{ Spring'13 in Korea } day three x four

Back with my 2013 Korea trip post - which talking about it, I'm still not done with 2012's. Hahaha.. 2012's entry on my Korea trip was discontinued at the Nami Island. So I kinda tell myself not to let 2013's entry to end on the same island :P

Anyways, on the third day of the trip, Hui Wei went to join her other group of friends (who arrived a few days later than us) while Joanne, granny and I went for a shopping trip to Myeong Dong. Before that, we dropped by a spectacles shop nearby our guesthouse as Joanne had been eyeing their cheap glasses at the window display since day one. Hahah.. The owner is a really patient and nice ajusshi! :)) Even tho there's language barrier between us, he still helped us to check on granny's eye sight and all!

We then proceeded to look for our brunch location which is a highly recommended porridge restaurant, Migabon, located right in Myeong Dong itself. It wasn't that difficult to find it tho we were kinda blind to ask a shop attendee where's the restaurant when we were already standing right next to the place. Hahah..







If you're waiting for the golden answer.... Yes, the porridge is definitely a must try!!! I'm not someone who'd choose porridge over rice, but this porridge is by far, the nicest I've ever eaten. Erm.. Okay, sounds a bit too exaggerated. Hhaha.. but really, go and try this restaurant when you're in Seoul and you'll not regret! ;)) It's pretty easy to find it. Just goggle their address: 2F 2-23, Myeong-dong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Make sure to keep your eyes up on the 2nd floor to spot their signboard. The restaurant is just opposite a Citi Bank.

After the (very) satisfying brunch, it's time for a shopping spree! :) Went a little too crazy at Laneige cos a few of friends/relatives all wanted us to get something for them there. Totally regret getting all those items at the start of the day because it's bloody heavy! D: But then again, Laneige outlet in Seoul is kinda....uncommon? Which is really weird cos it's doing so well everywhere else. Hahha..

We also went to the huge ass underground shopping place at Express Bus Terminal Stop. If you're planning to go there too, please don't assume the shopping area right after you tapped out of the station is the gold mine cos it's not! Hahah.. the real location is still a little further away but you won't get wrong. Just keep walking through the tunnel and look out for the signs.

Dinner was settled in Se7en's chicken restaurant - my second visit. Everything still looked exactly the same as last year but the chicken....seemed a little too spicy?! Hahah.. we were blowing fire out of our mouth by the time the plate is 70% wiped out. Both Joanne and granny loved the seaweed rolled rice as expected. :D Ahh... there's just something about Korean's seaweed which is sooooo yummy.


Day four started all wrooooooooooooong T-T First, we found out that our initial plan would not work out as the Mt. Seoraksan National Park was way way wayyyy too far. I had to rush back by evening cos of G Dragon's first world tour in Seoul. :(( So the nice guesthouse manager helped us to search for a mountain in Seoul district for us instead. We were given the directions to go Bugaksan mountain which is just behind Samcheongdong - but.... the smartass me asked the taxi driver to stop a little way to early. We alighted at the foot of the mountain and it was still a long way up to the top. We still managed to take a quiet walk up a little of the mountain, passing by all those super healthy old ajumma and ajusshi doing their morning exercise there. Oh, and yes, I'm basically freezing up there. -_-

The second thing about day four which sucked is because.... I FREAKING LEFT MY DSRL CAMERA UNDER MY PILLOW. Someone just... strangle me please. I ended up carrying the freaking useless and bloody heavy DSRL all around Seoul that very day.

All the pictures following are specially credited to Joanne's handy camera.




As said, we gave up being adventurous to climb the mountain and went back down to Samcheongdong. It was still pretty early in the morning so most cafes were closed. We ended up at a random restaurant/cafe, Coco Bruni, which turns out to be my favorite dinning place in Korea :D Still drooling just thinking about it now. The food there is just so so so awesome!! Even their garlic bread is unforgettable. Usually no one would care about the garlic bread, isn't it? So just imagine how the rest taste of.

