seoul, south korea, day 10-14

20 May. Day 10 - National Museum of Korea, Gwangjang Market

that day we were feeling extremely guilty about our previous days' overloaded expenses in myeongdong and all the shopping malls...
so we decided to do some serious reflection about ourselves and life by doing some sort of sightseeing.
if you notice that's how our itinerary works: we usually punctuate our shopping days with occasional sightseeing times such that we don't feel too bad ourselves HAHAHA

so our destination for the day was the national museum of korea.

i swear the clouds were fluffier and the sky was bluer than usual and it was such a pretty day!!!!
accompanied by the modern grandeur of the museum's architecture, the whole view was absolutely amazing!
totally feels like a picture out of a storybook instead lol.

lol it was so hard taking photos with the beautiful scenery because the sun was too bright and i could barely open my eyes ouch.
it was painful.
anyway i adopted that big fat pet rock over there lol i look like a freaking mermaid in that photo HAHAHA

yongsan family park was a really peaceful place for a picnic.
the pavilion garden leading up to its entrance really blended in well with the serenity of the park too!
there was even a mini stream and a waterfall!

the place was surprisingly still nice and quiet amidst the crowd of students.
korean schools really take their education seriously and i always see that they bring their students out on field trips almost everywhere.
first was that children's grand park and now the yongsan family park.

this time i presume the pupils here were probably from an arts school because they were all frantically sketching and painting the scenery around them!

van and i were trying to sneak a peek at their paintings and yeah we could tell which kid put in effort into his drawings and who didn't LOL
but yeah these kids really had some potential artistic skills because i don't even think i know how to paint well.............

then some kids who most likely wanted to slack off from work went off to play baseball on the big open fields.
but wow i am totally jealous of them.
not only are they artistically inclined but also sporty on the field...
look at me right here.
a pathetic potato who can't draw or run T_T

there were even kindergarten kids having group picnics around the park.
honestly singaporean schools should consider implementing this into their curriculum too.
kids ought to have group picnics with their friends and teachers instead of being cooped up in a stuffy pre-school room reciting phonics all day everyday...

we made 'friends' with these non-korean girl and she kept waving at me and my camera ahahaha how cute!

van and i adopted these two pet rocks and have named it 'potato' and 'pumpkin' respectively hehe.
inside jokes hahahaa because she said my hips were shaped like a pumpkin :'(

PRETTY SKY AND FLUFFY CLOUDS THAT ARE TO-DIE-FOR

before we set out into the museum we stopped by this little rest stop beside and satisfied our hungry tummies!
i bought mandu ramyun (dumpling ramen noodles) and van got a dosirak!
and honestly i really really love places that serve free-flow kimchi.
ate my fill of kimchi and tried a nice soft serve too :-)

somebody please tell me what this english sign even means

wth is EXPULSION of a bowl LOL

so we roamed the insides of the children's museum and it was pretty fun hahaha we ground some powder-looking substance, fixed up broken bits of vases, collected some ancient stamps, played some interactive game of bird-killing (LOL what even)!

then we moved on to the adult museum which was a lot more extensive and informative but obviously more boring/dry.

tbh the lighting of museums always make me want to fall asleep...

it's so dim and all i just want to zzzz LOL.

we spent our entire afternoon in the museum (we ditched our war memorial plan bc there was not enough time) but didn't even manage to cover all the exhibition halls - that's how big the place was haha.

shan't post photos of the inside of the museum - i'll leave the exploration to yourself to all your potential travellers :-)

i think the coolest part of the museum would be it's entrance/exterior.

they have this flight of stairs that look absolutely scary when you're climbing up because it really looks like a stairway to heaven LOL

i nearly tripped and fell down the stairs oh my god so embarrassing.

after the museum closed and an infinite number of photos taken we left for gwangjang market.

this place was known for cheap and good food and basically the endless array of local flavours.

it's probably like the heart of street food stalls, where all the ahjummas unite to sell their handcooked food.

van and i were pretty excited at the prospect of having a nice local meal at a cheap rate.

so stalls after stalls are lined up on the entire stretch of gwangjang market.

there were plenty of stalls right smack in the middle where all the ahjummas sold at least 10 different types of kimchi in large metal bowls like these.

wonder how they charge for the kimchis lol by weight? by portion?

