I have just returned from my Seoul trip and this was not a solo trip, well, at least not all the way through because I went with the intention of joining Drew during the latter half of his trip, which also happens to be the entirety of mine!
Day 1.
The flight was at 8.30am, so I got to the airport at around 6.30am and had a quick breakfast there, which included a cup of White Chocolate Latte and Banana Bread from Hudsons Coffee in the transit area of Terminal 2...
... it really wasn't worth the almost $20 that I paid for it, but it was one of the only empty spots and I guess that was for good reason. The White Chocolate Latte was literally just milk and white chocolate syrup, and I think it was like $9, the banana bread was kinda bland and it was also around there, both items were way too fucking expensive for what they were.
Had my breakfast with a lot of regrets because I could have gotten like a proper full meal with that amount of money, it was ridiculous.
I walked around the airport after I was done with that sad excuse of a breakfast, went to get some last minute facial lotion and dental floss for the trip, had a quick toilet break before heading over to the boarding gate and finally boarded the plane.
Since the only Premium Economy option from Singapore to Korea was Scoot, and the flight was going to be at 3am with a transfer to Taipei in the middle, it just sounded like too much of a hassle in general, so I opted for regular economy, and went with SIA...
...got myself the extra legroom seat, and there was so much leg room I could literally just stretch my entire leg across, it was also close to the toilet, which was super convenient for me, but that also meant there would sometimes be a line of people just standing infront of me at any given time to use the loo. It usually gets crowded after meal service was over.
One cool thing about the seats are the screens that are tuck away in the side of the seats before take off, but the bad thing is they have to stay in there until we have reached cruising altitude, so I didn't have access to it until much later in the flight, and I also had to tuck it away when the plane is about to land, so that is like 30 - 40 minutes at the end of the flight that I have no access to it as well.
The row I was in had an empty seat in between, which meant that the window seat passenger and I had a seat between us to store our stuff, it was really nice. The show selection was extensive, I watched The Dark Nun, it honestly wasn't great, and then Jurassic Park Rebirth, kinda stopped at the 80% mark because it was a bit boring, plus we were about to land and I had to tuck the screen away, so there is that.
Service onboard was amazing, it really made such a huge difference and the 6 hours felt really manageable, if this had been on a budget airline, I am sure I would have really felt the 6 hours due to the lack of onboard entertainment and free flow of drinks and snacks!
I was able to reach Seoul at around 4.30pm Korean Time, which was an hour ahead of Singapore, and the airport was relatively empty at that time. This was my first time in Seoul in at least 2 decades, so it was as good as visiting a new country for me, the immigration officer at the beginning of this trip was not very friendly, and it reminded me of the time I went to Taipei for the first time and was also served by a disgruntled immigrations officer, thankfully they weren't an accurate representation of how the rest of the country is like, people in Seoul are generally friendly, or at least most of the service staff are.
Prior to this trip, I had pre-ordered this thing called a Wow Pass from their official app, and it works as a Debit Card and Transport card, it was really useful to have because I can just top up the Transport card aspect of the Wow Pass using the app, which meant I didn't have to visit any physical top up stations. Installed my SIM Card at the airport, had a bit of trouble because the new iPhone apparently required me to reset all my network settings in order for it to recognize the Korean SIM Card, so I ended up lingering in the airport a little longer than I would have liked. I was really trying to leave before 5pm in order to avoid the peak hour crowd, which I did, but just barely.
Instead of taking the train, I took the Limousine Bus that would go straight to Myeongdong where my hotel is located, it was actually really convenient, and the bus attendant had initially prevented me from boarding the first bus because it was full just as I was about to go up, this was 2 minutes from it leaving so it makes sense that the bus would be packed, but upon noticing I was alone, he went to check with the driver and they allowed me to board because they literally had 1 single seat at the front of the bus, so that was a good start!
... this ended up becoming my view, zoomed in of course.
It was actually quite warm in the bus, I think they really cranked the heaters up in there, .the first half of the drive was quite smooth, minimal traffic and I was able to enjoy the views for a bit, but then as we got closer to Seoul , traffic started to pick up (as per the photo) and we ended up in a bit of a jam.
Drew had texted me whilst I was on the bus and told me to inform him once I had arrived because he was really excited and couldn't wait to meet, we do this thing where we don't immediately reply one another because that's just how I text with people I am dating, it was this way with Zo as well, I feel like by prolonging the replies, it reduces any potential text fatigue, so I didn't reply immediately until I was finally in MyeongDong.
The bus dropped me off pretty close, but I still had to take the stairs to get to an underpass, and then back up again, I had to rely on Naver Maps to get my bearings straight. I wish Taipei had a similar app because it really made travelling around the country such a breeze!
It was a struggle to roll the luggage around though, because of how uneven the floors were, I believed I was looking really clumsy, but I did eventually reach the hotel, check in was at the top floor, which was level 17th, and when the staff told me checked me in and told me I was going to be on the 12th storey, I was pretty excited because that meant I would get a good view...
... except, well, this was the view I got. Most of it is this office building literally right infront of me that was blocking the Myeongdong night market, which would have been such a perfect spot to just sit by the window and people watch.
I wasn't too impress with the room if I were to be honest, it wasn't giving 4 star vibes, the interior looked a bit tacky for me, my shower holder was spoilt, the water pressure was either too strong to the point it was actually painful or had no strength at all, and I had forgotten to request for a single double bed, so instead, I had 2 single beds. But then I think I may have gotten 2 single beds because I thought Drew could potentially just share the room with me once his family was gone, unfortunately, he had other plans.
