N Seoul Tower on Namsan Mountain

Ahh we've come at last to the final post about my trip to Seoul! (Not counting hauls, keke.) This is a continuation of my very long day from my last post. Even though I didn't get to visit a hanok village in Seoul, I did get to see a few traditional houses simply by walking around Jongno.

Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul

Hul~...I'm nearing the end of my Seoul trip posts. I did a lot on my last Sunday there so I've broken it into separate posts. This is a continuation of my day after visiting all of those K-pop entertainment headquarters. I met up with a friend in Jongno or "Bell Street." I liked this area of Seoul because it's rather traditional looking, with small, quaint streets and has a lot of traditional architecture as well as Buchon Hanok Village 북촌한옥마을 (traditional Korean houses). I was a little disappointed I didn't get to visit Buchon (too much time spent visiting K-pop headquarters) but I did visit Changdeokgung Palace 창덕궁.

First stop though was food! Of course I'd been in the mood for KBBQ, especially Samgyupsal 삼겹살, which is basically thick slices of Korean pork belly (like bacon).

SM, JYP, Cube and YG Buildings in Seoul

While in Seoul, I was able to check out the locations of SM, JYP, Cube, and YG Entertainment headquarters. I didn't actually go inside (I don't think that's possible unless there's an audition going on) but just visited briefly, like a tourist + fangirl, and took pictures outside, keke.

I'd found directions online, but for some reason can't find them right now. It's just as well as the directions were a little faulty. However you can look up their addresses and map out your route should you ever decide to visit. I do remember that SM was a short subway ride away from JYP, which is literally about a small block away from Cube (like a 1-2 minute walk), and then YG is totally out of the way (in Mapo while the rest are in Gangnam), about another 30-40 minute ride on the subway.

SM Entertainment

서울시 강남구 압구정2동 521
521 Apgujung 2-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Nanta Show and Cherry Blossoms in Hongdae

After having so much fun catching Key's "Catch Me If You Can" musical, I decided to see another show while I was in Seoul. This time I made my way to to the Hongdae Nanta Theater. Nanta is a very popular South Korean musical that has a simple plot and is basically an entertaining performance using cooking instruments like cutting boards and knives to create the rhythms and music. It's mostly non-verbal and is supposedly comparable to Blue Man Group.

Korean Musical, Kpop and Random Hauls in Seoul

While I was in Seoul, I got to watch the Korean production of the Broadway musical, "Catch Me If You Can" ("?? ? ?? ? ?"), starring Key from SHINee. *squeals* Okay okay, admittedly Key's not one of my favorites from my favorite group, but it was still cool that I could watch him perform live. Basically, see him in person and hear him sing live!

The musical took place at Blue Square, Samsung Card Hall, in Hannam-dong, Seoul.

Sinchon and Edae (Ewha Woman's University)

To me, the coolest places to hang out around Seoul are near the universities. This might sound odd if you are past your college years, but these districts are young, vibrant, and fashionable with a down-to-earth vibe. My kind of atmosphere.

There are several university neighborhoods but I started with Sinchon or Sinchon-dong 신촌동 and Edae 이대 (short for Ewha Woman's University 이화여자대학교). They are very close to each other, just one subway stop away, and Sinchon is also a subway stop away from Hongdae (short for Hongik University 홍익대학교, sort of like how we say So Cal for Southern California; if you don't know, Koreans love to shorten terms to make one word), but I'll talk about Hongdae in another post. Sinchon is also very close to Yonsei University, Sogang University and Myongji University.

Edae is very quaint, cute, trendy and most importantly, affordable! That's to be expected, since it's near a women's university. You don't have to worry about getting ripped off here if you're immediately pinpointed as a tourist. Sales people are also not pushy, and I felt I didn't stand out so much since in this area, since I could easily pass for a student or professor (in other words, foreigner doesn't necessarily equal tourist, as it does in tourist hot spots like Myeongdong). I didn't walk around the campus but I certainly did take a walk down "fashion street."

see, I told you Dunkin' Donuts is everywhere in Seoul!

