Universal Studios Florida

The day after we arrived in Orlando, we visited Universal Studios Florida. The weather was pretty cold, but not that cold, compared to the snow storm that was happening in the east coast. But it was definitely colder than the usual weather. Since we went after the New Year celebration, the Christmas decorations were still up on the theme parks. I totally loved the feel of the holiday season. Lining up for rides during holiday season was another thing tho. Since school was still out, the park was pretty crowded and you had to wait at least 1 hour for rides. The Despicable Me ride was the craziest, I think the wait time was 4 hours or so. We kinda skipped the long waits rides and opted for the shorter one and just explored the parks with the time we had.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Earlier this year, I went to Orlando, Florida for our yearly family vacation and spent our time mostly on theme parks. So to kick off the travel series, here's our lunch at Bubba Gump before we began our day at Universal Studio. Having been eating a lot of Korean food lately, I have to say these look pretty good right now :) 

Foresta Book Cafe

Visited Foresta Book Cafe at Heyri Art Village a couple of weeks ago when I went to Paju. I was there on a weekday, so the cafe was pretty quite and only a couple of people were there. I have to say I love this place. High ceilings and plenty of natural lights that come into the place makes this a perfect place to read, study, or if you simply want to escape the hustle bustle of the city (although I'm not too sure how this place is on weekends though). Walking in, you'll be greeted with colorful tables and chairs and the big triangle tables in the center of the room is a nice touch to the interior of the cafe. For Korean drama viewers out there, you might've seen this place from a couple of dramas. The very recent one that I watched is the scene from 'Fated to Love You'. The cafe is also connected to the bookstore, although I don't think you can bring your drinks to the bookstore. If you're visiting Heyri Art Village in Paju, I would recommend visiting this place. 

Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu • 춘천집닭갈비막국수

Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu (춘천집닭갈비막국수) is one of the popular places around Sinchon area to eat Dakgalbi. The food is good and the price is affordable too (costs around 6000-8000 won per portion). This place is also popular amongst the locals and also tourists, so if you come here, the staff can help you order too (I think they can speak basic phrases for ordering in Chinese and Japanese). We ordered the cheese dakgalbi and it wasn't too spicy. So for those who can't handle spicy food, this would be a good choice. 

After ordering, the staff brought us banchan and we waited for a couple of minutes for the food to be ready because it involved a couple of steps when they cooked the food. First they put all the food items on the grill pan, mixed them when they're cooked, and added cheese in the end. But they pretty much did all the cooking. So all you need to do is sit back, relax, and wait for the food to be ready.

Chuncheonjip Dakgalbi Makguksu (춘천집닭갈비막국수)
1, Yonsei-ro 5ga-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 서대문구 연세로5가길 1 (창천동)

Sinchon Station (Subway Line 2), Exit 1.
Turn right onto the first side street (Hyundai Department Store).
Go straight for 130m and cross the street.
The restaurant is next to Changcheon Children's Park (창천어린이공원).

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You Are Here Cafe - Grand Opening Day

For those of you who know Eat Your Kimchi and Talk To Me In Korean, you probably heard about the cafe they're opening in Hongdae. So yesterday was the grand opening day for You Are Here Cafe and I (plus hundreds other nasties that were in town) showed our support by showing up for the big day. So here's how the day went.

On their video, they said that the cafe will open at 10 am. I got there a little late, around 10.10am-ish and there's already a line that was formed in front of the cafe (and it's quite far from the entrance of the cafe). If you see the picture below, the cafe entrance is approximately around where the trees are.

The line was moving pretty slowly and I think after 30 mins or so, there were even more people that came after me. The line has gotten really really long then after. About 50 mins in, Simon and Martina came out one after the other saying that they want buy water for people who were waiting in line. Very thoughtful of them :) So then minutes later, water was distributed to the people in line. Hyun Woo from TTMIK also came out to help distribute water. They also stopped and chatted with a couple of people, said hi, and took a couple of selfies.

Right in front of the gate, Soo Zee who was selling the EYK mugs. She was so nice too, chatting with people and taking pictures.

After about 1.5 hours or so, I finally stood on the front yard. More waiting, but at least I got to see how the place look like now. 

Finally inside the cafe! Took about 2+ hours or so. The first floor is where they have the counter, merchandise, the study room (which TTMIK is talking about in their video—I'm guessing), and a separate seating area. 

On to the second floor...

Even after I've been inside for a while, the line outside was still quite long..

Simon and Martina finally came to the 2nd floor and spent time hanging out with people. They listened to people's stories and chatted with them for quite some times (plus the usual signing and photo taking session). It was just like a fan-meet event. Simon and Martina were very friendly, approachable, and down to earth :) Same goes for Hyunwoo of TTMIK who I talked to briefly.