SARANGHEYO SOUTH KOREA!

SUPER LONG POST ALERT.

Just came back from one of the best trips of my life. I didn't expect to love this country SO MUCH. It was GREAT. And I went with a couple of crazy cinapekz too, Jas and Yvo. Hahaha. Wives from two different worlds. Okay so LET'S BEGIN THIS TREMENDOUSLY LONG POST!

Btw, HERE'S A VLOG I DID OF THE TRIP! 

If you're too lazy to read the blorg post itself, you can watch the video instead. :)

Day 1 : Arrival in South Korea; Myeongdong

Despite our lack of energy and sleep, we were excited as babies receiving breast milk (tmi?). We got off at Myeongdong Bus stop and walked over to our hotel called Astoria Hotel, which BTW is a really great place to stay. It isn't fancy nor is it as luxurious as Hyatt or whatever, but it was good. The staff were helpful and friendly and the place itself was mega clean! Apparently it's an old hotel but it's so well maintained that you wouldn't even think it's old. Our room was cozy, just fit for 3.

Us, dragging our luggage to the hotel. HAPPY FACES ARE HAPPY!

Our very clean and cozy room! Super nice! I was very satisfied with it.

And OFF we go to Myeongdong. Honestly, we were only suppose to go look for food. We were starving and we didn't get any meals during the flight so we technically skipped lunch. But there were just too many distractions everywhere! Put 3 shopaholics in a cosmetic district and whart happens?!

THIS! All this stuff was purchased and given to me ON THE FIRST NIGHT! I know, crazy. I'm crazy. And a shopaholic. But whatever.

Anyway, we took a break from spending all our money and stopped by this little snack stall. The ahjumma served ddukbokki, some for of blood sausage, some sausages wrapped with bacon on sticks and bla bla. A lot larh! We had the ddukbokki (delicious!) and blood sausage (not a fan).

We then finally found a restaurant to dine in! AND IT WAS A GREAT PLACE TO HAVE OUR FIRST MEAL! The food was GLORIOUS. This meal made us have high expectations for every meal we would soon have in Seoul. It was sooooooo gooooooood! Btw, soju is not as bitter as sakae so, I think it's pretty good with the food we had. :D ♥

Day 2 : Samcheongdong

The next day, we went up north of Seoul to Samcheongdong, an area near Bugaksan. This place has many cute cafes and eateries! The whole area is ADORABLE. This was a major introduction to how gorgeous Seoul is. Every corner has something interesting to be seen. LOVE! ♥

After bravely getting lost in the traditional villages in the district, we finally found the observatory! It was raining and the wind was crazy as hell so we decided to chill here for a bit and take advantage of the free wifi. This is the view from the observatory! So pretty right?

After the rain died down, we went off searching for ways to get to the cafe area. Yvo, being the curious person that she is, got us to take this ridiculous steep steel staircase down to a random alley, and I'm glad she did! Look at whart was at the end of the steps! :D CATBUS! ♥

Here's an example of how beautiful it is there. Look at the layers of the scene! It's like a painting!

This was the first cafe we stepped foot in during the trip, Homestead Coffee. AND IT'S SAH PRETTYH! It's one of the common cafes you can find around Seoul, but it's still so beautiful! In fact, even though there are many coffee places with many franchises in Seoul itself, the all have different designs and characteristics. WAI SO PRETTYH LARH D: 

This corner itself is just ... sigh. ♥

We went to another cafe down the road to have some shaved ice (even though it was raining outside but wtv YOLO). We didn't know whart it was called cause the name was in Korean but Jas's friend said it's something like "A cup of stars"? It's so pretty right?! Tell me you think it's pretty. Wouldn't you just want to chill here all day? I would. It looks so warm and comfy. Sigh. ♥

Here's another cafe we went to called Heaven on Top; to hide from the sudden rain! They serve AWESOME pancakes. We tried something called Blue bling bling or something weird like that, but it was DELICIOUS. And we were in such a beautiful atmosphere to chill and eat in too! ♥

We finally decided to buy umbrellas to protect ourselves from the rain. Don't know why we didn't buy it at the beginning of the day but whatevs. Haha.

