Hanbok Day at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Renting Hanbok and taking pictures at the palace was probably one of the things that these girls wanted to checked off their bucket list for this trip. So before their trip was ending, we did just that. The weather was pretty warm when we made our way to the hanbok rental place called 경복궁한복대여 (near Gyeongbokgung Station exit 4. See where the location is on the vlog) that Christina’s friend suggested.

Stepping down the wooden stairs, we arrived at the basement of the rental place in the late afternoon. After taking off our shoes, we entered the shop and quickly browse through the selections after being informed about the rental price. Since it was almost the end of the day, I assume most of the good hanboks were already rented out. Either that, or maybe the hanboks available at this place were just not exactly my style. Not sure. But either way, I’m the photographer for this excursion and the girls were the ones who were going to wear the traditional outfit, not me, so I’m not complaining. After minutes of contemplating on which of these colorful long outfits they should pick, they each finally found a hanbok that they like that compliment each other’s and quickly changed into them before heading to the palace and trying to get there before the sun set.

We made our way to Gyeongbokgung palace on foot since it’s not far from the rental place. As soon as we arrived at the palace complex, I quickly bought my ticket and then we headed for the entrance. Since the three of them were wearing hanbok, they can enter the palace for free, using their outfit as their entrance tickets.

The cherry blossom wasn’t really in full bloom just yet that day, but we spotted some trees that have some that bloomed early. Since there were only a couple of trees, we had to lined up and wait for our turns to take pictures in front of the tree since there were a lot of people who had the same idea as us. People was pretty good at taking turns so the waiting time wasn’t so bad.

After we got our shot, I took them around the palace and tried to find good spots where there weren’t too many people around. Since Gyeongbokgung Palace is one of the most well-known attractions in the city—both amongst tourists and locals—taking pictures around the complex can be tricky if you arrived at the same time as large tourist or school excursion groups because it can get really crowded. But fortunately, it wasn’t too crowded when we arrived plus the palace is big enough for us to just switch spot if that happened. I’ve been here so many times so I pretty much know where we should go.

The wind was blowing quite frequently that afternoon and the girls were busy following me while trying to keep the hair that they styled earlier from being blown off by the wind. It was difficult to say the least since, as the afternoon progressed, so did the frequency of the wind. Nevertheless, we still had fun and I took multiple frames of them for good measure.

After they were tired of walking around the vast palace complex and it was nearing the return time of their hanbok, we decided to head back to the rental place as the sun was setting in front of us. It was definitely a fun afternoon at the palace.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 05 - Hangout at Garosugil

Travel Vlog

Spent our day shopping and cafe hopping at Garosugil, joined by Daviddepe. We visited Village 11 Factory, Villa Soohyang, Milstone coffee, and Skinfood Cafe. In the evening, we headed to Hongdae for samgyeopsal dinner and more shopping. We wrapped up the day at the game arcade before we head home.

Read the travelogue and see more photos from the day here.

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Shopping & Cafe Hopping at Garosugil

Today, we’re planning to meet up with a couple of our friends and decided to just hang out at Garosugil (가로수길) the whole day to do some shopping and cafe hopping. Soyoung and David joined us for the afternoon as we started going from one store to another. The first store that I took them to was Village 11 Factory, which is one of my favorite store in Garosugil. Not only they have a very interesting store concept and decor, I actually like their products, especially their body wash (try it if you ever in the area. They provide samples and sink for you to try the body wash). We took some pictures inside the store as well as the outdoor area of the store and bought some stuff before heading to the next stop.

Next, we stopped by Villa Soohyang, a fragrance store that sells candles, diffusers, and room sprays with different scents. The location of this store is a little bit hidden and away from the busier area of Garosugil. As we enter the two story building, we immediately looked around the products they have on display and started smelling the samples of the different scents they have available. There are 33 types of basic fragrances at Soohyang that you can choose from, which is more than plenty in my opinion. I lost track of which scent is which after I smelled my fifth scent.

After we bought some candles we headed out and decided to get some coffee. Garosugil has tons of cafes to choose from which made it difficult for us to decide on where to go. But after contemplating for a bit, we ended up at Milestone Coffee (마일스톤 커피) which we passed by earlier. The weather was really nice and we kinda want to sit outside to enjoy the warm spring sun and Milestone Coffee actually has outdoor seating that looked perfect for what we have in mind. We ordered some coffee, hot chocolate, and some tiramisu for dessert. I know Christina and I just had tiramisu the other day, but I swear tiramisu was really popular during that season for some reason and it seemed that every other cafes decided to just sell tiramisu for their dessert menu. The tiramisu themselves were okay. We ordered the original flavor and the matcha flavor and they were definitely less creamy than the one we had at Cafe Mula. The drinks were good too.

