morning! breakfast at the bus terminal before conquering the place.
wrong season to be shopping for singapore weather because they were selling pullovers, knits and trench. but i must say, they are quite cheap and made of good quality. wanted to stock up on sweaters for future overseas trip because they can be quite pricey and limited in designs in singapore. managed to get some for about 10, 000 to 15, 000 KRW, yay! but if you are visiting during summer period, like i did 3 years ago, there'll be lots to buy, and they are still going for 10, 000 KRW! there are 2 really long lanes to shop. it's like you can't see the ends when you stand in the middle. the other time i spent 2 days here since it was all summer clothes, but this time we only spent half a day here. considering how much i bought at myeongdong already, was quite thankful i didn't get to buy much here otherwise i'd be really broke and my luggage would be severely overweight. oh, got some really cute socks here as well for 1000 KRW per pair, but you can actually get them anywhere along the streets especially at myeongdong or ehwa, the difference would just be the variety.
it's akin to bangkok's chatuchak here. they sell clothes, shoes, skin care, plants, furnitures, etc.
and yes, fresh flowers too! so pretty right!
kimchi fried rice, tteokbokki noodles, and mandu for lunch before continuing on the other half of the bus terminal.
went back to myeongdong that night for street food to settle our dinner. didn't manage to eat them the other time as our hands were all full and it was raining.
the girls had the lobster. because i don't like seafood. it has cheese and corn on it.
but i won't say no to banana and nutella crepes ever! yums!
had the tornado fries as well. think it's potato with cheese and maybe salt? tastes good but kind of salty. good for you if you're a fan of salty stuff.
had the candied sweet potato. didn't take a picture of it. it looks really good i wanted to try it. but i would recommend just getting a small cup to share because it's really sweet (and i already have a sweet tooth).
really wanted some kimchi pancake and we found a stall selling it. bought it and was standing at some corner trying to open up the dipping sauce and eat the pancake. then there was a man behind us and he was shoving some cardboard boxes towards us. so we thought we were blocking the way and tried to move away. turns out he was trying to make us makeshifts chairs so that we can sit down and eat. OMG, SO TOUCHED!! korea and koreans have left so many good impressions on me :D back to the kimchi pancake, don't buy it! not nice :( it was thick and not crispy. tastes funny too.
the fruit juice looks really interesting. didn't try it but just took a picture because it's so colourful haha!
cotton candy! but we're too old for it. didn't see the one that is shaped like a duckling like what is always recommended online though.
and i found my pretty instagram-worthy light bulb drink! read that some stalls sell it to you in a cup instead of the light bulb-shaped container, so i peeped behind the cart to check that they are really using the light bulb-shaped container before buying it. it cost 5000 KRW and tastes really good! MUST drink, i recommend. i got the pomegranate flavour. and of course i kept the container as well as the red torch light that was tied on it (since already paid for it, cannot throw away).
was supposed to head to lotte young plaza for 3CE but it was closed. and we only found out that myeongdong has a 3CE on its own on our last day, good job.
since we're already here, might as well check out GD x 8 Seconds! <3 <3 <3
hello my love! :) :) :)
looks like he's really in front of me right!
wanted to get the beanie but then again, when will i get to wear it in singapore.
random CD shop we passed by, had to snap a photo because it's G-Dragon :)
hehe, spotted this the moment we exit from myeongdong station and I HAD TO GET THEM! at first only wanted to buy the one with G-Dragon but it doesn't feel complete. want them to stay together so that VIPs can grow old with them so i bought all five :P don't think i'll ever bear to wear them though.
i'm a happy fan girl that night :D
Day 4 (18 October 2016): Ihwa Mural Village and Stylenanda Flagship Store
all ready to set off! sunlight is the best natural filter! regret what we're wearing because the weather was so hot and there were a lot of stairs to climb.
this place is quite out of the way, had to take a bus to i think what was Seoul National University, pass a hospital and then walk to this village.
in my opinion, this place is not worth visiting because the murals have faded and some of the murals were painted over by the residents perhaps because tourists were making too much noise. the photos don't turn out too nice unless you adjust the saturation. yiling was like "walao, i'm like colouring their murals for them"
this is before adjusting saturation.
this is after adjusting saturation, HAHAHA!
need to keep quiet at this place also because there are people staying in the houses.
oops, realised i wasn't taking pictures of the murals which was the main point, but i guess it kind of confirms that this place is not worth visiting.
but i do like this picture though haha. and this is just a glimpse of the number of stairs there are :P
we were going over to Ehwa next but this place is so inconvenient. we tried to walk to the nearest subway but gave up and took a cab instead. best decision ever! it was damn far.
