Bits & Pieces - The World & Me: Spring Waltz in Seoul 2012

07^th April 2012

Our stay at Euljiro CO-OP does not come with breakfast so what we had for our breakfast was just the sweet and delicious Banana Milk. This is really good and if you are visiting Korea, you must definitely try this.

Banana Milk

신촌 Sinchon (新村)

Ewha Woman’s University

Our first stop today is Ewha Woman’s University. This is our 2^nd visit here and this time, we decided to walk a little more around the school campus, near the entrance. There is very nice architecture around.

Ewha Woman's University Logo

The University Entrance

Their garden

Cathedral look-alike building

Their faculty

Peace....... we are here!!!!

Just look the stairs!

Further view of the stairs

Personally, I think young ladies who study here are really fortunate. Their school is basically a tourist spot. Will you plan NUS or NTU into your tour itinerary for places to visit?

Hungry hungry hungry!!!!

We actually decided to skip breakfast and go straight for brunch @ 춘천집닭갈비막국수Chuncheonjip Chicken Wing Special Restaurant (春川家辣炒鸡排) but …….. 진짜배고파!

Luckily, we came across a food cart selling egg bread. We bought one @ KRW700 to “heal” our stomach temporarily and continued shopping.

Egg bread

That's how you make it.

Streets of Sinchon

There are many small alleys on the main street of Sinchon. This area is also known as the Ewha Women’s University Fashion Street. Those alleys sell everything, from skincare, shoes, bags to apparels and accessories. Did I trigger your shopaholic personality? If you like to shop, this is the place. Things here are really cheaper than those in Myeongdong and Dongdaemun. A pair of socks cost KRW1,000 here but KRW2,000 in Myeongdong and they are the same design. So shop wisely.

Yes apm Shopping mall

A nice little shop

Street of Sinchon

Lovely cafe

Women's paradise

Apparels

Shoes

Skin care

춘천집닭갈비막국수Chuncheonjip Chicken Wing Special Restaurant (春川家辣炒鸡排)

We are finally at our destination for lunch. Can you hear my stomach grumbling??

This restaurant serves just 1 type of food, however, we added cheese this time. What’s the difference between with and without cheese? Not much, just cheesier.

We still enjoyed our food. It was really good so that’s why we make it a must-go destination during our trip planning.

The restaurant is crowded during lunch hours

Happy that it's finally lunchtime.

Cooking from raw ingredients

Still cooking slowly

Almost done...!!!

Just a bit more to go........ wait for the cheese to melt.

Let's eat.

Having satisfied our hungry stomach, we continued our journey by walking to Hongdae. Oh man, it was a long long walk.

홍대Hongdae (弘大)

We didn’t have time for Hongdae during our last trip so we make it a MUST visit this trip.

We purposely came on a Saturday because my sister’s research told us that there is a Free Market in the park. That’s our 1^st stop.

Hongdae Free Market

This is the place where art students from the surrounding universities display and sell their artworks or handicrafts. However, before we enter the park, we saw a queue. As typical Singaporeans, checking out is definitely in our character and it happened to be one of the famous dessert booth recommended by some travel guides selling waffle with ice-cream or fresh cream.

Waffle stall

Queuing and peeping

Yum yum

The waffle is so crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. It goes perfectly well with fresh cream. Mark this place down in your next trip itinerary. =P

Ok, here is a tip. Waffles with ice-cream or fresh cream are the same price @ KRW1,000 so don’t be stupid like us and ordered fresh cream although it is also delicious.

Next Free Market.

I almost fainted after entering the Free Market zone. It was jammed packed with people and I HATE CROWDS.

It's the free market.

Sigh............ the people and the crowd!?! ><

From the corner of my eyes, I saw an amazingly long queue. There goes my character again. We walked round the queue and finally found our answer. This was actually a young artist drawing portrait of people in just 1 minute at a cost of your own will. He had a metal tin in front on the table and just kept drawing. We saw some of his ‘LIVE’ drawing, to be honest, it does not really resemble the person but it was FUN.

1 minute artist

As we roamed around the market, there were stalls selling really interesting handicrafts. Some artists allow you to take photos and some don’t. You just have to find your way to snap something and quickly.

Cute little handicraft

Handmade bags and pencil case

Wallets and cardholders

Accessories

They are so cute.

Streets of Hongdae

My ultimate target @ the streets of Hongdae is to find the popular karaoke box which is also known as ‘Noraebang’ in Korean.

While window shopping we saw trendy fashions, IT gadgets and restaurants etc. I told my sister I cannot walk anymore and needed a rest.

Tea time @ Hello Kitty Café

We are in the place where every Kitty fans will go crazy. This is simply too kitty or kiddy? You say it.

The café was full of Hello Kitty decorations and lovers.

Entrance of Hello Kitty Cafe

The kitchen

The wall

More wall

Kitty armchair

Kitty table

Kitty order alarm

Interior of Hello Kitty Cafe

It's just full of Hello Kitty

We were lucky to get ourselves a table and proceed to order. While waiting for our drinks, we were actually disgusted by some tourists (not mentioning their nationality). I am just curious, is there a need to sit at a particular area? Why do you need to go around asking others if they are leaving soon? What do you gain? I totally don’t understand.

Minding my own business, our drinks are finally ready after quite a wait. We ordered Lemonade and Café latte.

Lemonade and Cafe latte

After recharging my energy (leg power), we left the café and headed to our next destination. Guess what? I found my NORAEBANG!!!! They have 2 branches, 1 fully covered up and 1 see through. Check out the photos if you don’t understand. Many K-POP stars went there too, either for work or leisure.

The fully covered up Karaoke

The see through Karaoke

Trick Eye Museum

We got to know about this museum after watching “Heartstrings”. I love the way how Park Shin Hye and Jung Yong Hwa enjoyed themselves taking funny photos. I searched the mighty WWW for my answer. My first few searches show that the museum is in Jeju. *Disappointed*

Thanks to my sister’s persistency, we managed to find that Hongdae has a smaller one too!!! *HIP HIP HOORAY*

Now, what exactly is a Trick Eye Museum?

Definition - The trick art museum features paintings that are extremely realistic and seem as if they are in 3D. By posing next to the painting in a certain way, you can take a picture and look like you’re part of the painting!

Let's get started.

2 tickets, please!!!

Hey..... what are you looking at???

Hahahahaha.............. easy money.

This is just amazing!!!!

Hey piggy...... MOVE!!!!

Going for a vacation with my VW Beetle

Happy birthday!!

Love cupid

Tu tu tu........

Zzzzzzzz...........

I'm loving angels instead......!!!

I need more hands, don't just take photo. Come and help me!!!

Chicken feet

A bomb just dropped on our heads.

Chilling in Venice

Hang on.... Pisa.

Who are you waiting for????

We really had an enjoyable time looking crazy and funny in all different photos. Here is the link to Trick Eye Museum (Korean only). Entrance Fee : KRW13,000.

The entrance to Trick Eye Museum

The sign-age of Trick Eye Museum

Our day ends with dinner in Dongdaemun. It’s a 24-hours restaurant located in the basement and I forgot to take a photo of the entrance. *Hit my head hard*

The restaurant is neither very big nor fancy. It is just a simple cafeteria. We ordered Kimbap, Tteokbokki and Yukgaejang.