My first night of many nights in Myeongdong, it reminded me so much of XiMenDing, and I really enjoyed the location because it was literally one street across from my hotel, there are so many food and shopping options there, if I was feeling lazy on any particular day and didn't feel like going too far, I would just come here, or if I was bored at night, the idea of being able to just drop by was great!
My hotel was also next to the Lotte Department store, so that was another food option, sadly it closes at 8.30pm every night, so I couldn't really visit late if I was bored in my room.
Temperature on the first night was pretty chilly, at 8 degrees, but I was still fine in my sweater. It did get cold when the wind started blowing, but I wasn't shaking violently from it.
My first meal was Bone Broth Soup with Sausage, and this was definitely a bit much for me, but I knew I wanted an authentic Korean offering, so this did hit the spot, and I also took this opportunity to finally reply Drew.
He actually replied me really quickly because he was also walking around Myeongdong at that time, since the hotel he was staying at with his family is nearby as well, but on the opposite site. I told him where I was and he actually dropped by, so I quickly finished up my food and we finally met up!
We hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks prior to this because he was either sick or had work commitments, so it was nice to actually see him in person in Korea again.
I was so happy at how easy to felt to meet up, and how keen he was to meet up, but this first meeting was just setting me up for disappointment because this excitement he had to meet up was literally just on the first day, our next few meet ups weren't very smooth sailing, like the meet ups themselves were fun and I really enjoyed his company when we were actually keeping each other company.
But just to focus back on the first day.
We dropped by this Matcha spot that was literally about 2- 3 shops away, I got myself a Chocolate Latte and he got a Matcha Latte, there is always laughter when I hang out with him, and then we just took this time to catch up with one another, he was sharing about how the first half of his trip had been, and I could tell he was really enjoying himself.
Finished our drink and we walked around Myeongdong together for a bit, he had come to get some contact lenses, so I joined him on his search, and along the way, I got an Oreo Churros from one of the street vendor, which was like $4, and at that point, I didn't think too much about it, but that is actually extremely expensive for what it is, and that is just Myeongdong street food prices in general, it's all targeted at tourist, so everything is way more expensive than it should be. No photos because my hands were a bit full, but it was quite yummy.
Drew then told me he wanted to see my room after he got his stuff, so I brought him to my humble abode, but not before popping by the convinience store to get banana milk...
....and then talked about the plans for the next few days, it wasn't according to our original plan and was the main cause of my disappointment throughout this trip, which I have since dedicated another post to rant about it because I really want to just focus on the positives in this one.
So my trip started off kind of well, even though we weren't gonna hang out as much, I had assumed the excitement he had to meet me was gonna continue on... it didn't.
Day 2.
This was meant to be a Solo day, so I had things planned out and I was already mentally prepared to spend the entire day alone.
Breakfast was at this spot called Sunday Coffee, I just happened to walk past it in the morning because I had no idea where I was going, the idea was just to find a cafe and then go in.
I got myself a cup of Pistachio Coffee Latte and Injeolmi Croffle, for that Korean experience. It was decent, the Koreans just think I am Korean and would just start talking to me in Korean, so I tried to make it a point not to say any Korean in a bid to not confuse them, so instead of saying kamsahmida, which is what a lot of tourist would do, I just used English.
I was pretty early, and I think I was done with my breakfast before 9.30am, so I went back to the hotel to rest and just wait for the coffee to kick in so I can take my morning poop, and then headed out to Mangwon Market at around 10.15am.
I have read online about how the other market called Gwangjum Market, which got famous after appearing on a Netflix documentary, is always crowded and has become notorious for being a tourist trap, so I didn't bother to visit that spot and instead came to this one instead.
It's just a clear path down, similar to Roahe Night Market in Taipei. The crowd was manageable as well. so I didn't feel particularly overwhelmed.
First stop was this doungnut place,I ordered the wrong doungnut because I did not read the menu properly, I had wanted the Twisted Glutinous Rice Doughnuts, but I read the menu wrongly, saw "Glutinous Rice" in the name of the doughnut and ordered it based on the numbering, the shopkeeper ended up passing me 2 doughnut balls instead.
It was still good and probably taste exactly the same, but it's still the wrong doungnut. The good thing is the serving was pretty small, so I did have space for more food, and the one thing I knew i wanted to get was Kalguksu, which was this noodle dish that's very similar to Ban Mian, but Korea version.
The eatery was crowded, so I was initially unsure if I wanted to go in, but I knew if I didn't I would regret it, so I did and I was actually found a seat quite quickly, they had seats for solo diners, which was really nice.
This was not what I ordered, they gave me the wrong order, I wanted the hand pulled dough, but instead got the knife cut one, and they added Perilla Powder, which I did not ask for.
It was still good though, and since it was more expensive than what I had ordered, I just accepted it for what it was.
It was a hearty meal and after that, I knew the other items I wanted to try were not going to be possible anymore because I just didn't have the space for Fried Chicken and Fried Stuff Peppers.
I have heard that there were nice cafe spots outside of Mangwon Market, and I came across this quaint looking at called WitWins.
I got their Wit Matcha and Egg Tart, I thought the brown stuff in the Matcha was brown sugar, but it turned out to be an espresso shot, it was a really nice drink though, but I was pretty much a ticking time bomb after that because I knew I will need to poop like an hour or 2 after, so I finished this and went to the Departmental Store near my hotel to poop before returning to my hotel.
I can't remember why I decided to poop in the departmental store instead of my hotel, but I did. It was also fully decked out in Christmas decorations, which was so nice, it has been a while since I experience Christmas deco in a cold country and I really love it!
So the thing about this trip is all my plans are very loose because I wasn't sure if the spots Drew wanted to visit would overlap with my Solo Days, there were locations I would have loved to visit with a friend, but also knew there were certain spots that he wouldn't be interested to revisit, and that would include places like..
