Neon Night

With buildings and businesses stacked increasingly tightly in Seoul, they need a way to stand out and the tried and true neon sign is still ever present.

Sights like these are common, with bars competing with karaoke rooms, and cafes pitted against restaurants. It's inundating on the eyes, but still pretty awesome.

Many restaurants feature a cartoon representation of their specialty food. Here we have "Miss Jokbal," with Jokbal being pig feet. Note, the high heels.

A street vendor making Japanese style takoyaki, fried octopus balls.

This clothing store named "Hongdae Style," Hongdae is the neighborhood where this photo was taken, is a little late to cash in on the "Gangnam Style craze."

Ho bar is a chain of bars all over Seoul. They play loud club music and have some of the cheapest drink prices in the city. Hongdae alone probably has a half dozen Ho bars, if not more.

Nore-bang, literally singing room, is Korean for karaoke room. Unlike in the West, in Asia you do karaoke with your friends in private booths. It's extremely popular in Korea, with multiple nore-bangs down most streets in night life districts.

Other "bangs" are DVD-bangs and PC-bangs. DVD-bangs are rooms where you can rent and watch movies in your own private, nicely furnished room. From what I've heard, they are almost exclusively a hook-up spot for young couples. PC-bangs are Internet cafes that typically focus on gaming, especially Starcraft, with high-end machines and extremely fast Internet connections.