Asian DramaWiki Forum

hah... I am planning to make a trip to Korea next month.... Will be in Seoul onlt though...
I am hoping to get some CDs like Shinhwa and some movie DVDs....
I was wondering if anyone can tell me about the average prices of such things there? so i roughly know to buy from which shop.... If i can even identify A CD shop...
haha

Some DVD titles i;m looking for are : Millionaire's First Love, the King and Clown
I wonder if they come with Eng subtitles or do they?

Thank You

moved to 'korean entertainment'.

English subtitles? I doubt it.

ah... haha
how bout the subtitles itself?
i mean i know there is korean like Englidh DVD have eng subs too
but how bout chinese? haha....

I was wondering if anyone could tell me the name of maybe some CD ratailer chains
that are like recommended place to buy music CD's or dramas/DVD/etc.....
I also would like to know more abt the LOCAL fashion brands in korea that are not bad or ok type
Haha. . . .

Many Many Thanks

Hmm..
I don't watch movies that much myself, so don't usually buy movie dvds(korean ones).
However a friend of mine (canadian) enjoys watching korean movies and he says all the korean movies have english subs these days. So maybe you don't have to worry too much about it.
I heard great shopping area in Seoul is Myung dong. And if you want to go for shopping clothes you shoud check out Dong dae moon market too.

Is there REALLY a huge diff btn nam and dong dae mun??
Hmmm...... any webby where i can roughly "shop" for the titles of DVD?

vofzxy wrote:Is there REALLY a huge diff btn nam and dong dae mun??
Hmmm...... any webby where i can roughly "shop" for the titles of DVD?

I'd chose Dong dae mun ...
Nam gets more visited by foreigners and Seller seem to take overprice for items for them.
Just remember, in a market world .. real price is not what is printed in a label ..

And as for DVD .. try this one (KOREAN)
http://www.smilenjoy.com/dvd/


I love K-designed clothes .. cheap aswell
http://www.guzezzang.com/

haha
ok
i'll tey and see...
thanks

from what i remember, CD's are about 12,000-15,000 won...which equates to about 12 to 15 dollars...
dvd's are about 20,000 something won...i forgot exactly, so about 20-30 dollars...

and the good shopping places, make sure you go to MyeongDong...its the supposed to be the biggest foreign attraction place and has ALOT of students, people, stores, and places to eat.

and about clothes, if you go to myeong dong, you will see alot...i really dont know unless you want to know where the upscale places are, which then you MUST go to apkujeongdong (galleria and the other galleria) and chungdamdong...

hope you have a great time!

If you want to buy Korean enetertainment, just go to www.yesasia.com. You can get cds cheap and dramas with "english" subs. Also you can get free world wide shipping.

oh yea, i forgot to mention...im sure all the DVD's (movies) there have subtitles, BUT make sure you have an all-region dvd player or an all-region dvd program for your computer!!!

haha...
no la
not upscale fashion.....
just like local brands or something
Haha

kk i'll take note, i heard there is also a place good for electronics
may i know where is it?
And wat brand do students or the young normally buy for mobiles, cause i hear anycall phones are very expensive over in korea?

Take a look at these brands..
If you walk along the street of Myung Dong you may run into one of these..

http://kr.ysp.shopping.yahoo.com/ysp/gi ... r_id=yahoo


http://www.basichouse.co.kr/product/pLi ... X&ct_cnpt=


http://www.whoau.com/product/list.asp?c ... ss_code=00



Also there are so many reasonably priced local brands for example: "TBJ" "MARU" "LITMUS" etc..

vofzxy wrote:haha...
no la
not upscale fashion.....
just like local brands or something
Haha

kk i'll take note, i heard there is also a place good for electronics
may i know where is it?
And wat brand do students or the young normally buy for mobiles, cause i hear anycall phones are very expensive over in korea?

the electronic place you are talking about is "TechnoMart" and make sure you go there! they have alot!

and about phones, im not sure if it will work in the states or canada or australia (dont know hwere you live,but) but the popular ones are: pantech curitel, sky, anycall (samsung), Cyon (LG), VK mobile...

haha
ok...
so where is this techno-mart? haha
are they foreigner friendly?
HAHA

vofzxy wrote:haha
ok...
so where is this techno-mart? haha
are they foreigner friendly?
HAHA

Lets see .. You take subway Line.2 to a station called (강변역)Gang byun yeok Its east of seoul. Go out Exit 1 or 2 and you should see a big building cross of the street. I think mobile phones are from floor 4 to 5 .. and computers much higher floors.

If you want to buy all the cool electronic things cheap .. you should go to (용산)Yong San.
Its a town for electronic things. Take a subway line.1 heading towards to incheon. Go out and voila a electronic heaven. Visit space hmm 9? theres a building called space something which I dont remember the number.