^ we only bought this after the shopkeeper gave us free samples hahaha
since it was only 1,000won we just bought one as a pre-dinner snack LOL
it's basically just a fried doughstick coated with sugar, kinda like our youtiao!!

i insisted on this toast again because bread is life.

it was even cheaper than that at namdaemun (only 1,500won here) and i think it tasted better too!

still have yet to get down to trying to make this back in sg lol

because we were still hungry, van left the decision as to which stall for dinner to me.

i honestly wasn't sure and then came this enthusiastic ahjumma trying to promote her stall who kept gesturing us towards her stall and even made space for us amidst the cramp conditions.

i was pointing at this spicy looking dish that looked like fried chicken to me and was contemplating if i should get it.

for some strange reason the same ahjumma thought i was saying "yes one of this dish please" and she scooped like a plate full of that chicken things for us.

she even exclaimed excitedly "chicken smalls, good!!!!!!!" as she loaded the plate full.

we proceeded to get a plate of tteokbokki and oden for ourselves too.

strange enough, there was no indication of any price and we realized that the customers paid after they finished their food when returning the plates.

as excited as i was to start my meal, i digged straightaway into the dish of chicken things and to my horror................ IT WAS CHICKEN FEET.
i knew something smelt fishy.
these chicken things looked too sharp and pointed to be chicken meat alone.
so guess what.
we ordered a plate FULL of chicken feet when neither of us liked to eat 'em.
it was too gross to stomach so i struggled with every single bite of the chicken feet.
all that collagen and soft bone, thinking that it's CHICKEN FEET.... oh my god. it was hell.

i thought the tteokbokki would be a lifesaver but NO.
they were so fat and thick it was such a pain to chew.
i have weak teeth and i can't really bite well.
never mind about its excessive chewiness, the sauce was too spicy such that it totally clogged up my throat and i couldn't even bring myself to swallow everything.

the real lifesaver was the dish that i anticipated to be my least favourite - the oden.
not a big fan of fishcakes but the non-spicy and nice warm bowl of anchovy soup warmed my stomach up :')

i'm so sorry oden i have underestimated your powers.

i was so angry at the lady coercively stuffing our faces with that plate of chicken feet so i kept cursing and complaining about her in chinese.
van wasn't having a good time either because she doesn't really take spicy so....

after i think 20minutes, we gave up on our dinner with about 5 pieces of tteok and half the plate of chicken feet left.
while we were eating i think the 3 ahjummas running the stall could sense that we were quite unhappy with our "suffering" and kept shooting us dirty looks.
so when we returned the plates of half-eaten food van and i had a bad feeling that they'd probably cheat the shit out of us because of the food wastage.
and to my shock she really did -_-

we actually noticed that the customer beside only paid 8,000won for 3 dishes.
and this freaking ahjumma asked us for 16,000won WHAT THE HELL.
she dare demand for double the price wth.
i instinctively shouted "anieyo!" at her and i stared back at her.
but bloody hell 16,000won.
van and i didn't know what to do and we hestitated on paying the 16,000won.
we were thinking what if we paid 10,000won and just drop and leave? LOLOL
but ok these ahjummas are not to be trifled with and god knows they will call their gang of grandmothers to bash us up.

so in the end we just decided to be submissive and pay 16,000won.
bitches please omg.
stupid ahjummas that demanded us to pay so much for a crappy dinner of CHICKEN FEET when i didn't even say i wanted it.
van and i were so angry that we raged about it on the subway and all night long.
so lesson learnt: don't patronize this stall in gwangjang market, or basically just any stall that doesn't have a price menu to avoid similar incidents of being cheated.
this stall is right smack in the middle of the market (at the cross-junction) and is run by 3 ahjummas.
it's very noticeable when you walk straight in all the way and arrive at a cross-junction.
all the stalls there sell the same thing but just look out for 3 ahjummas who are super active in their promoting and will try to drag you to sit down by waving at you super annoyingly.
PLEASE AVOID THEIR STALL.
THANKS.

