Seoul lovin' Day 6

Day 6 was probably my favorite out of all days.

And I thought going to SM Townland for the first time was magical..

It all started two days ago, the time we went apeshit at SM Townland on Monday.

It was our first time at a place we've been wanting to go since we first dived into the horribly addictive World of K-Pop, who wouldn't cry their eyeballs out at the sight Taemin's signature on the wall, right?

It might have been the excitement, but I had not noticed this huge banner right beside the cashier at the gift shop.

We've already gone a couple rounds in the gift shop while we were there, then we got hungry.

So, we had dinner at this restaurant located right below SMT. During dinner, I had taken out everything I bought earlier from the gift shop, and I just felt like I didn't get enough.

So we went back.. to the gift shop.. for the 5th time that day.

2 words: NO RAGRETS.

That one last trip to the gift shop driven by my amazing instincts made our trip to Seoul the most memorable step out of the country.. ever.

Nadia waited outside the shop as I ran in to buy a file. As I was paying, I noticed this poster beside the cashier. It was a poster/banner of Shinee's comeback with Korean written on it, and a date.

At first, I brushed the idea off. Like, pfsch ya right they won't be here.

I thought it was just promotional banner for their album, but the date didn't look right.

On the poster, it was written "05.08.15", but their album was going to be released that Monday night, which was the 3rd of August. So what was the 5th? Did SM get the dates wrong?

I asked the cashier, who knew close to no English at all, "..Er, igo mwoya?",

to which he replied "Shinee! Pen-sain!" 

Boy, what.

It was probably the shock, but it took me about a minute to realise he was saying fan sign.

I, of course, got overly excited. So, naturally, I left without any further question.

Until I realised I forgot to ask him how to get in the fan sign event.

Wednesday came! The day has finally arrived, people!

Initially, we allocated this day to explore the other parts of Gangnam besides Apgujeong Rodeo, which we covered when we visited the music label company buildings in Day 4.

That was exactly what we did the first half of the day.

We decided to skip all the extra miles of getting lost and hopped into the Gangnam Tour Bus!

.. We were the only ones on it.

The tour guide was an old man who spoke English (Thank you, God!) and layan-ed all of our typical touristy questions. He was so nice, God bless him!

It was very fascinating to learn so much historical background behind that small district.

Since Gangnam was for the rich and famous, they had a lot more of these skyscraper office buildings compared to other parts of Seoul. Having lunch during lunchtime here would be a nightmare.

Yup, CPK in Seoul. My favorite pizza place in the World.. almost 5,000km away.

After hopping off the bus, the tour guide ahjussi so kindly directed us to Sinsa-dong & Garosu-gil.

It was only a short 10 minute walk from the Gangnam Tourist Centre, but the heat made it feel like hours of walking with 10 kilos on our backs.

But my God, was it worth it.

Sinsa-dong was cooler (in style and literally in temperature) than most places in Seoul because of the entire stretch of the street were filled with trees.

It had tons of cool, hip cafes everywhere, with model-looking Koreans walking (read: strutting) up and down the street. Idols are usually seen around here, too.

Oh wow, this 3CE flagship store in Garosu-gil was something else.

It was 2 stories tall, with a cinema (?) that we totally forgot to explore. There was also a stairs down to the basement, which was also filled with 3CE goodies.

The first floor was filled with people, so we couldn't really take pictures because of their strict no-photo policy.

Not much difference in terms of product compared to the Stylenanda shop in Hongdae, but definitely bigger and a lot more stock of products. So if you find something you like in the Hongdae store that is sold out, there's most probably one here in this store.

Since the 1st floor was crowded, Nadia and I decided to go down to the basement. To our surprise, it was empty! And much, much nicer. Not sure if anyone was even aware of a basement.

Took the opportunity to snap some pictures of the store downstairs.

After several purchases of totally unnecessary lipsticks, we continued down the street and spotted this beautiful vintage store called 9owls.

Once you enter the entrance, there's quite a steep staircase down to the actual store.