This is a restaurant we stumbled upon while strolling down a random street. I heard a lot of celebratory screaming coming from here and thought hey, maybe locals like to eat and have fun here. So we went in to see whether we could do the same lol. Turns out, it's a fried chicken restaurant. NO COMPLAINTS HERE ~ Hahaha! You know that fried chicken you always see in K-Dramas and Variety shows? That look so good that you start salivating just from glancing at it? Yeah, so, we had that. Ngee.

As we were walking back to the train station, we girls realized how SAFE Seoul is. I mean, the 3 of us females didn't feel like we were in danger at all, especially while walking in a dark alley or street like in the photo above! It's really THAT safe. You know how in Malaysia, even in malls you tend to clench onto your bag and phone, hopping that no one ambushes you from the back and slashes you for your belongings? Didn't even feel that way in the darkest of areas when in Seoul. NOT AT ALL. #win

Last cafe of the night, Miss Lee Cafe! This one is pretty famous (apparently cause Yoona and some other person did a film shooting here for WGM). It's a super quaint cafe with a note-tree in the middle! I love love love it! They played with pastel colours and floor levels really well here! I like how every cafe we've been to had originality in terms of their design. It's always one of a kind! ♥

HOT CHOCOLATE FOR A CHILLY AND WINDY NIGHT. ♥

The 3 of us left some notes behind. We had to right?! Assuming this was the trademark activity for visitors!

That's Miss Lee! Isn't she pretty?!

Day 3 : Seoul Grand Park Zoo and Public Bath

On this day, we planned to head out of Seoul to a somewhat nearby zoo! We thought it was the zoo that Runningman filmed in but alas, it was not. Regardless, it's an AWESOME ZOO. And I love zoos. I've been to so many and I have a personal ranking of best to worst. Singapore zoo use to be on top but right nao, Seoul Grand Park Zoo is on top. SORRYH SING-DA-PORE.

Here's a photo of us eating at another random local restaurant nearby our hotel, before heading to the zoo!

This was one of the views from our walk to the zoo! Cable cars hovering above a huge lake! It's so scenic. T^T  ♥

The zoo itself is massive, but not compared to the actual park! Seoul Grand Park is HUUUUUGE. No joke! We took like a half an hour+ to walk from the main train station to only the entrance of the zoo! We didn't think it'd be THAT far, but it was. O.O The giant tiger is whart you see when you've finally arrived at the zoo.

This is just one of my favourite pictures EVER. ♥

This was me and Jas, bothering Yvo while she was trying to take a nap on the random horse thing. The alligator slide is too rad man.

Here's one of my favourite enclosures! The Lemur enclosure! Though the lemurs didn't appear, I enjoyed analyzing the structures in the space. Haha. So fun! 

This is the tropical bird sanctuary! Super nice + double volume! You could easily see parrots flying everywhere! I love how we weren't divided by cages!

Here's another bird sanctuary! I like how you can clearly see the sky even though there's somewhat of aa canopy there. This area is extremely big too! 

And lets take some time to appreciate the fact that who ever designed this enclosure managed to incorporate a green roof of flowers and vines. It's simply gorgeous!

And, yeap. Another bird sanctuary. Haha! They're all so pretty and open! You can literally be a victim of flying bird poop! It's both disgusting AND fascinating!

Here's where all the American animals are (by American, I mean the raccoons, sloths and the armadillos etc; they originate from there right? If not mistaken).

Here's the extremely GORGEOUS view of the landscape from the entrance of the park! SO BEAUTIFUL. Was so nice to stand in the sunlight with a cooling breeze flowing around us! ♥

Can't you understand how beautiful it is?! CAN'T YOU?! Look at those trees! They look like something in a very awesome rendering! They don't look real ... BUT THEY ARE! D: ♥

Here are photos from one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had in my entire life. 

