Cand goes to Korea 2015: Day 5. Seoul - BukChon Hanok Village, Myeong Dong, Insadong

Hello earthlings!!! It's me again lol!

It is finally time to update the next one of my uncompleted travel series. This time its Korea!!! I have this bad habit of leaving my travel posts incomplete... I start them and then get too lazy to complete them. SO BAD!! LOL! BUT the point is I'm here now, trying to redeem myself. LOL... Anyway, previously, I completed days 1-4 of my Korea trip (Jeju-Seoul). Now let's go to day 5 of the trip - in Seoul, South Korea! Just a refresher, I was in Korea last summer, at the end of May with my mommy and best friend, Isabel.

The previous entries can be found HERE. 

We were very lucky with the weather in Seoul. Unlike Jeju, which rained on the only full day we had there, the weather for the rest of our Seoul trip was pretty much amazing! It got a lot hotter towards the end as well. On day 5, the weather was fantastic, and we decided to visit Bukchon Hanok Village. In this "village", which isn't really a village, there is a cluster of older, more traditional Korean houses. What I really liked about it was how the houses were so refreshing to see - so different and extremely culturally flavourful, in the midst of all the apartment and office buildings in central Seoul.

What I didn't like was how touristy the area has become. There were a lot of tourists, and some were loud and rowdy. It is also quite hard to take nice pictures with so many people in the background, so we had to wait for the right time when tour groups leave. Then it would be quiet and opportunities for pictures would present itself. LOLOL! The pictures below are mostly captured when there are few or almost no tourists! We had a hard time figuring out how to go about, but there are many information booths around - so no problem! 

LOL at my mommy hiding herself on the right!!! 

OMG NOBODY IN THE BACKGROUND. LOL!

Selfies with my mommy!!!! She's so cute!!!

There were a few shops at the bottom of the village! They had pretty cute stuff, but if you're looking for cheap deals, this is not it for you!! There was a really cute accessories shop too, bought a few dainty rings there. They were really nice and pretty cheap (about 5,000 won?)!

My mommy and Isabel wanted to eat the ginseng chicken rice, so we went here! I know there's another one that's more famous in the area (and not so flashy LOL), but I didn't do my research, so we just somehow ended up here! The food was not bad!

Chicken was stuffed with rice! It didn't really leave too much of an impression on me - not bad, but not fantastic either. I think mommy and Bel probably enjoyed the meal more than I did! After this we headed to Myeongdong for some cosmetics shopping!!!!!! (EXCITING, EVEN THOUGH I'M TYPING THIS HALF A YEAR LATER)

View of Myeong Dong - Nature's Republic green wall!

All the Korean cosmetics brands imaginable can all be found here! There are not many other pictures other than these street ones below because we got very busy shopping after I snapped this pictures! LOL!

I love Olive Young! They carry a bunch of Korean brands and they had a little cafe upstairs where we hung out at for a while! We met Jinny here!! hehehe! I wish I could go back again!! (also LOL at the couple on the right of the picture!!! Hahahahahahah)

We took a bus and left for Insadong after our crazy cosmetics shopping! Of course Jin showed us how to take the bus (and was with us)! We would have never taken the bus if we weren't with her! LOLOL! Anyway, in Insadong, all the shops are named in Korean - see Starbucks in Korean 2 pictures down.

Starbucks!

By then, we were pretty hungry and I remember just wandering into this place because we trusted food anywhere in Korea! LOL! I had my very first nyeng myung (cold noodles) and holy crap!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO GOOD! I loved the spicy buckwheat (I think??) noodles, which were a little chewy! I love!!!!! Just my style! hahahahah

Shortly after, my mommy got sucked into a touristy shop and bought some touristy stuff LOL! She bought some Korean looking cushion covers! And then we went to eat the famous J ice cream!!! Jin brought us there, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find it! The shop had lots of these "stickers" thing - I think one of the older Korean "toys". Presumably, they are collectables now...

My Jinny!!!



Seoul by night... This is probably not the best picture representation of Seoul by night. LOL!

Convenience store shopping is always fun when the drink sections look so colourful! But ultimately, we got water and some triangular kimbaps (YUMMY!)... Traveling with two nurses made me feel healthier. LOL!

That was the abrupt end of day 5! I still have a few more days left from the Korea trip! I'm documenting my Korea trip day by day because we got a lot done each day! There would be too many pictures in one post, so I broke it down by days. Also, the trip was about half a year ago, which means so far, my memory isn't too bad! LOL. Okay, see you in the next post for day 6 of Seoul!

XX, Cand

Cand goes to Taiwan 2014: Part 3 - Taipei City (Extremely Belated)

Hello!!!!! 

It has been a while!!! I have finally decided to upload the rest of the pictures from my Taipei trip in 2014! Took me two years... Long enough... I'm only uploading this because my roommate (HELLO MICHELLE) said I should!! And I thought I should complete my travel posts somehow. They're always incomplete. LOL! 

Anyway, the previous posts can be found HERE (candgoestotaiwan label). 

It's been so long, so I've forgotten the full order of what went down in Taipei. So the remaining pictures are ordered according to my camera dates and I will try to record the events to the best of my abilities! LOLOL! 