We sat there and chatted for a while, trading fun stories from our travels and David certainly has many of those apparently. He told us about how he met Gary Pepper Girl a.k.a Nicole Warne, his long time idol, at Singapore airport and also his accidental encounter with G-Dragon who was leaving from an event that he passed by. I’m a fan of G-Dragon too and we all saw his Instagram story updates recording the whole ordeal the day before, so we were all pretty excited to hear what happened straight from the source.

After we’re all stuffed with tiramisu and fully caffeinated, the shopping and store hopping continues. We went to a couple of different places, where sometimes one or more of us bought things from the stores. Other times, we just browse around and left the stores as soon as we’re done looking. Grace ended up buying snacks again from a small bakery that we passed by. And by the time it’s almost sunset, we decided to go check out another cafe and take a break from the shopping.

Skinfood Cafe was the last place that we checked out. David wanted to come here and so we went. The place is actually served as Skinfood Store and Cafe. The first floor is where the store displays and sells their beauty products in and if you go up the second floor, that’s where the cafe is located. Before we settled ourselves inside the cafe, we actually went to their rooftop terrace to check out the view. We thought if the area is comfortable enough for us to sit outside, we were going to do that. But the area wasn’t as cosy or inviting as the other cafe we visited so after taking pictures around the rooftop (and Grace finished eating the bread that she bought from the bakery) we headed down to the indoor seating area and placed our orders. We talked some more before David has to leave and with that, we concluded our hang out in Garosugil.

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Villa Soohyang

Address: 서울특별시 강남구 신사동 551-8
Telephone: 02-516-5518
Hours: 11:00 - 20:00

Instagram: @soohyangofficial

Milestone Coffee (마일스톤 커피)

Address: 서울 강남구 논현로159길 49
Telephone: 070-4219-1195
Hours: Monday-Saturday 11:30 - 22:30 | Sunday 11:30 - 22:00

Instagram: @milstone_coffee

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 04 - Cafe Mula & Hangout at Garosugil

Travel Vertical Vlog

Went to a workshop with Christina and then for an afternoon coffee at Cafe Mula in Garosugil. Ended the day with a funny incident where one of us got separated from the group.

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Tea & Tiramisu at Cafe Mula

On our fourth day in Seoul, we split into two groups. Christina and I went to a floral workshop that Christina signed up for and Grace and Marshellia went to do their own thing. Funny thing about the workshop was they supposed to provide a translator for Christina. But for some odd reason, they thought Christina speaks Chinese (I’m guessing there were probably a lot of Chinese participants in this workshop). We found out about this miscommunication the night before the workshop and they told her that the only translator that’s going to come tomorrow was a Korean-Chinese translator and Christina doesn’t speaks any Chinese. So as a last minute fix, I became the last minute back up plan. I’m in no way a professional translator, but I’m pretty good at understanding day to day conversations. So we thought it’s better than no translator at all.

We reached the place a little early and decided to get some breakfast first before heading to the workshop. When the time came, we were lead to this outdoor rooftop area where the teacher has already prepared some materials for the participants. And as soon as the workshop started, so did the light drizzle from the sky. It started raining lightly when the teacher was explaining to the group what they’re going to do for this session. Umbrellas were opened, and everybody was concentrating on listening under the rain.

When the teacher was demonstrating the technique she was teaching, there was this one girl who helped out the teacher and we both assumed that person was the assistant. But after a while, I started talking to her and found out that she’s also another participant. And guess what? She speaks perfect English. We quickly explained Christina’s situation to her and she gladly offered to help translate for Christina. And from that point on, my service was no longer needed. I ended up just hanging out and observing the workshop. It was pretty interesting since I never been to a floral workshop before.

The workshop soon moved indoor since the rain was getting heavier, which I’m kinda glad they did that because I was starting to get a little bit soaked since we had to share a small umbrella between the two of us. So for the rest of the workshop, we were all warm and protected from the rain. I ended up waiting for Christina to finish while drinking some tea that they gave to us. In the end, the teacher told her that she did a good job with her arrangements and we left as soon as she’s done with her session.

After the workshop, we the plan was to meet up with the rest of the gang in Garosugil. So we headed there and had some lunch before settling ourselves in Cafe Mula while waiting for Grace and Marshellia to come since we’re done before they arrived in the area. Christina was tired from the workshop and it was still drizzling outside, so the idea of staying indoors and just chill sounded perfect for the both of us. The cafe was pretty busy when we got there. It was a Friday after all. There were groups of friends and couples hanging out and we took a seat on an empty table in the middle of that crowd. We ordered teas and tiramisu, the dessert which the cafe was well know for, to share. The tiramisu was just okay. Too much cream and not enough ladyfingers for my taste. If you like cream heavy Tiramisu, you might like their tiramisu though. We were there until the rain stopped and we were ready to move around again.

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