[Review] Goguan Hanbok Studio @ Seoul

This is a review of the popular studio Goguan in Seoul, where tourists go to dress up in Korean traditional outfits and have their photos taken professionally. To save you from reading the post in case you’re in a rush, TLDR my conclusion is that it’s not really as great as people made it out to be. It definitely is once in a lifetime experience to get your photo taken like that, but I don’t think it has to be Goguan, if you’re adventurous i’d strongly recommend shopping around and trying other studios.

Hiking up Bukhansan (Baegundae Peak)

An exciting post! Now I’ve never been the hiker sort and i used to look at liz&fred and think that it’s cute they both like to go hiking tgt cuz i would never do it with the BF cuz both of us are just.. lazy. LOL. But then in my second final week in Seoul, I was looking for places to travel to, and somehow I stumbled upon the mountains page and i had that consideration in mind. Like maybe… i should hike up one of the mounatins…?

Thus started a long night of researching, texting Sheryl and finding out which mountain I should hike. The best mountain in Korea as said by many bloggers and CNN travel, was Bukhansan. I went to find out more about the different peaks so i can decide which peak i should climb. I read that Baegundae was the highest peak and there were different paths you can take to reach there. One of the trails was only 1.9km long but it starts from Baegundae Information Centre when i asked Sheryl about it, she said that starting point was kinda ulu and i couldn’t find any info on it too. So I decided to embark on the most popular trail, the 3.4km one.

There were still some friends around in Korea but one of them moved in their clique of 3, Zenn definitely wouldn’t hike, and so I didn’t bother to ask and just decided to hike alone. Haha. Personally i felt like the hike had to be done alone actually. Because it was my first time actually hiking a challenging trail, I wanted to find out my own limits without the pressure of having someone else with me.

Honestly, I feel like learning to be alone was the best lesson I’ve learned from being on exchange. I don’t know how to say it, but I felt like those who hadn’t learned to be alone, end up compromising a lot of their wants and needs for others. Learning to be alone doesn’t make you a loner. It just means that you’ve learned to enjoy your own company, you’ve learned to feel it’s perfectly okay to be alone even if others think you’re a loser or smth, and it means being able to go out and do your thing alone without feeling lonely or wishing someone else was with you. I think learning to be alone is one of the most difficult things in life but also one of the most useful. You become so strong… like you can be with people of course, but you can also be alone. Learning that skill makes you pretty indestructible. Like okay you don’t wanna go with me? You don’t want to jio me to your outings? Meh…. that’s totally okay with me. I’m just gonna go out and like travel the whole Seoul by myself. it’s like NO ONE CAN DESTROY YOU. It’s the best thing I learned from exchange honestly.

Anyway back to the point. So after deciding on that peak and that trail, I rested early the night before and had a nice hearty breakfast in the morning before setting out.

Not that hearty la actually

I didn’t set out that early actually, I left around 11am. By the time i actually reached the entrance of Bukhansan (after getting lost), it was already almost 1pm.

Stocked up on my supplies. Had a bottle of water and a bottle of isotonic, a bag of chips, two kimbaps and a bag of snacks. It wasn’t enough tho, I had to buy another bottle of water at one of the rest stops.

Entrance to Bukhansan

The entrance to the trail up wasn’t that obvious actually. I got a little confused but I confirmed with Sheryl that there was this row of shops along the beginning of the trail.

You’ll walk past a little counter and a toilet point as you start on the trail up along the shops of houses. Unlike what most sites are saying, you don’t have to pay entrance fee or book in advance. Things have changed I think. Walked for a bit and saw the first signage/checkpoint.

Okay when i saw this i was like WTFFFFFF I feel cheated because no it’s not 3.4km, it’s 4km!!!! I think that makes a lot of difference esp if you’re talking about 600m upslope. For Bukhansan you can’t quite trust the official site or the tourism sites, like things change and they’re not exactly updated. I think the 4km trail was the same 3.4km one they were talking about but the distance just… changed over the years lol. As you can see the 4.0km was clearly a separate plate nailed onto the old one.

At around 130pm it was a nice clear weather and i was enjoying myself taking pictures of the beautiful sights around me. At this point my mood was happy and confident. This is a random sentence but you’ll see why I need to say this now….

The trail to a separate peak

Nice clear weather with plenty of shade

There were also pretty streams along the way and I stopped to take photos, rest and take some selfies haha.

The first part of the hike was truly beautiful! Loving all the beautiful sceneries that are mostly untouched by man. The clear sun also made my photos come out super nice. At this point i walked past some ahjussis who asked me where I’m headed to. I said Baegundae and they let out a collective gasp and gave me a thumbs up and told me to return. That sounded borderline scary but i was thiking like nahhhhhhh they’re prolly just exaggerating.

Then I reached my  2nd checkpoint, 3.5km away from Baegundae. I dub every signage i walk past as a checkpoint haha.

This was when the upslope actually started.

When I saw this slope, my mood was a little bit uh-oh but well it’s not steep so I embarked on it still cheerful and all. I walked past another stream and this one was so pretty! Just look at all that clear water:

dat clear water

So i decided to stop by and post an instagram selfie. Haha.

Selfie first!

After about 10 min of resting it was time to go on. I reached my 3rd checkpoint, at 2.8km away from Baegundae. Good progress mich.

At this point, the scenery began to change. No more flat gentle slopes, slopes padded with rubber to prevent slipping, and staircases. Now we have stone staircases. Yay!

I reached my 4th checkpoint, which is a huge rest area with a carpark nearby. I bought another bottle of water and ate some of my chips while making use of the free wifi in that area. Haha how i love Korea and their wifis. The time now was almost 3pm, about an hour + since I first started my hike. I wasn’t even halfway through but i still thought my progress was okay.

