Seoul, Korea (Cat Cafe, Myeongdong) - Day 50

June 14, 2014

Just for today, I had to ditch my sister and hang out with a friend. My friend and I had some last minute planning to meet up in the morning. My friend is part of the TaLK program in Korea where she teaches kids English in some rural part of Korea. She came all the way to Seoul from Pohang! She even came to pick me up at my guesthouse in Myeongdong! (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ* I haven't seen her for several months since she left in Feb of 2014, but she seems to be doing quite well and spending like crazy.

It was still quite early, perhaps around 10:30-11AM, so we went to grab lunch at Pizza Hut in Myeongdong. Pizza is quite expensive in Korea but it taste so good! ₩16900 for this pizza and one drink. (oꆤ︵ꆤo)





























After eating we spotted a person dressed up in a cat costume advertising a cat cafe in Myeongdong so we went there, but this was before we went to grab some cheap nail polish at etude house of ₩2000 each.

I forgot the name of this cat cafe, but it was on the 3rd floor of a building in Myeongdong. It cost ₩8000 to enter and you get a free drink. My friend and I both got the green tea ice milk tea. To my surprise it actually tasted pretty good! There are rules on each table in terms of how you interact with the cats. Also, you must change into slippers before entering the cafe. I did feel a bit disheartened as the cats did not approach our table at all, we had to go to them. (｡•́︿•̀｡) You can buy some cat food at the cafe to lure the cats to your side, if you prefer. There wasn't as many cats there as I had hoped.

Even have a drawing of a cat on top of the drink. 

For some reason all of the cats are on the other side of the cafe. We're so lonely on the other side. (๑ १д१)

This cat is sooooo pretty, but always sleeping! ♥

EEP. Kinda scared of this one. Don't like naked cats.

This one is soo fluffy and walks like a BOSS.

A lot of cats here like to sit or sleep by the windows. Sunbathing. What a life. ♥ ♥

Looks like there's an evil shadow...

We were at the cat cafe for a few hours, good thing they only charge you once and you are free to stay as long as you want. After this we walked around Myeongdong some more and then I guided my friend to Insadong and then Lotte Young Plaza. Even though she's been in Korea a lot longer, it seems like I was the one who lived there. LOL. 

I LOVE LOTTE YOUNG! It makes me FEEL YOUNG! I mean you can find so many cute things and the styles match our North American tastes and the affordable prices geared towards people our age. Excellent work, but still out of my budget as most of the brands we can grab back home. But this is a great place for photo opportunities! A lot of cute artworks! (/^▽^)/

Even the washroom! Clean and cute!

Inside a washroom stall... yes....

And on the roof of the Lotte Young Plaza....Kim Soo-Hyun! Annyeong. (๑♡3♡๑) The last time I went here with my sister, it was raining so this time I got to see them in natural light. Heh heh heh.

AWWWWW.. My little cuties

After a lot of walking we went to a cafe, forgot the name, for some late snack/dinner. Obviously my friend treated again....even though she needs to save up...₩15800. The green tea shaved ice was ₩9800 but it was big enough to share. Even the honey bread tasted pretty good. The nice thing about cafes in Korea is that they give you a beeper to let you know that your order is ready for pickup. We sat on the second or third floor and I can tell you that this place is jam packed. A lot of young people studying and chatting away. FREE WIFI.

Cinnamon bread ₩1000. I think it's too hard and the taste was kind of bland. I would not buy it, good thing my friend let me taste some of hers.

But I did buy some Custard red bean for ₩2000. I think there's 10 pieces, so it's a pretty good deal. It's not bad since I LOVE red bean and it's steaming hot too. Great for sharing with a friend. (*´∀｀*)☆

Myeongdong is open quite late... we left at around 10 - 10:30PM. I did thought of my sister and what I could bring back for her to eat...but I decided not to since I couldn't find anything by that point. We walked back to Myeongdong station together and I saw her off before I headed back to the guesthouse.

Once I got back to the guesthouse, I opened the door to our room and I find crapload of shopping bags. My sister had done a LOT of shopping by herself. And she ate quite well too.

The next day would be our FINAL FULL DAY IN SEOUL.

Seoul, Korea (Korea House, Namsan Tower, Hanok Village) - Day 49

June 13, 2014

Can you believe that all these attractions in Korea is a walk-able distance from our guesthouse? We started our day with gloomy weather, and it began to to rain a little as we walked to our first attraction, Korea House.

Korea House. 

There weren't much people in the morning, other than us there were only 3 other tourist. The door was open so we entered the building too. You can watch cultural performances here, but it does cost you a bit. Regardless, it is a nice little attraction to get a feel of a traditional Korean building.

And here you can watch performances, but you have to pay.  (●￣(ｴ)￣●)

(●￣(ｴ)￣●)

(●￣(ｴ)￣●)

And then behind the house....very interesting...it's like being transported back in time.

