What happens when you fool around too much after lighting up the candles.

Trying to salvage my birthday cake so that it’s edible.

I’m a complete failure at cutting my own cake.

Thank you guys. Love you all deep deep.

The show’s promoters at Myeongdong.

After the show, my friends and I headed to Noryangjin Fish Market (just take the subway to Noryangjin Station). Noryangjin Fish Market is the oldest and largest seafood market in Seoul. There are all kinds of seafood available and there are at least 600 shops! You can try out really fresh (and exotic) seafood/sashimi here..some shops might be quite expensive since it’s a famous spot..so be mindful about your selections. The market is opened almost 24 hours, but will be more lively at night.

Noryangjin Station…rustic.

I have this tendency to observe foreign print publications. This is the after-effect of studying mass communications for 7 years.

On the underground tunnel route to Noryangjin Fish Market.

Shop after shop after shop after shop…endless! It was pretty vacant because we went in the early afternoon.

This freaking huge octopus tentacle was almost 1-metre long..or longer.

Mind-boggling array of seafood.

There are many stores in Noryangjin…we got sick of choosing and just settled for this particular one.

The eating area is normally located on the 2nd level. After you have sat down, you can go down again to choose your seafood.

Very very big fish flipping around and scaring the bejeezus out of us.

FREAKING HUMONGOUS KING CRAB!!!!!! BIGGEST CRAB I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. FULL STOP.

Yay fresh sashimi! Sliced right in front of your eyes!

LIVE SQUIRMY OCTOPUS!!!

It tasted like VERY VERY FRESH sashimi..and the moving (and still alive) tentacles tend to suck on one’s tongue..so I had to bite really quickly to kill it off.

Fish. Too fresh for me. Way too fresh. Ate a few slices and stopped eating.

OH HAI YUMMY KING CRAB!!! So freaking big and yummy and totally worth the price we paid!

If you don’t enjoy the fresh sashimi, you can always eat them steamboat style..in either normal or spicy broth.

The fish was overpriced..but the king crab was totally worth it. Eat eat eat.

Dongdaemun is a large market place that offers EVERYTHING under the sun. The area is divided into two parts – the Retail Area (shopping malls which open from 10am to 5am), and the Wholesale Area (which opens from 8pm to 8am). So..24-HOURS OF NON-STOP SHOPPING! You’ll never get bored in Seoul! Just head down to Dongdaemun if you are suffering from insomnia

Caution: You might find, to your utmost frustration, that the cute pair of shorts you bought at the Retail Area for 30,000 won only costs 10,000 won at the Wholesale area..so shop wisely. True story (obviously this happened to me…..#&$)(#@&$#).

Dongdaemun Gate

This is part of the Cheonggyecheon (Cheonggye Stream), a man-made stream that lasts 6km and stretches through many famous districts in Seoul.

Retail Area of Dongdaemun.

Walk into malls like Hello APM, Migliore, and Doota and shop your life away.

Remember to BARGAIN. The stall owners will definitely mark-up prices if they know you’re a tourist.

Please do not call these aunties manning the street food stalls ‘ahjumma’.

Just don’t. I don’t think they like it very much.

Dongdaemun Gate at night.

Dongdaemun COMES ALIVE after 10pm!!! OMG. Non-stop shopping throughout the night!!!

This was taken at 3 a.m. in the morning. How insane.

South Korea is very famous for their celebrity pop culture, so there are always dance battles going on in Dongdaemun.

Venture into the Wholesale Area after 10pm! Lots of great bargains!!

Near 4 a.m. at the Wholesale Area’s night market.

NIGHT LIFE IN KOREA WINS.

Mega-yummy ice-cream for only 1,000 won. I had so many of these in Korea.

There was one time I ate 4 cones at one shot in Dongdaemun..the uncle totally laughed at me (cause I tried all the flavours available wahahaha).

The Wholesale Area is the homeground for aspiring Korean designers..lots of nice designs can be found in the wholesale malls.

Andd ooh, saw this Korean dude with a SUPER ADORABLE BABY JAPANESE SPITZ!! He dyed the puppy’s cheeks pink!