So Yvo insisted that we try out the public baths in Seoul; you know, like the ones you see in K-Dramas where the main actor /actress is forced to sleep at the public bath cause he/she was throw out of the house for some silly reason, with a funny Queen-Amidala-hair shaped towel on their head? Yar. That's whart we thought, 'til we entered and saw many naked Korean women walking around without a care in the world. 

For a while, I was like ... oh ... naked ... I wasn't as surprised or shy as I would expect myself to be, which was coohl. Jas was okay too since she sees naked people during her live-drawing classes all the time, but Yvonne was going crazy. HAHA! After leaping over the awkwardness of having to show off our unmentionables to each other, we were okay and didn't care anymore. If the Koreans were fine with it then why should we be all retarded about it?

We went into the public bath and WAH! Super awesome! Too bad I couldn't take photos (for obvious reasons). There were many herbal jacuzzis of different temperatures, showers, bubble massage pools, a 16 degrees pool, a tanning area, massage area and herbal saunas! My favourite was the herbal sauna and the herbal jacuzzi that smelled like herbal egg lol. It felt SO NICE. My skin was literally soaking up all the goodness! And it was so relaxing! Especially after a day of so much walking under the sun. SUPER GREAT!

Despite having to overcome the initial impression of the public bath, we had such a good time. We relaxed in the jacuzzis and scrubbed each others' backs (LOL); we also had herbal eggs and tea afterwards (which is something you simply MUST do at a Korean public bath!). Super awesome and I wish I could go again!

We headed over to a cafe nearby our hotel after the bath to have some nice warm coffee. This is Caffe Bene, which is a pretty popular coffee place in Seoul! It's pretty much everywhere, but the one near our place is exceptionally pretty. The staff were really super nice too and they had delicious coffee! :) ♥

Day 4 : Tteokbokki Town, Naksan Park and Dongdaemun

This was probably our most tiring day in Seoul. Even though the night before, we walked all over the huge zoo, on this day, we didn't stop walking from when we left out hotel til like midnight, if not mistaken. My right foot was starting to hurt so bad that I had to change shoes cause my Zara ones were dying on me. My poor flats! Went through so much torture; uphill climb, rocks, wind, rain etc the list goes on. And my poor feet! Blisters EVERYWHERE and I swear my joints in my right foot are failing me.

Here's us having dukbokki! It's super nice! It's a mixture of ramen, noodles, dukbokki, tofu skin, vege and other stuff I couldn't determine (lol). Btw, before this, we were actually quite lost. The area was a bit confusing and we couldn't find Tteokbokki Town. My point is, Koreans are very nice and helpful. No matter whart, they will try their best and go out of their way to help you during your time of need. We were guided by a couple of tourist agents (by luck, we bumped into them at their office) and they were so excited to be help 3 Malaysian girls. So nice of them! 

Here's the friendly ahjumma who cooked the dukbokki for us! If you're ever in Seoul, go look for her restaurant at Tteokbokki Town! The restaurant name is something like Origi Dukbokki or something. It's the one with many SBS and KBS signages. LOL! Go go!

After our breakfast/lunch, we took a walk around the area just to see whart it's like. Looks like it's straight from an anime to me. This could be a watercolour painting!

This is somewhere nearby Naksan Park. Again, we got lost looking for the park itself (this day was a day of just getting lost, FOR REAL ... LIKE, THE WHOLE DAY). We stumbled upon this pretty mural while searching for the park itself.

After getting some help from a nice Mandarin-speaking Korean lady, we finally found our way around the place. We walked up a hill and ended up at this location! With a lovely view. The weather wasn't on our side (it kept drizzling) but regardless, the view was awesome.

Here's us walking up even more! It's like the hills never end. This area had very pretty murals along the steps.

We ended up in this little pocket of the hill, and it's one of my favourite little spaces EVER! We chilled here for a while, to gather up some energy to move forward. It was seriously super tiring k no joke. We laid down at the table and chilled under the trees! I was enjoying listening to the drunk ahjumma and ahjussis playing games! So cute.

