Sunset at Gyeongbokgung

After walking around Hongdae (see my Lunch at Hongdae post for the first part of this post), Ken & I decided to go to Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) cos none of us have ever been there during sunset. It was an impulsive decision, really, so we didn't really pay attention to the time when we made our way to the palace. By the time we arrived at the ticketing counter, we already missed the last time for entry. Bummer. But the sunset was pretty, so we decided to just hang around for a bit, do a little shooting and people-watching around the palace's gate. 

There was quite a lot of foot traffic around the area. The people exiting the palace combined with the evening rush hour crowd made the area very interesting to observe. The tourists who stayed in one spot for a good 15 minutes retaking selfies after selfies to get that perfect shot, the locals who leisurely taking their afternoon walk with their friends, family, and loved ones around the palace's ground enjoying the sunset, and the office workers in suits walking in a rush without even glancing at the the palace, kept me entertained as we stayed and lingered there for almost an hour. One thing for sure though, everybody's slowly (and some, rushingly) making their way away from the palace. And soon after that, we decided to joined the crowd and called it a day.

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Mono Sushi

Passed by Mono Sushi (모노스시) when I was on my way home after exploring Samseong-dong (삼성동) for a little bit. It was during that weird hour when it's too early for dinner, but I already felt a lil' bit hungry from all the walking around I've done earlier that day. So when I see this place, I thought, the place looks nice, they sell savory stuff, let's give it a try.

I walked into the minimal store and headed over to the counter where there were only a couple of selections left. I picked the Sweet Chicken with Nut Maki (견과류 달콤 치킨) and the Prawn Mayo Wasabi Maki (와사비 통새우마요) and to my surprise, they tasted better than I expected. Lots of flavors, definitely uncommon flavor combinations for makis. They also give you free soup with your orders. I think for next time, I gotta come at an earlier time so I can try the other options that they have.

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Gentle Monster Garosu-Gil (pt.2)

The second floor has the bathroom theme going on and bedroom was the theme for the basement floor. They did a really great job setting up and picking up all the furnishing for the rooms. And I definitely appreciate the little details that they got going on, like the soap they put on top of the sink. Nice touch. I definitely wouldn't mind having this kind of bathroom in my house btw :P

After looking up the concept of the store online on the Gentle Monster's website, here's what I found:

"Gentle Monster's 5th Space, 'Home and Recovery', is the intersection of space with emotional context of home and recovery. The space which covers up past traces presents emotional recovery through intuitive objects and different themes."

If you're ever in the Garosu-gil area and you are into nicely designed spaces and cool sunglasses, definitely check this place out.

ps: See part 1 of this post here.

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Gentle Monster Garosu-Gil

Gentle Monster (젠틀몬스터) has become one of my favorite store to visit in Seoul. Apart from the cool sunglasses they have on display, their stores are one of the most artistic, well-designed spaces I've ever been to, especially for a retail store. Every locations has their own distinct design. How cool is that? They have a couple of locations in South Korea—as well as overseas—and this particular one that I visited was the one in Garosu-gil (가로수길), Sinsa (신사) area.

This was my first visit to this location and I was super impressed with the space. It has 4 floors with 4 different vibes. My intended 5-minutes quick stop at this place turned into an-hour long visit cos I lost track of time looking through every floor of this building. Everything is so fascinating and some of them are weirdly intriguing. A good example of this is this white and red themed interior that they have going on on the first floor. The stark blood red objects that are displayed around the room really pop out against the white walls and furniture.

Since there are a bunch of shots from the other floors, I'm breaking this post into two parts. So stay tuned for the next part! :)

ps: see my post on one of Gentle Monster's Quantum Projects at their Hongdae location here.

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Early Spring in Seoul

Around this time last year, things were pretty busy with school so I didn't really have time to go see a lot of the waiting-for-spring-to-come excitements in different parts of Seoul. When the harsh winter wind is no longer slapping your face every time you step outside, four layers of clothing is no longer necessary (I know, I know, four layers is a lot. But hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to survive the winter around here ;P), and you can see hints of colors from the budding flowers around the city, that's when you know that winter is almost over and spring is just around the corner. Plus, everybody just seems to be in a better mood with the arrival of more sunny days and the rising temperature. Myself included :)

This year, since I don't have school anymore, I had a chance to visit a couple of places during the end of winter/early spring days here in Seoul and there were some common sights that I encountered during these visits. Some of them include people sitting down on picnic mats on parks, ahjummas & ahjussis wearing extremely bright-colored hiking outfits, and young people wearing spring clothing—even though on some days, it was still pretty darn cold for those thin spring coats in my opinion. But one thing for sure, everybody seemed to be trying to take advantage of the longer daylight to enjoy the warm weather and soaking up the sun as much as possible, while waiting patiently for spring to announces its arrival.

ps: Things have been pretty hectic these past couple of weeks with the traveling, work, family matters, and planning for upcoming trips. There are lots of stories from my Seoul trip and some exciting trips in the near future that I can't wait to share with you guys. Stay tuned! :)

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