Gyeongbokgung Palace
It's a really pretty spot, but also a major fail on my part, my goal was to join the free walking tour that the place offered, which would started at 3.15pm, I figured the tour would take an hour, and I can leave at 4.15pm, then walk to my next location, but I got to the Palace a bit early, figured I will just walk a little to kill time before the tour actually starts, walked way too deep into the Palace and knew there was no way I was going to make it back to the entrance for the tour, so I just kinda walked on my own, and I walked for a good hour because the palace was that big.
I just spotted a lot of tourist wearing hanbok and whilst it was nice to visit the location, it was ultimately a bit boring to explore on my own
This would have been such a perfect spot to just sit down and chat.
I just thought it would be nice if I had visited this spot with a friend like Drew, but alas, he was with his family.
After I have had enough of the Palace, I headed over to the restaurant I had been looking at called Aino Garden, on Naver Map, it was indicated as 800m away from the Palace, it was pretty deep in and even if I took the bus, I will still need to do quite a bit of walking, so I figured I will just walk there from the Place...
I would never walk this far if I were in Singapore because I would just be covered in sweat, but the weather was honestly perfect for a long walk, however, because I had been walking the Palace ground for the past hour, this walk almost killed my feet!
I finally reached a little after 4pm and there was already a line of people waiting, the restaurant was packed. I waited for about 30 minutes before I finally got a seat.
... and I was pretty much the only Solo Diner there, the menu was completely in Korean, they didn't have any English at all, this was a spot that the locals would go to. I had to Google Translate everything, it was a pain.
I ended ordering something I wasn't interested in, and it seemed like I was the only person who ordered this, everyone else were having a nice bowl of soybean paste soup and rice, only I had this noodle dish. I also got a metal jug of makgeolli because I am an idiot, good thing I had a water bottle with me, so I emptied that and poured the makgeolli to take away and actually ended up having cups of it alone in my room throughout my trip, just because I didn't want to waste it and was hoping it could also maybe help me sleep better.
Here is a photo of me taking the bus back, I have never felt so confident about using public transport in a foreign country before, but Naver map makes it so easy! I think China may be able to offer that as well!
The convenience of staying in MyeongDong is just having access to cafes, and I visited this place called Twosome Cafe for their Ice Box cakes.
I have seen it so many times on cafe vlogs on YouTube, so I knew I wanted to try it when I was there!
Decided to takeaway instead of having it there, it always felt nicer to have this things alone in the room, before I had this depression that stemmed from loneliness. I swear my current job is the main culprit because I didn't experience this at any of my last job that had a healthy number of colleagues. Fuck!
Anyways, the cake was honestly just alright, it was a light cheese mousse instead of being purely cream, which was what I would have preferred, and then I paired it with a Shine Muscat Ade, coffee would probably have been amazing with this cake, but it was way too late for me to be having that.
Day 3.
This was suppose to be a half solo and half with Drew day, that was until he told me his family's flight got delayed, so he has to stay with them the whole day.
I had no proper plans, so once again, I walked to MyeongDeong, thinking I was going to find a cafe for breakfast, but then after a while, I remembered there was this porridge spot I wanted to visit that was within walking distance for my breakfast for one of the very first few itinerary I had prepared.
The walk over, the trees are in a nice shade of amber and the weather was perfect. The Sun was glaring as fuck, but thankfully it was cold so that kinda made up for it, all I could think about then was how horrible my skin would have been if I hadn't put on suncreen, this are the things I worry about at my age, when everything is slowly starting to sag and I am getting visibly older every time I look at the mirror.
Found the spot and this was the line situation at 9.30am, I think it was predominantly tourist, again, the Sun was just shining in our faces the entire time, it was really bad, I was half contemplating to just go takeaway because I saw they had a sign that you can just go straight into the store if you are planning to takeaway.
But I didn't want to leave my line, only to potentially join another waitlist, so I just stayed there, that was until one staff came over and redirected everyone from me onwards to their second outlet, which was just around the corner. I remember there was a Singaporean family standing behind me, and when the staff came over to lead us to the second outlet, she kept trying to "act blur" and pretend she didn't see me, so she can be first in line at the second outlet, thankfully the staff was very adamant about letting me be in front because I was there first, so she had no choice but to back off.
This is the second outlet, it looks more modern and I was able to get in really quickly as well, they had seating for solo diners, so that was a really nice touch.
I got myself a bowl of their Chicken and Ginseng Porridge and it was quite a tasty meal, total damage was $17,000 won, so it's not a cheap bowl of porridge by any means.
After I was done with my porridge, I decided to go get coffee, and I went to try Blue Bottle, which I know is also avaiable in Singapore and was extremely popular when it first opened there, not sure how it is faring now though.
It was purely a takeaway joint, so there were not tables where I could sit at and just chill.
I got myself their Winter Latter Iced, because Koreans really like drinking Ice Coffee even in the cold weather and I thought I should just be like the Koreans whilst I am in Korea.
It has Juniper and Pink Peppercorns, which I wasn't aware of until after I did a quick search on Google, it tasted a bit perfume, like it wasn't bad, but the notes were giving me perfume vibes, which made it taste expensive. I mean the coffee also wasn't cheap, this was about $8, whereas other cafe spots were selling their lattes for half the price.
I stayed in the hotel room long enough to make sure the coffee shits came, and then I headed out to Seongsu.
First stop was to visit SW19, the perfume store nearest to the Metro exit, I did not vibe with any of the scents, which was really disappointing, so I left shortly after. The staff were really friendly and helpful though.
Next stop was to get Gelato, and this was Pistachio and Chocolate, again, insane to be having Ice Cream when the weather is so cold, but I am in Korea, and it is just nice to have something to eat whilst I am walking.