The first thing you see when you enter would be the huge wall of countless of celebrity autographs, from Irene, to the girls of Red Velvet, to Shinee members. Seems like everyone in the business has been here.

That being said, the things here aren't really cheap. Absolutely nothing compared to Edae / Hongdae.

They had tons of gorgeous vintage Chanels, used and brand new. Even vintage jewelery, everything from Cartier to Chanel to even Versace.

The price wasn't cheap, but it was definitely a million times cheaper than the prices of Chanels in the market now. Especially it being vintage and all.

There was a bag I wanted, I loved it because it screamed "Chanel" but didn't look anything like the classic. It was all black with slightly tarnished gold hardware.

If my memory serves me right, I think it was priced at about almost a million won = RM2,800.

If I do get a part time job next summer and come back to Seoul after that, I might actually get myself a belated 20th birthday gift..

 Next thing we knew, it was already 6.30pm!

So we rushed to the nearest subway station and stopped at Samseong Station.

And we're back here.. for Shinee!!

You think with her serious expression, she'd be on her phone solving some masalah dunia, right..

Still on the phone, must be something serious.

Nope. Watching the live streaming of the fan sign happening 50 meters from where we were.

So close.. Yet, so far..

The calm before the storm.

After waiting for what seemed like a decade (it was 20 minutes), security guards started coming out and looking all panic-y seeing all these fangirls with nothing but determination in our eyes.

They had to make a couple of rounds telling us to not touch or shout at the boys.

PFSCH, yeah.. that's going to happen..

I screamed.

And then I almost got trampled over a million girls with much more determination than I had.

Hey, don't blame me okay. I bet they didn't go around the entire Gangnam that day!

After all that, we decided to calm our lil weak hearts with a good dinner.

We picked that restaurant downstairs again. With shaky hands and smiles as big as Texas, I ended my 6th day in Seoul with a good, hearty salad.
During dinner, we couldn't contain our excitement a slight bit. So much for staying cool.
We got it all on video, too! It's on my Instagram, just a few scrolls down.
Please excuse my nervous shriek.

'Til then!

xoxo

Tania

Seoul lovin' Day 5

I'm so bad at this blogging thing.

I either blog a million posts at a time, or I disappear and come back after 2 weeks.

Anyways, Day 5 of Seoul!

After going to SM Townland at Coex Mall, which made my entire trip, I was ready to pack up and go home. I was so sure I've done everything I had to do here, my trip was complete.

Or so I thought.. (refer to next post - Day 6)

Today was a more chilled day, since we were out the entire day yesterday. Left the apartment at 9am, and got home at almost 8pm, traveling from Mapo-gu all the way to the Gangnam district.

So, we had a late start to the day. Got Starbucks for breakfast and hanged in the apartment for a bit.

We, then, Googled halal restaurants to try around the area. Korean food, to be specific.

We've heard only the most amazing things about the Korean barbecue, especially on K-Shows where the idols would go on and on about the barbecue.

It's so raved about by the locals to the point where Korean BBQ is considered a prize in gameshows and reality shows.

Like c'mon lek ah, we Malaysians love our nasi lemak, but you don't see us giving up a trophy for that..

We were curious, obviously, so we searched the nearest Halal Korean BBQ restaurant, and Eid popped up. In every search result.

It's even highly talked about by Malaysians visiting Seoul, reviews on their Facebook page is filled with only nice things to say about the food and the family that owns the restaurant.

So off we went to Itaewon!

Though it wasn't so far, we still had to transfer at a stop to change to the line that took us straight to Itaewon station.

I've mentioned Itaewon in my previous post, I also touched a bit about the restaurant there, too.

But I'm gonna talk about it again, because it was just that good.

Since it was summer, they didn't have two of their 6-dish menu. It's not much of a variety, but the ones that they have, they were enough.

We were served by the son of the owner (who was, by the way, a cutie pie).

He explained the menu because we were first time customers, and we decided on the bulgogi set.

It comes with a side of Kimchi, salad and sweet honey-ish achovies (SO GOOD!!), the Korean barbecued beef, a bowl of white rice and a vegetable soup.

Again, no fork. I give up, Korea!!

Sweet, honey-fied anchovies update 5 minutes later: GONE!

In the midst of our "Hoooooly smack, this is so good!", the cute son of the owner came by our table to check up on us. Of course we told him this was the best meal we've had throughout the trip.

He, then, gave us this tea. I repeat: the tea. The tea that saved my life.

The Omijacha tea.

Gurl. Give me a second.

This tasted so good, I don't think anything I've ever tasted has ever tasted so good.

Omijacha literally translates to "Five Flavor Tea", but it just tasted sweet to me.

It's a traditional berry tea, can be served cold or hot, but I loved it cold. You can apparently buy more from the restaurant, but let's be real here I ain't carrying a liter of tea up the hill to Itaewon Station.

I would actually go back to Seoul, by hook or by crook, just for this.

Or maybe for that cute son of the owner (Goddamn it, I've really got to look his name up)

*Update: His name is Saad*

After that, we headed back to Hongdae to look for K-Pop albums.

The store (which was a bookstore) that the Hongdae Tourist Information counter recommended had very limited albums, and probably double the price we could get elsewhere.

While we walking out of the store, we saw magazines.

Oh, someone up there must really love us.

Coincidentally, we visited Seoul on the month Chanyeol & Sehun were the cover of CeCi magazine, Taemin, Kai & Krystal were on the spread of W Magazine, Big Bang was in GQ Magazine, and Suho, Chen & Baekhyun were on the front page of Star Magazine.

So we bought all. In twos. Duh!

We didn't feel like exploring too much of Seoul that day because we had a whole full day planned out the next day.

'Til then!

xoxo

Tania

Things I didn't know (but wish I did) before coming to Seoul

Okay, I know I'm still in the midst of telling all about my Seoul trip,

but I feel like I better post this entry before continuing with whatever day I last posted.

Things YOU should know before traveling to Seoul

so that you don't make the same mistakes I did:

#1: Free Size

This isn't a mistake, it's more of a precaution to those whose bodies are not "Free Size" sized. 

Num sayin'?

I'm not only talking about oversized bodies, even girls and dudes who are on the taller side would have a little trouble finding clothes in Seoul. Most clothes sold here are free sized, and most shops won't let you try their clothes on. Especially in the Summer, one sales assistant told me, because people tend to sweat (a lot, in my case) and they didn't want to ruin the clothes with BO.

So for those who aren't in the range of UK8 and below, it's best for you to either bring clothes for all the days you'll be in Korea, or bring extra cash. Since most shops sell only free sized clothing, the shops that do sell clothes in different sizes would mark their prices up.

#2: Edae > Hongdae

I know, I know. 

Some of you might think, "but Tania, didn't you just say Hongdae was your favorite place on Earth?!"

It is, it really is. What I'm talking about is the prices of clothes at Edae & Hongdae. Edae is an abbreviation (Koreans are big on them) of Ehwa Daehakgyo, which means Ehwa University.

These two are only two subway stops apart, but prices of almost (if not, the exact) same thing in Hongdae can go up to twice the price compared to Edae.

However, Hongdae does have more variety. My suggestion is to go to Edae first to browse and believe me when I tell you to just get whatever you like here, because you won't find these prices anywhere else. If what you want isn't in Edae, then chances are they're at Hongdae. A little pricier, but it's a kazillion times cheaper than anywhere else in the World. So why not?

The clothes in Edae isn't cheap because it isn't as good of a quality than everywhere else, it's because the shops at Edae are less than a minute walk from the campus grounds of Ehwa Womans University.

It's catered to the girls from the university, so the prices are university students approved.

And you know how broke we, students, can get..

Prices start from 5,000won (RM15), which was the price of majority of the clothes.

#3: Don't "annyeong" everyone

Here's something funny..

So..

Koreans are very warm people, and they smile and greet you whenever they can.