The baby Spitz was super cute, but I was quite irritated at how he forced the blue glasses onto the clearly uncomfortable puppy. The Korean guy just paraded around the mall with the puppy so that the girls will squeal at him (or rather, at the dog). Douchebag. I see right through his agenda.

*Judgemental*

Be prepared to break your wallet as you spend hours looking at what seems like an endless amount of apparel, cosmetics, eateries, and accessories. I visited Myeongdong many times during my stay in Korea…but I probably only explored half of the entire district.

One of the many plastic surgery advertisements. So commonplace it’s a bit disturbing.

Shiny shiny lights and street food galore!

Eh, don’t eat this potato thing. Looks fancy but tastes really bland.

I went up and gave this Korean boy a huge hug, because all the Koreans were ignoring him. He tried his best to speak to me in English, so cute!

O M G.

BUY BUY BUY THE COSMETICS!!! Cosmetics in Korea are DIRT CHEAP as compared to the disgusting marked-up prices in Singapore. Cheap and good! And there are so many brands you’ll be spoilt for choice..I can easily list 5: The Face Shop, Nature Republic, Tony Moly, Skinfood, Etude House.

The cutest salesgirl! She’s Japanese so I spoke to her in Japanese, haha!

As Myeongdong is filled with Chinese and Japanese tourists, all the cosmetic shops are manned by Chinese and Japanese nationals! So don’t worry about language barriers, unless you are only conversant in English.

Skin-care products..look good enough to eat. The Koreans are freaking smart. They know girls cannot resist pretty packaging.

Had beef BBQ for dinner..and my friends and I had a horrible shock when the bill came. Apparently beef BBQ is only eaten during festive seasons, and we actually ordered the prime beef without knowing it. FREAKING EXPENSIVE. But it tasted damn good. Oh well. Ate only pork BBQ for the rest of my stay in Korea.

O’SULLOC!!!! I visited the green tea farm in Jeju Island and fell in love with their green tea confectionaries. SUPER HAPPY!! Pulled my friends in immediately.

OMG OMG OMG ALL MADE OF GREEN TEA. I FLIPPED.

GREEN TEA TIRAMISU. GREEN TEA MILK SHAKE. SUPER NICEEEEEEEEE (T_T)

OH HAI! BOYS THAT ARE PRETTIER THAN GIRLS! Super Junior <3

Sometimes the level of celebrity obsession in Korea makes me LOL. Then I realise I’m a fangirl too.

Travelled to Gyeongju from Seoul via a 5-hour bus ride.

First stop was Cheonmachong (天馬塚/천마총) Royal Tumuli Park. It is known for the tombs of Korea’s ancient Kings from the Silla Kingdom. Silla is one of the three kingdoms in Korea, and one of the longest-lasting dynasties in Asia. The mini hills in the picture are the tombs.

Cheomseongdae Observatory. It is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia, and one of the oldest scientific installations on Earth. It’s a national treasure, and also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The sweetest couple.

At Gyeongju National Museum. Behind me is the Bell of King Seongdeok.

Super yummy egg tarts! The entire egg is baked on top of the bread, and it’s super fluffy and tasty!

Visited Anapji Pond, part of the ancient Silla royal palace. Really beautiful at night.

On the second day, we visited Bulguksa Temple (불국사/佛國寺) in the morning. Bulguksa is a very famous World Heritage Site with 7 national treasures. It was very rainy day Upset….and the weather got worse throughout the day. It really sucks to be using a heavy-duty camera on rainy days.

South Koreans always carry fancy umbrellas.

After touring Bulguksa Temple, we headed towards Seokguram Grotto (石窟庵/석굴암), another heritage site located 4km away from Bulguksa. We wanted to visit Seokguram (a huge Buddhist sculpture) because it was listed all over Gyeonju’s tourism pamphlets..and it looked really big and grand from the photos. So yay, a fantastic photo opportunity awaits us!

Seokguram is located the the top of Mt. Tohamsan, so we had to take a long winding bus ride up the mountain, and there was further hiking after that.

When we alighted from the bus..we nearly got FREAKING BLOWN AWAY BY THE HAIL.