I did run into a problem after I was done with my Gelato, and that was the fact that there were no fucking bins anywhere for me to throw the cup, I had chocolate all over my fingers, it was really gross, I went into a building to look for a toilet where I was hoping there would be a bin, but there was none, I even asked the Security Guard of that building if he had a bin he could help me throw my cup to and he just brushes me off. Walked over to a convenience store nearby, I mean they must have a bin, only to read a sign on the bin that says...
"No outside trash"
... I asked the cashier if she could do me a favor and let me throw my rubbish, she turned me down. Like what the fuck? Eventually, I decided I had no choice but to get a plastic bag, tie it around my bag and just dump it there until I come across a bin
That thrash bag was on my bag for a while...
Anyways, I visited Tamburins after, thrash bag on my side and this one had a queue to enter, it was like a exhibition space,. it was really cool, they had this mushroom that puffs out smoke.
I realized I didn't really like any of their scents, but I decided to just get one anyway for the sake of getting one since I had to queue up to get in, and I got CHAMO Egg Perfume, which was like 14ml. Think it was about $40
Walked around a bit more and this was the crowd at Seongsu on a weekend, it wasn't too bad, there was still walking space if I need to overtake a slow walker.
Next stop was Kinsfolk, again, none of the perfumes were vibing with me, every one of them had citrus in it, which I am not a huge fan of. I just find citrus notes to be very boring, and the perfumes weren't cheap as well, so I was definitely not gonna get one for the sake of getting one.
I did also visit another spot called NON-Fiction, same deal with the rest, nothing was vibing with me, all their scents smelled so similar, and it was boring.
After being disappointed with the perfume offerings, I decided to get some snacks in the form of Mochi at this place called Hanjunsun.
There was a queue, but it moved quite fast, and they had staff members dressed up as the characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters, giving out warm plum tea to the customers while they waited in line.
All the mochis are individually packed, and they were really good! I got 4 different flavors, Strawberry, Strawberry with Mugwort, Shine Muscat Grape and Dubai Chocolate.
Lunch was a short walk away from the main part of SeongSu, I had originally thought about visiting this super popular spot called Onion cafe, but that place was just packed to the brim, I could see a long line of people just queuing up for their bread and I knew I will struggle trying to get a seat in that place, so this not as popular bagel shop it is!
It's really reminding me of New York, which is fitting since it is a bagel shop, the space was not crowded, so it was quite easy to look for seats inside.
I really wanted something simple, but all their bagel offerings had a bunch of fillings in it, and they were really thick as well, which is why I went for a non-bagel item and also a cup of lemonade to wash it all down.
This marked the end of my Seongsu trip for day 3 and I will say, it was quite eventful. I was actually a bit tired at the end of the day, so for dinner, I just explored the Departmental store next to my hotel, there was a Lotteria there, so I decided I would just have that for dinner.
It was really empty and the meal was alight.
After this, I just spend the rest of my night in my hotel room, watched the Livestream for Wuthering Waves and was waiting for Drew to text me because we were suppose to meet the next day, but he never did, so I did, waited for a reply that never came, went to sleep and being unsure of the plans for the next day.
Day 4. The day of the hangout that almost didn't happen.
Scoured MyeongDong again for a breakfast spot and came across this shop that was selling gimbap, but it was different from the ones I am familiar with.
This was just rice wrapped in seaweed with 2 side dishes of squid and radish kimchi, it was a simple meal, surprisingly filling, then after this, I think this is probably what people have as a hangover meal?
After this, I went to a cafe called Angel In Us to get some coffee and a cookie. I have seen cafe vlogs of Angel in Us cafe on YouTube before, so I was quite excited to give it a try...
... unfortunately, this was very underwhelming, the cookie was also super dry, the latte is just, well latte, nothing special. I got their regular latte for some caffeine and just kinda chilled in the cafe for a while and updated my Insta-stories.
Went back to the hotel room once I was done because I wanted to wait for the caffeine poop to kick in, and once it did and I did my stuff, well, Drew hadn't gotten back to me yet, so I decided rather than wait indefinitely in my room, it would be better to actually go explore Seoul, so I did and made the plan to walk all the way to Nansam Tower Cable Car, so I can actually visit Seoul Tower.
It's not super near, but it's still walkable from my hotel, and the cold weather made the walk quite a comfortable one, there was a long queue on the lift that brings people up to the cable car station, I could've actually just taken the stairs up, but I had already committed like 5 minutes of waiting at the lift, so I figured I will just wait longer, it was stupid, I should have just taken the stairs.
People were really squeezing into the lift when it came, so I got really sandwiched in the lift, we headed up to the cable car station, I queued up to get the tickets and realized there was a sign with the number "50" on it, along with some Korean words, and kinda guessed that it meant there was going to be a 50 minute waiting time.
I really didn't care at that point if it meant missing the timing I was suppose to meet Drew, I mean it was already 12pm at that point and he hasn't gotten back to me about a location yet. So I got the tickets for the cable car, and then upon entering the station, realize that the queue was actually insanely long, thus the 50 minutes wait.
As I was lining up, I decided I should at least dropped Drew a courtesy text to let him know about the line I was currently in, and he doesn't reply for my entire queuing duration, which was more like 30 minutes, until I was at the cable car and about to board, which was like 5 minutes before we were originally supposed to meet...
"It's okay, let's meet at a cafe near Namsam instead then!"
... he was really really inconsiderate during this trip, I will say that much.
I didn't want to stay at Namsam for too long, so I just stayed there for about 20 minutes, despite waiting 30 minutes to get up there, went to the souvenir shop to get some stuff for the sake of getting them, and then left for the cafe.
