Cand goes to Korea 2015: Day 7-8. Seoul - Garosugil, Style Nanda (Hongdae), Noryangjin, ICN-SIN

Hello!!! 

This is my last post on Korea! The last two days of the trip, I didn't take many pictures, so I only have these pictures! I certainly did wish I took more photos on these two days... My mommy was not feeling well, so she stayed home while Bel and I went out for a chill day. We just hung around Garosugil for brunch, and then headed to Hongdae, but basically only stayed in Style Nanda while we were there! LOLOL! And then at night, we went to Noryangjin! We wanted to meet my mommy and then head to Dong Dae Mun Plaza (DDP) night market, but it was too late, so we missed a chance for late night shopping. Quite bumped about it, should have planned (and kept to the plan) more strictly! The last day was really chill too, we finally went to DDM, but was disappointed, then met Jin and her mommy for dinner at this amazing place (more on this later)!!!!

Anyway, let's get started! We headed to this Cafe in Garosugil that Jin recommended us! Since we stayed in Garosugil, it was SO easy to get around everywhere!! Anyway, the cafe was really nice, and the bread they sold were SO good! I believed it was called Le Alaska! The whole shop smelled amazing... 

We ordered some sandwiches and a cup of iced tea that looked super cool (it's just ice)! Hahahahaha! Yummy!!!! 

Next stop was right near by, where we had "dessert". Basically, ice cream with candy floss!! At a place named Remicone - super cute ice cream designs! I loved them all, but we could only get one to share LOL! Can't be too greedy!!! (But do I ever learn my lesson?)

Here are just some of the ice cream flavours they have! The yellow and green ones were a collaboration with Maybelline I believe. So cute and creative!! Loved it! 

We chose this one - The Thunderbomb. The candy floss was minty and the ice cream was vanilla I believe, but what was special was the popping candy hiding underneath the candy floss, just sitting on top of the ice cream. It was a nice surprise, kinda like lightening sparks - goes with the whole "thunder" theme I guess! 

We went home after this to deliver a sandwich and some medicine to my poor mommy who wasn't feeling too well... 

Next stop was Hongdae, where we went purposefully for this store...

YEP. STYLE NANDA. Where do I even begin??? We were there for AT LEAST 2 full hours. I tried on a bunch of clothes and got a dress and a cardigan!!! I also got a whole bunch of makeup! I wished I took some pictures in the store - I thought I did, but I can't find them now :( I should have taken a pictures of the stuff I bought (in Korea) too! Most of the items were makeup products though!!! Koreans are so lucky to have so many affordable brands of makeup just hanging around EVERYWHERE!!! 

Anyway, after 2 hours at Style Nanda, we went to a dessert place near by to have shaved iced! It wasn't as good as the place Jin brought us to the day before!!! We went ahead to Lotte Mart after to do some FOOD shopping! Mostly kim (dried laver) for Isabel! I can't remember what I bought... I really should have taken pictures - am so pinching myself for not taking enough pictures!!!!!! 

After that, we headed to Noryangjin - it was so late already... We should have went earlier, I don't know what we were doing, just dilly and dallying throughout. SO BAD!!!

We definitely had to try the live octopus! And boy was it interesting! The sashimi was so fresh! We literally bought it from a place downstairs and the guy who owned the shop brought us to a restaurant for them to prepare it for us. We got a soup along with the sashimi! YUM YUM!!!

We wanted to head to DDP, but it was already very late. I still feel bad because my mommy didn't go out the whole day and she was looking forward to going to DDP. We should have just went anyway since it closes at like 6am or something. *insert crying face*

The next day, we did go to DDP. WHO the hell goes to DDP in the morning??? ERM US. Didn't find any good deals either, so a little waste of time. Plus there was a rude Korean ajumma... DAMN! Made me mad pissed. Mommy and Bel did some last minute mask shopping! 

Anyway, we headed to meet Jin and her mommy for dinner at this place far away! Everything was just so pretty here!!! Jin's mommy made a reservation, and it felt so exclusive and nice because by the looks of it only if you have a Korean friend who knows this place, then you would go there!!! Hehehe am I lucky or what?! I believe this is a place which serves traditional Korean food, in an extremely pretty setting! The food kept coming and it filled up the whole table. It was soooo good! But silly us, we stuffed ourselves with K BBQ for lunch before coming here, so we couldn't finish everything... #regret101 

I STUFFED MYSELF THAT DAY. 

With my dearest Jinny and her beautiful mommy! ♥

MORE FOOD! There was soup, plenty of side dishes, black sticky rice, spicy squid, etc! Jellyfish too I believe! 

Just a causal display of plates and cute ornaments! Hahahaha! 

This was the outside patio... HOW lovely!!! So pretty ♥.♥! A guy from the restaurant took some pictures for us!

A little bit slanted LOL

All of us looking so HAPPY AND FULL!!!!

Thank you Jinny for bringing us here! It was such a great experience. So nice meeting Jin's mommy too - the loveliest lady ♥ I am missing you both so much!!! 

We spent our last night back in MyeongDong for more shopping! We really spared nothing when it came down to shopping for cosmetics. My mommy and Isabel, more so than me! I think this trip to Korea was the trip that piqued my interest in cosmetics and skin care. Now I take pride in taking care of my skin... I started a little bit late and my skin is pretty shit, but at least I'm starting somewhere! LOL! #stayingpositive

The last day we woke up and received an email that our flight to Hong Kong was delayed by 4 hours, so we slept in for another 30 minutes before heading to the airport. We should have left earlier though, because we had to catch a connection in Hong Kong so they swapped us onto another carrier to make sure we could catch the connecting flight... This meant that there was no shopping at the airport and I think we were all pretty bummed out about it! LOL! 