21 May. Day 11 - Apgujeong Rodeo, Garosu-gil, Cheongdam

today was like exploring the rich streets of seoul.
where fashion and wealth collide, the well-known gangnam district sets itself apart from the rest of the small towns.

apgujeong is really the rich-people-area.
it's the kind of place whereby the branded boutiques are highly guarded by security and these people actually open and close the doors for you while judging your $10 outfit bought from dongdaemun.
mind you these are really expensive brands - i can't even remember any of their names because they're just so exotic they aren't worth a memory.

we only came to apgujeong for one reason in mind, and that was to visit sm entertainment, which is supposedly located prominently along the k-star road.
but it was very lucky that we stumbled upon the authentic honey butter chips that the whole of south korea has been raving about!

yes this authentic bag of honey butter chips from calbee is selling on qoo10 at $33.50/3pax!!!! (check it out here if you don't believe me)

but we found these damn holy chips right smack in the middle of a grocery store in apgujeong.

maybe that's why this is the rich people area lol.

you really find nothing but the best of the best here.

basically k-star road is just an entire stretch down the street decorated with interspersed kpop groups and their "official" logos emblazoned on teddy bears.

i don't really know much about miss a but i think they're quite a cool group!

^ the exo teddy bear was totally mimicking the growl era lol schoolboy style

tbh we were trying to find sm entertainment so bad.

but it turns out that this was their old building and it's undergoing construction for refurbishing purposes i guess.

so all you can see in the front is basically all the sm artistes hugely printed on the construction barriers.

and besides that..... there's nothing.

so we figured that they had moved to a new building and found the directions to cheongdam subsequently.

btw the only shop that we could afford from that branded street was abercrombie & fitch (obviously it's not that cheap either)
so we stopped by a&f for almost 30mins and van and i both bought our first pieces of clothing from there!!!! woohoo!
really digging that tank top i bought :)

before that we went to garosu-gil to chill and have lunch.
we were so tired after "shopping" that we eventually just decided to take a cab to garosu-gil which was probably quite near but nah our legs were giving way....
i even crashed in the cab - my sleeping face is totally ugly and unglam LOL

garosu-gil literally means tree-lined streets and yes this place is really one with nature with all that trees around lol.
we were pretty hungry so we settled for smth quick that looked good.
the shop had a really cute name - ni pong nae pong.
god knows what that even means...
but anyway they are a shop selling international variations of jjampong (spicy seafood noodle soup) and some unique pizzas!

van ordered an italian ppong while i got myself a ni pizza.

thankfully the waiters there were rather fluent in english and was able to tell me the contents of the "ni" and "nae" pizza very well :-)

so the ni pizza just contains...... sweet potato!

sounds like a weird combination but don't underestimate its taste!

i think it was a really good fusion of sweet and salty (despite all that carbo, the taste makes up for it)

damn, wish they had this in sg.

pizza queen here will love you forever.

and there's leessang's restaurant - probably a kbbq place too if i didn't see wrongly.

garosu-gil is rumoured to be the perfect place for cafe-hopping but honestly i was too full from that ni pizza that i couldn't even stuff anymore food in my belly.
then there's the official line friends store here too!!!
though i don't use and don't know how to use (lol) line, the characters and merchandise are honestly quite cute!!!!

upon entering there is a gigantic teddy bear sitting right smack in the middle of the store where sehun took a photo with before (T_T jealous)

it's so huge and cuddly i want to just jump into its embrace LOL

they have a little cafe selling mostly tarts, cakes and coffee at the basement of the shop.
didn't try their pastries but seems like it's good because it was almost fully packed!

meanwhile i was shamelessly taking photos (yes photos are allowed don't worry i didn't do anything illegal) with all the irresistibly adorable balloons!!!!

and there you have exo next door's promo poster!!!!!!!!!!!!

sadly there wasn't much merchandise for this though.

^ and i found a pair of shoes in a shop with my name!!!!! cool huh.
and singapore's f21 ought to learn from the modern building design of those in korea lol all the f21s there always look damn gorgeous and atas from the outside sigh.

garosu-gil got a little boring because it was really kinda too expensive a place for us to afford.
so we checked out the new sm address at cheongdam and visited the place for real this time!!!

honestly sm entertainment is located in like a no-man's land.... kinda creepy at night lol but luckily there was a park opposite so we could sit around while waiting for the idols to appear. (yeah dream on)
we unintentionally stayed on for pretty long because we thought that since we've come all the way here might as well linger around till a popular face appears ;)

van then ditched me for like 10mins plus or so and it was getting darker, scarier and colder by the minute.
after i took out my jacket to keep me warm minimally, there was a stranger who came to approach me.
here's how the conversation went.