The view from way on top of the hill! So gorgeous.

This was the view from an even higher point of the hill! ♥

One of the many cute murals we stumbled upon. This is a house! And that's a real door! ♥

We walked towards Dongdaemun and ended up shopping for a bit before actually looking for food. We came to realize that we were like zombies, starving to death after a long day - so we decided to look for food! And again, we went to a random local restaurant that served beef stew (I think that's whart it is). WAH SO DELICIOUS OK. Seriously, at this point, everything we've eaten was GOOD or THE BEST.

Day 5 : Hongdae 

This day was dedicated to Hongdae! An area full of fashionable students, cafes and art! Here's the first meal of the day! Okay, we didn't actually know whart we ordered, cause the menu was in Korean, but whatever we pointed to turned out delicious! The one on the left is cold noodle, which was surprisingly super good and refreshing! Top right is kimchi bibimbap and bottom right is some noodle soup, not too sure whart flavour or whatever but it was damn nice! ♥

We were lucky to have eaten at a restaurant RIGHT NEXT to a cat cafe that I personally wanted to check out. Seriously, this was heaven to me. The cats were so adorable, the place was so unique, clean and pretty, the staff were friendly and the coffee, not bad! Super love! ♥

Look at the Scottish fold on the left. I want to pinch it gah!

SEE. SAH CUTE! Those ears ARGH! ♥

I super love how that cat looks. It's expression is so sinister!

After spending time in cat heaven, we walked around Hongdae area. This was the Children's Park that Yvo wanted to see! She thought that the Free Market was on this day but apparently it was on the next day, so we decided to check it out then. But whoah, a few seconds to appreciate the graffiti please. Super nice!

A cute antique shop along the road!

We actually thought of going to the Trick Eye Museum the next day, thinking that it'd be hard to find; but then we were walking and then oh hello, it was right in front of us. Haha! So we went in. And played, A LOT.

Some more lovely group photos of us. ♥

This was in the magic mirror room! Dude, super trippy ok. It was awesome! I've always wanted to go in, ever since I saw the "Mirror" episode from Carcaptor Sakura! And every time a magic mirror room appeared in shows, I'd get so excited! Finally got to enter one and it was great!

Some lovely textures for you.

Something that was pulled out of an anime or a Studio Ghibli movie.

This, is where we had the best, I repeat, THE BEST beef EVER! I've never tasted beef so good in my life! I'm not joking. It's probably high end beef like kobe or wagyu! It was so good! It melted in my mouth! And it was sooooooo tastyyyy and savouryyyyy argh salivating just thinking about it! T_T I miss it! Not to mention the restaurant itself was super pretty (it was another random place we decided to try. NO RESTAURANT HAS FAILED US THUS FAR!). So good. So very good I could cry.

Afterwards, we chilled at a pretty cafe for a bit and had some Makgeolli, which is a traditional Korean rice wine. Wah! Super sedap! Best wine I've ever had! It was so sweet and tasted like soda, seriously. Was really nice to drink, especially on a chilling night.

Day 6 : Hongdae, Cheonggyecheon stream and Nangdaemun Market

After some last minute shopping in Myeongdong, where did we head to on our last day in Seoul? Yar. Another cat cafe. LOL. This one is called Cat Cafe Gio (or it USE to be that. Nao it's like Cat Cat Cafe or something). It's in front of the Children's park, hard to miss. This cafe wasn't as pretty as Tom's Cat Cafe, but it DID have more cats! And many more varieties! We saw an egyptian cat, a munchkin, and something that looked like a wild cat hybrid! It was massive and fluffy! Super loved it! Wish I could be there forever. T_T ♥

Here's me, annoying the cats around me. They all had Lizzie's personality; the please-leave-me-the-fuck-alone character ... which made me want to kacau them even more. Mwahahaha! ♥ =^.^=

Afterwards, we headed over to the Children's park where the Hongdae Free Market was happening. Wah! Super a lot of people k! It was crowded with fashionable students! And the market was awesome! Cause many students were selling their crafts and artwork; similar to craft markets in Cape Town! Brings back good memories. :) Too bad I couldn't spend much since it was already the last day and I was tight on cash.