(Only took pictures of the delicious food in my iphone so yea... no pictures posted here)

Coco Bruni is located right opposite this massive construction spot which looks like a... Naked Museum - in making. Hahah. The construction board surrounding it is really interesting and funny. It's really a HUGE area tho... Seriously makes me wonder why would a Naked Museum needs such a huge area. Can't wait for it to be open. And well... Provided the North Koreans don't do anything stupid.


Next up, we went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace just nearby. It's suppose to be the "most beautiful and remains the grandest of all five palaces" in Korea but... maybe it's just not the right season/time we visited. I still prefer last year's visit to Changdeokgung Palace. Because of the cold weather, most of the trees are still bald so making the palace looks really... creepily empty and dull.




(Hahah.. Joanne doing a "spin off" of what my brother did the other time)












We were suppose to have lunch at the famous ginseng restaurant just around the area but by the time we got there, the queue was just crazily loongg. Settled our hungry stomach at a "yong tau foo" kind of eatery. Managed to squeeze a little more time for a short shopping trip to Ewha Women University district (super love this place cos of the cheap clothes) but still didn't have enough time to cover the main streets of the shopping heaven.

....And that was when the third most sucky thing about day four came about. T-T I realized... I've all along mistaken the G Dragon's concert venue to be just a few stations away from the city area. Olympic Stadium and World Cup Stadium... there's a freaking huge difference!!! The actual venue is like OUTSIDE the main city, which will takes me more than a hour to reach there provided I run through all the long subway platforms. I was left with less than a hour before the concert starts so I desperately got the guesthouse manager to hail a cab for me and inform the cab driver that I'm in a rush to the destination.

The cab driver turns out to be the nicest and most talkative one I've ever met in Korea. Hahaha.. He broke the silence between us by asking if I'm a sports person since I'm going to the "Olympic Stadium". Lol. Told him I'm going there for G Dragon's concert instead and he excitedly exclaimed he's Park Bom's fan. So cute!? Hahaha.. Of course, we were like chicken and duck talking. Half of the time I don't understand what he's speaking and I bet he doesn't understand what I'm speaking too. Well, at least we both tried, isn't it? ;D Half way through the ride, he kept saying "예쁘다 (yeppuda)" while pointing at me in his rear mirror. Tho I obviously knew what that means, but chose not to because it's so unbelievable that he really meant it. It's Korean's standard we're talking about!! Hahah.. Anyway, when we were almost reaching the stadium, a celebrity looking van zoomed past us and the ajjushi said, "G DRAGON! -some korean words-" LOLL kinda like he's saying "GD's late too!"

To my surprise, Hui Wei was even later than I was! Hahaha.. Thankfully the concert started just right when we stepped into our VIP area - which was just right in front of the stage. SIDE TRACK: TO ALL THE LOUSY CONCERT EVENT ORGANIZER IN SINGAPORE, THIS IS THEN WHAT YOU CALLED THE "VIP AREA" AND NOT SOME RETARDED AREA FAR BEHIND THE STAGE. We only paid like a SGD $100 for such a perfect view instead of the $300+ ones in SG.

The lasers were so amazing we actually felt like we were watching some laser show instead of a concert. LOL All pictures taken with Hui Wei's iphone so the quality doesn't really do justice.








SO NEARRRR *insert heart-filled eyes*  Hahahah. And the best thing? There weren't a lot of people there! We were half expecting to get squeezed like sardines. Lol. But was later told by Jihae (my Korean colleague/trainer) that GD is taking a risk to actually hold a solo concert in the Olympic stadium as the venue is really too big. So yeah.. the tickets weren't even sold out. We got special eye candies during the concert like Tablo, CL and Lee Hi. But..NO TOP?!!!!!!!! T-T Even till the very last second of the concert, I was still holding out a tiny hope that TOP will come out. *snifffff*

Nonetheless, GD's performance really makes the concert a memorable. I personally love the stage set up for his "Butterfly" song. Super pretty and dreamy. There were literally huge giant butterflies flying all around the stage. And needless to say, Michigo was on my playlist repeat after the concert.

Love, mwdee