Halfway rest point

This was when I got lost. Very lost.

So from the big rest area, there were 3 ways to go. The first way is the one I came from. The second one was the path on the right of where I came from. The third path was the one on the left from where i came from, after passing the huge rest area. Now, common sense should have told me that the right path is the path that’s after passing the resting point right. The point of the resting point is for it to be on the way right. But nooooooo. I just took a quick glance and saw that the path after the resting stop seemed to be leading towards the carpark, so I went on the other path. Very brilliant. 20 min later I found myself staring at a signage that says 3.5km away from Baegundae, pointing at the other direction.

At this point, my mood was just lakjdghalsjdghalka>!~!!!

I covered all that distance for nothing and now i’m again 3.5km away?!?!?! D:

Let me post some photographs of things i saw along the wrong path so you’d know that you’re getting lost as well if you see these things. Lol. Well at least there were some sights.

If you see this you might be lost pls turn back

If you see this you might be lost pls turn back

On hindsight I should’ve followed my gut instinct when the slope started going downwards but as usual i rationalized with myself that mebbe the slope is just going down a bit but will go up later on LOL wth was i thinkin

Anyway turned back and headed back towards the first resting stop. You know i always tell myself i shouldn’t get angry at bad situations because they always make for more interesting stories, like there’s always a silver lining. Well it’s always easy to tell myself that when i’m in a happy mood and feel like meh i’m a big gurl now who knows how to handle things maturely let’s not be angry, but HI WHEN IT HAPPENS IT’S A DIFFERENT STORY I JUST WANNA KICK ALL THE ROCKS DOWN AND MAYBE MYSELF DOWN BUKHANSAN YOU HAVE NO IDEA

So I went back to the rest point and took the other path. I took a photo of that signage there too that says about 2.5km away from Baegundae maybe, but the picture didn’t come out. On my folder it says it’s an empty file idk why?? Oh wells. I think I lost quite a couple of pictures that come out as ’empty’ :X most of them are just pictures of how the trail looked like but oh wells it would’ve been nice if i still have those pictures.

Along the trail, i saw tons of stacked rocks that i think people left to say that ‘i’ve been here’. In the past it was used to guide people on the right path without really altering anything in the natural environment, and also for meditation purposes. These days i think people just leave it to leave their marks without destroying the environment.

This picture is actually just a pile of rocks HAHAHA. Cuz i lost all the pictures of those stacked ones. Including the ones i stacked on my own where people were judgin when i was taking a photo of it 😦

Reached my 5th checkpoint soon after at 1.3km away from Baegundae! More than halfway through :’D

That was when the path went from tough to bloodyhell.

I just literally slumped against a rock, looked at the sky and thought God why. 

And also, my mood at this point of time was just a bunch of regrets that i didn’t stay home to eat ramyun and watch some funny variety show or some tearful drama. Like i could be at a cafe now enjoying an iced latte wtf am i even doing out here. And it was a lot of self monologue declaring i’m not a hiking person and i shouldn’t be someone i’m not and next time just like sleep in and stay home bcuz yknow, that’s who i am.

But since I already made the decision, let’s take it all the way shall we. So I plugged in my earphones to play some of my favorite music (and also to stop hearing the buzzing of flies around my face as they try to fly into my nostrils and eyes and mouth and ears and basically just want to distract me so i will fall to my death) and went on my way.

the path started to get a bit more precarious

maybe now’s a good time to turn back

they don’t even bother with a path anymore now it’s just slabs of rocks

Then I reached my 6th checkpoint. This is the point of time that i find out something very important.

THAT I WAS FREAKING ON AN ADVANCED PATHWOW THANKS

THANKS TO ALL WEBSITES OF BUKHANSAN THAT TOLD ME THIS PATH WAS ON THE EASY SCALE

YOU’RE PAYING FOR MY INSURANCE

At this point my mood was just.

Let me be one of the few brutally honest folks to tell you that this path is Advanced with a capital A.

After some deep breaths and constantly telling myself i’m a big gurl and i can handle things maturely (not), i turned up my music, used my kopitiam towel from the hostel to try to whack the flies like a deranged freak, and went on my way again.

The paths ahead of me gave me a nice balanced workout that involved all muscles on my hands and arms as i haul myself up rocks. Pretty sure from below i look really unglam on all fours with my butt sticking out like ugh why

slabs of rocks

how is this even a path

At this point I turned back to look at the path i’ve conquered and man i was so proud. Look at those huge rocks that i owned. Hah.

And then i found my 7th checkpoint!! 0.4km to the peak! Mind you. The map earlier on that pointed out the distances from each trails and the difficulty levels, predicted that it will take 20 min for me to reach this checkpoint. It took me 40 minutes. I kid you not. After every 10 huge rocks i had to sit down and catch my breath. Every timing they predict for you, you should times 2 because you’re probably a lot lousier than the average hiker. Really. This isn’t a video game when you are usually faster than the average and better than the average, NO. When it comes to the real world you’re probably twice lousier than the average, it’ll do you good to think that way….. #pessimistic

On hindsight when I look at my pictures, they don’t look very difficult. And maybe you’re thinking nah that’s not as steep or exaggerated as you make it out to be.

IT IS. TRUST ME. IT’S WORSE THAN IT LOOKS. VERY MUCH SO.

My thighs ache just by looking at the pictures only because I’VE BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT IT’S NOT EASY IT’S ADVANCED FOR A REASON like if you’re a first timer like me, you would never have had ‘advanced’ slapped so hard across your face like this one maybe it’s just that i’m really lousy but well like i said, assume you’re lousy first until proven otherwise

7th checkpoint, 0.4km away!

