Yangsan Electronic Market

Date: 3/12/2011

Sarah and I went up to Seoul for the weekend 2 weekends ago.  Sarah needed to find a special kind of power cord, so we decided to check out Yangsan Electronic Market.  To be honest, we weren't real impressed (I kinda wondered if we were even in the right place) but we also weren't looking for anything really specific.  But if you ever have to get a computer, camera, or phone Yangsan Market would be a good place to look for a deal.

We got a little turned around when going from one Subway line to another--you had to go outside to switch to the train tracks.  (We're from a small little town in Korea--we don't really know the different lines are either KTX or Metro--so don't judge!) But when we finally found the right Station we were greet by a pleasant surprise:

Camero...in the middle of a train station.  Of course. It was pretty:

We meandered our way over to the Electronic market and spent a couple hours wandering.  We had lunch in Hooters--again, don't judge.  I really wanted a cheezeburger--and besides the fact I got a Philly CheeseSteak instead, I just wanted a cheeseburger.  It was really awkward to eat at Hooters.  I haven't actually been to one before and I instantly felt a little smarmy going into the establishment.  But it was okay, the people were nice, and the food was good.

Here are some photos of the market.

Want an MP3?  Camera?  This is the place to go. 

Besides the ultra new electronics they also had some throw-backs.  I hadn't seen a WALKMAN in ages!  I was half expecting to find a Tamagachi tucked in the corner of a display case!  And I think I saw a cassette player.

All the computers that were on display were playing different Kpop videos.  That was really distracting because I would walk past a video I recognized and stop to watch (or drool at the singer--GDragon! Yes please!--) and get accosted by a salesman who would rattle off the stats of the computer that they had memorized in English.  "Ah!  Good con-poo-tah!  13 in-chuh screen-new.  Double-uh pree-me-um pro-cess-euh! Only 700,000 won!"

As foreigners we were either targeted as tourists or English teachers who had money to burn.  Either way, we attracted attention.  Which isn't bad and I'm getting more used to it, but after 90 minutes of turning down sales people we were ready to not be in the electronics market.