Korea Travelogue: Day 3 - Ewha Women's University, Hongik University
Day 3 itinerary
Bonjuk 본죽 (Brunch)
Ewha Women's University Street (이화여자대학교)
Caffe Bene (Teabreak)
Hongik University Street (홍대)
Haha's Pal Ja Mak Chang Restaurant 팔자막창 (Dinner)
Hello Kitty Cafe (Hongdae Store)
Ok, Day 3 let's go!
Remember we ended Day 2 on a very late timing due to late night shopping at Dongdaemun.
Think my room slept at close to 4.30 am or 5am.
MAD TIREDDDDDDD T.T crazy siao char bos hahaha.
Selca in the lift! See my white top to keep me warm during the day. Weather was still cold! 5,000 KRW only super cheap!
Walked down to the metro station and of cos, we got sidetracked by food once again.
This time, by the croquette store beside 7-Eleven at Exit 3 of Myeongdong Station.
Ordered the pumpkin and cheese one to share! xD
Because our destination was Ewha Women's University station, we decided to go to Euljiro 1-ga station which is at Lotte Department Store and within walking distance from Myeongdong to avoid changing too many trains.
Good exercise too hahaha!
Sometimes it's good to plan ahead and not just blindly stick to one station.
On the subway map Euljiro1-ga and Myeongdong stations are actually on 2 different lines.
But in actual fact, they are just a good 5-10 minute walk away from each other. EXERCISE! :D
FUBUUUUU! Thank you for not using Tabi as your endorser anymore so that I won't have to buy any thing from there (still died at BSX though all the G-Dragon merchandise! /waves fist/)
Took this to show Rachelle HAHA! Her favorite Dongwoon.
Alright, reached Ewha Woman's University Station! To get to the shopping area, directions below.
Directions
Take the metro to Ewha Woman's University Station. Exit via Exit no.2 then turn left when you reach the junction. You should see shops all around and as you walk down further, you should be able to see the university entrance. Either that or just follow all the girls la. It is an all female university right? When you see hordes of girls walking in the same direction, you're on the right track HAHA!
We headed for Bonjuk because we were famished by then. Here's a screenshot of the directions to their Edae store. As you can see, this is the actual screenshot I took in Korea which explains why it was taken at such a weird timing :/
I think this was the beef porridge. We ordered 1 abalone one too but they look really similar :x
Pumpkin porridge! Or dan hobak juk which basically means sweet pumpkin porridge.
I LOVE THEIR PUMPKIN PORRIDGE!
I tried it on my last trip and ever since then cannot stop thinking about it.
Finally fulfilled my cravings! And of cos, our dear Lirong had a ball with all that pumpkin in one dish xD
We ordered 3 different types of porridge to share because the portions are relatively big.
You're of course welcome to just order 1 whole bowl for yourself.
After that, shopping time! We also went into the university grounds to take pictures.
Really pretty! If only NUS looked like that, I would find more motivation to go to school back then.
Plus all the girls dressed up really prettily! And here in Singapore we just wear shorts, t-shirt and flip flops to school OTL
Free flowers because it was '성년의날' or 'Coming of Age Day' that Monday! Of course, received a free flower but no kiss or perfume LOL. Anyway, every girl was carrying a bouquet of flowers that day. Like huge ass ones boys give girls on Valentine's Day.
So pretty the school's landscape
And yes, only Singaporeans wear slippers everywhere HAHAHAHA
Didn't bring my DSLR out that day so all pics from my iPhone camera
We went crazy shopping! All of us emerged with at least 1 new bag from that day cos the shopping was quite reasonably priced!
There was a store that sold bags at 10,000 KRW storewide regardless of design. BUY!
Most clothing pieces were also priced at 10,000 KRW or below.
You can even get denim overalls at 10,000 KRW which in my opinion is damn cheap.
So yeah, shopped to our hearts' contents, especially Lirong HAHAHAH
She can disappear into 1 store and emerge like barely 5 minutes later with something in her hand.
Tea break at Caffe Bene just because we were on a mission to try all cafes in Korea (Ok I made that up)
This was just outside the uni's entrance, beside Zoo Coffee.
