Diana and I Explore Itaewon

My new friend, Diana, invited me to come with her to Seoul onaccoun'a it being her last day before starting work. I recommended Itaewon because of all the shopping and the surplus of foreign faces (for a change). We took the subway. She's a Washington D.C. native, so subway navigation comes easily to her.


I know we don't look that much alike by American standards, but I kept wondering if the Koreans we saw thought we must be twins, at least sisters.

Left: Many subway stops serve these tasty little molded pastries. They smell Delicioso!
Right: "Long-Love" condoms in the vending machine. Be safe, people, and love long, for christssake.
We got lost and had a great patchworked view of clay-roofed houses.
I was in freaking shopping heaven. I realize the cliche of an American woman loving bag and shoe (below) shopping, but I really love browsing this stuff. More great rip-off brand names: Parade=Prada, The Redface=The Northface, etcetera. Lots of leather goods and furs in the market.
If you feel the buzz from looking at this many hot, unique shoes in one place, please comment and let us share:)
Itaewon must seriously be the city of ugly dress shops, because this was only one of like six on the same block.
Two ladies had a little (tiny, like a phone booth) room on the street, painted pink , from which they sold kimbap, which is like a sushi roll, but with ham and other good vegetables in it, not raw fish. Salty, crunchy, cool, like a soft-textured mouth spritz. Best lunch I could imagine.
Corn ice cream treat. (as with all images, click to enlarge)
I'm looking at some New Zealand made ice cream in a coffee shop called Rotiboy Bakeshop (the sweet smells and A/C beckons us in).
After Itaewon wore us thin, we travelled back to Sanbon Station, our home base. The "breadou" you see above is a piece of toy bread. Check out what it claims (click to enlarge):
Freaking weird. And it's $3. Would you? Not I.

Definitely a Korea exclusive (meaning not including the US): A male model used in a pink makeup and bath store's marketing. I'm all for it. A cute, clean guy who looks like he may run a 1950s candy shop in the window: I'm definitely down for that.
We ate at a place there recommended by Diana. These two dishes, plus soup for $10. Very good. And each table has a pull-out drawer with silverware and napkins inside! Bonus!



What is this thing? Any idea? It came with the apartment.


And I came home that night to this smiling face, keeping my place . Thanks, Von. :0)

Diana's positive attitude and assertions like, "I love Korea!" scattered about reminds me to look on the bright side of my stay here. I'm happy I found her, and since she's so close, we'll probably see each other the majority of days of the week. Looking forward to more good times avec mon Diana nouveau!