Heaven, I’m in Heaven . . . when we’re off together dancing kimbap to kimbap!

Kudos to those who knows the original song and the original singer. Seriously, if this wonderful Kimbap Cheonguk (Heaven) chain restaurant ever disappeared away from South Korea, I’d cry. If it ever disappeared out of my neighbourhood, I’ll go on a rampage to the headquarters! Not that it will happen, since there are two of these in my neighbourhood — mere one minute apart from another — so as long as one remains . . .
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: dollar, itaewon-dong, restaurant, seoul, south korea, won, yongsan-gu

According to my dad, I’m living my third childhood because I went to Gyobo book store at Gwanghwamun today to look for Boxcar Children and The Baby-Sitters Club books. Well, I didn’t succeed in that department, but I did see this sexy looking thing.

It was sexy until I saw the price. 48,000+ won. Which translates into about $36. But then compare that to $27 when you convert the price from 2500 yen. Um. Yeah. I know $36 is about the average price of an imported artbook, but my mind still thinks of June 2008’s conversion rate of 900 won to a $1 and thinks this is a $50+ book. Plus I only had about 60,000 won on me, and I was not going to spend all my money at once like that.

But still! It looked sexy. At least the cover did. Since it was in the plastic wrap, I couldn’t flip through the book to see if it’s worth that price. Then again, imported artbooks are so expensive. Once again, I ask myself, why must I have expensive hobbies!

Tags: artbook, book, boxcar children, dollar, economy, final fantasy xiii, finance, gwanghwamun, gyobo moongo, jongno-gu, sejongno, seoul, south korea, the baby-sitters club, video game, won, yen

Everyone in China and Japan, come to South Korea! This article shows how weak the won is compared to Chinese Yuan and Japanese Yen. So weak, that right now would be a good time to visit this place. I mean seriously. My friend’s relatives are going to visit here next week from Japan. They are staying for three nights and four days. The plane ticket and the hotel fees all add up to $200 a person.

That’s a real darn good bargain if you compare $730 to a three nights and four days trip to Tokyo back in May. Oi. If it only would cost $200 to go to Tokyo . . . I’d be shipping my butt there for my birthday next month!

Tags: china, dollar, economy, finance, japan, south korea, tokyo, won, yen, yuan

A few months ago, I was shocked by the US dollar to Korean won exchange rate when it was actually less than 900 KRW to $1. After having the exchange rate at a steady 1,000 KRW to $1 for the last decade, that low rate really hit me in the face. It’s kind of ironic that it did, though. I grew up in the mid-90s, where it was 800 KRW to $1. But then the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis aka IMF Crisis occurred, and I remember the won rate going up high as 1,800 KRW to $1. Of course I didn’t really understand the implication of such things. All I know is that it was good for us Americans to exchange USD to KRW. Sadly to say, I still do believe in that since my main source of income are in dollars. However, today proved to be an insane day in the monetary world. At least for me.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1997 asian financial crisis, ahjumma, dollar, economy, finance, imf crisis, korea, seoul, won