It was a killer staircase upwards from this point on, but seriously, i was so happy to see staircases i was ready to cry for joy. All those rocks really took the energy out of me 😦 i also slipped so often i questioned how i was still alive I scaled the staircases much faster than i did the rocks.

I’m beginning to see the light!!!

And then my 8th checkpoint is there in all its glory, 0.3km from Baegundae! I’ve only traveled 100m from my previous checkpoint!!!?

Throughout the hike i kept questioning where’s the fortress wall that i was supposed to see along this path?? I guess my question was answered here, near the peak.

i THINK this is the fortress wall don’t quote me on it

And then i was beginning to see the view. It was sooooo rewarding after all of that!  Unfortunately the skies were hazy (as usual) so there wasn’t much to see in the distance.

I

t was also really windy here which was nice and refreshing! But then at this point the path really did it for me. Like that’s literally a vertical rock i’m looking at. Who do you think i am man.  Who do you think you are to say that this path is easy and manageable and then give me a vertical rock. Tell me i’m not exaggerating man. I can’t be the only one feeling that injustice. I can’t be the only loser out there.

how is this a legit path it’s literally vertical

i’m tired just looking at the pic

At this point, one of the middle-aged ladies who overtook me halfway up the trail (all the middle-aged people are 1000x fitter than me i’ve long accepted that) walked past me on her way down. Lol. like i’m still otw up when she’s alr otw down.. orz

I really like this photo because it’s a perfect representation of how precarious this climb actually was. Haha.

And then I was at the peak before i knew it. The feeling of stepping at the very top of Bukhansan after so many hours of climbing, thousands of buzzing flies, lots of near-death slips, constant cursing and regrets and thoughts of turning back… the feeling of reaching the top after all of that was…. unbelievable. I don’t even know how to say it. Words fail me.

The famous rock and flag at the top.

Of course this calls for a picture of myself. I wanted a full shot but no one else was at the peak. So it was photoshoot time!!!! Propped my bag against a rock and my phone camera on top of it ,set the timer and scurried over to the rock to pose.

This picture would’ve been legendary if someone had taken it from top-down, to include the view that i was looking at. But we can’t always have everything and honestly i was just glad i managed to get pictures of myself at all without anyone’s help.

you did it mich :’) #smu #productplacement

I spent 15 min or so hanging out at the peak and taking videos and pictures and then others started to come up so I went down a little bit and sat among the rocks to grab a snack and admire the view some more. And then it was time to go down.

At this point, it was around 5pm meaning I’ve taken almost 4 hours up, including the whole getting lost part. That was really late actually, Sheryl and the rest only took 4 hours up and down haha.

The view near the top.

A duck shaped rock

I slid down this part, no kidding

Back to the latest checkpoint and I saw the sign leading to the Baegundae Information Center, which was where the 1.9km hike would start from, and the same place that Sheryl said it was ulu. It’s time to find out where that elusive starting point is actually at.

Hence I embarked on that trail down. It was still quite crey though. Lots of rocks later i finally got out and saw the starting point of this trail.

This was the Baegundae Information Centre where the shorter 1.9km Baegundae trail is supposed to start. Turned out it wasn’t actually an accessible starting point, unless you drive up so

I had to walk quite a distance down the car route until i get back to the main road, hopped onto a random bus that took me to a random station, and finally returned to my hostel.

Bought a packet of ramyun to cook back at the hostel and gave myself a long long long long deserved sleep. ❤

Worth it? Yes. I think I got a lot of unforgettable memories and I’m very proud. But i know i wouldn’t do it again lol.

Anyways.

How to get to Bukhansan (Bukhansanseong trail to Baegundae peak): Take the subway from Gupabal Station, Exit 1 and take bus 704 to the entrance of Bukhansan Park.

836m tall, 4km long. Always remember.

Seoul Accommodation: MORI Guesthouse

My favorite guesthouse! ❤

Because of this guesthouse honestly, i have no regrets or anger or sadness that my goshiwon cancelled on me. I’m thrilled now because i get to find this really affordable and amazing guesthouse! 😀 I didn’t book this one through booking.com or hostelworld as I usually do, so I felt it was so wasted if I didn’t write something on it somewhere on the net…

So without further ado!

I had lots of luggage so I was super relieved to find out that the nearest station Gwangheungchang had elevators all the way, and the guesthouse had no staircase! Phew. I’ve learned from previous experiences that guesthouses are usually not located on the first floor so yeah. But MORi was something more of an entire apartment building if I have to put it that way, so it was nice 🙂

The moment of entrance was a large carpark but it’s used as a space for bicycles and laundry.

Entering MORI~

 

Upon entering they would ask you to take off your shoes and provide really cute little bathroom slippers.

 

Waking up to smiley slippers everyday does help haha

My first reaction when I walked in was woah they’re spacey!! 😀

Very pretty design!

It’s a little bit complicated for me because i actually went through booking.com first and booked 8-bed room for 11 nights, then found their website and decided to email in to see if there is possible ways to make special arrangements because i wanted to stay in 6-bed room. The initial plan was 6-bed room for 7 nights, then 8-bed room for 4 because for two days in between there isn’t room in the 6-bed room. But they made a mistake in reserving so for my last 2 nights they had to move me to another 6-bed room. So I had to move twice and i stayed in 3 different rooms altogether in my 11 nights.

I was honestly just glad they didn’t suddenly tell me i needed to evacuate so it didn’t bother me, and they were very apologetic about it. It also allowed me to see the different rooms and compare. Actually there was a pretty big diference which i’ll point out later on~

Upon arrival James led me to the 6-bed room on the first floor. It was very pretty and i loved the colors! 😀 He told me about the guesthouse rules which were basic, and they had no curfew. They also provided locker keys and small towels.

