Trip to Korea

Dec,2011 by xue

Korea has been divided into two separate countries since 1953, North and South Korea.  The Republic of Korea (commonly known as "South Korea" or Daehan MinGuk) is a republic with powers nominally shared among the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, but traditionally dominated by one presdient. It is located about 120miles northwest of the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu and Jeju Island located about 60mile south of the peninsula. Seoul, the capital of South korean, which is also the center of economic, politics, cultural and education. My whole family went to Seoul on Dec, 2011, and I was a bit disappointed on how it did not look as nice as it appeared on the korean drama. However, it was still a very clean and beautiful city.

One of the make up stores on Main Street

Dec,2011by xue

People in Seoul were obsessed with plastic surgery, and there were a great number of plastic surgery advertisements hanging on the streets and building. I was so shocked when I saw people who just finished the surgery with gauzes on shopping inside the mall, and others did not think it was awkward.
Most of the girls and boys dressed very modern and had a great body shapes, and especially for the female, they wore high heel, leggings and only thin jackets on a -20 degree winter. In contrast, my sister and other tourists had to wear thick jackets and still felt so chill. We interviewed an University female student who was our tour guide about how long she spent to get ready every day. She explained that she had to wake up at 8 am every day to take a shower, setting her hair and doing make up in order to get ready for her 1pm class, and she emphasized that it was a common thing in Korea because everyone paid a lot attention on their appearances and it is part of its culture.  In addition, there were tons of make up stories on its main street; therefore, it was so hard to not get influenced by media, and super stars pictures were everywhere which made me feel like they were saying " If you want to be pretty as me, then please come to this store" to me all the time. Even though I was there only for 3 days, I bought a lot of skin care and make up sets in the end.

what I bought

     Compare to Canada, meat price was very expensive in Korea due to its economic crisis. For example, Bulgogi, one of the most famous grilled dish, which cost me around $80 Canadian Dollar per serving (125ml). However, it would only cost $40 for 2 serving in some Korean restaurants in Calgary.
     In conclusion, I would suggest you to carry$2,000 Canadian Dollar if you plan to stay at there for more than a week because there are so many beautiful things that you want to buy badly. I hope you can "shop till you drop" just like what I did.