071224 – Christmas Eve’s celebration in Seoul

There’s no early dismiss on Christmas Eve for working in Korea as compared to US. So I tried to leave at 6pm sharp and prepared to have a good Christmas Eve celebration and countdown with my wife. In Seoul, Christmas celebration is mainly for young couples. On the streets, you will see many couples buying Christmas cake from the bakeries shop e.g. Baskin Robbin, Starbucks and etc, either to share with their parent or loves one. The Christmas cake has become a good business where any shops that have anything to do with bakeries will sell their own Christmas cakes design. Every year these shops will compete with each others in term of cake decorations and promotions.

Young adults will show off the hottest winter fashions, usually involving miniskirts and surprisingly they can withstand the cold weather. This will be a very busy day for my eyes…

We headed for dinner at the local restaurant, 15 minutes walk from my hotel. We ordered two different type of jjigae (stew) which is heavily seasoned with chili pepper and served boiling hot on a pot. One of the jjigae is Sundubu jjigae, made with bean curd and other ingredients

It also came with many side dishes and it’s refillable whenever you like, but please don’t overdo it. Some owners may not like it. This simple meal cost 11000won for 2 persons.


Christmas decoration filled with amazing lighting at Cheonggyecheon. This area was cramped with people.





At Cheonggyecheon, there was a digital photo kiosk for everyone to snap their memorable photo on the spot and the digital photo can send to someone through email via the kiosk. And the best thing, it’s free.

Another lights decoration in the shape of Christmas tree near City Hall

As the clock struck at 12 midnight, everyone was cheering and started greeting each other.

A humble Christmas decoration outside my hotel room

Merry Christmas to everyone...