since we couldn't wash our hair for a few days because we did treatment, we couldn't have BBQ till today! settled for a random BBQ shop at ehwa for lunch just to curb our cravings.
and because BBQ makes you stink after, we went to get our hair washed at Cecica Hair salon at Ehwa. chose it because it looks quite decent. initially wanted to visit the previous hair salon that we went which was also nearby (hair cortile) but decided i should try some place new.
wash and blow was 15, 000 KRW if you want them to straighten your hair, but 20, 000 KRW if you want them to curl your hair. the wash was awesome, they really scrubbed quite thoroughly and the head massage was superb. the only thing was that they straightened my hair because it looked frizzy, but that's because my hair is permed. tried to tell them that but they couldn't understand me :( so they went on to straighten my whole head before curling my hair for me with a hair dryer. previously Juno Hair did realise that my hair was permed without me telling them so, so they dried my hair like how they should to permed hair (the twist your hair and blow dry). so it was one minus point for Cecica Hair from me because of that.
left the salon with beautifully curled hair. seriously, there's no bad hair days when you're in korea. but the curls didn't last as compared to Juno Hair and my hair was straightened in a few hours. was quite worried that my perm would be gone too :(
see, slowly no more volume already. and then it straightened. was too sad to take a picture of it straighten.
and yeap nothing to buy at ehwa because we bought everything at myeongdong, and because of the season, they were all selling the thicker clothes as well. but i swear ehwa and gangnam is a must go if the season is right.
met up with our previous host from the hostel we stayed at 3 years ago (Sinchon Hostel, conveniently located 5 min away from the subway and directly at the shopping street). was really surprised and touched that he could still remember us when he contacted me via facebook when he knew we were in seoul. 3 years ago when we were leaving korea, we knocked on his door to say goodbye. he jumped out of his bed, skipped combing his hair and brushing his teeth and insisted on sending us off to the bus stop. he even helped with our luggage. so grateful to meet such nice people.
anyway, he brought us to this bingsoo place. just nice, we haven't had bingsoo yet! also told him that we decided to visit in october because we thought that we would be able to see autumn leaves. so he suggested that we visit a mountain where it'll be colder, so that we may have a chance to experience autumn.
we ordered a watermelon and red bean bingsoo to share and it's the best one ever! love that the ice is soft and milky. forgot to note down the name of the shop but it's at the street just opposite yonsei university. we were told that it usually has a long queue, guess we were lucky that day!
spotted this at the table we're sitting at, hehe, can't get away from Big Bang :)
made our way to have army stew for dinner at hongdae!
this was at 18 Beonji Budae Jigae. the girls thought that the combination of food was weird because they served dumplings in the army stew but i thought it was not bad. was super full, but we had to walk super long after because we were trying to find that stylenanda flagship store in hongdae since we didn't know that myeongdong has a 6-storey 3CE shop on its own.
finally here! had to walk because it was between 2 train stations. we were like, just buy even if you're not sure, we're not going to come back here again, better make the trip worth it.
bought the creamy lipstick in shade #11, love hate. this gives a nude sheen finish to your lips. i felt that it's moisturising as well.
decided to give the tinted lip balm a try since it's a cheaper alternative to the Dior one that i've been using.
and lastly, the lipstick in shade #409, kiss woo. this is like a purplish red.
there were only like testers around the whole store and very little sales assistant around at the make-up section to help you. took us quite a while to figure out how to buy form this store. so what we did was we took pictures of the stuff we want and show it to the lady at the counter. she'll pick the stuff we want from her drawers behind the counter, put it in a basket at the counter and give you a number. you can continue shopping and adding items to your basket at the counter or check-out. just show her the number of your basket and the item you want and she'll continue adding the items into your basket. when you're done, let the lady know again and she'll bring your basket to the cashier for payment.
so many photo spots at this shop! there's even a free instant photobooth, something like neoprint machine. but the exposure of the photo was too much, the photos didn't turn out nice.
it sure wasn't easy churning out 4 blog posts in a day! was trying to get as many entries done while i still can since i'm on off today. hopefully i'll be able to continue blogging and finish up this trip once i get back to work tomorrow. if G-Dragon said "releasing any album is not the main point. the most important thing is to release a great album", then churning out blog posts is not a problem, it's the quality of each blog posts. i hope my entries are of standard, but i know it isn't my usual standard because i didn't have time to edit all the photos.
gyeongbukgung and bukchon hanok village next! hopefully i'll be able to make it back to this space so that you'll get to see us in hanboks! ending off with my snapchat video below, tata ~
