Ladies & gentlemen it seems in my distress over Jess leaving me in Korea, I somehow FORGOT TO MAKE AN ENTIRE POST for 3.19.13, her last day here. I have NO idea how this happened but it is completely ridiculous. This has never happened before, me completely missing an entire batch of photos. You all know how OCD and borderline crazy I am (lol). Anyways, here it is. It will be filed under it's proper date though, so it won't appear at the top of the blog page >.< 미안!
And on to fun stuff! Today was Jess's last day, as she was flying out tomorrow :( It was a toss-up whether it would be spent at Edae or Myeongdong (two of the places left on our to-do list this trip), and she chose Myeongdong so off we went. Myeongdong is located pretty much directly in the center of Seoul, not far from Hongdae, Ehwa, Itaewon, and the like.
And on to fun stuff! Today was Jess's last day, as she was flying out tomorrow :( It was a toss-up whether it would be spent at Edae or Myeongdong (two of the places left on our to-do list this trip), and she chose Myeongdong so off we went. Myeongdong is located pretty much directly in the center of Seoul, not far from Hongdae, Ehwa, Itaewon, and the like.
We had passed this little shop on our way transferring from the Green line to the Light Blue Line before and always meant to stop to try it. Today was the day haha, so we bought some...whatever they are. They looked and tasted like sweet crumpled waffle cones coated in chocolate and sprinkles. I got a green tea chocolate one (surprise surprise ㅋㅋ) and Jess got a white chocolate with rainbow sprinkles one.
We had both seen the mallet lying on the counter and had been vaguely wondering what purpose it served, when the man took out my green tea...thing...and then whacked it with the mallet!! And again and again, until it was in lots of yummy little eatable pieces. Ah ha, so THAT's how you eat something that is roughly the size of a grapefruit lol. Munching on our breakfast treats, we rushed to catch the next transfer subway a few floors down.
We had both seen the mallet lying on the counter and had been vaguely wondering what purpose it served, when the man took out my green tea...thing...and then whacked it with the mallet!! And again and again, until it was in lots of yummy little eatable pieces. Ah ha, so THAT's how you eat something that is roughly the size of a grapefruit lol. Munching on our breakfast treats, we rushed to catch the next transfer subway a few floors down.
One of the things we had been looking forward to finding in Myeongdong was the custom Converse store! I've been to Myeongdong several times before but had never been looking for anything in particular so I had never noticed the Converse store around. We located it alright, but the workers inside told us the custom part of the store (second floor) didn't open until 1pm. Well then. We had a good couple hours to kill. In the awesome, colorful, bustling, cosmetics store-laden, food vendor-filled, clothing stands-packed area known as Myeongdong. Gosh, what a chore... :D
We wandered, doing some idle shopping and I bought some awesomely unique stud earrings at a shop. They sell a lot of earring pairs here that include a third earring for a conch piercing or helix piercing. It's awesome since I have both now, and can have a third earring in those higher piercings to match the lobe ones :) We got ugly hot dogs and chicken vegetable skewers from a food cart and munched on our snacks in a state of supreme happiness. I was chatting with a Japanese lady and her high-school daughter who were eating standing next to us at the same cart. They didn't know much English but I used the little Japanese I knew, and they did vice versa with English lol. They were very sweet; the Japanese lady even gestured towards my clothes and told me I was so stylish, and she liked my whole outfit! I was so flattered... that's such a nice thing to say especially to a complete stranger x) <3
Obviously after eating a savory snack, now we need bubble tea! We hunted down this bubble tea shop I had come to last time I was here that was AMAZING. It was called Gong Cha and I have no idea what Gong means, but I know "cha" is "tea" in Korean (similar to "ocha" in Japanese!). It's extremely popular, and there was a massive crowd inside + line going out the door. Nonetheless, they were efficient and the line moved relatively quickly. I can't remember the drink I always order there because I kind of just know where it's place on the menu is, find it, and read it off to the serving girl but its a green tea (actual green tea, not like my lattes lol) milk something with white jelly.
It is THE BOMB. Cofioca is still #1 in my heart, but the drink I get at Gong Cha has just an entirely different taste all it's own. It's unique and delicious. After getting my drink, I went upstairs to find a table rather than wait with Jess and be jostled and glared at by the massive crowd downstairs by the bar. What's nice about the usual multi-story structure of many coffee shops, restaurants, and clothing stores here is that once you go up, you usually have a nice view of the surrounding area to people-watch or daydream or just to enjoy a nice bright backdrop while you chat. I like it better than when the coffeeshops go belowground instead of up.
