Clothing: Where to shop

I like weird t-shirts - and so do the Koreans (although they may or may not understand what their shirts say in English). While wearing one of my "cool" t-shirts several days ago, someone asked me where I bought it, and the answer was simple: the internet.

After all, there are so many great sites for internet clothes: threadless, defunker, and found item, for a few. How could you not like internet t-shirt shopping? (Check out some of my favorite t-shirt designs, including "Ask me about becoming a pirate")

But the Koreans were aghast: "Really, you bought this online? Without seeing it? How strange!" They all agreed that they wouldn't trust buying clothes online.

However, from my perspective, buying clothes online is fine. If it doesn't fit, or you don't like it, just mail it back. What could be easier?

Well, Koreans think shopping for clothes at their famed markets is easier. To check it out, I went to the Dongdaemun nighttime market (a reputed great spot for buying clothes) on July 4th (very American of me).

And the markets are astounding - an endless maze of tiny, little stores crammed together that sell everything. Everything. It's truly a shopping paradise, except there's one tiny little problem: no dressing rooms! How do you try stuff on? My Korean chaperone told me, "You just have to know your size." Oh... well, that shouldn't be a problem for me, considering Korean t-shirts come in sizes like 90, 95, and 100.

So I didn't buy anything, because I couldn't try it on, even though it was physically in front of me. (Imagine me trying to return something in my broken Korean. Good luck with that, Navin.) But Koreans would never buy clothes online, because it's not right there in front of them.

To each country its own, I suppose.

On a final note: