After the quiet and peaceful stroll along the traditional streets of Insa-dong, we decided it was time to take a glimpse of what the hustling and bustling city life of Korea was all about. We had Myeong-dong, the famous shopping strip, listed as our next destination in our itinerary. And as we were still adjusting to the lifestyle of Koreans in relation to public transportation, it was another tiring walk for us from our current spot to the nearest subway station. We still had much of the day ahead of us!
It pleases me on how the city has well thought about their visitors from other countries. You can find tourist kiosks that look exactly like this in almost all of the locations that tourists may typically list down into their itineraries.
As we headed towards the nearest subway station, we fortunately chanced upon the famous tourist spot called the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Being an architecture graduate, this is a destination in our itinerary that I highly anticipated to see in actual! And, I must say, seeing and experiencing it in actual is quite a sublime experience compared to reading about it on online articles.
Cheonggyecheon Stream is actually quite a feat in urban planning. It was actually once a highway road right smack at the center of this urban area. They eventually converted it into this beautiful breathing space that links the two halves of the city. In an architecture standpoint, I am pleased on their considerations to mitigate the carbon emissions in the surrounding area, as well as to provide a linkage or interaction area for the community in the middle of the city.
Finally, a serene place of respite has been provided to counter and contrast the hectic and demanding city life that the majority of the community has to experience every single day.
My sister, Alyssa, contemplating on life. (lol)
The local ahjummas taking a break by the stream.
Although it was a bit of a rushed sidetrack location from our itinerary, it was definitely a worthwhile experience to have taken even just a short stroll along the Cheonggye (Cheonggyecheon) Stream. Afterwards, the real adventure began as we were finally headed for Myeong-dong!
I must say, the first thing you will notice is the amount of K-Pop celebrities you will see in their ads, and also, how much Koreans are obsessed with the makeup and cosmetics! Seriously! At almost every corner you will turn to within Myeong-dong’s shopping strip, you will definitely see one or two cosmetic shops in the area! Here are a couple of cosmetic stores I was able to snap photos of:
The thing that I enjoyed about all these cosmetic stores though is that makeup is cheaper in Korea (since most of our cosmetic stores in the Philippines are sourced from Korea). Therefore, most of those stores will most definitely be on sale! And, yes. My mother, sisters, and I, were able to take a fair haul from these stores! Who would miss out on a chance from a good bargain? I don’t have a photo of our purchases, but we were basically able to land good deals on exfoliating masks, etc.
We included the famous Cat Cafe (whose name I cannot find online, for some reason! gasp!) in our itinerary, since it was definitely something new to experience. And, being the notorious cat lady in the family, I was especially ecstatic about it since it was the next this to do in our itinerary!
I took good note of how to locate the Cat Cafe. And according to reviews, the easiest way to spot it is to spot the cat mascot (as shown in the above photo)!
There was a Mario mascot beside the cat mascot. He was asleep though. I think he’s trying to promote a board game cafe, or a video cafe? Definitely other new cafes to try out should I come back to Seoul!
Alas! We found the sign that directed us to the entrance of the Cat Cafe! (I was really really trying to contain my excitement at this point, and my other siblings were just like ‘bleh.’ haha!)
I found it so adorable that they had a collage of the photos of their ‘talents,’ i.e. their cats, outside the entrance of the Cat Cafe. (Random: As I was typing down this blog entry, I kept typing ‘cate’ instead of ‘cat,’ and that is just a reminder to me on how brainwashed I am by ‘Doge.’ D: If you do not know ‘Doge,’ it is actually a popular internet meme. Just google it! :D)
As we were about to enter, there was a sign indicating that we should remove our shoes, and replace them with the house slippers provided on the shelves by the entrance. After changing our shoes, the staff reminded us about the house rules, such as: 1) Do not carry the cats, but you may caress or pet them; 2) Only the cats with the red, and yellow collars are safe to pet. The ones with blue collars are either aggressive, or not feeling well. So, please handle them with care. There were a bunch of other simple guidelines, but those were the general important rules to take note of.We paid for the entrance fee, which was about 450php in peso conversion, and that fee was inclusive of: one free drink, and unlimited petting and loving of cats! :’)
I found the idea of the ‘cat toilet’ so cute! They keep all the litter boxes in there, so as to retard the unpleasant smell from diffusing into the eating area.
We were allowed to freely take photos within the Cat Cafe, and so I did! haha! The dainty and wood-inspired interior was very adorable and photogenic! And, of course, the cats were very photogenic as well. So, from here on, I will just spam you with photos of the adorable cats I chanced upon the famous Cat Cafe! ♥
This cat was my favorite cause it was fat (they’re all fat, actually), had short ears, and always had this weird sad and worried look on its face! haha! SO CUTE. ♥
There were some kittens sleeping on the ironing table! :3
Christmas cat!
This was the lazy cat that kept sleeping on the counter, and eventually, went to the back table to drink milk out of a glass by scooping the milk up with its fluffy paw. Cutiepie! haha!
After a few hours of unwinding at the Cat Cafe, we decided to take our leave as we were headed for Hongdae next, which is pretty much the go-to place for the youth. It is also very known for its night life, street performers, and other fun activities. It’s a bit lengthy to include it in this blog entry, so I’ll just update you guys about it on another one next time!
Well, I hope you (virtually) enjoyed my experience for this part of my trip to Seoul, Korea as much as I did! I know my blog updates regarding my trip to Korea have been pretty slow, but I’ll be gradually updating you guys about the rest of the trip in the days to come, so kindly stay tuned!