Now this room’s bed was very comfortable, because they added a comforter on top of it. It was soft and i was so happy when i first sat down on the bed. 😀

I’m a sucker for curtains and now not only do I have my on personal curtain, i also have my personal bed light!! 😀 this was plus points for the guesthouse and it was one of the reasons i chose to book it over the others. The whole privacy thing makes it so convenient for you to change or stay up late without disturbing other guests.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that it was bigger than expected. Most guesthouses have pictures that are extended so they are pretty much smaller than what we see on the internet, but MORI was pretty accurate with their pictures and i was comfortable with the space.

Personal lighting and curtains~ and pretty bed colors!

My fortress at night. All nice and cosy!

There was no window in this room so i wake up every day in some kind of inception thing like is it day or night?? And because it’s so nice and dark and cosy in my little fortress that i often end up like where’s the curtain?? and end up groping the wall on the wrong side trying to open the curtain lol.

He showed me around the guesthouse. There were three bathrooms on the first floor but if you wanna bathe after 12 you have to go the one upstairs. Probably because the three bathrooms on the first floor are really close to the rooms so it’s kinda noisy.

There was also a mini makeup area outside the rooms on the first floor.

 

He then showed me the second floor.

The second floor had more rooms and even more bathrooms!!

bathroooooooooms galore! no waiting for shower stalls! Yay!

Each bathroom looks similar to this:

 

Nice clean bathrooms! Bathrooms are very important to me in guesthouses and often determine whether a guesthouse is yay or nay for me. Haha. This one was one of the cleanest I’ve seen, despite there being so many of them. Everyday at about 11am ish a cleaning lady comes around to scrub every bathroom clean haha. I leave the guesthouse really late everyday which is why i kinda know that they come in around afternoon time LOL.

Cleaning ladies or the owners of the guesthouse also enter the room at around noon time-ish to quickly sweep and mop the floor, as well as change the sheets/blankets for the vacant beds. This is when the curtains are extra useful. Although technically you shouldn’t be expecting people still sleeping at noon but well they were prepared for guests like me.

They’re really diligent and efficient with their cleanliness which was really nice 🙂 They’re not by any means a tiny guesthouse so it was nice to see they had a system they stick diligently to.

Anyway, the second floor had this mega huge-ass makeup room, probably to accommodate the numebr of rooms on that floor.

 

Huge right?! Part of why i really appreciate the sincerity of this guesthouse is that they could have turned this area into like two more rooms and earn more monehhhh (makeup rooms aren’t that common in guesthouses), or they could also reduce the bathrooms if they wanted to. But they’re not stingy with the space and make sure the guesthouse is very comfortable for guests. Bordering on luxurious I’d have to say considering the price they charge their guests. Many guesthouses out there charge much higher and i doubt their service comes close to what MORi offers.

One area of the second floor of the guesthouse, also where i stayed at for the last 4 nights

Bins and water dispenser available on the second floor too!

We didn’t stay around at the second floor much. I got to know the second floor much better later on though when i shifted there after my first week on the first floor haha.

He showed me around the lounge area afterwards!

This is what I see when I first open the door to the lounge:

like woah! I’ve never seen such a huge lounge in a guesthouse seriously ❤

The tables and hangout areasssss

The kitchen area!

I watched the World Cup finals here!!

 

As per other guesthouses, they provide bread, eggs, coffee and juice. But just like Guesthouse 710, they also provide cereal!! Any guesthouse that provides cereal is like a bonus!!! woohoo

 

I end up ditching eggs because there’s always cereal. Glory. When they stock up on the chocolate ones it’s the most glorious thing ever.

After a week on the first floor, i had to move to the 8-bed room for two days. At first she was gonna move me to the one opposite the reception area since i had lots of luggage, but after finding out that eventually i have to go up to the second floor for the last 2 nights at another 6-bed room, i figured meh just move now. And she said the 8-bed room upstairs is bigger than the one downstairs.

So I agreed.

She was right, it was bigger! The pictures online looked quite cramped so i was worried.  But you can see in the picture below that you could fit large luggages comfortably in between the beds!

Luckily for me i had a nifty little corner to tuck my luggages in.

Nifty corner!

This room had sunlight streaming in haha, unlike the first one. No more waking up to a dark nice cosy cave 😦

The beds on this floor weren’t as comfortable as the one i slept in on the first floor. They didn’t add the comforter for these rooms but i wasn’t complaining because i really liked this place~~ i felt that they were already giving me much more than I paid for. Talk about utility man.

On the last 2 days, I moved next door to the 6-bed room one. Actually this was just an 8-bed room converted to a 6-bed room LOL, so the space where the last bed is becomes luggage space. Again I felt like they could have utilized the space to convert it to an 8-bed room but they didn’t and maybe that’s for a functional reason but nevertheless it was nice to have so much space in a guesthouse i didn’t pay much for. The others were always so cramped 😦

So much luggage space over there!!! woohooo! Perfect for when i packed on my last day~

Look at how our huge luggages looked dwarfed in that immense amount of space. glorious

Plenty of space for everyone! If you’re looking to move into this guesthouse you can always let the hosts know that you have lots of luggage, they’re more than happy to give you the room that has more spaces. Because some rooms are smaller than others despite them being the same type of rooms.

Fortress style~

I now understand why they have an almost perfect rating on all the booking sites. Seriously they deserve it for their dedication and attention to detail! So pretty, clean, spacey… and the hosts are so super nice! 😀

I think because of all the makeup rooms the hostel end up being mostly girls-dominated. LOL. They do have male dorms i think but i’ve seen only like 3 males out of all my 11 nights and they only appear during breakfast or at night at the lounge area.