The cafe required me to take a whole roundabout, so even though it was near the Tower, the bus still had to circle back to my hotel first. I texted Drew to tell him I was on the way and he told me he will make his way over as well.
I ended up reaching first. I think it's just because his new hotel is quite far, which is still annoying to think about because if he had just stayed in freaking Myeongdeong, it would have made our hang out so much more easy to plan.
One thing about Drew is he knows where the aesthetically pleasing cafes are and this place was really pretty.
I got myself a cup of Chocolate Milk, honestly not worth the money because I am pretty sure it is just fresh milk and chocolate syrup, and I waited for him. He was about 15 minutes late and when he arrived, he told me he had taken the bus on the wrong side of the road and it ended up going in the opposite direction, that's why he was late.
We got to talking, did more catching up, I asked him how his past few days had been and he told me how tiring it was because he had to to Incheon Airport with his family and then return back to Seoul again, and how that journey back felt like he was visiting Seoul a second time.
We then went to Itaewon after the cafe visit because I wanted to try this place called Kyo Chon Pil Bang that serves Korean Fried Chicken...
... it's really nice, the whole restaurant is "brush" themed because they serve some of their chicken without any sauce and you are suppose to brush the sauce on it...
Before
I had only wanted the chicken because I felt like it was going to be a lot, but he wanted to get the rice as well. I got myself a makgeolli highball and this one was actually really really good!
After
It was a good meal and he was able to demolish most of the chicken. This came up to about $60 SGD, which really isn't a bad deal at all considering most of our dates back in Singapore were on average $200, he has quite expensive taste.
Next thing we did was visit another cafe, and this time Drew called an Uber to bring us there because it was pretty deep in a residential area and it's a place called Rain Report.
He had been here before because I remember seeing it on his Instagram, and I had researched about this place prior to that, so I was also very interested to visit this spot...
I was really happy to have came here with him, because if this had been a solo trip, I would not have bothered to even try taking the public transport over.
Sadly, by the time we got there, most of the cakes were already sold out, so we couldn't order any cakes, the cafe was quite dark as well, and since it was close to winter and the days were short, it got dark pretty fast, we were there at 7pm but the sky made it look like it was already 9pm - 10pm.
He got a Chocolate Cafe Latte, I got that soda drink because I really wanted to avoid caffeine, but I did sip a sip of his drink and it was actually really good. The baristas then came over and started handing out samples of their new drip coffee brew and I tried like 2 sips.
I just wanted a taste.
You would think after this, we will be done, but Drew recommended we go 1 more place called Minimize, and it was a bus ride away, so we walked out to the bus stop and it was really a work out due to how sloppy the roads were, they were so ridiculously steep...
...and we had to climb this flight of stairs at the end, it was truly a work out.
He was really tired at the end of it, which was funny because he is kind of a gymbro. If this was Singapore, the both of us would have been completely drenched in sweat!
We took a bus to the main Itaewon again and had our last cafe visit of the day at this place called Minimize for some Matcha.
Korea doesn't do Matcha very well, it's either way too milky or way too sweet or both. It's pretty though, but then that pretty much applies to most cafes in Korea, pretty but don't really deliver in flavor.
I was actually really tired after this, but I just remembered enjoying Drew's company and being so happy that I was not solo travelling this time round. We ended up splitting at the cafe because he no longer stays in the fucking Myeongdeong like me, and he had to go to the gym as well, so there's that.
(Plus the club after that, which he made sure I do not know about by blocking me from seeing his Insta-stories about it, it's honestly makes me feel really weird about it but I don't see any point confronting him about because it's his choice.)
Sigh..
Had to walk for a hot minute through this residential alley and managed to get to the bus stop after like a 5 minute walk. I couldn't sleep on this night thanks to that 3 sips of coffee I had at Rain Report.
This was also when I found out about Drew's partying because of that insomnia,
Day 5.
Having breakfast at Myeongdong has just become my default no-brainer option at this point.
I came across this cafe on Naver Map the day before AFTER I got my morning latte from Angel In Us.
I knew I wanted to give it a try because they were serving Einspanner and it just looked too Instagram-worthy not go try at least once, especially when it was walking distance from my hotel.
There were a lot of Singaporeans in the cafe because the Singaporean accent was just coming from everywhere, it felt more like Singapore than Korea, and then the cooling aircon temperature weather hits and snaps me back to reality.
I didn't get their coffee, but instead settled for their Matcha, got a Strawberry Croffin, and they gave me an extra Raspberry Scone, which I am not sure is part of the drink or was just added to my plate wrongly.
The Einspanner had a good start and really reminded me of the Matcha I had with Zo during our last meet up before this trip, that one was however much better because this one in Korea felt like it was way too milky afterwards.
The bakes were also just alright, pretty to look at, but nothing to scream about in terms of flavor.
Anyways, Drew actually texted me at 10.45am and confirmed our meet up today along with the location, but he requested for us to meet a bit later at 2pm instead of the original 1pm because he had just woken up (from his clubbing the night before, but I just pretend I didn't know)
He had recommended for us to visit this pasta place at SeongSu, which was the neighborhood I had visited on the third day, a Friday. This time, we were gonna go on a weekend, so I knew it was gonna be extremely crowded.
As per usual, I ended up arriving first and Drew reached like 20 minutes later, he claims he got lost during the train transfer because he had to exit the station and enter a new one somewhere else, it was all very confusing so I just took his word for it (with a lot of skepticism) and we headed straight to the restaurant.
The streets were packed! Like so much worst than Myeongdong, it was intense, there were queues everywhere, if I had been alone, I would have probably made an immediate U-turn, but since Drew was here, we just braved the crowds together. Even he was shocked at how packed it was.
