Chuseok Holiday!

Chuseok is Korea's Thanksgiving holiday, which was from September 16-18. I basically had more than a weeklong break since I had no classes for the rest of the week. My friends and I decided not to travel because we heard transportation gets busy and most establishments are closed. Instead, we took a day trip to Suwon! It took about 1-1.5 hours on bus to get there and we spent the whole day looking at various K-drama filming locations and other attractions.

Some of the attractions we went to:

• Lovely Runner house (which is actually a cafe!)

• Our Beloved Summer house

• 2521 tunnel

• Hwaseong Fortress

Suwon was definitely less crowded and bustling than Seoul, so it was nice to have a change in scenery. Other than the attractions we went to, we didn't do many other activities here. Referring to the top right picture, we were going to ride a hot air balloon called Flying Suwon, but we thought it wasn't worth the 20,000 KRW as the max height wasn't that high (the max height it went to is in the picture).

Endless Shopping Attempts

On the other days of the Chuseok holiday, I mainly spent my days trying to shop for clothes. Many of the stores were already selling fall/winter clothes, even though it was September and it was still humid. As a result, I did not have much luck in trying to buy clothes because I wanted pieces I can wear back in Hawai'i and majority of the options were either long-sleeves or not my style. I'd recommend shopping early if you want summer/spring clothes!

Many of the Hongdae street shops sell similar, if not the same, clothes for varying prices. Be aware that these shops usually do NOT have sizes (or they're considered "free size", meaning they're somewhat adjustable or only one size). In addition to that, majority of the shops do not have fitting rooms and, if they do, you are not allowed to try on tops (for whatever reason).

On the other hand, if you're shopping at a chain or department store, they usually do have sizes and fitting rooms that allow you to try on most clothes. I personally think the Hongdae shops sell cuter items, but it's a trade-off for sizes and fitting rooms, so choose what you feel most comfortable with!