My wife and I had a very odd day shopping for supplies for our European vacation. After going to a camping and outfitting shop and being blown away by the prices in Daejeon, we decided to go to Dongdaemun in Seoul, which has a dedicated “camping shop district”. Hopefully a little competition, as well as a larger market would drive down prices.
We brought our list of items to purchase and hit the first shop we saw when we got down to shopping. There were places selling obvious knock offs we tried to avoid. We ended up at a store with two people that must have warmed at the sight of us. We only generally had an idea of what we needed, but hadn’t narrowed down any brands or specifics. They pulled out books, bags, and lots of accessories for us. We spent about an hour working our way through the things we wanted. They were very pushy and high pressure, like everyone in Seoul tends to be.
Eventually I had settled on a bag, boots, and some needed accessories. My wife wanted a bag they didn’t have in stock, so we headed off and found what we needed at a different location. After getting her bag, we returned to the first store and picked up our loot. We packed our old bags inside the new bags, put on our new boots, and set off for a test run with out new gear. Big bright overstuffed bags, new boots, and a subway map pointing us to our next destination. We were totally tourists in Seoul for the day.
While walking around with large packs in Europe doesn’t draw any attention, people in Seoul looked at us like we were insane. There isn’t enough room for the people living there, and adding a large bag on our backs made the space all that much smaller. My wife walked around smacking people with her pack every time she turned around. People push you out of the way when in a hurry in Seoul. It was somewhat satisfying to push back for once.
On the subway, people looked at us like we were completely clueless tourists. This is true to a degree, because we try to keep out of Seoul as much as possible. Walking around with stuffed bags doing some shopping only made us stand out more. We were stared at far more than usual today.
Case in point, An elderly man came up to us while we were waiting for a subway to arrive. He asked us where we were from. He even asked my wife that, so I guess he thought we had just arrived. I told him I was from the States, and he asked where. I told him I was from Ohio, and he started pulling out his wallet. He didn’t ask how long I was here, which is almost always the follow up question. I think this was because of the bags.
I assumed I’d get his card, or some sort of picture related to his questioning. He told me he had been to LA. “You know LA? I’ve been to LA.”
I told him I did know of “LA”, and he went on unfolding something from his wallet. The people around us were bothered by this old man and did their “stare of obliviousness”, but he kept on talking to us. If an old person comes up to talk to you in Korea, it’s either ignore them totally or nod in agreement to everything they say if you want to be polite. We had nowhere to go until the subway arrived at the platform anyway, so he had us captive. What was he up to?
He asked about our religion, then handed us both a single dollar bill out of the fold of paper from his wallet. We were baffled. We refused the money, handed it back to him, then tried to force him to take it back. He kept giving it back to us. Why would we want money from this old man? He said he wanted us to go to church tomorrow.
We got back to Daejeon with most of everything we need. We aren’t planning another shopping trip outside of the city to prepare at any rate. Also, I now have two American dollars and no where to spend them.