So when Nadia and I were at Deoksugung Palace, which was one of the stops on the Seoul Tour Bus, there was an Ahjussi (uncle) near the gates of the palace, so he greeted us with an "Annyeong!" and a smile.

Duh of course lah I said "Oh! Annyeong!" back, kan?

Yeah.. don't.

When Nadia heard that, she looked back at me and gave me this what the f are you doing look.

So I gave her what's your problem! look back.

Appppppparently.. "Annyeong" is something you say you to lil' kids. Or at least someone younger.

You say "Annyeong haseyo" to older people, or everyone else you don't know that well.

Whoops.

I just thought it was a shorter version of Annyeong-haseyo, who knew it would be extremely rude to miss out a three syllable word..

Thank God that ahjussi just looked at me and smiled, he probably knew I was a dumb know-nothing tourist and brushed it off. Some of them would actually go up to you and even scold you for saying that. How embarrassing would that be if that happened..

#4: Bring cash, but have money in your card

If you plan to shop (let's be honest, who goes to Seoul to not shop?), this is my suggestion to you.

Always carry cash, and pay for your food at restaurants with your card.

Reason being because most shops give extra discounts if you pay with cash, some even give discounts up to 5,000won (RM15)! Also, cards can sometimes act up and not work (like what happened to Nadia & I) at some shops.

What I did was bring all money in cash and had so little in my card. 

So I paid everything in cash, which was okay.. Until I ran out of money. And had to shamelessly ask mama to bank in some in the middle of the night..

Shops like SUM gift shop in SM Town and when you buy k-pop CDs in Myeongdong accept cards, so it's also advisable to pay by card there. Major stores like SPAO and H&M, too.

Also, whatever it is pun, you can still withdraw cash from international ATM machines around Seoul, that can be found especially at touristy areas.

#5: Food...

Oh boy, food.. Where do I start..

Like I had mentioned before, you can find more people coming out of plastic surgery clinics than you can find Halal restaurants in Seoul. And I am dead serious.

For the past 5 years, never have I stepped into Burger King or KFC, but because I was desperate for anything but pork, these were sometimes our only choice in Seoul.

Street food tu jangan cakap lah, we didn't eat a single thing.

But even restaurants in Myeongdong, Hongdae, Edae, Gangnam all had either pork or alcohol.

A place with an abundance of Halal restaurants would be around the Itaewon area, which is where the Seoul Mosque is located. 

We had lunch there one afternoon at this restaurant called Eid.

There were tons of Halal restaurants selling kebab and whatnot, standard overseas Halal food.

But we wanted to eat Halal Korean BBQ so bad, so we googled and found one here.

It is fully operated by this Korean Muslim family, owned by the father and managed by the son, cooked by the mother. Too cute!

The moment we walked in the restaurant, which was conveniently located a few doors down from the Mosque, we were greeted by the son with an "Assalamualaikum!"

........ Uh, SOLD?! Dah lah handsome. Dah lah Korean.

DAH. LAH. MUSLIM.

Ok back to the restaurant.

It was so, so, so sedap! I don't know if it was because of the environment (a.k.a the son) or it was memang legit sedap, don't ask me I was biased the second I stepped foot in the restaurant. LOL.

We had the Korean bulgogi set, which is Korean barbecued beef that came with rice and the side dishes were kimchi, salad and this sweet, honey-ish anchovies.

It was honestly the best dish I had throughout the trip. We would have gone back to Eid everyday if only it wasn't out of the way, since we had to make a couple of subway transfers to Itaewon.

I am begging everyone that plans to go to Seoul to try this restaurant out, not only is the food good, you really feel at home here. They are so warm and welcoming, I would definitely come back the next time I am in Seoul.

If you're extremely particular about your meals, it being Halal and everything, I recommend you to stay at Itaewon, or areas along Line 6 of the subway. That would make going there during lunch or dinner much, much more convenient.

There are several guesthouses, I assume Muslim ones, around Itaewon. Even the family running Eid Restaurant has a Muslim-only guesthouse not far from the restaurant.