There was an insane thunderstorm going on! Super foggy, crazy cold, and the rain was soooooo heavy I thought my umbrella was going to collapse.

So cold, so cold, so cold!!!!!

I don’t know why we bothered hiking. And I don’t know how I managed to take this photo. My camera was drenched.

After what seemed like eternity and never-ending misery, we finally reached Seokguram.

Yay! Yay! We’ve reached Seokguram!!!

And when we finally entered the place guarding Seokguram… I WANTED TO INJURE SOMEONE.

FREAKING SCULPTURE WAS ENCLOSED IN A HUGE GLASS CHAMBER.

COULDN’T GO NEAR IT.

NO PHOTOGRAPHS.

ARGHUGFDGHFDGFD???????????????

ALL THAT HIKING AND TORTURE FOR NOTHING.

I know this sounds incredibly rude and ignorant of me, but I was sooo annoyed and disappointed! Bloody tourist pamphlets did not say that the sculpture was off-limits to tourists! CHEATER BUGS.

I sneakily took a photo anyway. Bah.

Spent a grand total of 5 minutes looking at Seokguram and hiked back down to civilisation. Bahhhhh!!

This place is EXTREMELY hard to find because of Hongdae’s maze-like city layout. There are like a million alleys, junctions, and intersections in Hongdae, no joke. I wandered around the entire Hongdae area for an hour and still couldn’t find it. I asked about 10 local Koreans for directions and they had no clue either. So in the end I flagged a cab, asked the driver to call Bau House and finally managed to find the place. Got to the place in 5 minutes, d’oh.

If you want to save on money, take the subway to Hapjeong, and flag a cab. If not, just walk from Hapjeong station, it’s actually only a 5-minute walk (-___-).

BAU House Dog Cafe 바우하우스
Cyworld Page
405-13 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
South Korea 서울특별시 마포구 서교동 405-13
TEL: +82 2-334-5152 ‎

I went to BAU House on a Friday afternoon, and the queue was already pretty long. Seoul, like Singapore, is very land-scarce, so not everyone can afford to keep a dog. So this cafe is especially popular with people who love animals but are unable to keep one.

Had to wait for about 30 minutes to get a seat. The cafe is very spacious, designed to provide maximum space for the dogs. Some of the dogs are huge!!! The husky in the background of this photo is almost my height when he sits upright.

There is NO NEED to worry about hygiene. The place smells and looks great as cleaners are constantly standing around to clear up any mess immediately. There are actually way more cleaners than waiters. I’m quite a germophobic so if I had no problems here, I think it’s fine for the majority of the population.

My friend caught me playing air-piano HAHA. I do that when I’m waiting and have nothing else to do.

The list of dogs at BAU House.

Even while you’re waiting, the dogs will roam around and come and play with you.

This is the most exotic dog I’ve ever seen in my life (o_O). The most interesting part of visiting BAU House is that I saw dogs I will never see in Singapore.

Finally got bored of waiting and went to buy some doggy snacks. It’s really not cheap…I blew about 20,000 KRW (about $24 SGD) on the nicer looking ones. Do not buy the vegetable snacks because none of the dogs wanted it..my friend was sulking that he wasted his money hahaha.

And once you open the snack, the dogs will EMBUSH YOU. I mean EMBUSH. My shorts got drooled on and nearly got torn apart by some of the dogs, but it’s all very fun!! Some of the naughtier dogs will bark loudly at you, while others (like the golden retrievers awww mega-love ) will sit obediently and wait for their snacks.

I had a feeling this bulldog was pregnant.

And then out of nowhere….came this cat. LOLZ.

PERFECT, PICTURE IS PERFECT FOR A LOLZCAT MEME HAHAHAHHA.

This cat was like, ‘bitch please’, and strutted around like she owned the whole god damn place. Champion.

This baby golden retriever was sooooooooooooooooo lazy. He just lazed around and walked like a snail. I’m not sure if he was sleepy, sad, tired, or sick.

BAU House serves really bad food…and expensive too. Worst Green Tea shake I’ve ever drank.

But nobody really cares about the food..it’s not like you can eat in peace anyway because the dogs will walk all over your seats and tables!