Thankfully, the area where the restaurant was wasn't crowded, but the restaurant itself had a short queue and midway through, Drew had to go grab a cup of coffee because he hadn't had his morning caffeine yet, even though it's already almost 3pm, and for some reason, as I was watching him seep on his ice latte, my stomach started hurting a little, that was when I realize I needed to poop.
The staff comes over and she gives people in line a menu for them to select their food, and I thought it was really efficient because our food gets prepared while we were queueing up, and when we get seated, we won't have to wait too long for the food.
Drew ordered a lot of food, we had Spicy Cream Pasta, Omu Rice and Katsu Sandwich, I didn't take much photos because I was having constipation, and the thought of the Spicy Cream Pasta and Omu Rice just made my stomach churn even more, but since Drew really wanted to try it, who am I to stop him.
When we were finally allowed into the restaurant, I immediately requested for the toilet and I truly hated how the whole restaurant only had 1 single toilet with only a single toilet bowl for both genders, I couldn't poop in peace because I kept thinking about how a queue would form if I were to take too long, and the walk of shame I will have to endure, so I just release what I could in like 2 minutes, and then left the toilet.
By the time I was out, Drew had already been seated and because I was not feeling very well, I didn't feel particularly chatty, Drew also wasn't chatting as much, so the both of us just kinda sat in silence for a while, he excused himself to go to the toilet and our food arrives, I wasn't paying attention and just thanked the staff because I wasn't feeling well, but when Drew came back, he realized they had given us the Carbonara instead of the Spicy Cream.
Quick exchange later and viola, our food was served!
Spicy Cream Pasta
This looks good now that I am not having any constipation, but back then, it was not appetizing at all, it looked like it would make my stomachache worst.
Omu Rice
Half eaten because I only decided to take a photo afterwards, not a huge fan of this, especially the fried rice inside, it was also a bit spicy as well, so not the most appetizing dish for me in that state.
We also had Katsu Sandwich, which I didn't take a picture of, it was what it was.
Drew ended up eating most of the food after I told him I wasn't feeling too well, and it was a good thing he enjoyed them as well. We take turns to pay for food, so he actually paid for this one.
After that, we visited another cafe nearby, no photos because the main goal was really for me to use the toilet for my pooping needs, so Drew got his second coffee of the day and I went to use the toilet, which reeked! It smelled like literal shit in there, like someone was in the middle of taking a huge wet shit, except there was no one was, the shit smell is just how the toilet smelled. The toilet would probably smell so much worst in the summer when it is hot because fuck it already stank so much in this cold weather, I powered through, pulled my seater up to cover my nose as I tried to complete my task, but there was nothing.
I came out feeling unaccomplished and Drew was just at his table sipping his coffee, he asked me how the toilet was and I told him it stinks, so he goes to take a look, and then comes back within a minute telling me he wasn't going to use it because it looked disgusting.
We leave the current cafe and Drew had plans to visit 3 more in the area, unfortunately 2 had already permanently closed, so we ended up only going to 1 called Glow, which was more of a fancy foodcourt than an actual cafe.
It was really pretty, this was a video I posted on my Instagram, and the only one where Drew actually makes a short appearance.
He hasn't posted much about the trip yet, at least in terms of cafes and eateries that we visited together, so I am waiting to see how his photos and videos turn out because he's really good at it, I mean it is his job so there's no surprise there, but when I see his photos against mine, it just makes mine look like absolute shit.
And speaking of shit, he ended up taking a shit at this place, I paid for the drinks here...
... and the store we ordered it from happens to be Rain Report, the cafe we had visited the day before, so the menu was quite similar. He was gone for a while, and when he was done, he just started walking the entire food court to take photos, I knew he would want to take photos of the drinks as well, so I just didn't touch it until he came back.
We stayed here for a bit, and we just didn't really talk much, I think the both of us were just tired and needed a break of silence.
We walked around SeongSu more after that, I brought him to the mochi store I had visited previously and he ended up really liking the Dubai Chocolate Mochi, so much so that we ended up joining the queue a second time, so he can get it again.
The place was really crowded, but it was also really pretty at night when the lights are all turned on. Drew offered to help me take a photo here, which I rejected, but thinking back, I should have just accepted it because I know he would have taken the photo at the perfect angle.
After Seongsu, Drew had one more spot for us to visit, another Matcha spot to end the day, similar to yesterday!
...we headed to Seoul Forest, away from the SeongSu crowd and got our much needed peace from the mountain of people.
We ended up at this place called Super Matcha...
... this was a pretty good spot for Matcha, much better than minimize, and the Swiss Roll was also really light, so it was quite easy to eat. Since this was going to be our last cafe visit in Seoul together (he was gonna be meeting up with his other friends who will be flying in the next day), it made me feel a bit sad because I honestly and truly felt like once this trip was over, there was a chance we wouldn't meet up anymore, just due to what I feel is like waning interest on his end.
Nonetheless, I tried to enjoy however much time I had left with him.
He did end going to Myeongdong with me after Super Matcha because he needed to get a new vape there, so I followed him around for a while, then it actually started to rain really heavily...
... so everyone just ran to the nearest shelter they could find.
When he told me he was gonna to join me and go to Myeongdong, I genuinely thought he was also gonna want to spend some time in my room as well just to just hang out before he goes back to his hotel back in the Gangnam area, but he didn't, once he got the stuff he needed, and when the rain finally stopped, he headed to the bus stop and we bid goodbye to one another.
Day 6.
Another Solo Day.
This was going to be my last full day in Seoul, so I wasn't going to settle for any random cafe in Myeongdong for Breakfast, I was gonna put in the effort and visit a Hanok Village, and the closest one is at Insadong called Ikseon Hanok Village.