For more information on the restaurant and the guesthouse, here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/eid.muslim.friendly.guesthouse

Other than Itaewon, we also discovered an extremely amazing Indian restaurant at Sinchon,

which was only one subway stop (without transfer, woo hoo!) away from Hongik University Station.

I am a huge fan of Indian food, we get good ones here in KL even. But this one.. This one was one of my favorites.. ever! Like, can bertanding with Khan's in London kind of good, you know?

It's called Jyoti, please don't ask me to describe where exactly it is 'cause I am horrible with directions, but it you google "Jyoti Sinchon Seoul", you'll get it.

It's Halal, too!

#6: Buy as many K-Pop CDs there

My biggest regret was not doing just that.

It's true, there is no place on Earth you can get a large variety of cheap K-Pop albums from zaman I want nobody nobody but chu! up to the latest albums just released the day before other than Seoul.

To compare the prices, we found EXO's latest album "Love Me Right" for only 12,000won (RM36) at Myeongdong, and we found the same album at Rock Corner here in KL for RM130.

We couldn't even find the outdated nor the latest albums here. It was so frustrating!

If you're a big k-pop fan, just borong ok. Believe me, you'll miss your chance if you don't.

#7: Learn (at least a little of) the Korean language

I know, who got time fo' dat..

But really, this is for your own good. And your survival in Seoul.

Unless you booked with a traveling agent and have everything planned out, your best friend for the next couple of days in Seoul will be your google translate app on your phone.

Koreans are extremely proud of their language, to the extent where they feel that they don't need to know any other languages, which is hell for any tourist.

Even in touristy areas like cosmetic stores at Myeongdong, they are going to speak to you in full Korean, whether you look like the total opposite of how a typical Korean would look like or not.

Sign languages and broken English will get you somewhere, but girl.. It ain't getting you far.

Thank goodness Nadia knows a lot of Korean (thanks, KShowOnline.com!), so she was basically my translator throughout the trip. Even then, there were several occasions where she would look at me with the exact same clueless expression I had on.

But I did realize that the closer you are to university areas, like Hongdae & Edae, the easier it is to communicate in English.

Why? Because in Korean universities, it's compulsory to take English as a subject, so majority of the stores in Hongdae & Edae would be filled with university students working part-time.

Cafés, too! The Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks near our place had no problem speaking to me in full English, without me having to break my sentence into:

Coffee...... Hana (one)..... Hot..........How much?

*points to cash*

How many....*points to 1,000 won notes* ????

It is extremely exhausting.

Learn things like:

1) ... eodi-eyo? = Where is... ?

2) ... isseoyo? = Do you have... ?

3) Eolma-eyo? = How much is this?

Or just study this whole thing before you leave for Seoul: 

http://www.rocketlanguages.com/korean/learn/shopping-words-in-korean/

Thank me later.

#8: Skip the Seoul City Tour Bus

Unless you reeeeally want to.. It's not the best I've been on.

Of course, it is the most convenient way to get around and see the tourist spots in the city all in one day, saving you the hassle of getting lost and wasting more time finding places.

But they didn't have an audio tour guide (the ones where you put on the headphones and listen to a pre-recorded historical background of every stop),

and they only had a Korean live tour guide.. who only spoke in Korean.. to Korean tourists..

-__-

So we had to just sit still at the back of the bus with the other clueless foreign tourists until the bus driver announces the next stop, in a very thick Korean accent.. so you have to listen very carefully..

Of course, once we hopped off at whatever stop we wanted to get off, there were English translations.

Like for the palaces, there would be boards explaining the history behind every building, in English.

Some stops were a bit out of the way and pretty difficult to get to if we were to go by ourselves, so it was good that the bus took us there. But if you're feeling extra adventurous and willing to get lost and find these places by yourself without having to pay the extra buck on the entrance ticket, just google "Seoul City Tour Bus" and check the map route. Then do your own research on the places you're really interested in going and how to get there, and go by yourself.