Mega-adorable!

This dog was the only one who ate up all the vegetarian snacks. He made my friend’s day hahahaha.

Half-way through our visit…this HUGE HUGE HUGE FURRY DOG SUDDENLY APPEARED!!!!!!

OMO OMO OMO SUPER MEGA CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH HEY!!!! HI!!!!!

HEHEHEHE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!

His name is Haki!

I couldn’t speak Korean very well so I didn’t manage to find out his breed..but he does look like a cross-breed to me. American Eskimo? Japanese Spitz? Siberian Husky? He’s definitely a fox-type dog, but ughhh Google did not help in my information quest at all.

AIGOO I WANT ONE.

Look at his white furry paws!!! So cute cute cute omg so cute!!!! I’m suffocating from this overwhelming wave of unbelievable cuteness.

AND TO MY ULTIMATE JOY!

Haki came and sat beside me!!!!! LOL!!!!! THIS IS DESTINY. WE ARE FATED TO BE TOGETHER.

TOGETHER FOREVER AND NEVER  TO PART ♫

He was sooo damn adorable and obedient! *squishes it* Super gentle dog!!!!

And his thick long fur smelled like shampoo!!! OMGGGG. He’s sooo fluffy and cute and huggable! I’m in love.

HAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPY~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!

And when I finally had to leave the cafe, I stood up and waved byebye to him. He immediately got what I meant and left the seat obediently. OMGG I LOVE HIM. So smart and obedient!

Sob I want to bring him back to Singapore. (T_T)

Gimpo Airport has numerous flights out of Seoul to Jeju everyday, so there’s no problem booking a seat. Incheon, however, has very little flights in comparison.

Arrived at Jeju after a short 50-minute flight..and the first stop was the Trick Art Museum. Nothing much really, but just a lot of funny visual tricks available for photo ops.

Hahahahahaha! I must say I had quite a bit of fun here.

Then we went on a mission to seek out the 3 major waterfalls on Jeju Island! Well, okay, I kind of forced my friends to go along with me because I’m quite a huge fan of waterfalls.

The first one was Jeongbang Waterfall (正房瀑布). This 23-metre waterfall is widely known as the only waterfall in Asia that flows out directly into the ocean..but this is disputed by many people (even though guidebooks continually state it as a fact).

Jeongbang was my favourite waterfall out of the 3 I saw in Jeju. It’s really pretty and I liked that I managed to get so physically close to it.

Korean ahjumma (auntie) selling 1,000 KRW ice-cream. I ate like a hundred of these ice-creams in South Korea hahahahaha. It’s the ice-watery kind, not the milky kind, so I really loved it.

Second waterfall we saw was Cheonjiyeon Waterfall (天地淵瀑布). Bah, flooded with tourists.

The last waterfall was Cheonjeyeon Waterfall (天帝淵瀑布). This is the widest waterfall of all 3, and actually looks the most magnificent due to its width and lush surroundings.

Had enough of hiking and went to Jeju Island’s very own Teddy Bear Museum.

This is the first Teddy Bear Museum in South Korea, and the one at Namsan Seoul Tower is actually the second branch. I was pretty annoyed because all the exhibits here are enclosed in glass boxes, so I couldn’t take any nice photographs at all.

The teddy bears here portray famous public figures and artworks..quite cute, but I preferred the historical perspective taken by the Namsan’s branch.

This Jeju branch is also very popular with Korean drama fans, because it played a big role in the wildly successful idol drama ‘Goong’.

Omo. THE BEATLES! My favourite exhibit!

There’s a section on saving wildlife..I thought this was the most creative section of the entire museum. Serious environmental lessons injected with a dash of wit and humour.

This Korean girl wanted to break into the phone booth and talk to the bear. I looked at her struggle for a full 10 minutes.  Lmao.

After Teddy Bear Museum, I VISITED MY IDEA OF A PARADISE OH MY GOD.

SOUTH KOREA’S MOST FAMOUS GREEN TEA FARM – O’SULLOC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE GREEN TEA SO MUCH, I CAN’T EVEN EXPRESS IT FULLY IN WORDS OMG OMG OMG. OMO!!!

