Wandering WeeN: Korean Dream Part 2 - The (packed) streets of Myeongdong

Here's Part 1 for you! :)

24th September 2011 - Seoul Station --> Myeongdong

So we took the train to Seoul Station (chose the cheaper line with many stops, though I don't think it was a very long ride) and that was when our horror started.

You see, although we were very prepared to go to which exit to take the taxi, we ended up getting confused and walked out of the wrong one first, and decided to go to the correct one. Sorry I can't remember what number are the exits, but the one to Myeongdong has 3 taxi lanes/stands.

We didn't know which one to choose, so we decided to take the first lane, since there was a lot of people lining up at it. The 2nd lane had a lot of black taxis, which we were advised NOT to take. When we got our taxi, we said we wanted to go to Myeongdong, and the driver replied rather very rudely and uninterested, "Myeongdong eodi?" although Wenzy said Namsandong a few times, apparently he was not interested in helping us! So we gave up.

And while looking at the map to the guesthouse, a guy directed us to the other exit, the wrong one. So we went. And took a cab there. And found out that we were actually at the right exit earlier. The driver of our taxi was complaining non-stop, saying that we took taxi at the wrong place. Apparently we confused him by saying MyeoNdong instead of MyeoNGdong. He talked/complained too much and made the whole ride uncomfortable! It was a nerve-wrecking ordeal for us, we thought we would never get there. Not sure what is his GPS for btw.

But still he got us to our guesthouse! PHEW.

Dumped our luggage, cleared the payment (had to pay for our accommodation with cash) and set off to the happening streets of Myeongdong, which is at the other side of our guesthouse!

My goodness it was packed! Well, obviously since it was a Saturday, but still! Many Japanese tourists as well, and occasionally Thais!

the NATURE REPUBLIC world store or something like that. funny how i didn't go into this one but i went to their other stores. :P

look how happy i was to have found BEAN POLE, because I was targeting a bag. But I bought a different bag (not the same day) instead!

with the BEAN POLE bicycle

Although Myeongdong can be a bit confusing, we were lucky since there were guides in uniform who gave us maps of all the shops in Myeongdong!

checking out for places to eat, since it was approaching lunchtime

Spotted this stall selling snacks and huge cream puffs! Tempted so we bought one for sharing.

approximately RM4.50?

the machine where the cream is pumped into the puff
Unfortunately, it didn't taste good. So much for getting excited over its size. Haha.

before discovering the disappointment
In Myeongdong, most of the cosmetics/skincare shops have promoters in front of their outlets to distribute samples/gifts and get customer into the shop. This girl approached me and though I said now, she kept pestering and said and hand me a box of cotton pads and said,"one minute only". I said "no thank you" but she grabbed my hand and led me into the shop and passed me a basket!

the approach

in a blink of an eye, I was swept away wtf

Pakwan tackling the cream puff while I was desperately calling out for help (silently) for one of them to rescue me
I ended up buying a nail polish LOL

4 freaking floors of Krispy Kreme!

obviously cannot blend in

BEE CHENG HIANG! Don't know why I got excited seeing this. I even got excited seeing a Rotiboy outlet somewhere in Seoul haha

Headed to have our first lunch in Seoul. I'm sorry I can't recall the name of the shop, I remember it's located opposite the Bulgogi Brothers though.

Bibimbap!

Beef Ddeobokki, which was good. Love the gravy!

Pakwan was our official bibimbap mixer
As you can see, the side dishes served weren't that much. The kimchi for me was just normal, but I like the pickled radish! :D

Headed back towards our guesthouse since we were scheduled to be in Hongdae at night for dinner.

Stopped by the 7-Eleven to check on what they have, bought some stuff not available in Malaysia's 7E! I bought a packet of chocolate-coffee drink and there was a cup of ice provided for you to pour the drink in! :O

happy buy? (sorry ahjussi)

a restaurant serving Malaysian and Singaporean food, but we didn't bother trying LOL

Pakwan with her stwawbewwy milk, which tasted like... normal strawberry milk hahahahaha

unfortunately my drink wasn't awesome either. it tasted.. weird.. for me
Some shots of our room at IB Ville. We took the triple room which has 3 beds, fridge, TV, bathroom with a bathtub and a cupboard for clothes. It was KRW80,000/night, which is around RM240? But I guess it's quite good since it only cost us RM80/person/night. Somemore got free wifi and we can have simple breakfast of toast for free!

Guesthouse information here - IB Ville Guesthouse
Did the reservation through e-mail, they were very helpful with information on rooms, and their replies were prompt. They helped us book our Cookin' NANTA show and our DMZ Day Tour as well. :)

More room shots later towards the end, I didn't take any photos when we just arrived, because I forgot. *smacks forehead*

Washed up a little bit, then headed out again!