To sum up the entire city tour bus experience:

-_____-

Skip it.

#9: Browse first, buy later

This is especially important for all you solo travelers still under the care of your parents, 

traveling without them.. but with their money..

If you're earning and plan to splurge in Seoul, go ahead! Go crazy, even.

Or if you're one of those kids your parents just hand their credit card to.

Not judging!

But if your parents gave you a certain amount of money to spend there for the whole trip, you probably would be better off allocating a whole day of extreme patience and just looking around without buying anything first. Especially if you're going to shopping hotspots like Myeongdong.

Of course, it can be pretty tough, but chances are when you first go to places like these, you'll get all rambang mata-ed and buy everything you see. Apa lagi when you see them handing out face masks endorsed by your favorite k-pop group.. you even feel obliged to get something.

No. Stop it.

Put it down, smile, take the free mask they handed you (penting), say Dashi olgeyo (I'll come back),

and leave the store.

Why? Because chances are you'll find something even better (or prettier, cosmetic packaging in Korea are outta this World!) 5 minutes down the street.

This is me speaking from experience, although I don't regret a single thing I bought in Seoul, 

I could live without those 3 bottles of face moisturizers I bought on impulse.

You would probably be like,

 "Ala nothing lah RM30, I'll just buy in case I finish my other two bottles"

Yeah until you run out of cash on the 4th day.

Don't be like me, ok everyone.

Have some self-control, woman!

#10: Save yourself from the vicious Seoul heat/cold

From the end of June to late August, or from November to February..

Don't. Go. To. Seoul.

Use the most of these months, instead, to kumpul all dat ca$h for your trip in March-May or from September to November. These are the ideal months to visit Seoul, even according to the locals.

We were a month too early from experiencing the beautiful autumn leaves falling down along the streets of Garosu-gil, and bumping into some handsome Korean boy coming out of a café.. Like the ones you see in a Korean drama..

JK, but you get the drift.

When we went, which was from the 30th of July to the 7th of August, is was a scorching 30 degrees.

And when I first checked before I left for Seoul, 

I was like hek eleh Malaysia 32 degrees! This is nothing!

... ...

Tapi Malaysia hujan, bengong.

I was so oblivious to the other words on the google weather page, 

'cause duh.. Who pays attention to them anyways, right? What do they even mean? Pfsch!

Yeah no, pay attention to them.

Like the humidity %. And the fact that the wind was going below 5 mph. AND no rain.

Stupid, Tania!

So what did I do when I saw that Seoul was three degrees below Malaysia?

Pack jackets!

Yeah, I kid you not. I packed a varsity, a blazer, and a parka.

See, people. This is why you educate yourself. So that you don't be stupid and pack an extra 3kgs.

I've never felt so stupid or angry with myself.

#11: Make breakfast

Okay, so this might not apply to some people, but if you:

_

1) Are staying in Hongdae or Edae,

2) Actually wake up in the morning to have breakfast,

you might want to make your own food for breakfast, which means you'd need to go grocery shopping before going anywhere else.

This half-applied for me because my sister doesn't wake up until noon, but I'm up by 8am and get hungry 30 minutes later. So if I were to get groceries and only cook for myself, it wasn't worth the 30 minute trip to the nearest grocery store. There were plenty of convenient stores, but they didn't even sell bread! The closest thing to it were cream-filled buns.

They had very limited stock of groceries like eggs and whatnot, but they were much pricier and only came in twos for some reason. So to buy for our entire stay of 9 nights and 8 days wasn't worth it.

They did sell pre-packed sandwiches and kimbab, though, but I don't eat rice and the sandwich fillings were usually bacon.

So for the entire stay, I had to live off banana milk, overpriced egg sandwiches at Starbucks down the road and croissants. If you're a morning person, you'd understand how depressed I felt every morning,

to the point where I was honestly considering asking my mum to poslaju bread and eggs to me.

I say "if you are staying in Hongdae or Edae" because these areas are exactly like my sister.

It's only awake from noon onwards.

Nothing is open there besides the convenient stores, so don't bother.

