Korean protestors to voice their dissatisfaction with one issue or another.  This can result in being caught in a mob on short notice.  Itaewon never has this problem due to its location.  You can keep abreast of protest activities by tuning your hotel room TV to Armed Forces Korea Network (AFKN), or by checking the USFK website and clicking on the Force Protection tab.

3)  If you need medication for something, a Korean Pharmacy is known as a Yak Guk.  There are several good ones in Itaewon, and the hotel (assuming it is fancy enough) will have its own stock of over-the-counter medication.  If you need to see a doctor, the Seoul International Clinic is located in Itaewon on the other side of the boulevard from the concrete steps going to the top of Hooker Hill.

Hong Dae

Hong Dae is short for Hongik Daehakgyo, or Hongik University.  This is a region to the west of Itaewon and Myeong Dong that serves as a party spot for the uni crowd.  It is north of the Sangsu subway stop on Line 6 (the orange line), and stretches to the Hongil University main gate.  By day, it is a combined commercial and entertainment zone with some apartments.  By night, it consists of several college bars and dance clubs.   I have never personally been there, but from talking to GIs in Itaewon I have learned that it is becoming the thinking GI’s party spot of choice for club music and pulling girls their own age.  At the very least, it is getting enough attention from GI Joe that USFK has put it off limits to US personnel nightly from 9 PM to 5 AM.  That  usually means there is SOMETHING worth going for there.

As I said earlier, I haven’t been to this place (yet?).  But if it is anything like the college bars outside some of the universities near the base I was once stationed at, then it is a good mix of real ‒good girls” and a jumping party atmosphere.  No idea about hotels here, but it is on a subway line and close enough to Itaewon or MD that it shouldn’t be a concern.  This is also where Stompers Bar chose to relocate to, and that would be another point in its favor.  It is also home to many of Seoul’s best music CD stores, so this would probably be a good place to find out about the live music scene in Seoul.

Want to meet a Korean Uni girl here?  Easy.  Sit at a table at a college bar outside a university complex in late afternoon, sip a beer, and read an issue of the Wall Street Journal or London Times or something like that.  Chances are, if a female uni is in need of some language practice, she will get curious and walk over to strike up a conversation with you.  She won’t be interested in any action right off, but it is one way to break ice and get a females attention.  The possibilities are then up to you.