I heart Itaewon!

Elaine and I took a cab to the Itaewon area to meet my friend's buddy at B1 club.  He deejays there and went to say hello.  As we stepped out of the cab, we immediately felt comfortable in this area.  It reminded me of Soho or Wicker Park.  It was diverse, lots of nightlife, restaurants and tons of shops!

We booked our hotel at the http://ipboutiquehotel.com/ for tomorrow.  Sooooo cute!

It reminded me of a boutique hotel in Miami or Hotel Viceroy in Santa Monica!  We walked in and asked for the cheapest room.  As most asians, you have to repeat yourself and ask the same question until you get the answer you want.  After my 3rd request, the employee went down in his price by $50.  It pays to be persistent.  

Fashion:  Everywhere I turn, I see fur trimmed coats, faux animal fur vests and hot little bootie style boots.  Again, the girls are all bundled up in their ponchos, hoodies and fancy, sweater-like scarves but their skirts are micro, micro minis.  Some wear these 10-12" skirts with tights or just hot pant shorts!!  I wanted to take some pics but feared that would be too obvious and tacky.  The korean women are definitely more bold and fashionable than most western women.  Some walk down the street and they have confidence and are creative enough to take a risk with their fashion choices.  Some good, and some are oh soooo bad!    I love the layering that these women do in the fall!  I also saw a school girl look, down to the knee high socks and plaid mini skirt and ivy league, single breasted white jacket with black piping.  She was definitely working it and I am sure it played up to a lot of men's school girl fantasies!
These women love the short mini skirts with knit tights and fur boots.

cab drivers:  I have traveled many countries and Korea is definitely challenging when trying to get somewhere with a taxi driver.  The language and writing barrier has been difficult.  It is important to be able to write the address in korean characters or just get the hotel business card to show the cab drivers.  They have spoken no english and the communication has been tough.