Oh My Janey

Day Four in Seoul (Part 2)

Our Myeongdong adventure continues!

After our very filling lunch, we averted our attention from the glorious store displays. My sister and I immediately wanted to start shopping but we had to look for the Myeongdong Cathedral first. We asked for directions again and learned that it was right where we though it wasn’t! That sounds confusing but the point is, we were almost there when we thought we made a wrong turn then headed back and eventually got lost. Haha.

When we reached the cathedral, we thought it was closed because all the doors were closed. Then somebody came out and we realized that a mass was going on. It was a Sunday, which was why we went there in the first place. We entered the church and the mass was in Korean so we didn’t understand anything. Heh. But we finished the service, and I realized that it was the quietest mass I have ever attended. It was the most solemn one, too, I think. And my parents couldn’t stop raving at the discipline the Koreans were showing, even in church, especially in church.

Once the mass was over, we wanted to take photos inside since it was so pretty! But we were too shy and we felt as if we’re disrupting something sacred even though the mass was already over. So we just took some photos outside but it was raining and we couldn’t really pose that much because of the cold (which is pretty obvious in the photo haha). If the church looks familiar, it’s because it was used in You’re Beautiful!

It was around 3 in the afternoon and we were already so cold, as you can obviously see in the photo above. We had to walk really fast and couldn’t even glance around the place that much. We walked back to the shopping district and the first shop we went was the one selling KPOP goodies! Of course, of course. We’re in the land of the oppas, it’s quite stupid to not enter a DVD store.

I saw so many DVDs and CDs of DBSK and I wanted to buy so many things! But we were on a budget and I opted to buy Shut Up! Flower Boyband’s OST album and CNBLUE’s Earfun. Not the special edition but they had the special edition and I so wanted to buy it! But as I’ve said, we were on a budget and I felt bad to spend too much money on CNBLUE. Huhu.

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Day Four in Seoul (Part 1)

Day 4 of our Korea trip may or may not be the most memorable one. It was still raining but we could no longer think (or research!) of a place where we could stay indoors the whole day. So we had no choice to brave the drizzle and the harsh, cold wind. I made sure to wrap up extremely well because the night before left my bones chilling. It’s a really good memory. No, that’s not sarcastic.

So, what do we have in store for day 4? The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince! We rode the subway to get there. I can no longer remember if we made a subway line transfer or if we rode directly from Hyehwa station to Hongdae (Honggik University) station.

At that point, I was getting used to riding the subway and even enjoying it. I don’t think I’d feel the same way for our beloved MRT and LRT lines. Huhuhu.

From a specific station exit (I cannot remember which! How’s that for a frustrated travel blogger. Huhu), we walked to the coffee shop! It was so cold and there’s barely anyone out and it was already 10:30 AM! The business establishments in Seoul certainly open later than I’m used to. Heh. Anyway, we were getting nervous since what if the shop was closed? We traveled so far! Well, not really that far but far enough. And that would totally ruin our itinerary.

We kept walking and walking and we thought we were lost. But when we saw the shop, there was no mistaking the tree in the front yard and the little platform outside. That’s where they held the little concert! Also, there were some tourists outside. And yes, it was closed!

But we saw someone, a staff, sweeping outside so how could it be close? We had trouble accepting the fact that we braved the difficult weather but we couldn’t even enter. So we took photos outside, so ready to cry. Then the guy sweeping outside started signaling something to us and we couldn’t understand. We thought he was saying it was closed. Then another staff, someone inside, started signaling, too, and it was so hard to understand. HAHA. Then after a few more minutes of hand signals, we finally understood that they’re about to open in 15-30 minutes.

We then kissed and hugged the Hallyu fairy.

Since we couldn’t just stand outside (it was cold, remember?), we looked for a place we could stay. I suggested that we go to to Hongdae (the school) since it’s a famous tourist spot, too. But they didn’t want to do that so we went to the nearest 7-Eleven instead.