ROWS AND ROWS OF GREEN TEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AM I IN HEAVEN!!?!@?!@?!

Okay I need to stop using caps lock.

I can just stay here and smell the leaves forever.

O’Sulloc even has a Green Tea Museum…*dizzy with happiness*

All kinds of green-tea related products can be found here..from skincare to food and to tea powder…and the prices are not cheap.

OH MY GOD. FOOD MADE OUT OF GREEN TEA. ALL OF THEM.

THIS IS THE FREAKING BEST GREEN TEA ICE-CREAM I HAVE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE.

IT IS FREAKING YUMMY!!! The green tea taste EXPLODES in your mouth!!!!

I had two of this..and if it was cheaper, I think I would’ve eaten 10.

After the paradise tour, we hopped over to Jeju’s Miniature World.

Mad boring and pointless. Don’t visit..unless you have nothing to do.

Visited Lotte Hotel on the second day of our trip. Lotte Hotel, like all things related to ‘Lotte’, is the grandest hotel on Jeju Island.

Yeah, let’s do the same pose!

I loitered around the Lotte Casino while my friends went in to exchange currency…and then I got bored.

So I went to a random jackpot machine and put in 500 KRW.

Pulled the lever, expecting nothing in return..and…

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOLOLOL   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!! INSTANT JACKPOT   !!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOLOLOL   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KA-CHING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CRAZY LUCKY!!! HAHAHA!!

I HAS GOOD KARMA.

Well, I had a rather handsome payout. Yay.

Had lunch at Lotte Hotel’s really fancy Mu Gung Hwa restaurant.

Unless you have a lot of cash to spare, I suggest that you don’t spend or buy ANYTHING AT ALL in Lotte Hotel. Because it’s really TOO expensive.

Jeju is very famous for their black pork, so try it if you are a meat lover. I didn’t like it. And even though the fatty parts were supposed to be expensive, I didn’t touch them at all.

Koreans normally wrap meat and side dishes up in vegetable leafs, and then fold them into something like popiah or tacos before eating.

Kimichi balls (o_O) mega love kimchi!

After lunch, we continue our road trip to Mi Cheon Cave, a very famous volcano lava tube!

Enormous windmills!

I have never been inside a volcano lava tube before, so visiting Mi Cheon was the highlight of my trip.

Such an eye-opener!

The moment I entered the lava tube, a blast of cold wind hit my face.

It was freezing inside the tube, maybe around temperatures of 12 to 14-degree Celsius. Keep in mind that the external environment was extremely hot as it was during summer! It was really quite a wondrous experience. The entire place was dripping wet too.

Trivial science lesson: The lava tube is so cold because lava is a terrific insulator. Also, cold air falls while hot air rises, so all the cold air is trapped inside the underground cave by the lava!

The red part of the lava formation looked like melted chocolate in real life.

I stayed behind to take photos while my friends walked away.

It was a lot darker in real life and I kind of freaked myself out, as the cave was very silent and you could hear echoes of water dripping. Brr. I’m a wuss.

This is the famous ‘grandfather’ (dol hareubang 돌 하르방) of Jeju Island. You can see statues of him everywhere. These statues are supposed to be gods protecting the island and offering fertility to the island’s dwellers.

Walked around Jeju on our last night and we found KYOCHON CHICKEN!!! LUCKY!!

KyoChon chicken is possibly the most famous fried chicken chain-store in South Korea, and is endorsed by big names such as Super Junior. We were dying to eat KyoChon to see what the fuss is all about.

Super Junior welcomes you in with their pretty boy looks. Lol at Korea and their celebrity obsession.

The white bottle is Makgeolli, a very famous type of rice wine in South Korea. It used to be a favourite of farmers, but is now immensely popular among the younger generations.

And when in South Korea, you will most likely see two brands of beer being sold – Hite or Cass.

Cass is apparently the best beer in South Korea, so go for that, although I can’t really taste the difference between the two.

And KyoChon chicken..is the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. IS SUPER YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY! No wonder it’s such a hit in South Korea!

My traumatised friend. She wasn’t drunk..she was just annoyed that I kept playing with a stray kitten in the area. She’s super scared of animals hahahahahaha.

