Going into a restaurant at 4 AM and it's completely packed with a long line outside.
Gorgeous, beautiful clothes from independent designers in shopping malls and small stores (assuming you are small enough to fit into the Korean "free/one size").
90% of Korean adults of both genders own olive green coats with gathered waists. They are literally everywhere, and Korean people don't even notice it until you point it out. (Jae Hyun's reason: Korean people think that a black coat is kind of boring.)
Street food! Delicious, salty, cheap street food. I will never forget the day we bought 7 of those fish-shaped cakes filled with red bean paste for a dollar. And I love how most places have long plastic flaps to keep out the cold air so you can snack around the counter when it's cold.
How everyone looks like a supermodel.
Men wearing makeup and carrying purses and fixing their hair intensely in the reflections in the subway windows.
The cute old people who are really nice to you, like the woman who kept giving me free food from her street food stand because I was "beautiful." (There are also just as many cute old people who are really mean to you- case in point: flabby naked old Korean woman screaming at me and jabbing her finger at me as I just tried to change in my gym locker room. NO I AM NOT A RUSSIAN PROSTITUTE WOMAN.)
Korean drinking games.
KOREAN BABIES AND KIDS ARE THE CUTEST IN THE WORLD. No argument.
Giant teddy bear cell phone charms (I have one and it is sparkly pink.)
The smallest happy occasion warrants the purchase of Paris Baguette/Tous le Jours cake.
Speaking of which...
Bakeries, patisseries, and coffee/waffle shops everywhere.
ICE CREAM everywhere. I've never eaten so much Baskin Robbins and Coldstone in my life.
Mountains, water, and skyscrapers (not as epic as Hong Kong, though.)
The cheap cost of living but high standard of living.
Being in the middle of Asia and being able to travel anywhere in the East with ease.
Weird Korean variety TV shows.
Eating tasty stuff like pig belly, cow intestine, and chicken butthole (I haven't tried the latter. Ask Tony.)
Daiso, the Korean dollar store. Every time I go in I end up buying ten things.
Restaurants that have big fish tanks outside with big fish, crabs, and sea urchins swimming around. Pick out what you want to eat and it will appear on your plate in a few minutes.
People just not really caring at all about copyright laws or file-sharing.
Super-fast internet downloading speed (which really helps enable the above.)
Jimjilbangs.
I could go on forever...
when/if you return back to the states, come to LA. we have a paris baguette, jimjilbangs, and old people too <3
ReplyDeletebut do you have skin food??!!
ReplyDeleteLove your list. Jimjilbang, low-cost high-quality(think superb subway), ice-cream (love the one like a pancake and inside there are 2 layers with green tea then red bean paste!), 800-1500 Won kimbap from convenience store, 400 Won coffee from vending machine (haven't tried but the cost is so low like do they make 200 Won profit?).
ReplyDelete