Good place to visit if you're interested on the local life.
1. It's safe, my seonsaengnim says the newspapers there are just blowing things out of propotion, it isn't THAT big of an issue yet.
2. Buy in Seoul.
3. Use T-Money.

It's okay if you have something to wear first to resist the coldness in Jan,
otherwise it's advisable to buy it here. Still need some good time shopping around namdeamun or other market

uhh.. i think anyone with their right mind would probably wear several layers of clothes underneath their jacket if its not thick enough... it'll be enough to get them through until they get a proper jacket in seoul.

From google earth, I found that is only around 0.5 Kilometre walk from Hongik University station, so perhaps it takes only a 5mins walk to Seoulwise Guesthouse
Should be quite a good place to stay with reasonable price

how would you describe the terrains in seoul? and what would be considered good walking shoes to be used there?

Hi guys, I'm planning to have a family trip to korea next year Febuary during Chinese New Year period.
Heard that it's going to be very very cold and probably snowing.

I would like to ask what should I wear during this kind of weather?

I went to those travel equipments shop asked, they said I must wear something like this,
[attachmentid=1934099]
they said this is for outdoor and indoor, water resistant and wind blocker. But all those shop like Universal Travellers, etc are not selling any good looking coat. And they are killing expensive, over RM500 minimum.

I always saw in korea drama they wear coat like this [attachmentid=1934102],
but the salesman said this is only for indoor, is it true??

I google around and I saw a lot of taiwan and china selling winter coat are cheap, would like to know are those reliable? most importantly those are cheap and very nice looking coat!

So my question would be:
1. Which type of coat should I get? I really like the second type 
2. Where can I get these coat except travel shops like Universal Traveller? I feel that their price is expensive and not good looking coat, found few coat which are also in the price range of RM500-700 but their are mostly second type, in Uniqlo, Pull&Bear and Topshop etc.
3. Anywhere here in Kuala Lumpur I can buy those china brand one? Found no shop selling around bkt bingtang shopping mall. I feel that they are cheaper and more fashionable.

Sorry for the messy post, never travel to winter country before 

actually u can try uniqlo if u don like all the universal traveler,winter time shop,cos i bought a down from UT,regretted after i pay a visit to uniqlo,that time still sales,i compare price uniqlo about rm100 cheaper than UT down jacket,somemore uniqlo looks nicer and lighter. I bought my down from UT for about rm359 like that uniqlo only rm259,i know its still expensive cos that time i donno where else can find really cheap one.

Yeah, I'm using a multi -convertable face mask (Forgotten the proper name liao haha...This is the best:


At 1st I thought I'm an alien using this type of mask but I did saw guys using this..Too bad all construction workers   

49.90 for the whole set Tops and pants for the uniqlo heatwear?anyone buy it before ?
We have one pair of long john already.not sure should get another one.

You can go shop for a book on South Korea which introduce food.
But generally during winter, it's hotplates or stonebowl, grill meat and ginseng soup/chicken.
It all depends on what you want. If you are the adventurous type, you can even try whatever you encounter. Like for me and my wife, we just popped into a shop and viola, we got 2 cold ramen with grill beef for the price of 10,000won. Look at my food pic compilation, upper left and bottom left which shows it's real chunk of ice - i.e. ice ramen. Taste quite good!
There's also lots of stalls selling the normal fried thingy or some like "lok-lok" which is mostly fishball and tofu.
As for dessert, there's actually lots of bakeries around with superb aromas on their pastry and nice cakes.

I think ok as mine is RM60,000 won for a double room, i.e. 30,000 won per person.

Ski resort, am not sure as we didn't manage to go as we spent to much time in Nami Island and visited Chuncheon's town instead in the evening and have the Chicken Galbi (Chuncheon dak galbi) at Myeong-dong. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_....jsp?cid=506808

Depending on how well you can take the cold. Most of the time, I wore only a long-john pant inside with a jean outside. You'll be surprised the ladies there only wear leggings! IMO, a good wool socks would help a lot as the cold starts from the feet. The better deal is to just wear long-john and
jeans and of course a good down jacket then spend the 1st day shopping for winter clothing here. More variety and more practical. Uniqlo has nice varieties here and not that expensive also. There's also more fashionable longjohn here then the usual white color one sold in M'sia.

may i know what is the best air ticket rate for AA and Korean air ? i plan to go next year Oct /Nov and i saw AA oct flight price is about RM700 include tax, worth ?