stranger: do you speak english? (less fluent than what i'm typing lol)
me: yes
stranger: korean...? no...?
me: no, only english
stranger: i am a reporter from korea newspaper...
me: *with much doubt* which newspaper are you from?
stranger: *hands me namecard*
me: (in my head) ah ok he's a legit journalist

so the rest of the interview went a little something like this:
and by this time van just came back loaded with coffee from the convenience store.

reporter: you come to korea.... holiday?
me: yes holiday
reporter: you two girls? only? *points to me and van*
me: yes just 2 of us
reporter: how many days?
me: 17
reporter: ahhhh ok ok.... *scribbles stuff on to his notepad*
reporter: so you in cheongdam... to see idols?
me: *nods guiltily*
reporter: who are you here to see?
me: exo! *embarrassment levels reached sky-high*
reporter: *nods like he anticipated my answer all along* who is your favourite in exo?
me: *sheepishly* D.O!!!!!! *heart is secretly releasing fireworks*

^ LOOK AT THIS QTPIE

reporter: *smiles and nods and scribbles* ah d.o...

(YEAH I KNOW RIGHT HE IS OBVIOUSLY THE CUTEST HAMSTER IN THE WORLD)

subsequently he started asking me a lot of personal questions... (and although my initial suspicion towards him as a shady reporter was alleviated it suddenly became on high alert again LOL)

reporter: how old are you?

me: ..... 19

reporter: what are you doing now? working? studying?

me: ..... studying uni

reporter: oh which university are you from?

lol no way am i telling a foreigner where i'm studying... stalker alert?!

me: singapore. singapore university

reporter: ok. so what is your name?

WAH THIS WAS THE LAST STRAW.

what if he published this on like the korean newspapers telling everyone in korea that i am a 19y/o singaporean who likes exo and kyungsoo specifically and goes by the name of jamie?!

oh dear...

time to fake a name out...

after much hesitation i wrote "jay" on his notebook.

reporter: thank you very much!

and with that he left.

lol. at least i had his namecard with me and yeah it was a pretty funny experience that i'll recount to everyone for a long time.

anyway, we stayed on outside sm entertainment for 3 hours or so.... hoping that some idol will appear out of nowhere.

we even made some friends, 3 locals and 1 foreigner. (which we have very kindly named them friend a b c and d)

i presume they are super hardcore fans because they were super surprised that i didn't know about the dream concert that was happening on 23 may then.

but still they were pretty nice and continued the conversation despite serious communication barriers HAHAHA

i was very excited because call me baby kept playing from the building and i was like ASDFGHJKL EXO IS DEFINITELY HERE!!!!!!!!!!

so the whole time we were just observing the lift from afar and hoping that a bunch of boys would finally end their dance practice and leave the place :(

but despite much patience and enduring the chilly night winds, we finally relented when the clock struck 11.30pm (no not 12 we are not cinderellas) because...... we both had to pee. real bad.

it was probably one of the worst times ever.

WHY DID WE HAVE TO PEE AT CRUCIAL TIMES LIKE THIS UGH T_T

so yup i was this close to meeting exo but no i was that far.

dream on.

22 May. Day 12 - Gwangnaru Safety Experience Centre, Seoul Forest

today was probably one of the days where i would call it "wasted".
in the sense that 1) gwangnaru was literally JUST BESIDE the children's grand park so we could've just gone that day but we had no time and 2) had to go back to apgujeong again bc my stupid eyes just cannot see sizes of clothes (took the freaking large size tank top when i obviously knew i was getting small?! lol my eyes)

just a heads up, gwangnaru safety experience centre is basically a place for (kids) to experience natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and all.
on top of the surreal experience they also learn important lifeskills such as cpr skills, fire evacuation procedures etc.
we didn't know it was a place for KIDS but we decided to try it anyway.

upon entering the place one of the staff members greeted and welcomed us.
he was very friendly and rambled on a lot in korean lol.
then we asked in english if adults could enter but he didn't really understand what we were saying...
he even used google translate so he could ask us our age HAHAHA

so we said we were 19 and he told us that we couldn't go around to experience because we had to book an online tour...
omg what a hassle.
so he told us we could only look around inside.
oh well since we came all the way here... time to play all we want inside!

thankfully there were kindergarten kids here (on excursion again lol kids with the good life) so we could watch how they did it hahaha

the kids were having a lot of fun sliding down this makeshift slide which i think is some kind of fire evacuation procedure???? (or is it the airplane thing i'm not sure haha)

they had to take turns to wear this inflatable-looking costume and line up orderly lol super cute!!!