I thought this area was prohibited since nobody other than I was there. This area is a bit off from the Korea House and you do have to go up some stairs. I got freaked out when I heard voices to I hurried back down the stairs towards my sister. – =͟͟͞͞ =͟͟͞͞ ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ

You can see Namsan Tower off in the distance.

After the quick tour of the Korea House, we headed to Namsangol Hanok Village. They are quite close to each other so we walked over.

Namsangol Hanok Village

This is a traditional Korean village from the Joseon Dynasty. The area is quite large and there are events and programs at specific times during the day, but we didn't have time to wait for those. There is also an small section where there are historical games you can try. I tried the game where you have to throw an arrow into the basket. (｡･ω･｡)

As you walk around the village you notice that every building is somewhat similar and you can't really tell the difference between them. Some of the buildings have little exhibitions like this one, where they should you what was used and how each room looks like during the Joseon dynasty.

A well for dumping human bodies into.... just kidding. (●´∀｀●)

As I explored the area, I found a supposedly "historical" person using their "SMARTPHONE?" Didn't know they have phones back then....(￣(エ)￣)

After a quick tour of the village we headed to Namsan Tower. Too bad, we didn't go see the time capsule in the village. What a bummer. My sister didn't want to walk since her ankle wasn't up to it. There is also a route in the village which you can take if you want to walk up to the N. Seoul Tower. We took the bus there, the bus stop is located quite near the village, perhaps only a block or two away and it was a short 10 minutes bus ride up. It doesn't take you all the way up, so you do have to walk, perhaps 5 minutes. On the bus we met a girl who went to Korea by herself just before she starts Med. School, she said she will be meeting some friends later on. She looked so young, but if she were to start Medical School then she should be around 22.

N. Seoul Tower aka. Namsan Tower

The short walk up to the tower.

The famous love locks! ( ˘ ³˘)❤ There is a lot of tourist at the tower, no doubt, but at the same time, there is also a lot of locals. I bet the tower would look spectacular at night. Too bad.

We found an exercising area very close to the tower! I get the whole place to myself! We didn't spend that much time at the tower since we opted out of going to the top floor. We didn't even have lunch yet! There was a bit of light drizzle and a bit chilly too as I was wearing SHORTS, since I didn't pack any jeans, I gave it to my mother to bring home.

We took the bus down the mountain and it brought us to the train station. So we took the train to Hongdae for some SHOPPING! ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ The shops and cafes near the university is AWESOME as it caters to our taste. It's where all the trendy young people shop and usually it would be cheaper as students are the main patrons.

Hongik University

Hello Kitty Cafe in Hongdae. We only took pictures outside of the shop since it would be awkward to go in take some pictures and head out without purchasing anything. I read reviews that the food and drinks are overpriced and the taste is just mediocre. I wouldn't mind eating here but with my pity wage I don't have the luxury. (／(ｴ)＼)

So we grabbed lunch at Lotteria. We got a shrimp burger meal and added an extra shrimp burger for my sister; it was a bit expensive for 9100₩. And OMG, ONLY IN ASIA CAN YOU EAT SHRIMP BURGERS! I am in LOVE. We need this in Canada!!! But the taste of the shrimp burger in Korea does not live up to the standards than in Japan (Mos Burger). The shrimp burgers in Japan is the best I've EVER tasted. SO DELICIOUS. (♥ω♥ ) ~♪

After shopping around the Hongdae and Ehwa area we went back to Dongdaemun. But near Hongdae there's an Artbox and they have cheap stickers! We have an Artbox here in Vancouver, but it's so expensive! I did manage to buy some stickers from here as the quality was very good and it was quite affordable. My sister on the other hand did manage to buy a lot of bags and clothes in Hongdae and Ehwa.

A picture of the Dongdaemun gate again.

One of the things I wanted to do in Seoul was to walk along the Cheonggyecheon River. It look s really pretty at night, from what I saw on the web but it was totally different in the evening and the walk was a bit painful as there was a lot of bugs near the river, but that was not all, the walk took 45 minutes to reach the guesthouse. I though it would be 30 minutes max but nope. At least there were fishes in the river. ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(；　・＿・)┘

This is the area near our guesthouse..not much to look at..a bit creepy too.

A night we went back to Myeongdong for some shopping and was looking for a place to eat. If you can, don't go to Myeongdong to eat because the prices are much higher since it caters to foreigners. We didn't know where to eat so we settled in this underground restaurant in Myeongdong since they have an English menu. We got a bottle of soju and one seafood pancake and the total came to 29000₩. The soju itself cost 10000₩ which is like double the convenience store price. It was way too strong, so in the end we brought it back to our guesthouse and left it there, and eventually we had to throw it away. As for the pancake, it was mediocre, it taste a bit different than what I am used to. I love ordering a seafood pancake at a Korean restaurant in Vancouver, but in Korea they put too much onions and it's very soft.  ಥ_ಥ

And that is all that we had for dinner. Till next time...