The catch is that this guesthouse is extremely affordable! It’s actually cheaper if you contact them directly, plus they gave me a 10% discount for long term stay. You wouldn’t get the same price if you booked through an agent. But then again the benefit of an agent is that you can cancel without losing any deposit, whereas my direct booking at MORI required me to pay 50,000 won in advance to secure my booking. It didn’t matter to me though because i was pretty sure i wanted to stay there~

With one of the hosts, Jiae! They both speak fluent English 🙂

Name: Mori Guesthouse
Location: 12-8, Seogang-ro 1-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-881, South Korea
Nearest station: Gwangheungchang Line 6, 2 min walk
Nearby: Sinchon (10-15 min walk), Hongdae (15 min walk), Sangsu  (7 min walk)
Price: (via website) 19,000 won / night for 6-bed room, 17,000 won / night for 8-bed room. Discount for long stays. My booking for 7 nights in 6-bed room and 4 nights in 8-bed room came up to 180,900 won which is a little below 17,000 won per night, because of the discount. I ended up with 9 nights in 6-bed room and 2 nights in 8-bed room for the same pice because of their little slip up though hehe. Free upgrade!
Website: http://www.housemori.com/main/index

Its location is probably its worst drawback which also probably explains the price. But i wouldn’t sweat it. I mean unless you’re staying for like exchange or smth tht requires you to keep coming back to the same area everyday (like for exapmle you wanna hang out in Hongdae 3 times a week), then it’ll benefit you to find a guesthouse closer to Hongdae. But if you’re a traveler honestly the subway is all you need and this guesthouse has a subway really close by. There’s a lack of food nearby though but i always walk to Sinchon cuz it’s a straightforward route down and isnt far. All the good food places are there.

[Cafe Hopping] Waffle Lui @ Hyehwa

I dub Hyehwa the second Sinchon. Kinda. It’s just a lot quieter hahaha.

Few days after returning from Japan, I was bored and the only idea i had was to visit the same cafe i’ve been visiting, Coffeenie. But then decided to send texts to Sheryl and Zenn to see what they’re up to. In the end we agreed to meet and walk around Hyehwa a little bit. It was my first time there but the other two have been there a couple of times already.

Hyehwa street!

While walking around we received recommendation from Sheryl (who couldn’t make it in the end) to go Waffle Lui as it’s a nice place to chill at! We found the place very easily. It was a bit confusing as there was no obvious entrance though (the main entrance is actually on the other side) but you can just go up the staircase into that building, there will be another staircase that leads to Waffle Lui.

 

 

Waffles!! These were less than 2000 won for a plain waffle.

Ice cream!

 

We each ordered a waffle and cafe latte each. The latte was cheap at 3500 won, because there was some sort of 1000 won off for all beverages on that day. Haha.

The place was quite decent for a chat or a quiet session on your own^^ Hyehwa in general seems like a really nice place but my time is running out here in Seoul, so I guess this is my first and last time. Oh wells. :X Better than nothing!

How to get to Waffle Lui @ Hyehwa: From Hyehwa Station Exit 2

서울 종로구 동숭동 1-87 3층
1-87 Dongsung-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Sorry I haven’t figured out how to embedd Naver map properly so i can only do screenshots

[Food] Tosokchon Samgyetang (Chicken Ginseng Soup)

Samgyetang literally translates as “ginseng chicken soup” in English. It is traditionally served in the summer for its supposed nutrients, which replaces those lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the hot summers in Korea. To make samgyetang, a whole young chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic, and ginger.

Finally got around to trying this famous Samgyetang restaurant near Gyeongbokgung! This happened midway during exam week and i had just collected my visa, so I joined the rest later. I was supposed to be on time bu i got intercepted halfway by an ahjumma who asked me endless questions about my life for like absolutely no reason so by the time i reached the food was already there hahahhahah. Anyway let’s go into the details!

Tosokchon restaurant from the outside!

Tosokchon restaurant interior~

The restaurant was huge! Got lost trying to find them ._.

Samgyetang and Tongdak

Lineatte Karin and Jasmine ordered one portion of Tongdak (roasted chicken) and two portions of Samgyetang (chicken ginseng soup). Irrelevant but the kimchi at this place was really really delicious! Jasmine really wanted to buy some back~

Samgyetang!!

The soup had a mild ginseng taste so if you’re looking for a strong soup, i don’t think this would be the place for you! The chicken was stuffed with glorious glutinous rice so there was no need to order our own bowls of rice. The two small glasses you see in that picture above is actually wine and supposedly to put into the ginseng chicken soup to add flavor to it. Haha. The rest have eaten there before and never knew it, they even drank the wine one shot lullllz.

Samgyetang – 15,000 won
Tongdak – 14,000 won
Other menu details – blogger’s post 

How to get to Tosokchon: From Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) Exit 2, go straight for about 170m. GS25 is the landmark to look out for – when you see GS25, turn left into the small streets.

It is the little things that matter.

We learn a lot of things when we say goodbye. Most of the times, we are never prepared for goodbye. It’s not because we didn’t know or expect when the day would come, but because we can never imagine how painful it really is until we are saying goodbye.

On that last week of school, when I was preparing myself for the day to say goodbye, I found myself surprised at the things that made me the most sentimental or emotional. I did my routine as usual on that last week of school, but I found each routine more endearing by the day.

Like how I could leave the dormitory just 10 minutes before lessons start, with enough time to grab a cup of iced latte from Cafe Dream to kickstart a nice day.

Like how I could never resist buying the cheap strawberry yogurt goodness from Cafe May.

Like how I wake up without fail every day at around 8am because my body clock adjusted itself so I can wake up everyday for dorm breakfast.

Like how we sometimes spend 5 minutes deciding between which of the two meals to eat at the dorm cafeteria. Sometimes because both options are good, sometimes because both seem to serve only preserved vegetables…

Like how I snuggle into my blanket after breakfast and fall into a deep food coma. Almost every day.