i have also picked up some wonderful first-aid skills here hahahaha yeah right i will totally kill my patient if that happens.

there were also kids putting out virtual fires with real hoses so it was kinda cool to watch.... from outside :(
really a pity we didn't get to experience this hands-on...

this is also me as an aspiring chemist working hard in the lab lol yeah right I HATE CHEM...

there were little kids' firetruck displays and the coolest part is that everything is made out of recycled materials!

spot that overturned ramen cup lol!

i swear korean kids are top-class when it comes to creativity and any sort of artistic talent.

we left a nice little message for the people of this place and probably just the general public.

^ that's mine! :-)

the only source of entertainment we could find throughout this place was the interactive phototaking board.
we actually bothered to don the fireman uniforms (which were darn heavy omg) and spontaneously act like one hahaha.

there's van helping this guy put out the fire (?) or is he just filling the pail...

me eloping with fireman bae HAHAHAH

^ outfit of the day: fireman helmet, fireman top and a pantless one

LOL at van looking too tiny for the hugeass motorbike :P

she is the victim awaiting to be rescued hahahahaha nice oxygen mask u got there van ;)

lunched at enter6 near wangsimni

i had my long-awaited haemul kalguksu (seafood knife-cut noodles), van had a bbq grill like thing, and holy the former was damn good.
extra thumbs up for good kimchi too hehehe always bonus points for that.
i like how they were super generous with the mussels too!!!!
but of course for every won you pay you ought to get what you deserve..
i paid almost S$10 for this bowl of noodles T_T

seoul forest was yet another pretty place adorned with tranquility while being surrounded by nature.
flowers in korea are really second to none!!!
they even have a community garden too hehe pretty similar to ours.
but it was heartwarming to see a mom taking time off with her two kids to grow little plants together hehe what a precious family bonding time!

van and i were desperately looking for the bicycle rental shop because i was excited at the idea of being able to ride a tandem bike - in korea!!!!!
but turns out there were no clear-cut directions so we just ended up roaming the forest aimlessly.

ended up in a children's playground..

i was getting quite sleepy after walking quite a bit so i decided to buy myself a cup of coffee from the convenience store.
i don't even drink coffee but they didn't have my green tea latte so.... :'(
i made do with this "macaron caramel macchiato".
honestly the name sounded so impressive but then all i tasted was hazelnut ewww
what a disappointment :(

after futile attempts we finally decided to give up looking for a bike rental shop.
and when we finally did though it was already closed. bummer.

the main attraction of seoul forest would probably be the deer that they reared.
i don't think deer can survive singapore's humidity so yeah it was a good eye-opener :-)

so you know i got all frustrated with them little creatures not looking at my camera so i decided to call them out.
and guess how i did it.

"BAMBIIIIIII!"
^ the catch is that you must say it with a high-pitched bimbotic voice.

and wow. it looked up ;)

that night we spent pretty much the whole time admiring the beautiful skies as the sun set while going a little bonkers on the bridge overlooking the deer.
well, i shall finally shut up for day 12 and let the amazing photos do the talking.

we were the last few to leave the deer enclosure and had to even be chased out by the park rangers.
oops.

anyway, here is a photo of me beside fake deer.
compare the shades of brown in this photo.....
the question is...... who wins this brown showdown..... LOL

had this for dinner as it was near our place!
our empty stomachs were satisfied by a platter of fried chicken and a cup of beer each!!!
van, cheers to our happy vacation and everything else good that's come before and will come after us :-)
love u :*

tbh fried chicken is really expensive in korea.
this small plate cost us more than S$10 :-(

and so with that our night ended (oh yes not to mention that unforgettable creme brulee ice cream from haagen dazs we had for dessert yay ^^)


23 May. Day 13 - Hongik Free Market, Hongdae, YG Entertainment

began the day with the hongik free market (as usual we wake up only just in time for this).
it's basically a weekly affair in hongdae every saturday whereby the children's playground is turned into a 'flea market', and artists bring their handmade products over to sell, and honestly they are quite legit items.

so the first thing that caught our attention was a crowd gathered beside a striped shirt man who had his hands all covered (soaked even) with paint.

turns out he is a finger painter - and what he does is paint, only by light strokes with his fingers i.e. dabbing and stroking and paints beautiful scenery works, of course with a charge.

but he really does have skill and it amazes me how he only uses 2 or 3 fingers to achieve this effect.

give me 1000 paintbrushes and i'll be nowhere near his level.