Afterwards, we walked around Hongdae, tried the best waffle in the universe (at BeansBins Coffee) and then headed over to the famous stream that Yvo wanted to check out. Twas a good day. :)

Here's a photo of the beautiful city! We were walking towards the stream and just stopped here for a while because the skyline was just too gorgeous! And the sky was so blue, made me feel so happy and excited. :D

I just took this photo cause I like the pedestrian shading(?) thinggy. Haha! If you were there and you looked to your left, you could already see the stream!

Voila! This is whart you see! So beautiful, with the background of the city and all. A brilliant urban park/pedestrian walk! If I'm not mistaken, the stream also acts as a rainwater filtration system for those gloomy, rainy days. The water was cold, super clear and clean too! You could see fish swimming inside! And you could say that this project was a major success because plenty of locals use the area socially, for exercise, dating, family outings, picnic and an actual pedestrian walk to get from one end to another. BRILLIANT! Super love! ♥ 

Under every bridge, there's bound to be friends, families and couples chillin' and chit chatting. Some even bring soju along and drink by the stream! Super awesome! 

There are some areas like this, were you have rocks that form a bridge for people to use. You can see families here usually cause the kids like to play with water. Aiyo! So cantek larh! ♥ 

Here's us, chillin' with the locals. We were facing many many many couples at the time. We were kinda like the bitter independent single ladies LOL. But it was nice to know that this was an area for dating! I think it's sweet! :D

Afterwards, we headed over to Nangdaemun market (by force) to check it out for a bit and have a late night snack. We sat at a very popular food stall, with lotsa youths! The ahjummas were nice and friendly too! We weren't very hungry so we just ordered normal kimbap, and to our surprise ... it was the best kimbap ever ... EVER. I finished like 75% of the plate cause it was too good! ♥ 

There were more of the kimbap but technically, I ate all of whart's in the photo. IT WAS SO GOOD! And the yellow sauce that came with it just made it BETTER. I dunno how to explain how happy I was eating it. ♥ 

This might explain it well. I had a whole kimbap in my mouth and I was ready to stuff the one I'm holding with my chopsticks in my mouth too. TOO GOOD LARH! ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Btw, here's all the stuff I bought from Seoul. The middle photo actually consist of all the free samples that were given to me. DAMN A LOT RIGHT? I didn't actually have to buy mask sheets since almost every shop gave out free masks! 

Best buys :

1) Platform sandals. BEST BUY EVER. So comfy and so stylish! Perfect for everyday use! ♥

2) The tiger top! It's a spoof of the Zara and Topshop cat trend but for a fraction of the price! It's super gorgeous and the tiger is embroidered onto a textured fabric. Super super love it! ♥ 

3) The Nature Republic Aloe Vera gel. I've been using this gel on my face for over a year nao and it's kinda pricey in Malaysia (RM33 each?), but I got 4 tubs for 14,000 won which is RM40 here! WHART?! Yar so of course, had to buy larh duh. ♥ 

4) Clio Black Eyeliner - the one with Lee Hyori on it. I swear to God, this is the best eyeliner in the world! Beats Heavy Rotation, Dolly Wink and 24hour Tattoo HANDS DOWN. ♥ 

5) Tony Moly Neon Pink lipstick. It's really pigmented and matte! Surprisingly goes well with my skin tone so I totally fell in love with it. :D ♥ 

Everything else, I bought randomly. I've used a few products and nothing has failed me so far. I LOVE EVERYTHING. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Tips for travellers/visitors in Seoul :

1) It's best to know a bit of Korean when going there. If you're lucky you might bump into a bilingual local that knows either English or Mandarin, but that luck doesn't come very often. So know your basics! We were lucky to have Yvo with us, to somewhat be our translator. Haha!