Note> Its very far from technomart to yongsan which is located in west of seoul

vofzxy wrote:hah... I am planning to make a trip to Korea next month.... Will be in Seoul onlt though...
I am hoping to get some CDs like Shinhwa and some movie DVDs....
I was wondering if anyone can tell me about the average prices of such things there? so i roughly know to buy from which shop.... If i can even identify A CD shop...
haha

Some DVD titles i;m looking for are : Millionaire's First Love, the King and Clown
I wonder if they come with Eng subtitles or do they?

Thank You

You are from singapore too. Do you think you can help me to buy love letter soundtrack(Yesasia has sold out and out of print). I will pay you back of course.

this bugged me for sometime now, my friend has a korean girlfriend and he told me that there is a discrimination on foreigners in korea, like outsiders are prohibited in some stores and other stuffs like that. is this true?

bugsie wrote:this bugged me for sometime now, my friend has a korean girlfriend and he told me that there is a discrimination on foreigners in korea, like outsiders are prohibited in some stores and other stuffs like that. is this true?

hmm I haven't noticed. Koreans love caucasian race.
I suppose they'd welcome all kind of race. Was your friend in Korea and been banned from places? or is this comming from his K-girlfriend?

JoSungMo wrote: hmm I haven't noticed. Koreans love caucasian race.
I suppose they'd welcome all kind of race. Was your friend in Korea and been banned from places? or is this comming from his K-girlfriend?

he has yet to visit korea, but yes, his "K-girlfriend" told him that. btw, my friend is also asian.

Ok, let's not get into the "are Koreans racist?" thing. That's a totally different topic.

Yongsan is more than just Space 9. It's a huge area of Seoul, just like Jeongno is. I wouldn't recommend buying a lot from Space 9. Sure, it's 5 (6?) stories of pure electronics goods, but they aren't extremely good deals (unless you're good enough at haggling prices in Korean), and it's ALWAYS high pressure sales. They'll force themselves on you at every turn. And it's not exactly foreigner friendly. Very few of the dealers will be able to tell you anything in English.

I just recommend going around in Seoul and finding places to shop. You'll find places easily enough.

LOL. im half korean but look all white and speak korean. when they think you have no clue what they are saying a lot of kids will say the most racist things lol. but thats all over the world. you wont encounter discrimination in korea, just rudeness. military people are mostly responsible for a general dislike of americans, so you can thank the local military base on your trip there. and pray while youre there that some country hicks dont run over some girls with a military vehicle...

Childhoodless wrote:
I just recommend going around in Seoul and finding places to shop. You'll find places easily enough.

Go around seoul?
hmm.... what abt the prices? are they resonable?

It's likely you won't find mega-deals for any one thing. I guess you could call the prices reasonable, but it'd more likely be cheaper to buy online rather than in the stores. From place to place, the prices aren't too much different, unless you go to the department stores versus the hole in the wall shops. It's pretty much like it is in the States, where department stores will charge retail, whereas the smaller shops are more willing to charge less. And if you're in a shopping area (not the retail chains or department stores) then you could try haggling (if you know enough Korean to do it).

But if you're that concerned over prices, maybe you shouldn't be shopping so much. Maybe go on a tour of Seoul (there are some good tourist attractions in the area).

Going to Seoul for 2 months, is there any places that is a must go? i dont know anyone there T T. any tips? :p, also :X what hotel do you guys/girls think its a good one to stay in for 2 months o.O. :p thanks

heun wrote:Going to Seoul for 2 months, is there any places that is a must go? i dont know anyone there T T. any tips? :p, also :X what hotel do you guys/girls think its a good one to stay in for 2 months o.O. :p thanks

that depends on your pockets now doesn't it?

One of the cheapest and still interesting ways to stay are those Hanok homestay places, where you are supposed to experience the unique way Koreans used to live or something. I read somewhere it could be as cheap as 20 a night but could only find 40 a night online. You'll prolly find a lot of young adult travellers in places like these.

On a more conventional side, I tried tourist hotel Kaya, 50 a night and quite nice, lost of Japanese guests. Yim's house quotes 30, but I haven't been there.

On the second thought if you are staying for 2 month, perhaps you should be looking for a furnished apartment rather than a hotel?

Have fun

LOL, I went to Yongsan once and immediately stumbled upon a DVD place that selled pirated Korean movies for $2. There's plenty of legal stuff too of course, you don't even specifically have to go to Yongsan or Electromart because DVD shops are all over Seoul. And yes, 90% of Korean movies seem to come with English subs, you won't have any problems there.