^ those are his final artworks, so pretty right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's just a gist of the free market. you see caricature artists, handwoven pouches, self-printed cards, shoe painters etc etc.
there is a lot to see at this market so be sure not to miss out!!!!
van and i even bought some nice souvenirs for our friends here and it's really one-of-a-kind!
i wanted to buy this really nice handmade wallet but it cost S$50 :((((

but it's okay i managed to get myself a bracelet and we got xiaohui a nice coin pouch which she'd definitely love!!!!!!!!! (100% confidence hohoho)

we settled for this nice chicken steak place that seemed really popular with youngsters.
the place was really crowded and the queue for it never seemed to die down.
thankfully there were only 2 of us so we got seated pretty quick.

this place is really like our saizeriya hahahah the whole ambience, food and prices.

i am dead sure this is like saizeriya's franchise hahaha ok no kidding.

but i think the food tastes a lot better than sai's! (nothing beats teriyaki glazed chicken in this world for me tbh)
i like how they name their sodas with a unique name (lol i forgot what it was called) but actually it's just a mix of flavoured cordial drink and sprite haha.

it was a really filling lunch and i paid only about S15 for all this!!!! (thank the 3,000won discount haha)

after lunch we explored hongdae in detail (probably our last day here), and i found artbox, again~!!!!!!!!!!!
so no prizes for guessing right, splurged here once more again.
artbox is probably the only shop i'll miss here in sg because it's so damn expensive here T_T

then van bought this super huge ice cream which was really hard to eat lol because it melted pretty quickly (yeah the weather started getting hotter).
we even saw this guy who spilled his ice cream on the floor......
damn sad but hilarious at the same time hahah.

the much raved about hello kitty cafe situated right here in hongdae!!!
not a big hello kitty fan so meh gave it a pass.

as usual, hongdae is bustling with youth and again there were many street performers singing and showcasing their artistic talent.

i passed by a roadside game stall whereby you paid 5,000won to pop 9 balloons.
if you popped 6 and above i could get a soft toy!
so van helped me in the game and we popped a total of 6.
the ahjusshi told me i could choose between the totoro or the small teddy bears!!!!
HELL YEAH THE TOTORO IS ALL I EVER WANTED.
so here's me being overly attached to my new toy.

so overly attached even all the way to dinnertime where we had kbbq.

ugh it was so so so so good :P

this is probably one of the cheaper kbbq places we found in hongdae - it's one of the few shops where you have to climb to the second story for the restaurant.

it's visible from the outside!!

that night after being very full from dinner we walked from hongdae to yg entertainment!
i think it took us about 30-45mins to get there.
we got lost despite finding directions to yg beforehand just because we took a wrong turn at the junction :'(
it was so painful sigh ahhahaha.
but anyway we eventually found it with the help of our own gut feel and a lot of guessing!
we even stopped by a neighbourhood supermarket (by exploiting the free wifi) to help find directions T_T

the outside infrastructure of yg looked grand and dull at the same time..
probably because it was 9pm, the interior looked dimly lit and it seemed like all the artistes had gone home.
van was here mainly because of big bang haha!

after about 30mins of waiting, we saw this guy that came out from yg.

sadly the photo is hella blur and the focus was only on the security guard LOL so i can't really make out how his face looks like.

is he someone from big bang?????? LOL i have no idea i'm not a kpop fan...

maybe he's just some backup dancer though ahahaha.

^ think he was looking straight into my camera lol but i don't even know who he is.

if y'all can make out his face then please tell me lol i'm super curious

after yet another fruitless 1-2 hours of waiting outside, we decided to go home and that was when all the trains had already closed so we were forced to cab home.

goodbye yg!
it was a tiring day indeed.

