Korea D-8 - Common Ground, Insadong Market, Myeongdong Shopping Street

Today is the last day we are travelling in South Korea because we'll have morning flight tomorrow *so sad and don't want to accept the reality*. We dedicate this day only to visit popular cafes, shopping, & find souvenirs. Common Ground, Insadong market, and Myeongdong shopping street will be our last destination.

Common Ground

Common Ground is South Korea’s first and the world’s largest container shopping mall complex built with 200 shipping containers. Common Ground is totally Instagram and OOTD heaven!! This place is near Konkuk University, which makes it an attraction of sorts to youths. I bet you won't skip this place if you're in South Korea.

Red containers at 2nd floor

You'll find Street Market, Market Hall, Terrace Market, Market Ground, & Food Truck Market. It was very windy and I remembered I wore gloves all day. There was a fan meeting at Market Ground that day. If I'm not mistaken the man is Yoo Yeon-seok from 'Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim' . He was giving foods at the food truck. I can't see him clearly because we couldn't go near the food truck except for the fans.

Fan meeting at Market Ground

How to get here : Subway Line 2 or 7 to Konkuk University, Exit 6

Insadong Market

Souvenirs is one of the list that you won't skip when you travel. Actually you can find souvenirs easily at Myeongdong. But they say you'll get cheaper here at Insadong market so we decided to go here. There was a festival when we arrived at Insadong, I don't know what festival actually.

You will find varies of souvenirs that you won't find at Myeongdong. And we found nice store to buy souvenirs at Baekundang. This place is not far from the main gate. The ajumma will give you 10% discounts with no minimum purchase here. I bought key chains, chopsticks, soju glass, purse, bookmarks, & greeting cards. She even gave us free souvenirs :)

If you often go to Korea restaurant, you'll notice that they sometimes use

cutlery made by stainless such as bowl, glass, chopstick and more. My mother requested to buy this, but I regret not to buy that :(

We decided to go back to guesthouse to put our belongings & have a rest.

How to get here : Subway Line 3 to Anguk Station, Exit 6.

Last Shopping at Myeongdong Shopping Street

This will be our last time for shopping at Myeongdong. Actually I don't have list to buy especially for skincare since I have sensitive skin.

You'll find more than 1 same store at Myeongdong, escpecially for the popular one like Nature Republic, Etude House, Lush, Olive & Young, etc. I have to enter one store to another because I don't make list to buy :( *so many things I want to buy but I don't want to get broke when I'm back home*

Note : It's better for you to list down what you need to buy when you're shopping to save your time.

My friend told me that they received many sample skin care products when in Myeongdong. But it wasn't happen for us. They only give sample or freebies when you buy at their store and it's only 1 or 2 max :''''' I heard you'll get more discounts or sample at Duty Free Shop like Lotte Duty Free, Shilla Duty Free, Shinsegae Duty Free, etc. That's why we see many people bring lots of Duty Free bags when we're in Myeongdong.

Meet BTS at every corner of Myeongdong

If you're KPOP fans you can find easily KPOP albums, dvd concerts, and merchandise here. One of official store in Myeongdong is Music Korea, you'll find this store next to big Nature Republic store in front of Myeongdong entrance. But you won't find merchandise like official light stick here. If you find merchandise you should go to Myeongdong underground shopping center at Myeongdong subway station. You'll find KPOP heaven here XD Actually, I do want to buy BTS light stick here, but I think they will have new version for the next concert (MY GUESS IS TRUE ,THEY RELEASE ARMY BOMB VER.3 LAST WEEK!! thanks GOD I didn't buy when I was there).

If you decided to shop at Myeongdong, I recommend you to buy things in one receipt because you can get Tax Refund. Tax Refund refers to shops that apply a tax to the items and after purchasing at the full price, tourists can apply for a refund of the taxes paid before leaving the country (You can check details information for Duty Free & Tax Refund here). You'll get Tax Refund if you have minimum purchase 30,000 KRW in one receipt. You can get the refund at store or you can submit for Tax Refund at the airport. On the receipt, you have to fill information your Passport Number, address, & Credit Card number before you claim your Tax Refund at the Airport. You can googling how to claim Tax Refund in South Korea :)

Receipt after submit Tax Refund at airport

Suddenly we remembered our morning flight when we were shopping. Our flight was at 8.30 AM. We planned to check out tomorrow before 5 AM and ride Airport Bus. It will take approx. an hour to get to Incheon Airport and we worried if we couldn't make it since Incheon Airport is really big and have so many flights that we think there will be long queue for check-in. In the last minutes, we decided to check out tonight and took last Airport Bus. So we hurried to buy things at Myeongdong and back to our guesthouse at 10 PM. Lucky us that our guest us is near only take 5-10 minutes from Myeongdong. We only have 30 minutes to prepare our luggage before 11.30 PM. Our room was a mess because we just throw things that we didn't need.

When we arrived at Myeongdong Bus Stop, there was girls who took cabs while bring their luggage (we think that they were going to airport too). And we wondered if the last Airport Bus was left. We waited for 5-10 minutes but the bus not showed. So we think that missed our last bus. Then we discussed if we should back to the guesthouse or take a cab to the airport. And we decided to have night at the airport rather than bring back our heavy luggage back.

It was our first and last time we rode cab in South Korea. The driver couldn't speak english fluently so he called the cab's operator if he take us to the right place. He said it will take an hour to the airport & we decided to sleep after the sudden changes. For what I remembered, the cab costs 600.000 IDR from Myeongdong to Incheon Airport. So expensive that our purse begins to feel light :"""

REMEMBER!! If you have morning flight and a backpacker like me, you have to decide weather you want to have night at the airport or take earliest airport bus. If you want to take airport bus make sure you know the schedule so you won't miss your bus. If you travel only two, It's better for you to take airport bus rather than taxi, not only because of the price but they both took an hour to Incheon Airport. The airport bus is comfortable, have a big seat, clean, and have free WiFi.