Meow.

Anyway, I feel that Jeju Island is overly-glamourised by the media, especially by Korean idol dramas. So don’t expect too much if you visit the place.

It is advisable to visit this place with a tour guide because knowledge of the historical background will make your trip a lot more interesting. Walking around this huge compound will take about 2 to 3 hours.

This is the only palace I visited in Seoul because I know I will be bored if I had visited more. If you only have time to visit ONE palace, I guess Gyeongbokgung would be it. Directions: Take the train to Gyeongbokgung Station, Exit 5.

Many parts of the palace are still going under re-construction because the Japanese did severe damage to the palace during World War II. =|

Geunjeongjeon (勤政殿), the place where the Emperor did his official work..like meeting foreign envoys or announcing national policies.

Emperor’s seat.

Everyday, from 10am to 3pm, on the hour, there will be a performance of traditional Korean guard-changing. It happens at the main gate of Geunjeongmun (勤政門) so make sure you stay around that area near the end of the hour. The guards will go back to their stations after the performance and remain stationary. You can take a photo with them but I didn’t..most of them looked realllly grumpy..and you can’t blame them. Must have been super hot and miserable to wear such heavy costumes during summer.

Notice the contrast of the palace and its surroundings.
Gyeongbokgung is actually completely surrounded by high-rise modern buildings.

Gyeonghoeru (慶會樓). This is the royal banquet hall where the Emperor used to hold his feasts and parties.

Long life~~

Hyangwonjeong Pavilion (香遠亭). This is, to me, the prettiest spot in Gyeongbokgung.
The name means “place of far-reaching fragrances”.

The Koreans follow the 12 Zodiac Chinese Signs too.

The National Palace Museum of Korea is also located inside Gyeongbokgung, so remember to visit it.

Once you are done touring Gyeongbokgung,you might want to visit Tosokchon (토속촌) - arguably Korea’s most famous restaurant specialising in Korean Ginseng Chicken (Samgyetang 蔘鷄湯 삼계탕). Even former South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun is a huge fan of this restaurant!

To get to Tosokchon, go back to Gyeongbokgung Station and head towards Exit 2. It’s about a 5-minute walk from the station, but beause it’s located in a small alley, it’s actually pretty hard to find. Ask for directions from workers around the area, they will DEFINITELY know where it is.

Ginseng chicken is a very popular dish among Koreans, and it is normally consumed during Summer. It is said that the dish helps in relieving the summer heat and energises the human body.

I reached Tosokchon at around 4pm in the afternoon on a Saturday..and I nearly fainted at the sight of the queue. OMGGGGGGGGG.

Had to wait for about 30 minutes in the super hot Korean summer and I kept thinking, “This better be worth it.”

Tosokchon apparently uses only ginseng that are over ten years of age.

The restaurant is actually really big but there were too many customers.

I ordered the standard Ginseng Chicken – 14,000 KRW.

BEST KIMICHI AND KKAKDUGI EVER. I’ve become a huge fan of kimchi and kkakdugi (the cubed radish) ever since I’ve been in Korea..and these were the best I’ve eaten. So by now I was really anticipating the arrival of my ginseng chicken.

And when it finally came~~~ WAAA THE 30-MINUTE WAIT IN THE SUN WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!!!

The broth was super thick and milky, unlike all the other transparent ginseng chicken broths I’ve tried. And the aroma was so strong I could smell it even without getting close to the bowl. The broth was SUPER YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY, a heavenly blend of chicken essence and ginseng.

Huge chicken! NOMS NOMS NOMS.

The chicken was sooo soft and yummy!! The texture felt like marshmallow! The meat came off the bones with the slightest effort. OMGGG. The glutinous rice in the chicken was also the best I’ve ever had.

HUGE GINSENG. OMG. Actually I don’t like the taste of ginseng at all, but not eating it would defeat the purpose of ordering this dish.

HAPPY~~~~~~~~~~ HAPPY~~~~~~~ I think I’ll be forever happy if I can eat good food everyday.

If I ever go back to Korea, Tosokchon will be the first place I’ll re-visit. Is too yummy.