Also, if you think Korean ramyeon is an option, refer to #6.

I had to take my phone out and search the meaning of every damn thing on those ramyeon packaging.

Everything was in Hangul! They were all packed in red packets, so okay lah they're all pedas.. 

But what else are they saying?!

WHY IS THAT GUY IN THE CORNER SCREAMING HIS BRAIN OFF?

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???

The struggle was real.

Besides all this, I had an incredible time in Seoul,

and I can't wait to continue blogging about the remaining days soon.

'Til then!

xoxo

Tania

Seoul lovin' Day 4

Day 4 
All about K-Pop 

Did you think I would come to Seoul without dedicating a whole day to just K-pop?!

You're funny. 

Yup, one whole day. Nothing.. but K-Pop.

I have been looking forward to this day since the second we planned this trip.

I think I planned this day out more thoroughly than all my essay assignments..combined.

Being the excited fangirl I am, get ready for a photo spam.

Another warning: this post is a lil over because well.. I'm naturally over, but put me in a K-Pop building? Yeah..no.

This is me toning my kpop-ness down. Imagine me actually there.

Started the day with leaving our apartment at 9am to Samseong Station in the Gangnam area, which took us a good hour by train.

It was a pleasant ride, though. Since Gangnam is across the Han River, the train crossed the bridge and my God, the river is beautiful. Wish I had taken more photos of it, was probably too mesmerized.

Tip: Be sure to bring headphones for the train ride. An hour didn't pass that fast..

It was pretty easy getting to Coex Mall from the Samseong Station, there were signs all over the station.

So once we got out of the station, this was our view. Nadia and I were hyperventilating so hard, people around us probably thought we were getting a seizure.

The Coex Mall is a proper mall with shops and department stores, but the one on the right is SMTown (a.k.a my dream)

For those who aren't into K-pop, lemme just fill you in.

SM Entertainment is one of the main one of the, if not the, biggest entertainment companies in Seoul.

EXO, Girls Generation, Shinee, they're all groups under SM Ent.

In December of '14, SM Ent. launched SM Townland which is a 6-floor building of anything and everything you can think of involving SM Ent. artists.

Um.. heaven on Earth for Tania, more like?!

I was gawking at this Suho 3D figure for, no joke, 5 minutes.

They also had this interactive wall of fame, where you can take pictures of your favorite artists.

Not interactive enough, hello Suho ain't even looking at me.

Kai: I love only.. her

Yup, thanks, babe!

These Love Me Right jerseys weren't for sale, boohoo.

I would have paid big bucks for the Suho one, but they only had these jerseys without the number and the name.

So it was just a plain jersey..that costs RM300.

There were signatures like these all around SM Townland.

This one is EXO Baekhyun's. Chen, Xiumin, Joy, Irene and a lot more can be found on the tables and chairs at the cafe.

It's like sitting where they sat lah basically. They might not have even sat there pun but whatevs, 

let a girl dream ok.

If I begged my future husband hard enough, do you think he'd let me put this huge Suho poster in our room?

These photos were from their photo booth on the 5th floor.

These were the interactive booths, where you:

First, step in and stand on the footprint sticker on the floor.

Secondly, pick a boy group or girl group.

Then you pick specific members you want with you in the photo.

Then you wait a second, and the members will (virtually) walk in the booth next to you.

And then you pose and try to keep your composure and not scream.

That last step was very hard to do, because I was so fluttered 'cause it felt so real.

Over tak? Hehe.

Haih, if only you didn't cost half my life savings..

Ahh.. The gift shop..

The place I spent three quarters of the cash I brought to Seoul.

No ragrets.

This looks creepy, but this is the closest I'll ever be to them so I will treasure this photo all my life.

LOL

Anyone planning on becoming a K-Pop star?

SM Townland has it all.

Believe me when I say this, it took me a lot of patience and thinking and a lot of "Tania, don't be stupid" monologues to not get this helium balloons.

I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to getting a whole box of them for my upcoming 20th birthday.