We visited a night market, I believe it was Shilin - aka Taiwan's most commercialised night market. There was nothing to buy but loads to eat!!! 

I loved this! Da chang bao xiao chang! 

Fried Milk - I know this sounds soooo weird but it was strangely good!!!

My fav - fried chicken!!! Love it! It was soooo good! 

I think we tried to go to one night market every night in Taiwan since there were TONS of night markets. But it didn't work out somehow and our favourite was still the first night market we went to in Taichung. LOL! Fail??

We visited Taipei National Museum the next day - photography wasn't allowed inside the museum, so I only have pictures of the outside! 

I think my camera lens was slightly dirty hence the blurry spot on the center right! I really need to take better care of my stuff!!

I think the museum was a little boring because I don't really remember much there LOL! 

We went to Taipei 101 that night. I should have taken a picture of the building, but I didn't because my camera wasn't focusing properly... Hmmm or I just didn't know how to work the camera. LOL!!!

The elevator up was so fancy - this was on its ceiling! LOL!

Blurry night shots were all I got - because I lack the abilities to focus my camera properly..... LOL! Maybe I need a super camera, which has a great "auto" function. 

When in Taipei, SNACK all night, EVERY night!!! Seriously, we would buy loads of food back every night!!! It was the best and the 7-eleven was my favourite haunt. Look at that humongous Yakult drink!!! I couldn't finish it in 1 day! Lolol! Looking at this picture now makes me hungry and I want to go back! 

On our second last day in Taipei, we went to the Taipei Zoo. I think we really went to Taipei to eat. The rest of our activities were a little bit, erm... "What the hell were you thinking??" 

It was bloody hot and I honestly don't know how I managed to survive that day. The whole day in the sun. I ran into air-conditioned places as often as I saw one. LOL! 

Cand, the illusionist. LOL

Bringing my fav pose to the Taipei Zoo. LOL!

We wanted to go to Maokong Gondola but it was drizzling for a bit, so the station was closed. SUAY Cand is #SUAY... But it reopened after an hour and a half I think? And we managed to go up! Yay!

Loved the colour of the sky! I think I might have liked the views here better than the views from Taipei 101! But don't take my word for it and come visit yourself! Especially if you're from a city, you might like Maokong's view more since the views from Taipei 101. But that's my personal opinion and I might be wrong. Hahaha!

After days of eating (and more eating), I was beginning to look too chubby for my own good... BUT food was my priority! We bought some squid and the some tea ice cream which was really good but for some reason, I have no pictures of them. A little bit regretful but, oh well! 

More food once we got back to Taipei. And then we just walked around Taipei City at night. I loved how everything is still bright and running at night. Love it! 

Our last day in Taipei, and I kinda forgot how we spent it. I think we went to some park after lunch. LOL! Anyway, we went to have the famous beef noodle soup for brunch/lunch. But as you know, suay cand is #suay, so the place we wanted to eat at was closed. So we ended up at the store next door! They had really good beef noodle soup too, so we wondered how good the other one must have been if the store next to it served such great noodle soup as well!!!

We then visited the flower market, which was extremely lovely! But obviously didn't buy anything because it would have been too impractical and a waste of money. There was a jade market next to it too! And a guy selling muah chee in the middle of the two markets. Seriously, the best muah chee I had in a while... No pics though. LOL. I'm really bad at documenting my travels. hahaha!! OOPS

Dick ice cream guys... Just looking at it is awkward. HOW TO EAT??? It would be the most awkward thing EVER. 

Our last night we went to Rao He night market - we got there after a long walk... It was my favourite night market in Taipei City, but unfortunately we didn't walk all the way in, which we should have done. But oh well, food here again! 

Fresh oysters!!! I remember them being really cheap too! SLURP. I love oysters! 

This was a strange dessert and until today I can't decide whether I like it or not. It's a mash of ice cream and peanuts and cilantros wrapped in something I don't know how to describe. LOL! A pretty weird combination - some love it and some don't. I'm on the fence, but would probably try it again if I had the chance. 

They had beef in different flavours and I can't remember what we got. They had rose flavoured bbq beef I think. I wish I had liked rose flavour as much as I love it now. Then I would probably have bought it!!!!

Here's me at the train station, looking very satisfied after days and days of eating... LOL! 

We went to Chia Te to buy some pineapple biscuits home for friends and family. I didn't bother taking pictures on the last day. It was a pretty lazy day, we simply went around buying the biscuits, then eating before we headed to the airport! 

I wonder why I don't have pictures of the smelly tofu I had at one of the night markets. Would definitely have it again! I hope I get to go back to Taiwan some day, when Michelle is there muahahahahah! I might go back with my family for a cousin's wedding this year or next! HOW EXCITING!!! Can't wait to be back! 

Anyhow, that ends my post(s) on Taipei!!!! Next, I hope to complete my Seoul photo diary and hopefully get to document my Hong Kong and maybe Penang travels from mid 2015!!!!!! Lol! SEE Y'ALL in my next post (and by y'all, I mean Mich and Connie - probably the only people reading this LOL)!!!

XX, Cand