Like the cold winter days that same blanket gave me so much protection from

Like how laundry can be so frustrating when I decided to do it at the ‘crunch’ time (10-11pm) and everyone’s doing their laundry and im just like #stahp and then i end up sleeping at 2am because i had to wait it out. And how i screwed up on my first laundry day by starting another person’s dryer.

Like how my snacks are right within my reach on the shelf in front of me, and i only needed to step out of my room to get hot water for a good cup of ramyun or coffee/milo/tea

Like those days watching dramas till late nights without a care (i watched all of dae jang geum and you who came from the stars in this exchange, plus a bit of dong yi)

Like how i get so irritated at the slow wifi at the dorm

I started to miss every of those routines and they became so bittersweet on that last week. Things that seem so small and mundane during my daily life in these past few months, became so symbolic of my life in Korea.

On that last night, Jasmine and XC invited me to their room to have some fried chicken and pepsi, and when i sat there with them just eating chicken in their dorm room and talking in english to jas and korean in XC, i felt this sudden wave of regret. Like why did this not happen sooner? Why did we live for the past few months and never thought to do something as simple as ordering food in and gathering to talk? Did we take it for granted that we had time, and didn’t think of doing the simplest yet most memorable things?

On the last day, when we ate our last breakfast in the dorm, Joanna came over to join us and she was tearing up because she was leaving Korea on that day. When we said goodbye, I never realized that I was sad as well. Because I wasn’t close to her, I didn’t realize it would affect me that much when I said goodbye to her, knowing it’s most likely forever.

After the rush of packing and cleaning our rooms, as I sat there in my bare room with my roomie Selina, we took a photo together and I didn’t realize how far we’ve come the past few months, and although I was not particularly close to her, I would always remember the few nights we chatted for hours just about life, and her constant presence in the room has become something I would miss.

As I was throwing out the thrash, I bumped into an Indonesian friend I made during the exchange, and he was with the other exchange students. For the first time the look in his eyes wasn’t the usual playful one when he was going to call me ‘ba’ which is a teasing word to call aunties in bahasa, and his smile had faltered. Instead he gave me a long look, as if he wasn’t sure whether to give me a goodbye hug or to continue teasing me as per usual. He just smiled a little too wide and told me to visit Indonesia often.

I left the room with my luggages in tow, I looked at the rows of bags lined up along the doors, and I wondered that when we all leave, would there be a trace of us left in those dorm rooms? When new people come in to fill up these rooms that we once called our home and treated as our sanctuary, what will be the traces of us left? Would it be as if we never lived there? Are we just occupants in sheltered rooms?

I went out to get coffee, and on the way back, I saw Selina leaving. I ran up to her and gave her a hug. It was our first and last hug. She pulled me in closer and gave me the most sincere smile I’ve seen her give. I’ll see her in Singapore, hopefully.

As I was hanging out in jasmine and XC’s room, XC’s friend came in and started to cry because her room mate just went home. I didn’t know her friend, nor did i know her friend’s roomie, but I found myself feeling a gaping hole of sadness seeing her tears, so I just went into the bathroom to bathe.

After dinner when I was finally ready to leave to join Zenn and find our Jjimjilbang for the night, I turned back and saw Jasmine, XC and XC’s friend all staring at me with the same wide-eyed looks, and I had to tear away so that I can leave without letting the sadness catch up with me. I will see them again.

It is the little things that matter. The second more of a glance, the smile that reached the eyes, the simple talks over silly things, the mundane routines of dorm life, the little cheap thrills, the quiet moments alone, the things that i would never expected to be the things i couldn’t stop thinking about.

Goodbye, exchange. Goodbye, Sogang.

Getting a visa to Japan in Seoul

It all started on the second last week of school, Friday, during high-tech marketing, when I decided I could probably pass that module and so decided to not listen (as if i listen usually ha-ha) and just start planning my Japan trip. So there I was, happily goign through Japan’s tourism board website and bookmarking the places I wanted to visit. And just when I was about done with that website and was going to start searching blogs, i saw this word amongst the menu that says V I S A

well

i basically flipped realizing i had totally forgotten that I needed a visa and I was going Japan the next weekend. All my friends going Japan held a Singapore passport and so did my brother and i was holding an Indonesian one. I seriously panicked like i literally sweated and texted my brother and everyone and started mass googling how to get a visa here and like what’s the procedure. The net was the most unhelpful thing ever like nobody ever wrote about this, perhaps because it’s not a common situation, and the websites were in Korean. So I just prepared whatever i can actually think of.

The following list is updated based on what the person took from me or demanded from me:

1. Passport
2. Passport-sized photograph
3. Visa application form (download here)
4. Schedule of visit
5. Flight itinerary
6. Accommodation proof
7. Bank details copy (your details page on the bankbook, and the last page of your bank transaction info, DATED ON THAT VERY DAY YOU’RE VISITING THE EMBASSY)
8. Proof of enrollment (for students. MUST BE DATED ON THE MONTH YOU’RE VISITING THE EMBASSY)
9. Photocopy of ARC
10. Photocopy of birth certificate
11. My suggestion is to photocopy all your typical proof of existence on earth like IC, passport, student cards, ARCs, birth certs, marriage certs etc etc etc. And all other documents you can think of.

The website was so confusing like it was all in Korean and had no opening hours. I managed to get the details from their foreign affairs site but nothing else. I also managed to dig out some info about opening hours of the embassy by calling the embassy:

Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 11.30am, 1.30pm – 4.30 pm 

The moment someone picked up the phone i immediately said “can i speak to someone who can speak English” in Korean haha the irony. Let’s not create confusion for ourselves by trying to speak embassy terminology in Korean shall we.

Collecting visas can be up to 5pm though. Application MIGHT be until 4pm only (i didn’t ask in detail) so just play safe and go earlier.

