Books, Travels & Life in Between

Seoul Day 3: Hello Kitty Cafe at Hongdae

August 12, 2014

South Korea is the home of aegyo, BB Cream, KPOP, and a lot of themed cafes. The Hello Kitty Cafe is one of these themed cafes, and it has a couple of branches around the country. In my previous visit, we went to the Hello Kitty Cafe in Hyewa near Sungkyunkwan University. This time, my family and I opted to visit the one in Hongdae which was pretty near Trick Eye Museum.

Prior to the trip, Gian and Gabby didn’t want to visit the cafe because Hello Kitty. Haha. But Gianna really wanted to, and I promised that we’d visit the Hello Kitty Land in Malaysia, but we ended up going to Korea. So despite the two boys’ complaints, we trooped to the cafe for a quick coffee run. Gianna was ecstatic when she saw the cafe and wouldn’t enter as long as she hadn’t taken a picture.

Doesn’t the cafe look adorable even from outside? [Read more…]

Seoul Day 3: Trick Eye Museum and Ice Museum in Hongdae

August 5, 2014

Trick Eye Museum is located in the conundrum of independent clothing stores and themed cafes in the student district of Seoul: Hongdae. Though it’s underground, it’s not easy to miss because it has a pretty striking signage outside. Also, there’s always a trickle of visitors going in and out.

It’s a relatively new establishment but from the looks of it, it’s now one of the most frequented tourist attractions in Seoul. It’s clear why, because kids, teens, adults and oldies can enjoy this attraction. It certainly doesn’t matter how old you are because as long as you have a good sense of fun and silliness, you’ll have a grand time posing next to the 3D paintings. We sure did enjoy it!

The place was packed when we visited on a Saturday, but we didn’t really have to wait too long for our turn. I definitely enjoyed it, and one of its most popular paintings is the one above! Gianna looked like a giant while I ended up looking like a tiny bean. It’s all optical illusion but it’s still pretty amusing, right? I seriously can’t choose a favorite because I loved most of it!

The museum basically worked on the premise of taking the shot in a right angle to achieve the maximum effect of optical illusion. There are tons of attractions like this in South Korea. There’s the Alive Museum at N Seoul Tower and there are even 3D paintings in Lotte World. So you may ask, why did we choose to go to Trick Eye Museum in Hongdae. Well, I believe the resulting pictures below are enough reasons why. [Read more…]

Seoul Day 3: Changdok Palace

July 31, 2014

Changdokgung is one of the palaces found in Seoul. It’s one of the most beautiful palaces and definitely well-preserved. It’s the one with the Secret Garden, which you can enter for another price. On my first visit, we didn’t know that this one’s a UNESCO Heritage Site so we opted to visit Changgyeonggung and Gyeongbokgung and skipped out Changdokgung. But we did have a photo taken outside since it’s one of the shooting locations of Rooftop Prince. Heh.

Before the trip, my cousins were so eager to visit the palaces in Korea. Whenever I asked them what they wanted to do in Seoul, all they answered was to visit the palaces. But I knew that kids aren’t so keen on sites where they don’t really get to do anything, so I only included Changdokgung and not the other palaces in our itinerary. My hunches were right. One palace was enough for them. After 15 minutes in it, they wanted to leave.

Anyway, remember to either say Changdokgung or Changdok Palace. I once had the mistake of saying Changdokgung Palace and that’s redundant! The Gung/Goong (궁) in Changdokgung already means palace. [Read more…]