Cherry Blossom at Seokchon Lake Park

Visiting Seokchon Lake Park (석촌호수공원) in the spring during peak cherry blossom week for the first time was probably one of my favorite outing in Seoul. Ken, my cousin and I went there during one fine spring day in Seoul. Clear light blue sky. The sun was shining. The weather was warm. The cool breeze was blowing every now and then. It was the kind of day that made me feel like spring was actually here. And the rows of trees around the lake that were covered with light pink petals only added to that feeling.

We arrived at the park in the middle of the day during the peak of lunch hour. Everybody seemed to be taking the short midday break to enjoy the great weather outside as the park was filled with people from young to old. Some of them were having picnics, some of them were just passing by to head to wherever they’re going to or coming from, and some were just walking or standing around the trail of the park enjoying the view. But one thing for sure, most people were definitely busy snapping the spring view around us, filling up their phones with different shots of the cherry blossom. I could hear the camera shutter noises popping here and there quite often as we walk leisurely around the park following the crowd.

The three of us ended up walking around the lake while taking pictures and videos of the view. The further we got from our starting point, the less crowded the trail had gotten. Maybe it’s the combination of the distance you have to walk to to get to the further side of the park and the lunch crowd that was dying down that made the park less busy. After we made it back to our original starting point, we decided that we had enough walking for the time being since it was getting a little bit hot (I had to take off my jacket at that point) and we were all hungry since we haven’t had anything since the morning. So we ended our excursion at the park and headed to the mall to get us some late lunch.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 07 - Rainy Day in Hongdae & Sinchon

Travel Vertical Vlog

By this day, Christina already left for home and Grace’s going to catch her flight home on the next day. My mom and my aunt actually arrived in Seoul to join me and Marshellia for the next couple of days. It was raining that day when we went out to do some exploring.

First stop of the day, we went to get some lunch at Choma (초마), a popular Chinese food restaurant in Hongdae. Ordered some jjajangmyeon (짜장면), jjamppong (짬뽕) and tangsuyuk (탕수육) to share. The food was tasty and we were stuffed at the end of the meal.

Afterwards we roamed around Hongdae to do some shopping. As much as I don’t particularly enjoy shopping, shopping with friends and family is always fun because I get to spend time with them. Even more fun when the group is as funny as this bunch. Plus Grace and Mar always managed to make me laugh with their (sometimes unintentional) funny comments. At one cosmetic store, we actually met a Korean sales assistant who could talk Indonesian. That was a quite a surprise. Usually sales assistants around touristy areas can speak either Japanese or Chinese. But it’s rare to find somebody who can actually speaks Indonesian. So that was fun.

In the evening, I split up from to group to meet up with my friend Hanna in Sinchon. We went for tonkatsu at one of her favorite place for dinner. We then decided to have some tea afterwards so we headed to my favorite cafe, My Secret Mate (마이시크릿메이트), to do some more catching up. After she left, I met up again with Grace and Marshellia at the subway station to walked them back to My Secret Mate since they also wanted to hang out there to get some dessert and milk tea.

By the time we’re done with our night cap, we made our way back to our Airbnb accompanied by the rain that was still pouring from the sky.

Read more about the day here.

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PLACES:

Choma • 초마

Address: 서울 마포구 와우산로 72
Telephone: 070-7661-8963
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 11:30 - 21:00 (Break Time: 16:00 - 17:00) | Closed on Mondays

My Secret Mate • 마이시크릿메이트

Address: 서울 서대문구 연세로4길 47
Telephone: 0507-1449-2788
Hours: Everyday 12:00 - 22:30
Instagram: @mysecretmate

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Rainy Day in Hongdae

Walking around town in the rain is not something that I’m particularly fond of, especially during one of those days when I have to visit multiple places or do some kind of exploration. I was hoping that I could avoid having an encounter with the water drops falling from the sky on this trip, but I guess mother nature decided Seoul needed some hydration during one of these spring days.

Grey sky and wet concrete greeted us as soon as we stepped out of our Airbnb that day. We were planning to take my mom and my aunt around Hongdae (홍대) for some lunch and do a little bit of shopping. And that’s also something that I’m not particularly fond of. Shopping for clothes I mean, not lunch. So, during their shop visits, I ended up waiting in front of the stores snapping around the area and observing people walking by holding up their umbrellas.

People walks faster in the rain. Some zig-zag their way through the crowds trying to pass by the slower walkers in front of them, and some just follow the pace of the crowd and trying to keep themselves dry as much as possible under their umbrella. For couples though, I noticed it’s the total opposite. Couples walk slower, as if they’re trying to prolong the closeness between them taking refuge from the rain under one umbrella (well, I’m pretty sure that may well be the whole point). The guy’s arm would be wrapped around the girl’s shoulder, keeping her close while not minding the trickle of water that’s making his other side of the body wet since he’s letting the girl have more coverage under their umbrella.

One guy has a better thinking though. Instead of having half of himself getting wet, he actually carried a bigger umbrella—the ones that look like a golfer would used—which did a pretty good job at keeping both of them dry. I thought that was kinda nice. For them I mean, not for people around them, obviously, cause other people had to maneuvered their umbrellas on the narrow sidewalk around them since his umbrella was so wide.

The day went on and the rain didn’t let up. The steady drops of water kept pouring from the minute we left the apartment until the time we stepped back into it after our whole day of excursion. I was glad to be safe from the rain and ended the day by washing it off of me with a hot shower.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 06.2 - Hongdae Hangout with Soo Zee

Travel Vertical Vlog

After we finished exploring and taking pictures at Gyeongbokgung (경복궁), I separated from the group and went to Hongdae (홍대) to meet up with Soo Zee for dinner. We went for some dwaeji gukbap (돼지국밥)—hot soup with rice and pork—at Donsubaek (돈수백 홍대직영점). The restaurant is located near exit 8 of Hongdae station and it was my first time there. And just like any other recommendations from Soo Zee, the food was good.

Afterwards, we went to Cacao Boom (click to read more about the place) for dessert and to continue our catch-up session. Soo Zee wanted to get some pictures from the place for @tastestuff and I never been so it was kind of perfect. After we finished our gelato, hot chocolate, and picture taking session we left and called it a night.

See part one of the vlog here.

 

Donsubaek (돈수백 홍대직영점)

Address: 서울 마포구 홍익로6길 56
Telephone: 02-324-3131
Hours: 24 Hours

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 06.1 - Wearing Hanbok at Gyeongbokgung

Travel Vlog

Today was Christina’s last day before flying back home and we decided to rent hanboks and visit Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) for her last day. Opting for a taxi ride this time, we headed to the hanbok rental place near Gyeongbokgung Station before spending our afternoon at the palace walking around and taking pictures.

More story and pictures from this excursion on this post. See second part of the vlog here.

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