And also, the embassy where you apply is not actually at the Japanese embassy. It’s at the Japanse consular in Korea, which is a separate department and separate building. I asked a security guard and he totally pointed at the wrong direction (presumably the direction of the Japanese embassy) and i was getting lost for so long.

The map provided on the website is pretty accurate though, so follow it strictly and go to the Japanese consular.

 

The building you’re trying to find is the purple one, and the nearest station is Gwanghwamun (Line 5, purple line, Exit 2). You will see this building.

This was taken from the back when i got lost, but anyway you just need to look for these characters and building lol. Japanese consular is on the 7th floor.

After finally finding the place, i gave all my documents praying they would let me through. But noooooo the guy said i had to show him accommodation proof and that my enrollment proof and bank statement had to be updated. The bank statement had to be on THAT DAY ITSELF, and enrollment proof had to be on THAT MONTH ITSELF, it doesn’t matter that my cert stated that i was gonna be enrolled till August. Nope.

I was so pissed at this point because i came all the way here and also couldn’t they have given more info on their website i mean it doesn’t take that long to update. He passed me a list of things i needed to bring and circled the things i was missing. Like you had this list come on just freaking update your website with this list!!!!!! To think that I already brought way more stuff than what their online list stated. But of course we can’t expect all that since it’s not an ideal world. So I dealt with my annoyance and hurried back to school to get that updated enrollment proof.

It was such a mad rush. I visited the office of international affairs and they directed me to the admin office. Rushed there and paid 500won per piece of certificate and got 3, two copies in english and one in korean. Just in case, you know. And also thankfully there was a photocopier and printer and computer at that building too so i quickly used my computer to print my accommodation proof. It was terrible because my brother hadn’t actually booked all days of accommodation as he was planning for a traditional stay at a japanese inn for two days. So I had to go and book a hostel for those two days first just for proof to the japanese embassy, and print all the different accommodations.

Oh wait i forgot to say why i was in a rush. I actually went to the embassy after my Topics in Korea exam so it was about 2pm when i reached. So i had only 2 hours to get everything done and i wanted to get it done on that day since i barely had 5 weekdays to process that visa.

After that I did another mad rush to the bank to print my bankbook and then i asked a staff to help me photocopy. Luckily he was nice and helped me photocopy for free.

Chiongggeeeed back again and made it with very few minutes to spare before the embassy closed. Passed all the documents and thankfully i was good to go. He gave me this slip of paper and told me to send an email to the email stated on the paper the next day to check on status.

So I did, and guess what. They were suspicious of my booking address because

1. My brother booked it and the confirmation i had was under his email
2. My brother was staying a night earlier before I arrive in Japan and they demanded to know the discrepancy between my flight arrival and the hostel acommodation

and im just like

x100

So after a couple more exchanges, they finally said it was okay and told me to wait until they contacted me again.

Luckily, the next day they did contact me. So the visa didn’t take that long to process, actually i think one to two days is enough to process if all the documents are cleared. I’m not encouraging last minute applications like what I did LOL, but still, for those who completely forgot like i did, don’t worry. If you’ve got a week to spare you’re good to go, just prepare everything thoroughly according to what i stated, and everything else you can think of, just prepare it. It’s better to be safe.

Also, i would suggest going in the morning if you can so you can prepare whatever’s missing and return that afternoon itself.

Some details for anyone who finds themselves in the same situation as me.

Single-entry visa to Japan cost 35,000 won.

Type of visa applied: Single-entry
Cost: 35,000 won
More info for Visa procedures/documents: MOFA visa forms download, MOFA guide to visas, Japanese embassy in Singapore (I noticed the Singapore website had a more detailed list + other info than the Korean one, so I’m including this in for reference)
Location: Location of Embassy/Consular
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday, 9.30am – 11.30am, 1.30pm – 4.30 pm. Collection of visa is until 5pm.

[Cafe Hopping] 바늘 이야기 Knitting Cafe @ Edae

*envisions self knitting with 9 cats*

I googled and found out that Banul is actually a website that sells knitting stuff but it probably set up a cafe as an extension. Seems like an odd cafe for us to wander into, but it’s not really as old-lady-9-cats as it sounds. Haha. It’s actually filled with lots of students studying. Since it was a nice experience studying, i’m going to share about it anyway~ without further ado, introducing the knitting cafe: 바늘 이야기 (Knitting Story) @ Edae.

Exterior looks so attractive already!

 

Knitting shop inside the cafe, which explains its theme

Cute tiny muffins for only 500 won~

Blankets~ it was pretty cold upstairs

 

Power points everywhere! Good place to study! In the early afternoon a group of ahjummas were knitting at the corner though LOL so it was noisy. After they left it was just a whole bunch of us girls studying~ after seeing the ahjummas Jas & Daph were talking about envisioning themselves on the airplane knitting stuff when there’s no wifi OTL.

The owner of the cafe came up when i was leaving and asked if we were cold and turned up the temperature. Woman why did you not do so about 4 hours ago T_____T

How to get to 바늘 이야기Knitting cafe @ Edae: From Ewha Womans University exit 6 it’s a straight road down! Banul will be on your left and it’s very obvious~

Exploring Samcheongdong (Cafe Street)

One doesn’t say they’ve been cafe hopping in Korea without having gone to Samcheongdong. That was my motivation to step out of the house and go to a new cafe, since recently i’ve become lazy and liked visiting the cafes I’m already accustomed to. I met Zenn at around 3.30pm near Samcheongdong and we headed there together. It wasn’t her first time but the first time for me, surprise surprise, given my love for coffee and cafes and the likes. I guess i never really felt the need to step out of my area because of so many nice cafes in this vicinity. Plus recently when I go cafes it’s to get work done so i don’t want to waste time finding new cafes in the area. Anyways back to the topic! We walked to Samcheongdong and i fell in love with the place almost immediately. I haven’t seen this many cafes in one area haha it’s like how do they earn with all the competition?? Well regardless, we walked almost the entire Samcheongdong area and couldn’t settle on a cafe, mostly because we were out to study and wanted a place with good lighting. So after finishing the whole area, we backtracked and decided to settle with this cafe called . i’ve seen this cafe online and i saw bad reviews about the coffee, but i couldn’t resist all that architecture and elegance and it has the best lighting of all the samcheongdong cafes for studying. Hahaha. So we decided to give it a chance.

posing obnoxiously outside someone’s house

 

OTW to samcheongdong

very pretty cafe we saw!!!