24 May. Day 14 - Seoul Folk Flea Market, Cheonggyecheon Stream, Dongdaemun

we only wanted to pop by seoul folk flea market because it was where running man filmed the episode with snsd before.
the roads leading into the flea market was lined with stalls that sold mainly army necessities which we didn't exactly need.

the exterior of the place was a total scam hahaha.
not being culturally insensitive for making such a remark but the inside really looked like a storage junkyard that had mountains (no exaggeration here) of goods piled up one after another.
let the pictures show you what i mean.
and tbh the place also had a funky smell, like a kind of antiquated ointment that your great-great-great grandmother has preserved for eras...

mountain 1: pots, pans, and all things antique

mountain 2: good ol' cds and mixtapes (ok la this one not really counted)

mountain 3: rows and rows of spectacle frames hooked onto each other (damn smart way of saving space though hahaha)

mountain 4: electrical tools

mountain 5: golf clubs

mountain x: video cameras and their tripods..... HOW EVEN

 

there was this man selling preserved centipedes in a jar and holy shit this really came across as a cultural shock to me.
WHY PRESERVED CENTIPEDES.
and he claimed that they were beneficial for health as a DRINK.
oh my god.

we hurriedly left the place as we knew it wasn't really the place for us.
but it was kind of an eye-opening experience to see how their flea markets worked and the kind of things they sold to run a business.

we found directions to cheonggyecheon stream by ourselves (ok no there was a kind local who spoke english who helped us a little too)
and tadah this is it!

y'know the thing about this stream is that there are SO MANY brick bridges that were disjointed.
and if you guys know me well enough, i actually have this phobia of crossing bridges/drains/any platform that has gaps between and is above water since young.
i really have no idea why.
like as a kid, when crossing over drains, i'm that one and only kid who will step INTO the drain and climb OUT of it simply because i was so scared that i'd fall inside the waters and be eaten by some sea monster or something.

so when it came to this stream...... it was really a difficult mental barrier for me to overcome.

^ LOOK AT THOSE DARING, ADVENTURE-EMBRACING KIDS DASHING ACROSS THE STONE BRIDGES AND PLAYING LIKE KAMPUNG KIDS
U DESERVE ALL MY RESPECT

cheonggyecheon is really a gathering for all walks of life.
under these bridges you can always find groups of elderly chatting or feeding the birds or maybe even some youngsters having a good old picnic. (just like how me and van did and we had a DAMN HARD TIME FENDING THOSE BIRDS AWAY OMG THEY WERE SO HUGE AND BIG AND FAT AND UGHHHH)

this was me taking an 'artistic' shot but no actually it was just an excuse for myself because i was stranded in the middle of the walkway on a puny rock.............. OH GOD ALLAY MY FEARS.

after walking all the way to dongdaemun (YAY i love how we walk a lot on this trip), we stopped by the ddm shoe market.
it was quite tempting and i nearly bought a shoe but nah i don't want to get scammed at this sorta shady place again.
and plus so many tourists were jostling around so no thanks.

after making a trip to daiso to grab some necessities (plus some rubbish like pororo coloured paper wth), I FINALLY SAW ANOTHER TOM AND TOMS COFFEE.
THIS PLACE.
where heaven resides and the angels sing for joy because of honey butter toast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
actually it's more like cinnamon honey cream toast.
though i wasn't even hungry but i told myself it's the 4th last day of the trip and if i don't eat my toast today i never will.
go big or go home - so i stuffed myself full with this thick fat toast at 5pm as a teatime-snack/dinner.
bread is life :-)
only wish they had a little more honey though....
but anyway this bread is totally calorie overload.
look at the mountain of whipped cream that came along with it :O

so as everybody knows, dongdaemun is labelled as the heart of all shopping in seoul.
the shops open almost 24/7 and there's seriously shopping mall after shopping mall.
i swear van and i only walked like 1/5 of the dongdaemun district...
the more famous ones are doota, migliore and hello-apm - which were the only ones we managed to visit.

so first stop: doota!

doota from the outside

there was also a line pop-up store here!!!!
hence the super adorable inflatables of brown and cony outside doota :-)

ok - what i wanted to say about doota is that if you are a poor teenage girl surviving on part-time jobs' salary, then doota is not the place for you.
doota kinda resembles sg's takashimaya/metro.
it's basically branded (sometimes not even branded but still hella expensive) shops one after another and the prices really make your jaw drop.
i think for the past few posts everyone must be able to tell already that i'm an outright cheapskate/thrift prick.
and yes, i don't deny the fact that i'm a super budget auntie.