2) If you're lost somewhere, don't hesitate to ask for directions. Locals are all willing to help you out. Too many people gave us a helping hand when us 3 girls were clueless as to where to go. They will either help GPS the way for you, give you directions or even lead the way for you. They're awesome like that!

3) I suggest you pin-point all the locations you wish to visit! And then once you have them in hand, get a map of Seoul, and locate all the areas. You can start filtering out whart you don't need to visit from here; depending on the location you'll be going to. 

4) If so ever you get lost, there's no subway nearby and you last resort is to hail a cab, make sure you have the address of your hotel or backpackers written down somewhere, or even in your phone. At least if you can't speak to the cab driver, you can show them the address and they'll take you back from wherever you are.

5) Travelling using public transport in Seoul is cheap and convenient. When travelling using the bus or subway, get the refundable T-money card. You can buy this at a kiosk in any subway station! There's an English option so that you can understand whart you're buying. At first purchase, you're asked to put money into the card. I suggest you put in 10,000 won first. This lasted us the week and we even got to refund 5,000 won back! 

6) Bring extra money. It's best to have more than less. In Seoul, the street food isn't very expensive nor are the local restaurants. Street food can be like 1,000 won - 2,000 won (RM3 - RM6) and they give quite a huge portion. Local restaurants can range from 4,000 won - 20,000+won (RM 12 - RM60+) depending on whart you eat (ramen and jjajamyeon is cheap but bbq is expensive. Ya get whart I mean?). Cafes are generally pricey but quality is good so I recommend you go ahead a visit a few; coffee can be from 4,000 won - 7,000 won (RM12 - RM21 which is somewhart normal for cafes).

7) If you're shopping, MAKE SURE you have extra money, and keep track of your spending. You can go crazy when spending cause the prices are pretty cheap, especially in Dongdaemun and Hongdae. Perhaps come up with a budget everyday? There's always some sale racks (this is referring to women's clothing) around; mostly outside the shops. The sale racks can range from 5,000 won - 15,000 won, which is pretty cheap for really good quality Made-in-Korea clothing. There are more expensive clothes inside the stores, which follow up to current trends, but those are pretty pricey. Depends on whether you're willing to spend; check on quality and fabric material.

8) If you're going with friends, create a money-pool for food. Each of you can give the treasurer (a friend you nominate who you can trust with the money of course) 50,000 won first. This can cover for all your food purchases. If you run out, just top-up another 50,000 won each. If at the end of the trip, you have extra money, just split it amongst your friends and yourself.

9) At Myeongdong, you're bound to go crazy and shop like mad! Beauty products everywhere and at such cheap prices! I recommend you to BRING AN ECO-BAG WITH YOU. To stuff all your products inside. It's really not a good idea to lug around 10 plastic bags filled with products around with you. You'll get tired and cranky, so either bring some strong, eco-bags or a trolley along with you!

10) Take some time to look around the underground shopping areas in the subways! Some things that they sell are really cheap and they're mostly Made-in-Korea so you're bound to find a few gems in the pile of cheap things!

***

Overall, my trip to Seoul was amazing. I went with two amazing, funny girls and we had a GREAT time exploring Seoul by ourselves! It was great experiencing and seeing completely new things. It was great being amongst such nice people, who were so willing to help us noisy Malaysians whenever we got lost and didn't know the way. I truly feel thankful for their culture being so polite and helpful. We wouldn't have survived if they weren't naturally that way. 

Thanks Yvo for picking up basic Korean so that we somehow knew how to communicate ... a little ... sorta. LOL! You iz the best. And thanks so much ladies for making the trip awesome. Wouldn't have been the same if we traveled with different people. I LUBB CHU AND I LUBB SEOUL! Hope to go back to that wonderful place again in the future (maybe even move there ... maybe). ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Who else could I be this beautiful with?! ♥