The actual Samcheongdong street. Looking a bit ulu because of a weekday! Or everyone’s hiding in their cafes

As we were walking we saw a bunch of people crowded around taking photo of something. So we looked across the street and saw what looked like a boy band having an interview. We found out later through eavesdropping and logical deduction that it’s probably BEAST. We hung around for abit but then the manager came and chased everyone away lol

A very very pretty cafe called Heaven on Top!

I just love the cafes at Samcheongdong! The decor from outside already look so fabulous, each one has its own style and mood, and i just want to experience every one of them! Unfortunately our focus was to study after all so we had to pick one that was most suitable for us, not the one we liked the most.  In the end, we settled for this cafe called cafe KONA QUEENS. Cafe KONA QUEENS @ Samcheongdong I’ve read about it online, it actually has terrible reviews for the coffee LOL but at that time our main priority wasn’t the coffee. KONA QUEENS looked super bright and spacey so we went there in the end.

Very pretty infrastructure and typography~

First floor~ I didn’t take a photo of the counter because there was like this line of baristas standing there waiting for people to come in which was a bit awkward

the third floor balcony~

After exploring a bit we stayed on the second floor which was the best place to do work or settle down in. . There were powerpoints around the area and on the pillars you see above on the table, so it is a good place to settle down in if you have work to do.

Blankets! It was cold so it was necessary

Okay the coffee was really as bad as reviews online said. LOL. Unfortunately i got nothing to say against all those reviews. It was a little pricey at 6000 won, but understandable for coffee along Samcheongdong. The latte tasted weird. My drink was a chocolate fudge frappe and even that tasted a little… strange. Later on Zenn said they might have used soy milk which would explain the off-taste of their drinks. Regardless, our focus was not on the coffee! So overall i would recommend this cafe to visit and sit and chat with because of its space and lovely atmosphere!!! And nice toilet… hahaha. But not if you want to drink a good cup of coffee. Nope. How to get to Samcheongdong: Closest station is Anguk Station. It’s a little confusing but as seen in the map below, Samcheongdong begins in that red outlined area. Closest exit is Exit 1 and from there you should turn in at the next corner (not the Starbucks one). After that it’s a relatively straight road down.   How to get to Cafe KONA QUEENS: It’s smack in the middle of Samcheongdong haha. Very hard to explain directions so i hope the map can help somehow.   Once you find Samcheongdong, there’s no need to worry because the cafes are so abundant! Don’t mind what blogs are saying about the cafes and just pick one that calls out to you 😀 After our cafe adventures Zenn brought me to this supposedly famous Ddeokbokki!!! Forgot the place name or its location so let’s just appreciate pictures of ddeokbokki      Yumz.

[Cafe Hopping] Alice in Cupcake @ Edae

One of my most favorite cafes recommended to me by Jasmine!

Alice in Cupcake @ Edae

I first found out about Alice by chance, was just chatting with jasmine about cafes in Edae and she told me about a nice one called Alice in Cupcake. I didn’t really think much about it but on Tuesday when I was stoning and realized i had no where to go since the jjimjilbang plans w Zenn and Sheryl were cancelled, I headed over to check it out for myself.

The place is quite ulu so look out for the sign above on the second floor!

As soon as I entered, I was greeted by the most cheerful voice ever. The ahjumma that runs the cafe was so happy and bubbly that I instantly smiled. I put down my stuff at a corner table and went over to order. As soon as I was there she started chatting to me brightly in Korean. I made my order and she presented me with the stamp card so excitedly! Like ‘jjajang!!’ kind of happy. It seems like she remembers every person who has been in the cafe, so she knew who was new and who wasn’t. Her excitement was contagious and I found myself cheered up already.

English menu at the counter!

cute bear bear and three power points to a corner table like this!

After she served my drink at the table, she quickly pulled a chair next to me and told me to put my bag down there. She was such a nice person i could like the cafe just because of her alone. When other people started coming in, she also did the same for them and for the middle tables, she started pulling out rows of power points from hidden places and placed them next to their tables for them to charge their appliances HAHA.

Iced water and cute blankets! Also they have pieces of paper etc to write and pin on the board (i think). There is a bunch of keys in front of the mirror that you can take to open the toilet downstairs (which is really clean and smells nice!)

This is why I really love Korean cafes, although idk how they earn sometimes, they never fail to provide tons of powerpoints, sometimes a row of multiplugs per table, and they also have nice blankets for you to keep warm and free water. Also, really clean toilets most of the time. The cafe culture here is so comfortable i think i’ll find it so inconvenient when I return to Singapore. :c

Cafe frappe~

Cupcakes for 3500 won!!!!

earl grey tea cupcake~

How to get to Alice in Cupcake @ Edae: Head out from Ewha Womans University exit 2 and head straight. Walk past 1 main cross road and 3 left lanes and you will come to another main road. Turn left there and you’ll have to navigate into the little streets to find this cafe. I got lost a little myself but you should be safe following the map.

Full address: 서울특별시 서대문구 대현동 34-23