A very popular way to spend time with your friends is to sing karaoke in a noraebang (Norae = singing + bang = room). Koreans (as well as most of Asia) love noraebang! They have many establishments in the Hongdae area but yesterday, we went to Sinchon. Remember that huge karaoke building in Hongdae called Luxury? I found out that it's a chain. The one we went to was much smaller, though, and didn't look like a doll house.
We had to wait around 15 minutes for a room and we sang for 2 hours.
You could help yourself to free icecream - vanilla, chocolate, +/or strawberry.
The hallway to the rooms. It was very clean. You have to take off your shoes before going in. Almost all Korean girls wear nude coloured stockings under everything (pants, shorts, skirts) or those hidden stocking socks.... which keeps the floors clean. They provide slippers for those who have bare feet (like most Westerners).
Koreans have no shame -- they sing at the top of their lungs even if they can't carry a tune! The rooms are only semi-soundproof so everyone outside can hear them.
The room -- 18,000won per hour for a small room which isn't too bad when split among 5 people! (They even have larger rooms with tables and seats that can fit up to 30 people.) The seats were extremely comfortable. They had a stage and a large window that overlooked the main street... and the room lit up with disco lights when we sang.
They have instruments like tambourines, plastic hammers, and morraccas!
They have a great selection of songs in Korean, English, Japanese, and even Vietnamese! All the latest Korean and Japanese songs were listed in the back. Each song comes with a unique code you have to punch in the large remotes.
It was fun - we sang and danced to mainly English songs but I attempted a few Korean songs like SonDamBi's Michoso (Gina knew all the moves... I only know the michoso part), and DBSK's Mirotic... OH and at the end, they give you a grade out of 100! So funny 'cause whenever Gina and I sang, the number would never be over 22...(my fault b/c I mumbled most of the Korean words) but when Kayla and Julie sang, they almost always got close to 100! So sad... but then I sang a song by myself and got 88! Not too shabby ;) We have quite a few videos but they're way too embarassing to share hahaha
Then when we left, it was raining warm cats and dogs and none of us had umbrellas. Luckily, Korean guys are chilvarous and offered to share their umbrellas with us. One even walked us to our dorm which was out of his way. Nice!
We had to wait around 15 minutes for a room and we sang for 2 hours.
You could help yourself to free icecream - vanilla, chocolate, +/or strawberry.
The hallway to the rooms. It was very clean. You have to take off your shoes before going in. Almost all Korean girls wear nude coloured stockings under everything (pants, shorts, skirts) or those hidden stocking socks.... which keeps the floors clean. They provide slippers for those who have bare feet (like most Westerners). 
Koreans have no shame -- they sing at the top of their lungs even if they can't carry a tune! The rooms are only semi-soundproof so everyone outside can hear them.The room -- 18,000won per hour for a small room which isn't too bad when split among 5 people! (They even have larger rooms with tables and seats that can fit up to 30 people.) The seats were extremely comfortable. They had a stage and a large window that overlooked the main street... and the room lit up with disco lights when we sang.
They have instruments like tambourines, plastic hammers, and morraccas! 
They have a great selection of songs in Korean, English, Japanese, and even Vietnamese! All the latest Korean and Japanese songs were listed in the back. Each song comes with a unique code you have to punch in the large remotes.
It was fun - we sang and danced to mainly English songs but I attempted a few Korean songs like SonDamBi's Michoso (Gina knew all the moves... I only know the michoso part), and DBSK's Mirotic... OH and at the end, they give you a grade out of 100! So funny 'cause whenever Gina and I sang, the number would never be over 22...(my fault b/c I mumbled most of the Korean words) but when Kayla and Julie sang, they almost always got close to 100! So sad... but then I sang a song by myself and got 88! Not too shabby ;) We have quite a few videos but they're way too embarassing to share hahahaThen when we left, it was raining warm cats and dogs and none of us had umbrellas. Luckily, Korean guys are chilvarous and offered to share their umbrellas with us. One even walked us to our dorm which was out of his way. Nice!
hi there, i was google-ing for advice on what to wear in Korea in spring time and stumbled upon here :)
ReplyDeletei am visiting korea late april or early may and was wondering what to wear because where i am from, it is always sunny and we mostly wear summer clothes. was wondering if you give a brief idea on what to expect and what to bring on my trip! :) like, is korea very conservative and dont take too kindly to shorts and skirts, do i need to lug down thick jackets for the cold etc.
thank you :)
michelle
musikq_@hotmail.com