Korea: Myeongdong

Myeongdong district in Seoul is a trendy youthful area with tons of food, shopping, fashion, and fun to go around. Whether you're looking to stock up on some new skincare products, try the latest street food sensation, try a trendy new restaurant or get a new piercing you can find it here. There's no shortage of trendy youth districts proliferating around the various college campuses of Seoul, whether it's the Hongdae area near Hongik university (where I personally tended to spend more time due to it's proximity to my residence and ease of getting there) or Ewha Women's University (where I visited to join my friend Carmen for an epic adventure I'll be posting about later). Myeongdong, in this post, is an especially excellent area for foodies and people who want to be close to the heart of Seoul. From Myeongdong you can see Namsam Seoul Tower or walk to Namdaemun, which I later returned to towards the end of this post. Because of the youthful and trendy nature of the neighborhood, you'll find a lot of foreign style restaurants (from American barbeque to Thai), though not with quite the density you might find in the dedicated foreigner districts of Itaewon. There's a lot to see and do here and it would be especially nice on a date, though I was here by myself on this visit and particularly feeling the absence of my partner... I opted not to spend too long in Myeongdong, promising that I'll return on my next visit to Korea with Antho. Of course, don't let my existential ennui and homesickness prevent you from going to Myeongdong and seeing all that it has to offer! It's a vivacious and bubbling neighborhood ready to entertain and amuse, catering to a wide array of fashion-forward aesthetics.   

There are seriously so many things to see, do, or shop that it's a shame I didn't get to spend more time here. I didn't exactly have a lot of spending money, either, which was also a contributing factor to why I didn't linger in a renowned shopping mecca for too long. There were a LOT of super cute clothes and so many fun new skincare items (Tony Moly was promoting their Pokemon themed items pretty hard at the time), this area could be dangerous if you had a budget. Like I said, though; this area is readily accessible from a lot of Seoul's most renowned landmarks and locations, so on my return to Seoul (with Antho in toe) we'll definitely be exploring this area more in depth. It's too enticing not to!

More photos below!

Gyeranppang! one of my favorite street food snacks!

Until next time!

💖

XOXO,

NAU