It is THE BOMB. Cofioca is still #1 in my heart, but the drink I get at Gong Cha has just an entirely different taste all it's own. It's unique and delicious. After getting my drink, I went upstairs to find a table rather than wait with Jess and be jostled and glared at by the massive crowd downstairs by the bar. What's nice about the usual multi-story structure of many coffee shops, restaurants, and clothing stores here is that once you go up, you usually have a nice view of the surrounding area to people-watch or daydream or just to enjoy a nice bright backdrop while you chat. I like it better than when the coffeeshops go belowground instead of up.
We went back to the custom Converse store now that it was past 1pm, only to be told (by a different sales associate than the one we asked this morning) that the custom studio WASN'T EVEN OPEN TODAY. DAFUQ. We can't exactly argue with them and I didn't know how to explain about the associate who told us it was open at 1pm in Korean, so we just left. We did some more minor shopping around so Jess could buy more gifts to bring home, before we headed back to the subway.
Another thing I had told Jess we needed to try before she left was Manoffin, a cupcake shop located in most subway stations. They have the most adorably delectable cupcakes EVER. And I mean EVERRRR. They make me want to just buy one of each and preserve them in a glass case to use as decoration around my room, they are so perfect and cute. Last time I got one of their staple cupcakes, Black Prince (which was black tea-based) and was definitely a cupcake. This time I got an Almond Proposal cupcake, which had a texture more like a muffin...not surprising I suppose, given the shop's name lol. I forget the name of the one Jess got but hers was SUPER adorable and cute too. We were reluctant to eat them because they were so pretty to look at but eventually hunger won out. As expected, they were delicious. And more filling than you would think actually...must have been the muffin-consistency.
Another thing I had told Jess we needed to try before she left was Manoffin, a cupcake shop located in most subway stations. They have the most adorably delectable cupcakes EVER. And I mean EVERRRR. They make me want to just buy one of each and preserve them in a glass case to use as decoration around my room, they are so perfect and cute. Last time I got one of their staple cupcakes, Black Prince (which was black tea-based) and was definitely a cupcake. This time I got an Almond Proposal cupcake, which had a texture more like a muffin...not surprising I suppose, given the shop's name lol. I forget the name of the one Jess got but hers was SUPER adorable and cute too. We were reluctant to eat them because they were so pretty to look at but eventually hunger won out. As expected, they were delicious. And more filling than you would think actually...must have been the muffin-consistency.
Some tv and bedrest later, we headed out again to meet Haeri at Seullong station for kbbq. She had found a new kbbq place lately that she really liked (and we love kbbq haha) so we were excited. We chatted all the way to the place and then ordered this wine-soaked samgyupsal (I think it was wine? Or some other Korean alcoholic equivalent) that had whole peppercorns on it. It was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD. Just the smell of it cooking was mouth-watering enough. Hanging out with Haeri is always lots of fun, as she's such a cheerful and sweet person. Cheerful people like her bring out the super bubbly valley girl in me haha, I always get so excited >.<
Haeri took us to a nearby store that sold all manner of things from pens and office supplies, to bedroom essentials, to phone chargers and cases. It was such an awesomely handy store, the kind you want to have right next to wherever you are living haha. It's like Staples, Fry's, and Target rolled in one cute little place! We went to Ediya Coffee down the street afterwards for dessert and talked over our drinks. We ended up thumbing through this massive Korean fashion magazine as well, exclaiming over clothes, pretty models, and who had or hadn't gotten plastic surgery done xD Well, we ARE girls...
Haeri and I went on a hilarious hunt for a restroom later, consulting this funny treasure-map kind of area sketch in Ediya at length to find the restroom. We trekked all the way outside, around the block corner, and up into this shady little office building lobby to find a bathroom...only to find there was no toilet paper. After ALL that. I just held it until we got home later that night haha. I'm blaming being so pre-occupied with needing to pee that night for forgetting entirely about writing this post. It was a good day though :)
Haeri took us to a nearby store that sold all manner of things from pens and office supplies, to bedroom essentials, to phone chargers and cases. It was such an awesomely handy store, the kind you want to have right next to wherever you are living haha. It's like Staples, Fry's, and Target rolled in one cute little place! We went to Ediya Coffee down the street afterwards for dessert and talked over our drinks. We ended up thumbing through this massive Korean fashion magazine as well, exclaiming over clothes, pretty models, and who had or hadn't gotten plastic surgery done xD Well, we ARE girls...
Haeri and I went on a hilarious hunt for a restroom later, consulting this funny treasure-map kind of area sketch in Ediya at length to find the restroom. We trekked all the way outside, around the block corner, and up into this shady little office building lobby to find a bathroom...only to find there was no toilet paper. After ALL that. I just held it until we got home later that night haha. I'm blaming being so pre-occupied with needing to pee that night for forgetting entirely about writing this post. It was a good day though :)
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