Korea Life Blog - Musicians Market in Jongro


If you play an instrument, this place is for you. Specifically if you play the guitar/bass, but other instruments are included such as the piano and drums. Also, PA systems and a world of recording equipment can be found here. I play the guitar and was lured by a website to one of the shops. If you look online in Korea for guitars, there are many websites for the shops here.



It's in Jongro and it's the Technomart of the musicians' world. Four floors of musical gear and, of course, a movie theater. As you can see, if you read Korean, the name of the place is Nak-won Akki Sang-ga. There's the Heo-ri-oo-du guk-jang (Hollywood Theater) on top.


Here's a shot of the second floor. The place is huge. It's a musician's heaven. The day we went it was a little slow, near closing time on a Sunday. If I even stopped for a second, the shop owners will start pitching a sale. That's the norm in Korea but it never fails to annoy me.



I didn't get any good shots of the little guitar shops because of the reason above. However, I got this one out in the main walkway. You can get a taste of what the place is like. They all have practice amps, electric and acoustic guitars, accessories, effects peddles, etc.

I came prepared to buy a specific guitar. A Weston, like the one I have back in NY. I played that guitar for almost 10 years and never once had a problem with it. I love it. My mother refused to let me bring it to Korea for sentimental reasons (her mother, my beloved grandmother who has since died, bought it for me). Anyway, the brand, based in the US, was more popular overseas and eventually bought out by a Japanese company. Sadly, they pretty much stopped selling them in the states. So I was surprised to see a model similar to mine on the Korean site. Also, the price: 145,000 won, about $120, threw me into a fit of excitement.

Well, I should have figured. The guitar was an imitation Weston. A fake. The guy even told me it was and the guitar had a made in Korea sticker on it. The quality was awful. One chord would sound in tune, another way off - caused by a crooked neck. Unfortunately many people just starting off probably wouldn't notice. The shops must get a lot of suckers who buy online as well.

I don't want to put out the wrong idea. Some of the Korean brand guitars are really good, especially the semi-acoustics, and the prices are great. However, I'd stay away from the imitation name brands. You can tell by the prices which ones are real. I checked out a few Fender strats and the difference is easy to detect...price and quality wise.

I ended up going home without a guitar. I should have known 145,000 won was too good to be true. I did see some decent Peavey models for around 200,000, but I've decided to save up a little more until I can buy the accessories I want as well, such as an effects processor or sound card for the computer.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Raelians are Invading Korea


Poor misguided Julie. She was on the train the other day and saw a foreigner playing a saxophone while his partner collected donations. She doesn't usually give money to beggars but since the performance was so good, she decided to give 1,000 won. In return they gave her their pamplet:



Seems Julie contributed to the Raelian foundation. The one time she gives and it's to a band of cookoos out to get cash from suckers. (Meanwhile, the poor blind woman, the guy with no legs, and the helpless old man got nothing).



Supposedly mankind was created by Alien scientists and now they are requesting we build them an embassy and invite them to our planet. The alien race are known as the Elohim. This strikes me as funny because that's the name of my health club. I always wondered what it meant. Could it be a coincidence, or is the owner of my Gym in on this bizarre movement? Perhaps he's even one of the aliens himself! I'd better keep a close eye on him.

Good job, Julie. Hopefully, with more contributions like yours, they will finish the embassy soon and you can get a chance to meet the aliens firsthand. :P

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Korea Times

The Korea Times has run an article about Korean blogs. Mine is mentioned with a screenshot. If you pick up a copy, please save it for me. I'd like to see it and I'm too far away from the nearest newsstand. I'm confused though as to whether it's in today's paper or tomorrow's. The writer told me on e-mail that it would be in tomorrow's paper but the article is already online here: The Medium Is the Message in K-Blogs.

I just read it, and all I can say is it's boring. Especially the first two paragraphs. The article doesn't do anything to make anyone interested in Korean blogs or what they are like. It's basically a run down on what blogs are. It reminds me of exactly why I started this website. When I first decided to come to Korea, I did a lot of searching on the web. I found a lot of mundane information about Korea but hardly anything about everyday life and what it was really like to live here day to day. I decided I wanted to make a site that could bring the experience to life.

However, that's a pretty funny screenshot taken from this section, I must say. And I just checked my stats. Over 1200 hits today, 500 more than usual, so I guess people some people did get interested. Must have been the funny screenshot that did it. I just think the article could have been livelier.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Geoje-do Part 5


I finished Geoje-do (Part 5) - A Memorable trip to Japan.

There's a lot to come in the next part, but I'm not sure if I'll continue it online because I'm not sure anyone is still following it.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Playstation Bang in Nowon



This is the best Playstation bang we've been to yet. It's in Nowon-dong nearby Julie's chib. I can't see how they can possibly make enough money to profit by charging only 2,000 won per hour. The place is very big and there are lots of brand new TVs including several expensive Flastscreen Plasmas. When we went, the place was empty - albeit it was early in the afternoon on a Sunday.




Here's the the clerk setting us set up to play our first game. We get this DVD bang size screen and section all to ourselves. That's the same speaker set I got for my computer at Technomart. Too bad I don't have the same TV.



OK, Julie. Get ready for an ass whooping. I really hate WWF wrestling, but the video games are pretty cool. Check this out. We're chicks in a Bra and Panties tournament. If you grab the players clothes and tap a button quickly you can rip off their shirts and shorts. Needless to say I became an expert at this move in less than 3 minutes.

written by shawn matthews    -|link