personally, i don't see why i should spend more than let's say, $25 for a wallet or maybe $20 for a t-shirt, or $30 for a dress.
i mean it's not about me being unable to afford it, but i cannot bear to part with my money so loosely like that.
with $30 that same amount could cover me for meals for at least 3 days. (depending if i go out with friends and decide to go cafehopping)
i'm not that kind to splurge on food either - i mean i don't mind paying for nice food but only when i'm with good company.
it doesn't really pain me to spend over $20 at a cafe/restaurant because i know that $20 was a wise investment into delicious food and delightful company.
$20 for ambience, quality time and food, why not?
i just don't see why i should spend so much on material goods for myself though.
in my next post about tips and tricks in korea i'll probably talk a little more about this!
all my clothes that i've bought never exceed $15. and i really mean all.

ok anyway, we ate at the food court again and this was the only meal i could not finish (please exclude that damned chicken feet)
i ordered a pork bibimbap but omg the spicy sauce was way more than the rice and after 5 mouths i think i died.
my throat was burning and numb and my nose was running non-stop.
i take spicy food pretty well, but this was really too much.
i think they went a little too easy on the gochujang oh god.
luckily van didn't eat this if not she'd have the worst nightmare of her life hahaha!

so from doota, i basically only bought 2 tops (from this boutique that is FLOODING with chinese tourists - don't worry it's damn easy to spot, just keep your ears out for the incessant bargaining and annoying complaints) and a planner (for only S$12!!!!!!!!!! it's so pretty omg i'll pap when i can!)

next stop was migliore.

after our dinner at doota we started in migliore at about 8.30pm.

as you can already figure, there's not a lot of photos from inside of migliore but basically the outline is just like bugis street.

but multiplied 8 times.

migliore is really an 8-storey building with each floor of almost 50+ shops selling clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes.

so yup as you can imagine my hands were too full for me to even take any photos hahaha!

*just a side note that yes the place looks like bugis street but so is the mediocre quality too. i'll talk about picking up good and cheap buys from ddm in general in my tips and tricks entry!!!! (trying not to cluster my thoughts together and sound too naggy in a single post)

anyway we were only done with migliore at around 10pm+.

we hopped over to hello-apm and yup, this was 8x-bugis-street round 2.

with breaking hands (from the excessive shopping) and a sore neck (from the heavy dslr), we emerged from hello-apm only after midnight.

i was surprised myself at all the clothes i bought in dongdaemun actually.

probably because my days left in seoul were now seriously numbered, so i decide to just go all out.

though yingxia had forewarned me that ddm has nothing much/only poor-quality clothing, there is actually a lot to shop if you keep your eyes peeled for the right kind of things.

so after burning a considerable amount of calories from shopping we decided to reward ourselves with warm and piping hot delicious street snacks!!!!!!

van bought oden for herself (hahaha she really loves oden, not really my kinda thing though), while my eyes caught sight of a chicken skewer stall that had an ever-growing queue!

i was really tired and angst (actually i'm angst almost everyday what even lol i told van that i'm the fire and she's water bc really the temper difference is vast hahahaha) after lugging all that heavy shopping and bulky camera around.

so when i saw the chicken skewers my eyes immediately lit up and rushed over to queue for it.

^ happy van with her oden lol what rhyme
maybe that's why jamie and oden aren't a good match

^ we both ordered a teriyaki chicken skewer each and omg it was grilled damn well and seasoned to perfection.
it was a damn good mix of salty and sweet - totally my kinda thing.
who can resist chicken?!

dongdaemun really comes alive only at night so we seized the opportunity to walk around their 'pasar malam' on the streetside.

on our way back to the main shopping district of ddm we circled the perimeter of the ddm history and culture park.
and obviously since the trains were already shut we had to cab home.
van and i were playing 'guess the flag' and lol she obviously can't guess those i've told her the answer to at nami island.
i am a geo challenge flag expert mind you.
^ that is probably my one and only notable achievement in life LOL

thank you for bearing with me till the end of this post omg

i'm sorry to have kept you waiting for my days 10-14 post because i've been super caught up with work recently :-( (and that sucks yes)

after a week i've finally completed this omg yes.

still have my days 15-17 post (but that's just 3 more days!!!!!!) and my tips & tricks entry to be finished.

they're in my drafts and completion is underway!!!!!

hope days 1-14 will be sufficient to keep you occupied while i work on the next few lol wth i blog like as if i have 10000 followers lol but no this blog has been around for 7 years but it has 0 comments HAHAHAHAHA

click here to read days 0-4 in seoul and here to read days 5-9~