Hello! We'll be going to South Korea in end Feb to early March. After researching, winter in Korea will last till end March so I suppose we still need to prepare winter clothings. With all the info given in this forum, I know where to get them, thanks

Now the part I'm concerned is the transport after arriving Incheon airport. Since arrival time is 915pm Seoul time, most likely we gonna miss the limo bus because the last schedule is at 10pm. If I take AREX train to Gimpo for MRT, it's fruitless since stimix stated it'll be too late anyway. Does that mean the only way to Seoul is by taxi? We're on a budget so having public transport is preferred than taxis

Another thing; we'll be arriving on 27 Feb which is Sunday night. I plan to buy winter jacket, boots from Namdaemum and perhaps Itaewon (for bigger sizing on clothes and boots) on the night itself but I read that the open market is closed on Sundays - is this true???? And Itaewon will not open till late right? So, any other markets or places to get winter stuff at the late hour (11pm-2am) ?

Thanks

From your posted winter clothings


I think it will abit odd wearing that skirt wth the zebra stocking lol  . They either wear dark thermal stocking wth tight mini skirt or tight short jean rather that flubby skirt.  ..Mostly wear pants nia.. Not too fashioneable there-lah otherwise you will be attracted by thos Ajjussi there.. haha..Lotsa drunk ajussi after working hours hor 

Here one of typical subway scene I captured..check the common dressing. Those wth dark stocking wth skirt or pants can be seen too but also odd:

Myeongdong has more established brands compared to namdaemun, which literally has none.

a more loaded girl tourist would prefer myeongdong though... 3 story forever 21..zara...

You can cover the stripe stocking wth normal jean. Very useful when temperature drop below -10C. At this temp long john or either the thermal stocking together wth jean/ pant for sure protect you from shivering cold. From 1st till 4th day there, I dun wear any Long johns just a t-shirt & On 1st till 3rd nite it was OK as temp avg -3 to 6C However my problem when I was at Nami Island when temp on that day dropped to avg -7C.. I really can feel the cold air sipping through my jean abd also the lousy glove that I hv. Although the down jacket is working well protecting my body but not my leg & fingers..The buff doing well protecting mouth, neck & ear.

So on the 5th day, I wear my lomng john, and sweater + wool sock for the 1st time..pheww... now much comfortable...feel warm at -10C and even the strong windchill of -20C on the Morning at hangang park. Only when I started to take out the glove & the buff for picture taking..darn the -20C really killing my fingers & ears..

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Added on December 18, 2010, 7:02 pmWell, I'm also not really into those things but I did check Uniglo pricing in KL & Korea..NOT MUCH DIFF..just abit cheaper in Korea bcos their currency currently very low..   For eg..The super light weight down jacket- KL =RM299 but in Korea = 99,000won so after converting at 2.85 if u can get this rate in KL, the price in Korea is RM285.. just RM14 cheaper than Korea. If the rate >RM3, forget getting it in Korea liao 

For cosmestics, since I went windows shopping to get the free samples, I did check few there..Avg 1 pc of facial mask =3000 won but there are few less popular brand such as missy or Nature replublic (Hopefully I can recall) selling at 1,000 won per pc...I was..wow I though in KL only ~RM1 per pc??

hmm..its about the same but the choices are definitely much much MUCH more than here!      aiya..knowing girls..u all can go try those clothes and then just camwhore in the changing room also satisfied d right? 
are u an avid ice skater a? u sure u can tahan walking, and then ice skating for few hours, and the skiing the whole day some more, amd then go more shopping?!! 

i go pyramid skate few hours leg also numb liao. if u really can stick to your itinerary i respect you wei.   

maps are pletiful at the airport if you didn't get from here.

Aiyoo....Spider woman, the Korean man all tall tall and good looking one. Most of them carry GPS phone. They are walking maps. Go ask them la.

Those on the street one are "Rainy Rainy" type one 

Aha 2nd time to SK...My wife also asking me for 2nd winter trip haha.

BTW, the walk from AREX to Gimpo is actually pretty far. and the whole airport also close very early. abit scary.

Namdaemun market on Sunday is not fully close on Sunday, I was having my 1st breakfast on last Sunday and I saw stores started to open ~ 9AM..well probably not all open-lah. but one thing for sure..money changers closed on Sunday

BTW, the 10,000won lightweight winter boot I saw at Myeongdong, days later, I saw another wholesales style shop at Namdaemun selling it at 6900won only.

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Added on December 19, 2010, 10:13 amMy food souvenirs from SK. Mostly bought from Lotte Mart:



All the above are much cheaper than M'sia
Soju only 1000won
The biscuit buy 4 free 1 only 2980won/ RM8.60  (In Malaysia, 1 pack already RM4!- very nice biscuit)
The NongShim noodle - The common ramen 2980won (RM8.60), and the below at 2600won/RM7.5
Roasted Seaweed - 4990won/RM14.4 for 16 packs. (Here just 3 packs already ~ RM9
Sotong titbits..(From namdaemun) - ehh 5000won or ~ RM14.50 ..Not cheap actually but cheaper than Myeongdong st vendors.