The good side was that we flew with Thai Airways and got upgraded to Business class! It was a nice experience. I wished we got more time at the airport though... 

Conclusion: I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, and I can't wait for my trip back to Korea! I want to explore more places and stay there longer. There are still so many places I need to visit, and I did not spend enough time with Jin... But I will be definitely be back Korea!!! And I can't wait already! Hehehe

There are so many trips I want to take, so many countries I want to visit! Wanderlusting when I really should be studying! Hehehe #oops #sorrynotsorry. In the meanwhile, I will see you guys in my next post - Cand goes to Hong Kong!!! BRB!! ☺

XX, Cand

Cand goes to Korea 2015: Day 6. Seoul - Gyeongbokgyung, Namsan Tower, EHwa University

Let's dive straight into day 6 of my 2015 Korea trip!!! Entries for the previous days of my trip are HERE! 

We covered the rest of the touristy spots in Seoul on Day 6! This included Gyeongbokgyung (the National Palace), Namsan Tower, and E Hwa Women's University. I remember it being a long day out, but definitely a fun one!!! 

First stop was Gyeong Bok Gyung (the National Palace), and I thought it was worth it hype! Although there were lots of tourists, as you can tell from the pictures, there were still places that were pretty much deserted! You had to walk around a little bit though, otherwise the nearby areas are mostly the common areas aka CROWDED with tourists!!! 

I loved the perfect juxtaposition of modern Seoul against the traditional palace gates!

See! If you walked a little bit more, you could find places like these... Basically empty, and simply screaming "photo opp"!!! I know, I'm so basic, but whatever... Who doesn't like a good background for a potentially nice photo?? Hehehe!

More empty grounds as we explored the palace! We didn't actually explore it that much, although it seemed like we did. We just managed to get around far enough to avoid the crowd. When we were in these areas, it was so quiet and especially easy to get soak in the grandeur that was the palace. 

Hi, just #posercand. We then left the palace and headed towards Namsan Tower! We had lunch around the area near the subway station. We just randomly walked into a place and simply ordered the stuff we saw in the pictures. I just love Korean food, so everything was yummy!!! Like I mentioned previously, I loved how we could just simply go to any food place and get nice food - just like that!

After lunch, we walked to Namsan Tower and then climbed up a little before getting there. We took the gondola up! We should have got some cheap locks before going up, because when you are up there, you'll definitely feel like hanging a lock. AND the locks are expensive (8,000won). You do get the marker, but its not like you get to keep it though... Bel and I got a lock because, why the hell not!!! LOL! And my mommy got some mirror, so random but she likes it lots!

Surrounded by locks!

Can't shut my mouth LOL!!!

We found a pretty good spot for the lock, with a pretty good view!

Here's what was written on the locks! Basically a bunch of hashtags and a date documenting our trip to Korea. Can't wait to be back!!! We love Korea (just like it says on the lock)! 

#b1b2inKorea - Long story short, think of the Bananas in Pyjamas. Bel's B2 and I'm obviously B2. Hehehe! It started out as a joke, but it caught on... #bananasforlife

So we decided to move our lock to somewhere with an even better view! LOL!!! Bel still has the keys I think, and we joked that if we ever fell out, she or I will come back and unlock the pad lock. Then trash it or something. We take these stuff seriously!!!!! LOL! 

The views from Namsan Tower! There was also this potato twistie store, but I have no idea why I don't have pictures of it... We ate lots! LOL

We headed to E Hwa Women's university and shopped around the area for a bit!!! Mostly cosmetics, did not buy much... Met Jin here and we headed off to eat dinner at a place she recommended!

This Korean-Italian fusion place was so good!!! The pizza was potato or something that was really yummy!!! And the pastas were good too!!!!!!! You can set the spicy level for the pastas, and you know, after living in Canada for so long, my ability to eat spicy food has gone down quite a bit. Unfortunately... So I didn't want or dare to go really spicy, but Isabel and mommy were down for spicy, and they ordered the Jjampong spaghetti in a spicier level! It was pretty spicy!!!!!!!!! But they finished it LOL! ANYWAY, typing about this is totally making me hungry right now... 

I'm gonna have sushi later with my roommates, so I guess I'll hold it out for now! Hahahaha

THIS was our freaking amazeballs dessert!!! My lovely Jin took the time to find this place because it had the best Bingsu! P.s. ALWAYS trust Jin. After walking around in Hongdae for a bit (we didn't shop or walk around too much there), we found it and holy crap. The ice was super super fine/crushed, I don't even know how to explain. Basically, I loved it! And the bread too! I have the worst memory, so I have no idea what these were called... But injeolmi flavoured or something? Yummy yummy!!! Bel and I went to another shaved iced place on the next day (day 7) and it wasn't the same........................

Thanks Jin for bringing us there!!! All these posts just really make me want to go back to Korea right now!!! I actually didn't shop as much as I thought I would in Korea. I think we barely got enough time to cover all the places we wanted to, which is why I WANNA GO BACK. For like 2 weeks maybe, just to hang and chill out - no rush, no touristy stuff!! Oh well, someday! Maybe 2017? I will make it a point to go back someday for sure! 

Stay tuned for the next post, which is also the last of the Cand in Korea series (day 7 & 8) :( Till then!!! See you!

XX, Cand