Now considering that I am somewhat of a geek, this next
place that I want to discuss might not come as a surprise. Right now I want to
take some time to describe and share with you one of my all-time favorite
places to visit while I was in Seoul- Yongsan. Yongsan, in a few words, is best
described as an electronic mecca, yet, at the same time, is so much more. As
such, I’ll describe Yongsan in sections.
Yongsan Station- Yongsan, to be precise, is more like an
entire district in the southwest of Seoul, but the main areas I’m going to
focus on is the areas outside Yongsan Station. Yongsan Station is a huge metro
station that serves as a junction for several metro lines, such as Line 1 and
the Jungang Line, so reaching the area is pretty easy. Anyways, Yongsan station
is not only massive it is also directly connected with I’Park Mall which is a
huge complex of stores spread out over multiple levels, department stores such
as Emart, and small apparel stores. One particular thing that was of importance
to me about the complex is that it had a CGV cinema inside, which was one of
the few cinemas within Seoul to have an IMAX screen. However, the main draw of
Yongsan is the areas outside the station.
Dragon Hill Spa- If you take the exit with the giant set of
stairs, descend the stairs, and at the bottom look to your right, you’ll find
the entrance to the Dragon Hill Spa across the street. Now, this place is
incredible. If you watch Korean dramas and have seen the scenes of jimjilbangs,
or Korean saunas, this place is basically that, yet way more extensive. After paying around 13,000 won to enter,
you’ll be given a bracelet to wear, which will be used to charge activities and
purchases to inside the spa complex. Inside the spa are multiple floors. One
entire floor is dedicate do an amazing set of saunas along with a cold pool.
After you are done to the sauna, you can visit the other floors which contain
arcade games, a resting/sleeping area, restaurant and other attractions. One of the attractions that really drew me
about the spa, other than the sauna, is that it contains multiple heated
purifying salt rooms where you can lay down on a bed of salts. These are
incredible places to lie down, close your eyes, and just relax. When leaving,
you’ll retrieve your shoes and return the bracelet, upon which, you’ll pay for
whatever was charged to it inside the spa. If you want to visit a jimjilbang,
while in Korea, this is the one.
Electronics Market- If you don’t want to visit the Spa, at
the bottom of the stairs, instead of turning right, turn left and start walking
till you go under a small bridge and hit a street. At the street turn left and
walk till you go through a long tunnel. Upon exiting the tunnel keep following
the street till it curves and you get to the stop light. This is the main
attraction of Yongsan- the Yongsan Electronics Market. This is a mecca of
several shopping complexes and malls that sell all types of electronics ranging
from computer parts, used cell phones, cameras, video gaming equipment, TV’s
and everything in between.
At the stop light, if you turn right and continue walking a
bit you’ll eventually find a building with a ramped entrance with two main
doors. This building is basically your one-stop shop for all your computing
needs. Here you can find used notebooks, routers, computer monitors, and more
importantly, computer parts if you want to build your own computers. At the
sloped entrance, a few of the times I was there, vendors will set up their own
stands selling nothing but a specific type of computer component. Some sold
just motherboards, some sold hard drives, some sold just graphics cards, etc. I
bought a router from one of the vendors here for cheap and a friend of mine was
able to find a decent notebook computer.
Video Game Alley- If computer parts are not your thing, at
the stop light, instead of turning right, turn left and a bit back and look for
a narrow ramp that leads down into a building. Here you will find a video
gamers paradise on earth- Video Game Alley. Much as the name implies, this is
an entire area dedicated to, you guessed it, selling video games. If you’re a
video gamer like me, you will absolutely love this place.
As you go down into the alley, on both sides of you, you’ll
see nothing but vendors selling anything and everything video game related.
Here you can find newer generation video game equipment such as Xbox 360s and PlayStation
3s, along with their accessories and video games. However, you will also find
plenty of stuff from older generations. A friend of mine absolutely flipped out
when he found some old versions of Gameboy games he had been looking for.
Furthermore, if you are also into anime, manga, and Japanese gaming, you will
also find a few vendors selling anime figurines, posters, and video games. This
place was probably my most visited area out of all Yongsan.
However, Yongsan is a place that you must visit on your own
and you must not be afraid to explore the area for yourself. I visited this
area multiple times and was not able to fully explore all the stores packed
into the areas outside the station. Be sure to walk around and discover your
favorite vendors. This also leads me to my next point.
For all its awesome qualities, I do have a few words of
caution for you. It is absolutely crucial that if you do go there with the
intention of buying something, you MUST shop around to get the best
price. What you buy at one vendor for one price, you might find it two vendors
down for a cheaper price. I know from experience because it happened to me with
the router I mentioned earlier. Additionally, this is also important because,
if your Korean isn’t very good, you are likely to be overcharged by the various
vendors. Not all of them, but a sizable portion of them will. Therefore, if you
can, ask a Korean fried to come along and negotiate for you. You are likely to
get a better deal that way.
Overall, Yongsan is an amazing place if you’re in the market
for some electronics or even just a place to kill some time at the
station/mall, CGV movie theater, or Dragon Hill Spa. I recommend you make some
time to visit the area at least once before you leave Seoul.
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