As for the foreigners thing, I never had any problems. I could go anywhere I wanted and the most 'racist' thing I heard was 'miguksaram' (American, which I'm not). Korean men and women alike were very interested in being friends with me and I felt rather popular. It probably helps being a young, blonde girl. Foreign men seem to be a lot less popular because of several scandals of them abusing, killing or 'stealing' Korean women.

It can go the other way too, though. In Korea, I met a Caucasian guy who complained to me that people frequently mistook him for Jesus.

Néa Vanille wrote:...
And yes, 90% of Korean movies seem to come with English subs, you won't have any problems there
...

are they? i didn't know that

i didn't buy any when i was there since i didn't know they got eng-sub.
so i bought korean movies at either singapore or hongkong instead

i was in korean last year and found it a bloody nightmare trying to find a shop that would sells dvd's like you would find in thailand, singapore or HK. most of the places that do sell dvd's are for rental only or you have to rent out a dvd bang [room]

thankfully i just remembered one place where i was able to get the rest of the epic korean drama, emperor of the sea on dvd. iv given you this link as it as the map for directions, although you really cant miss it if you follow the main raod from Anguk subway station. if they dont have the film you want, you can order from them and pick it up a few days later

http://www.seoulselection.com/contact_us.html

also there is http://www.yeondvd.com/ quick delivery service too, but they dont accept credit cards

thx ^^

Hi guys,

going to Seoul next month and am trying to book a hotel on the internet. I found an interesting one on hotelwide.com. Anyone ever used it? Since it's a Korean operating agency I never heard of it before. Just wondering if it's a legitimate agency. It's much cheaper using that agency than booking at the hotel directly. However I don't wanna be ripped off.
One more question, the hotel I am interested in is located in Gangnam-gu. Is that area ok or should I look for a hotel elsewhere?

may i?!^^

gixo wrote:Hi guys,

going to Seoul next month and am trying to book a hotel on the internet. I found an interesting one on hotelwide.com. Anyone ever used it? Since it's a Korean operating agency I never heard of it before. Just wondering if it's a legitimate agency. It's much cheaper using that agency than booking at the hotel directly. However I don't wanna be ripped off.
One more question, the hotel I am interested in is located in Gangnam-gu. Is that area ok or should I look for a hotel elsewhere?

I have never used hotelwide.com and it doesn't seem to have that many reviews. There are a couple here, at Tripadvisor. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... -Asia.html. If you are feeling iffy about using this site, you can try to find that same hotel at another, more well-known third party site. Most sites usually have the same hotel for about the same price, but you can sometimes find quite varying prices if you look around. Two hotel booking agencies that I have used in the past and have had no trouble with are agoda.com and hotelclub.com.

I am not sure about how good the location is for you. All I know about Gangnam-gu is that's where COEX Mall is located. You should ideally choose a hotel that is close to the places you want to visit and close to the subway since that will likely be your main method of transportation. You don't want to have to take a subway to the other end of the city everytime you want to go somewhere.

kaguya wrote:

gixo wrote:Hi guys,

going to Seoul next month and am trying to book a hotel on the internet. I found an interesting one on hotelwide.com. Anyone ever used it? Since it's a Korean operating agency I never heard of it before. Just wondering if it's a legitimate agency. It's much cheaper using that agency than booking at the hotel directly. However I don't wanna be ripped off.
One more question, the hotel I am interested in is located in Gangnam-gu. Is that area ok or should I look for a hotel elsewhere?

I have never used hotelwide.com and it doesn't seem to have that many reviews. There are a couple here, at Tripadvisor. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... -Asia.html. If you are feeling iffy about using this site, you can try to find that same hotel at another, more well-known third party site. Most sites usually have the same hotel for about the same price, but you can sometimes find quite varying prices if you look around. Two hotel booking agencies that I have used in the past and have had no trouble with are agoda.com and hotelclub.com.

I am not sure about how good the location is for you. All I know about Gangnam-gu is that's where COEX Mall is located. You should ideally choose a hotel that is close to the places you want to visit and close to the subway since that will likely be your main method of transportation. You don't want to have to take a subway to the other end of the city everytime you want to go somewhere.

Thanks for your advice. I used another booking agency as I felt iffy about using that side. The price at that side were still cheaper as other sides (guess a korean agency gets special rates in korea) but I still used one of the more popular ones.

Haha, since there are so many places to visit which are all located in different places I have to take the subway from one end to the other anyway sometime. Just wanted to know if the area itself is ok. Sometimes you stay in a place where you can reach everything easily but the area itself have some strange visitors. (imagine stranding in a red light district *g* )

im just curious about your trip to korea...years ago.

how's it?

Did you have fun?

These days, My cousins are planning to go Korea with his friend. He is very excited for it because he will be the first tour in his life. I have no idea about it but after come back my cousin I will share his experience with all of you. I also very excited to know about Korea. I hope he will spend a great time here.