Daddy brought this glorious instant garlic soup. It was the first time I tried garlic soup and I never thought I’d love it so much. Then we also bought some bread that has the best texture ever. I do not know what it’s called and we tried looking for it in other places but we couldn’t find it. /sobs

After brunching, we went back to the coffee shop and to our surprise, there were already a handful of people inside, mostly tourists. If you’re also planning to go to this coffee shop, then you must be prepared to shell out at least W6,000. Everyone who enters the coffee shop has to order you see. You even have to order first before looking for a seat. So if there are four of you, everyone has to order something. If you don’t want coffee or tea, they offer cakes, too! The price is definitely not cheap (not even for Korean coffee shop standards!) but you know they set the price that high since people are willing to pay. Anyway, it was quite pricey but we didn’t really have any choice since we’re there already.

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Day Three in Seoul (Part 2): BTOB Surprise Event in Lotte World

Watching a live performance by a Korean group was on my to-do list but I realized that I couldn’t possibly do that on my first trip. Heh. So when I saw on the program brochure that there’s a KPOP act that day on Lotte World, I almost flipped. For all I know, it could be just a group of high school students dancing to some KPOP songs. But OMG!

After our tiring trip to the museum, we went back to the amusement park to catch the KPOP show. We were so hungry but we sucked it up just to catch the show. I was so, so excited okay. That time, CNBLUE was still promoting their Hey You single and I was hoping that it’s them. I was a bit delusional, you see.

But it wasn’t CNBLUE and it turned out that it wasn’t anyone I knew. Well, I know them now. Heh. Guess who it is!

BTOB!

I don’t understand Korean and the host was speaking in Korean so yeah, we couldn’t understand a thing. But we did understand MNET! So it was for MNET? I don’t know, I’m just guessing here.

I wanted to cry because it was the first time I saw KPOP boyband perform live. I wanted to cry even though I didn’t know the group. Hehehe. I enjoyed their performance, though. I enjoyed their dancing but I can’t say the same for their singing. Also, I’m still hoping EXO wins best new boy group this year. Yeah, I’m a bad blogger. [Read more…]

Day Three in Seoul (Part 1)

It has been a month since my Korya and I’m not even half-finished blogging about it. But I am taking my time and my photos are definitely taking their time to load. Haha! I’m squeezing this in between work and social life. Hehe. But I will finish this, hopefully before the end of June!

So, we’re now on our third day! You see, when we were in Korea I spent every night planning our itinerary. I’d labor over it until 1AM, figuring out where to go first and how to go to every destination. I was slowly becoming such an expert in reading maps. Heh. But we scrapped everything I planned for our third day because it rained! There was 90% chance of rain and it did rain all day. We couldn’t just spend the entire time indoors, so what else were we supposed to do? Huhu.

So we decided to spend the entire day at Lotte World since it’s the largest indoor amusement park in the world. We were only planning to go there during the afternoon on our 4th day but the rainy weather made us change plans. But where else were we supposed to go?

We braved the harsh weather, and when I say harsh, I mean teeth-shattering cold and strong winds. The rain wasn’t even that strong but the wind was pretty something. I don’t even want to think about it. Haha! We walked all the way to the Hyewa subway station to ride all the way to Jamshil station. It was a pretty uneventful ride but I did enjoy looking at people’s rainy day outfits. Yes, my stalker tendencies were quite astounding that day.

The trip to Jamshil was quite long! Not only did we have to transfer subway line but we even crossed the Han River. The previous day, all the subway lines we went to were underground. But this, we saw the light of day! Heh. And it was gloomy. Blah.

Anyway, I was sitting next to the sweetest ajumma, okay. Whenever we ride the subway, we always make sure that we know which stop we were in. We had a really big map which gets crumpled after a couple of use. The ajumma couldn’t speak English (and I couldn’t speak Korean of course!) but she gave me a mini-map of the subway! She probably had a hard time watching us fidget with our big map. And she was smiling and bowing when she gave me the map, and I was doing the same thing. Heh. Dear ajumma, wherever you are, kamsahamnida!

