Gifts for Chuseok!

Chuseok  is the Korean thanksgiving holidays, which will be celebrated by everyone next week. And part of the tradition is gift-giving!


I happen to roam around some department stores these days and have chanced upon displays of gift suggestions for Chuseok.  From the incredible expensive 'gulbis' fish (or corvinas) which was reported to be 300,000 Korean won each....to a 2,000,000 won bottle of wine!??

Walking around the displays, I saw the usual soap-shampoo-lotion gift boxes (which I presume means that you want the recipient to shower more often. Ha-ha-ha!), to gift boxes of Spam and other meat products (which I think would mean you want the recipient's cholesterol count to hit the roof. Ha-ha-ha!), or a box of dried fruits (to match the recipient's dry personality. Oops!).

So by now, the department stores must be making gazillions of profits from this tradition, not to mention the delivery guys who are busy transporting the gifts all over South Korea.  If you happen to see these 'quick service' guys on motorbikes with a mountain of a load at their back, those are Chuseok gifts!


But expensive or not, it's not the price of the gift. As they say, it's the thought that counts.


Now, if only my Korean friends would think of giving me a gift for Chuseok. Ha-ha-ha!


And please, no shampoo, no Spam and no dried fruits. Ha-ha-ha!


Happy Chuseok, everyone!