You can top up from subway stations. If I am not mistaken, there is as low as 2000 won, 3000 won, 5000 won and 10k won from the machine.
Just place your card on the slot, then slot in your money and it's charged! :0)

DOes anyway try to buy trendy winter coat / jacket / at MYeongdong or Namdaemun? Is that expensive?? Not the type we seen at UT and UNIQLO...
.... How much?? Any idea... I got one winter coat from Zara.. But i think in Korea will be more trendy...

This post has been edited by joey_liong22: Dec 21 2010, 04:53 PM

My spent on T-money reload is only 15k won.
Per trip if within distance is only 900 won. So you can roughly plan 1k won per one way trip. I think the furthest we went to also cost us 1.3k won (i think close to 20+ stations). So depending on how often you use it in the subway then you can estimate how much you want to reload.

Unlike M'sia; you don't have to tap out to change subway lines. And unlike M'sia where every station costs different prices, in Korea; within the same distance area is one time minimal charge of 900 won. So one station apart also 900 won. 10 stations apart also 900 won if it's covered in the same zone.

Anyway, reloading is easy as theirs kiosk at every subway station and in English.

This post has been edited by b00n: Dec 21 2010, 04:56 PM

Trendy sometime does not mean good winter clothing and might not really protect you as most of the time those super cheap but trendy jacket is not Down! but cheap. You can get those for even 10K won and for reasoneable mixed Down (probably not more than 60% down), but still trendy, you can get it for ~ 30K-70K won.

For those own jackets and some of it really lightweight like the one I saw in both N'sia & Korea Uniglo, all more than 99K won..i.e similar or slightly cheaper than m'sia.

Those thin & lightweight down as the one offered by Uniglo probably the best insulated down...Get it from Uniglo as the same one in Korea is selling for 99K won or ~ RM285. Uniglo KL is selling for RM299. However if currency >RM3, KL will be cheaper!!

One thing for sure, there are lotsa choices & designs in Seoul...For rea down jacket since everything is in Korea, look for those tag wth abit of plastic covered down feather or check the inner lining..go for those wth 90% (High chancs it's 90% down)..hahaif 50%-50% of 60%-40%..the down content will be low

haha, that's why buying branded goods in Korea is not cheap. Almost the same price or slightly lesser. Like I told my colleague, diff is only like around RM100 the max.

i wanted to buy the down jacket with some fur sticking out design but my dad told me its too 'exaggerating'

end up just bought a normal, not so fashionable down jacket

To me, it's not really useful because in the event of rain, the "fur" would get wet.
Like for me, I bought something like what you can see in Timberland. i.e. outer shell is windproof and waterproof and inner shell is either fleece or down jacket. So it's still useful when you detached the inner shell as the outer shell can still be used in our climate for outdoor activities. Thus I think it's worth it.
My wife got me one Lafuma as present in Korea which costs around RM1.2k where it's like I describe. However, there's many Korean mountaineering brand that costs half or more than half the price of my Lafuma. For most of the time, I only used the inner shell as it's sufficient except when it's windy or raining then only I don the outer shell.
Next target for me is to go to Yellow Stone (Lafuma) in Bangsar to see whether or not they got the inner fleece which is not the down jacket type.

This post has been edited by b00n: Dec 21 2010, 05:54 PM

shopping in Korea is not cheap.
went to dangdaemun, clothings are expensive.
not worth if you don't use it often.

for me, china is cheaper and lotsa design.
quality wise still acceptable.

It's a little bit cheaper now bcos of stiong RM. last year or begining of the year when SK Won at ~ RM3.50, definitely everything from food & cloths are xpensive in Korea. Right now due to the advantges on currency it's cheaper now. hopefully the rate will drop further &thus food & etc will be affordeable for M'sian

Currency rate aside, is Dangdaemun an expensive place to shop compared to others like Namdaemun and Myeondong?

well, at dongdaemun there are a few shopping malls.

one is the high class one, which is Doota! and another one nearby, which i cannot remember the name, selling cheaper clothings.


this is Doota~





this is the interior of the 'cheaper' shopping complex

i rate the price like this:

namdaemun>dongdaemun>myeongdong

with the former being cheapest, latter most pricey.

There are many shopping malls at dongdaemun...Doota being the most high class and most of the items have price tags, around Doota are malls like Migiliore and Hello aPM...these malls looks like the pics from zstan, usually the items don't have price tags so u need to ask and bargain abit...the people selling women's clothes are fine but those selling men's clothes are scary as they will pull your hand and keep asking what are you looking for and where are u from.

There is another shopping mall called Cerestar behind Doota...it's a departmental stall so most of the items have price tags, the stuff there are cheaper too, but most of the stuff over there are not so trendy compared to the other malls.

MyeongDong lack of cltohing & fashion market..more like branded & cosmestic centres..that's why not as cheap as Namdaemun.. I can't comment on Dondaemun bcos panicking looking for money changers rather than windows shopping haha..

OMG YES I damn freaked out when they do that wei! those who can speak english even more daring!

at the end of the day i bought 1 shirt from a guy who didn't pull or harass me. quite an experience.

You guys neglected e-Mart and Lottle Mart. I think these two offers the cheapest Korean made merchandise. Save the hassle of bargaining.

Noted that! I am TERRIFIED of street sellers. Bargaining takes a lot of guts and poker face skills!

Small shops in Dongdaemun never have price tags. When upon price enquiry, the shop owner will quote very high price. Unless you are a garment expert and u know the pricing very well, better avoid shopping in this area.

As for korean made down jacket, you wouldn't be able to read it from the clothing labels if the jacket is made from down feather, because most clothing labels were written in korean.

Anyway, it's not easy to bargainat those street sellers ep Namdaemun souvenirs stores. They alrad marked to the lowest & even display the lowest dy..Let them marked down themselve. Once you try, they walk away from you!

---

Added on December 22, 2010, 8:59 amThat's is why I decided not toget any winter jackets there..Those lightweight and confrmed down jacket is notcheap also..mostly >99K won and even the warehouse sales outlet that I saw in Namdaemun selling winter boot for 6900won having diff type quality of down..Those nicer designed winter clothings are cheap and they even offer it for 10K-30 won..but those lightweight real down nothing less than 99K won wor.. AND those above99K won type are those not so nice design & simple..like those North face designed & etc..simple, black/blue/red/white down jackets

This post has been edited by stimix: Dec 22 2010, 09:01 AM

I bought some ssteel spoons n chocksticks from Namdaemun, can not bargain at all. Also in Namdaemun, I tried to bargain a fake Northface down jacket for 40k from 52k "opening price" by showing my four fingers, the old auntie just turned her back on me. But I glad she did that coz I found better bargain in e-Mart.

Lotte Mart, I only visited the supermarket area..Not interested on the Lotte Dept store because look expensive & high class like Debenham, Metrojaya & Parksn styled stores. I went to 2 Lotte marts at Lotte World & also the newly opened beside Changyangi train station..The trendy Lotte Dept store is beside Lotte Mart of Chanyangu train station..The same Dept store right now used as the Drama location for "Secret Garden acted by Hyun Bin and Ha Jiwon. (Astro byond ch 393 now showing ep 6 if I'm not mistaken)

They shot the drama probablyh a day or two b4 me as the last episode 10 wth the date read 12.12.2010 dispayed at the back of the bilboard and I was there on 13.12.2010!!

So for those wanna catch the glimpse of latest Korean drama - Secret Garden & the 2 famous stars...Goto Changyangi train station Lotte Dept store
Remember this station and compare it to the one inside the drama



This post has been edited by stimix: Dec 22 2010, 09:49 AM