It happened to be fucking freezing on this day as well, so that was an unpleasant surprise, I was actually shocked at how cold it was, my hands were literally shaking, I couldn't type properly because my hands were shivering so much.
According to the weather report, it was 1 degrees, but because it was a very windy day, it felt a lot colder! It did not help that I also was there way too early, so the cafe I wanted to visit wasn't open yet, and I had to wander around the area aimlessly until it did, and since it was a Hanok village, there wasn't really any place for me to hide in and warm up.
This was my first stop, it was a cafe called ChongSuDang and it is super pretty.
They have a shared communal table
Separate siting in the deeper in the cafe,
Window bar stools for solo diners, which was where I chose to sit and this was my view.
And this was what I had for breakfast. A Mont Blanc and a cup of Matcha Latte.
Sadly, they were prettier than they taste because the Matcha was once again just not up to standard, and I only found out after I had taken a bite of the Mont Blanc cake that it was predominantly Cheesecake.
The white cream is a cheese mousse, and I really do not like cheesecake, so this was really hard to finish, especially because it was also quite big and I think was meant for 2 people.
As I was trying to force myself to finish this, Drew actually texted me and told me the friends he was suppose to meet had their flights delayed, so he will actually be able to meet me for lunch, that was like the best news to me, he asked me if I wanted to have lunch at Ikseon, I told him I was already there and he proceeded to make his way over.
He told me he will meet me at 1pm, so I had about an hour to kill and decided to walk to Ssamziegil and visit the shops there once I finished my cake and Matcha.
The walk over almost killed me because I was fucking freezing. Also, there was nothing for me to get here, I just visited a convenience store to warm up, got a few tins of Eclipse mints, and then went back to the Ikseon Hanok Village.
So the walk back was equally difficult because again, freezing. Since I came back, more shops were opened and I started visiting a few fragrance stores, this one called Royal Water really caught my attention because they had a lot of variety and it was only about $32 per bottle. I got myself their "Apple Brandy" scent, which I am sad to report, doesn't smell great, I don't know what happend because the tester smelled alright in the store, but when I came back to Singapore and tried the bottle I got, it just wasn't great.
Anyways, after I made my purchase, I headed to a cafe and got myself a hot cup of Taro Latte, just to warm myself up, told the staff I wanted to dine-in, and just as she was handing me the cup of Taro Latte in a mug, I see Drew just walk past the store towards the place we were gonna have our lunch at.
Ended up having to request for the staff to help me pour the drink into a takeaway cup, much to her annoyance.
We met up at the front of the store and Drew had to join a waitlist through the app, which was a bit confusing, the staff came out to take our orders first as we waited and then were brought in after a 10 minute wait...
I just let Drew ordered what he think would be best and we got steak and pasta, this pasta was quite similar to the one we had together at SeongSu, but I was able to enjoy this a lot more because I wasn't feeling constipated.
The steak was pretty good as well and we ordered not too much, so it was easy to finish the entire meal. I ended up paying for this meal since Drew paid for our last one.
We then went back to Royal Waters for him to look at the fragrances, I remembered this month was his birthday month, in fact, his birthday was just the week before, so I offered to pay for the perfumes he had shortlisted, he turned down my offer at the start and told me the meal was good enough, but I insisted, mainly because the perfumes weren't expensive, to which he graciously accepted it, but only allowed me to pay for 1 fragrance.
After this, we visited a cafe I found online called Nakwon Station, he hadn't been here before, so he was pleasantly surprised at how pretty it was...
The entrance, where he proceed to take some selfies later on.
And our drinks and cake, he paid for this.
The sun was really glaring, but it was doing wonders for the photos, Drew wanted to take an aesthetic video, so he actually went out of the cafe, put his phone on one of the benches outside and then just let it record us just chatting and drinking.
He hasn't uploaded it on his Instagram yet, so I don't know how it looks, I might even be cut out because I do remember I was sitting right beside a wooden beam, so that may have censored my face out.
After this, Drew went to grab his phone, checked the footage, vaped a bit, then came right back. As he was looking through his phone again, he suddenly tells me that his friends have reached and I took that as a sign that it was time to go, we finished up our drinks and what we could finish with the cake before heading out.
Came across Blue Elephant as we were walking towards the Metro, and went into to take a quick look, I actually tried on a pair of sunglasses that were very nice and complimented my face shape really well, so did Drew. The glasses weren't very expensive, less than $50 each, so we were seriously contemplating, but I knew I wasn't going to wear it at all when I am back, so I didn't end up getting it, and neither did he.
This was our last meet up in Seoul and I verbalized it to him that we won't be seeing each anymore during this trip, we kept telling each other we will see gone another again in Singapore, and I left him at his train line while I went towards mine.
I was actually quite sad after this because again, we were suppose to hang out the entire day, but thanks to his friends deciding to surprise him, it was cut short and I had to settle for this short hang out session instead.
Sigh,
My last spot to visit was Gangnam, to see Starfield Library, and this was my evening plan, to visit the mall, see the library, have my dinner there, do some shopping and then go back to the hotel to rest.
The ride from Myeongdeong to Gangnam was 40 fucking minutes...
It's pretty, but the mall itself was extremely underwhelming, it was so big, but it also felt so empty at the same time, it was extremely boring and I couldn't believe I took a 40 minutes train ride for this, and the idea of having to take another 40 minutes ride back just made me feel so upset.
I think after having spend my afternoon with Drew, the thought of spending my evening alone in the mall just made me feel really sad...
....I found a line of eateries in the mall and decided to just go for this dumpling rice cake soup, it was rather bland, there was no background music in the store so it was also quite quiet, and it was just not great.