I actually thought about turning back when we on the train home.

Should have bought at least one, but..

I think I've found my 20th birthday cake inspiration, guys.

I knew Tiffany and I would get along!

My favorite SNSD member <3

On the 5th floor where the interactive photo booth is located, there's this huge ass screen showing SM artists' music videos.

What a sight to see Suho as huge as that.. Ah.

We couldn't really take photos in the gift shop, so I only sneakily took some.

Look at all those EXO files!! How do you expect me not to get all?!

However, the gift shop is a bit on the overpriced side. Especially the t-shirts, which costs something like 40,000won (RM120). I love EXO to death, but I wouldn't pay over a hundred ringgit for a t-shirt.

Especially when brands like SPAO also has an EXO collection in store, which costs 19,000won (RM60) for a t-shirt. A third of the price for basically the same thing.

But other than the t-shirts, the little things like files (5,000 won: RM15), EXO polaroids (18,000 won: RM55), huge posters (10,000 won: RM30) and stationeries were not that bad. I'd rather get the little things from the official store than anywhere else because they're of better quality than the ones sold elsewhere.

Don't expect too much from this store, though. Most of the things are sold out.

Like those EXO pillows, not even one member is available. Same goes to the notebooks, mugs, memo pads.

And for some things like the files, members like Suho and Kai were all sold out.

*wails*

Of course I didn't leave empty-handed..

Just right below the Coex Mall, there's this restaurant called La Grillia.

We came here twice because it was so good! The menu ranges from pastas to salads, steak, roasted chicken.

We also loved how surprisingly affordable it was.

Especially for a very fancy restaurant in the centre of Gangnam, you can't even get these prices around touristy areas like Myeongdong!

After that, we took the train to Apgujeong Rodeo Station,

where all the entertainment companies are.

Apgujeong Rodeo was still in Gangnam so it only took us one transfer and a short 5-10 minutes to get here. As soon as we exited the station, the street that greeted us reminded me of Beverly Hills.

It was just a long street of everything designer, from MCM, Gucci, Prada, you name it - it's there.

It was actually quite a walk from the station to our first stop; JYP Entertainment.

And with the heat! My God, I felt like passing out.

One thing that made the walk bearable was the excitement I felt when a black van passed us.

What black van, you ask?

K-pop groups usually travel together, so they're always in this van going somewhere.

And these vans were everywhere along Apgujeong Rodeo Street!

They were fully tinted, so we couldn't see who was inside, but just the thrill of knowing that your favorite group might just be inside was enough for my heart to beat twice as fast whenever these vans passed us.

There were also a bunch of these vans parked outside the entertainment company buildings.

First stop: JYP Entertainment.

*shouts* Junior oppa!!!!!!!!! Are you in there!!!!!!

*deep breath*

The SM building..

*deep breath*

EXO was here..

The building is located right opposite a playground, so Nadia and I stayed there for a good half an hour.. Just in case..

Unfortunately, no one came out or came in. We later found out that EXO wasn't in Seoul, and was shooting a commercial elsewhere. Unlike JYP, there were no vans outside the building.

We were too scared to enter the compound, so we just took a picture from afar.

Phew! 

 Day 4 was just filled with walking, by 7pm we were exhausted.

From the SM building to the train station was - again - quite a walk, so imagine us all sweaty and panting once we reached the station.

Working hours in Seoul finish at 5 or 6pm, but the subway was still full around 7pm. It took us another hour to reach Hongdae Station.. standing up in  a crammed train.

>.<

But if anyone were to ask me if I'd go back to this day and do it all again, I wouldn't even wait a second before saying (read: shouting) YES.

It was honestly one of the highlights of my trip, everything was exactly how I expected it to be, if not better! Not many can understand my excitement or happiness, especially when it comes to my k-pop obsession, but I don't know how else to express this level of euphoria.

Even though I've gone to all these places already, the next time I come to Seoul, I would still go to these places again. And I'll still be just as excited as I was when I first went.

xoxo

Tania