It’s not hard to find the Lotte complex from the Jamshil station since it’s directly connected to the Lotte mall! It was amazing! It was the first that went inside a shopping complex in Seoul. I wanted to just roam around and look at all the clothes and shoes! But our intent was the amusement park and we were really hungry. Heh.

But while we were still looking at the fountain, two female university students approached us and asked whether they could interview. It’s for school I think. Actually, they approached my parents and my sister and they agreed to be interviewed. But they made me answer all the questions. WHYYYY. But I enjoyed our little interview. They only asked us about our favorite Korean food (samgyeopsal) and one of the most common Filipino dishes (adobo heh). Then we asked for a group picture for souvenir. Haha.

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Day Two in Seoul (Part 2)

Hello! This is the second part of our day 2! Like what I’ve said in part 1, it’s my favorite day from the trip.

After Insadong, we went to the nearest subway station, Anguk Station, and of course, my heart was racing at that point. We’re talking about THE subway. Riding the subway was on my Seoul to-do list because of a lot of reasons. 1.) The opening scene of My Sassy Girl is on the subway station. My Sassy Girl is my first Korean movie. 2.) A lot of scenes from fanfictions and South Korean internet novels happen on the subway. Internet novels used to be my life when I was in high school. 3.) JUST BECAUSE. Okay, I only had three reasons.

Anguk Station was quite lovely. I cannot remember which Exit we entered. It’s either 4 or 5, I think. Once we went down to the station, this wall full of artworks welcomed us. Obviously, it’s by different artists. They also used different materials and some even carved on the blocks. It’s amazing. I like how they seem to try and incorporate art in almost every available space.

We bought a T-Money card (W2,500) so that we could ride the subway. We bought it in a 7-Eleven store located inside the station. It’s quite easy to use T-Money, and all you have to do is reload as much as you want. The content doesn’t expire, too. You can also use the T-Money card when riding the bus! The reloading machine also has the option of having the instructions English or Korean. So we didn’t really have much trouble.

Since it’s our first time riding the subway, we had a pretty hard time making our way around the situation. Good thing we met a Filipino mother and daughter who were also going to Chumuro station. But I think even without their help, we’d manage just fine but it would definitely take us longer. Haha!

The Seoul subway system is pretty impressive. There are actually 14 subway lines that can take you anywhere in Seoul. One line even leads directly to the Incheon airport. There are also maps (in Korean and English) inside the stations so as long as you know where you’re going, you’ll definitely find your way. But we did get lost once haha. Also, the signs are in English! And they also give directions to the nearest landmarks. They made the subway system pretty easy for foreigners to navigate.

By the way, our destination was the N Seoul Tower. To get there, ride the subway and get off at Chungmuro Station (Line 3 or 4) and get out at exit 1. You’ll see the Daehan Cinema the look for the nearest bus stop. There are special buses that will take you to the top of Mt. Namsan where N Seoul Tower is located. We took bus #2 but I think you can also take bus #5. We also used the T-Money card to pay for our bus fare.

The bus was packed! But I didn’t mind standing during the whole bus ride. I think I was too happy experiencing so many things for the first that I really didn’t mind all the hardships we endured. Hehe. On our way to the top, we passed by these mesmerizing array of trees with so many beautiful flowers! I’d read about the walking trail on Namsan Mountain filled with cherry blossoms and forsythias and wanted to go there. But we could only pass by and watch in awe. It really was so beautiful. So if you have enough time, drop off from that stop. You can ride the bus again to reach N Seoul Tower but you can also walk. But it was quite far.

When we finally reached the last stop, we were welcomed by a large crowd! It was the most tourist infested place we had visited just yet. Oftentimes, we’re either the only foreigners or there weren’t much. There were still a lot of Koreans, though, especially couples who were way too cute, really.

The view was amazing! We still weren’t on top of the mountain, and had to walk uphill first. But the view was already so pretty!

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