I decided to give the mall another try, so after this meal, I walked around somemore, ended up at a different connecitng mall called Hyundai, it was so similar to the Lotte Departmental store next to my hotel, and the realization that I had wasted my time here hit me so hard, it made me really upset.
Left the place shortly after, during the 40 minute ride back, I decided I was going to try and catch up on my shows on Netflix, so I actually managed to finish watching the latest MHA episode with time to spare. It was so not worth the trip, annoying thing is Drew's hotel is near Gangnam, and that's what was so upsetting, the fact that he decided to relocate to such a faraway location.
*Only positive thoughts for this post*
So that was how I spend my last full day in Seoul, I was happy I was at least able to spend some of it with Drew.
Day 7.
Final day!
Headed back to Ikseon Hanok Village because I wanted to get the salt bread, and I got there extremely early, at around 10am, the moment I got up from bed, I just headed right over.
It was freezing, temperature was 1 degree, and it was windy as well, so it felt like it was below freezing, my face and hands were so cold, my ears especially was just frozen.
Thankfully there wasn't any queue...
Jayeondo Salt Bread
I could take decent pictures because it was so empty and I didn't have to feel to worried about looking like a tourist.
It came in 4 pieces, so I got 4 of them and it was packaged in this paper bag secured with a string. I got what I wanted, and I headed back to the hotel.
I had to check out of the room at 12 noon, I didn't have time to linger and explore, plus it was fucking freezing, so the idea of staying there wasn't all that enticing as well.
I got myself a cup of coffee at Mammoth Coffee, which was located right beside my hotel, an Iced Honey Banana Latte, and I consumed 3 of the salt bread at one go. It was really good, it was simple, but it was so tasty.
At 11am, I headed out to Myeongdeong again to try and do some last minute shopping, popped by Olive Young, thinking I was gonna get some skincare, but realized all the ones that I use are cheaper from Shopee, so what is the point, why should I get it from Korea, and then have to lug it back in my luggage when I can literally just have Shopee deliver it to my doorstep for cheaper.
Left Olive Young and then visited....
PopMart
I had visited multiple times over the last few days because I was hoping to get one of the new Dimoo Plushies, but it was just constantly out of stock and I always end up leaving empty handed.
This time I decided I had to get something, as like a momento, and I decided on the newer SkullPanda Plushie Blind Box.
What I got, this is my momento from Korea. It was $31 there, Singapore is selling it for $37, so I did manage to get a good deal, the only stupid thing is I said no when the cashier told me if I wanted a tax refund because my brain stopped functioning for a while, so it could have been slightly cheaper if I hadn't been an idiot.
I visited 3 Blue Elephant in Myeongdeong, because I was still thinking of the sunglasses, and I kept thinking until I ran out of time, so I didn't end up getting it and headed back to the hotel to check out.
I had booked an Uber in advance the day before, and it was gonna arrive at 1.30pm, check out was at 12noon, so I had like 90 minutes to kill, then I get a text from SIA telling me my flight had been delayed by an hour, but since I had already booked the fucking Uber, all I could do was spend that extra hour in Incheon, which was really upsetting.
Checked out, and headed over to Lotte Department store yet again, thinking I was going to spend the rest of my Korean Won, which was about SGD$200 getting a new perfume, didn't end up getting any, visited the basement thinking I would just chill at the cafe, that didn't happen as well because I was more interested to go back to MyeongDeong...
... and had my final cup of Matcha at this place called METCHA, which was the first cafe Drew and I visited on my first day here, I didn't think too much of their drinks then, but now, it tasted amazing and it had to do with the fact that the other Matcha I had been having the entire trip were just not good.
Went to Blue Elephant again, and once again, thought about it for too long, so didn't get anything but this pretty good shot of 1 of the 3 store that they there.
Anyways, this was the last thing I did in Seoul, I went back to the hotel to grab my bags and my Uber came on time, so we headed for the airport...
... I wasn't feeling particularly sad that this trip had ended, but I definitely had my regrets because it could have been so much better if Drew had been along with me for longer.
*I'm about to write some negative stuff about him, but please just focus on the positives for this post!*
I got to the Airport in about an hour, it was probably the worst ride ever because I got motion sickness 5 minutes into the drive.
When I was at the Airport, I had to do some repacking, made sure I kept my jacket in the luggage instead of bringing it up with me on the plane as a carry on, because I knew I wasn't going to need it anymore, so I minimized whatever load I had on me, shoved them all in the luggage, and checked in and waited in the transit area for the next 3 hours, I actually walked the entire length of the transit area because I was so fucking bored.
This was my lunch.
It was kinda bland, and I had also been updating my insta-stories, so Drew actually replied to the one I had posted about Blue Elephant and asked me if I got a pair, I replied pretty quickly and told him I didn't, asked him if he got his, thinking he could at least keep me company through text, he just left me hanging and only replied me the next day when he landed in Singapore, which is at 6am.
I swear, this guy...
*positive thoughts only*
... anyways, I finally boarded at 6.30pm-ish, the sky was already dark by then and I made my way back to Singapore.
The ride was actually great, it actually makes a huge difference taking a flight with full service because I thoroughly enjoyed both my departure and arrival flights and will definitely consider just settling for SIA economy instead of paying more for Premium Economy on Scoot.
So this is the end of my trip, for more thoughts about how I feel towards Drew, the non-positive, and largely negative one that is a lot more accurate of how I was feeling and had actually ruined this entire fucking trip for me and thrown me back depression, please read this one instead...
And with that, I will NEVER be committing to a trip with someone I have met on Hinge after 2 dates ever again and just make plans to go on trips with friends instead for a less heartbreaking experience!
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