Bongeunsa Temple and Cherry Blossoms in Yeouido

I meet up with friends and we visited Bongeunsa 봉근사, a Buddist temple in Gangnam 강남 and across from COEX Mall. A little back history: It was built in 794, reconstructed in 1498, mostly destroyed by fire in 1939 and then later in the Korean War in the early 1950s. Now it has been mostly restored and is a large tourist destination spot.

For someone who's not even Buddhist I took tons of pictures. Perhaps I was just overly eager to share and also it was a beautiful day. It finally felt like spring!

Spring flowers and cherry blossoms along the road, just outside of Gangnam Station 강남 역

Etude House Haul and SHINee

Without further ado, I present to you...the beautiful unveiling of my Etude House haul from Myeongdong. Please be forewarned that this post is extremely picture heavy and also filled with lots of pink.

Ahhh the glory...

Their latest hot item for spring is the Dear My Blooming Lips-Talk lipstick. Long story short, I ended up with two gift sets, enticed by the SHINee notebooks they came with.

Innisfree Haul from Myeongdong

Here is my first skincare haul from Myeongdong, Seoul! I have more but think it would be too much for one post, keke. Innisfree is a natural Korean skincare brand. I had heard of the brand before but never tried any of their products, nor was I previously aware that it was a natural brand so of course I was intrigued and wanted to try their products.

I promise it had nothing to do with Lee Minho (of Boys Over Flowers kdrama fame) being the Innisfree poster boy. (Sadly, I did not see any Innisfree posters of him or else I would have asked for one, keke! All I saw were Yoona promos.)

eco-friendly Lee Minho

Korea Trip: Settling into Seoul

Yes, finally! My Korea trip post...the first of many, hehe. I'd been wanting to go to Seoul for the past two years and this spring, I decided to just go and make it happen! (Sometimes I am impulsive like that.) Waiting and trying to plan it with people, and match our schedules and budgets...well that obviously didn't get me anywhere over the past two years so I went ahead and traveled on my own for the first time to a foreign country. The cons of traveling alone are rather obvious, I'm sure, even down to minute matters like having someone to take your picture or take a picture with you, but overall I'm very glad I did it because it was a great life experience for me. I definitely learned a lot.

Getting there was a bit of an ordeal. I boarded my plane and was all ready to go, when the captain announced there was a mechanical problem and we had to wait for an engineer to fix it. Waiting, waiting...then the new announcement was that we had to de-plane and quickly head down the terminal to use another plane. Thennn we had the wait at the new gate for another hour...two hours...first because they were prepping the plane, then because they needed to find a new crew due to labor union laws of work hours...they gave us meal vouchers for lunch...and after I had lunch, I saw everyone standing in a longggg line...to rebook! *exasperated sigh* SO I stood in line for another hour or two, and luckily I was able to take the evening flight through Korean Air instead, but I had to wait a few more hours than that. I'm not kidding when I say I spent over 12 hours at LAX, ugh! I got another meal voucher, had cake and coffee for dinner, haha, and because of the delay, I missed my first night in Korea (waste of hotel fare, *sigh*).

Nevertheless I was quite happy to land in Incheon the next morning and headed to my hotel in Yeoksam-dong 역삼동, which is one train stop or a short walk to Gangnam 강남. After showering and resting, I met up with a high school friend who lives in Korea. We walked around Gangnam a bit and then had kbbq in Sinsa-dong 신사동. Of course, Korean barbeque in Korea is a must!

Back in Cali from Seoul & Tokyo

Hiyee everyone~!!  I'm home sweet home again, and am adjusting back to my "real" life. *cries* ㅠㅠ

I've unpacked and have slept tons (and lost weight! woohoo), but am still sorting through my hauls and taking pics of everything.

In the meantime, here are some pics from my Instagram.

Shopping at night in Myeong-dong 명동