Well, not exactly around the corner—it’s still a little over 40 days away—but that hasn’t stopped some Korean merchants to get with the holiday planning and offer discounts on those fabulous and expensive gift sets.
Chuseok, which is Korea’s Thanksgiving falls on October 3rd on the Lunar Calendar this year. It is one of Korea’s most important and familial sacred holidays (the other being Sollal or Lunar New Year) when families travel to their hometowns and people exchange gift sets of fruit, tuna, toothpaste, hand soap, coffee and my all-time favorite Chuseok and Sollal gift set: Spam.
Some of these gift sets can get a little pricey if one waits until the last minute to buy one—like the gift sets of dried fish on a string which run as high as 100.00.
Sadly, for all the years I have been in Korea I have never gotten one of these sets. Don’t really know what I would do with a gift set of dried fish, but the coffee or fruit would be a nice one.
Well, Jeffrey, maybe one of your students will buy you a set. (Hint, hint)
How much do cantelopes cost in Korea? When I visited a store on the Ginza in Tokyo last year, the cantelopes cost $105 each, and were wrapped very nicely in a wooden box.. Here in Hawaii, you can buy it for a few dollars.
That sounds about right for cantaloupes in Tokyo. They are also a little pricey here. What is really expensive are the Korean pears that can get as large as good-sized grapefruit or cantaloupe. They can cost around 10.00 each. Of course, the merchants raise prices right before the holidays.