A happy early birthday present to Girls’ Generation leader, Taeyeon from her fans.

How do you celebrate your love for your favorite idol member? Jewelry, flowers, chocolate? In Asia, it’s well known that the fan culture is a bit on the extreme side. So when you’re celebrating a popular leader’s upcoming 25th birthday – you’ve got to go out with a big bang. An image surfaced on an online community forum which featured a billboard of Taeyeon on a public bus in Seoul. The billboard was a congratulatory message (“Congratulations on Taeyeon′s 25th birthday. 20130309. We congratulated Taeyeon′s 25th spring. Happy Taeyone Day.”) for Taeyeon’s upcoming birthday (it’s on March 9th), which was bought by fans.

I took a dream vacation last month. Not to some tropical hideaway surrounded by crystal clear waters. Not to a romantic European capital overflowing with crumbling palaces and fine wine. No, I went on a shopping vacation. To Korea.

Shopping in Myeongdong, an old part of town revitalized with everything from nouveau Korean street food (french fry-covered corndog and french fries on a stick, anyone?) to cutting edge indie boutiques to Seoul's flagship Uniqlo store. Photo from flickriver.com.

For me, Seoul is the place to go to shop. Tokyo – too expensive. Singapore – too western. Hong Kong – too inconsistent. While Seoul may not be the bargain it used to be, the quality of goods and quantity of goods make it a shopper’s dream. So when my husband told me he was going on a once-in-a-lifetime Pebble Beach weekend with the boys, I took that as my cue to plan a once-in-a-lifetime-solely-to-shop-without-the-hubby trip with my mom.

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