Ordered a mango 빙수 and garlic & cheese toast to share among us.
I had tea that day because too much coffee in my system already :(
The mango 빙수 (which is basically ice kachang in local terms) was very nice! And as it was still quite chilly that day, COLD DIE US LOL.
We resumed shopping till approximately 6pm before going to Hongdae (홍대) for dinner.
Destination for dinner was Haha's Pal Ja Mak Chang Restaurant 팔자막창 which serves BBQ pig intestines.
If you're an avid Running Man fan, you would know who is Haha or Haroro.
Haha and Leessang (GARY SEUMDWA!) actually own different outlets of 팔자막창.
The one at Hongdae belongs to Haha while the ones in Gangnam belong to Leessang.
On my next trip I will aim to try the Gangnam outlets ^^
Directions
Getting to Hongdae is very simple actually, just hop onto the metro and take to Hongik University Station. This station has 2 lines (Airport Express and Line #2) so it's quite accessible in my opinion. After which, exit via Exit 6 to get to the streets outside the university.
Getting to Haha's Pal Ja Mak Chang Restaurant 팔자막창 is slightly trickier if you're not sure how to get there. Ok
come out from Exit 5. Walk straight and then turn left immediately following VIPS restaurant. Walk straight until you come to the Tourism Information Center.From here, cross the road and turn right off the main road into a shopping street. Continue along this street for about 10 mins, until you find Sangsangmadang (상상마당) on your right.
The restaurant should be in the vicinity.
Alternatively, google the address:
SEOGYO-DONG, MAPO-GU 395-17 and take screenshots of the map! Locate a metro exit nearest to it. I kinda knew how to go there because I've been to Hongdae before. We even walked past Yeolbong (Hongdae branch) to get to the restaurant. We did visit Yeolbong the next day but at Gangnam instead. Check it out in Day 4 post okay!
Check out the Yeolbong mascot holding SE7EN's lightstick so cute!
Haha's Restaurant!
Qiu and Kee went off for dinner elesewhere because they didn't want to eat pig innards lol.
I'm usually not an innards person as well but I figured I had to try it to know whether I hate it or not.
Besides there were other dishes like samgyupsal and galbi served here too.
Kimchi soup and even the 도시락/dosirak (bento boxes) are served here so yeah quite a large variety of food here.
Deco was very Jamaican! Probably because Haha is a fan of Bob Marley :D
The restaurant gives you bags like these to prevent your personal belongings from smelling like BBQ afterwards. Very thoughtful, I like ^^
Ok so the 3 of us decided to order 3 different types of meat to barbecue then something quite stupid happened.
We ordered the spicy mak-chang or spicy pig intestine instead of the usual mak-chang because we thought it'd taste nicer with the spices.
We also ordered samgyupsal (by accident though, the girl heard our order wrongly) and beef if I'm not wrong.
And then when the meat came... they looked like this O.O
WHERE'S THE CURLY WILY THINGS WE SAW OTHERS EATING?!
The spicy mak chang (the reddish one above) came in that form not the intact intestine.
:D
So we were discussing why the intestine wasn't circular and when we spotted the tables beside us all eating the circular ones, I peeked at their order sheets and found out it was the usual mak-chang that was the circular thingy.
Ok I'm sorry kind people of Seoul whom I peeked at your order.
I just don't know how to ask you in Korean what that is la >.< My Korean not that zai :(
After that we ordered 1 portion of the mak chang HAHAHAHAHAH.
YESSSSSS CIRCULAR WILY INTESTINES!
Shared 1 bowl of rice and a bottle of soju. That kinda kickstarted Juyin and my drinking habits in Korea. After that we had makkeolli and beer as well during that trip.
Bill came up to 45,000 KRW for the 3 of us.
Not very cheap by Korean standards but it's okay.
Still cheaper than in Singapore because we had 4 different types of meat and alcohol too.
Walked around Hongdae afterwards but sadly prices are quite steep compared to Edae so we didn't buy anything.
We did however buy hair serum at the Watsons lol. Will introduce it when I have the time to take pictures of all my loots from Korea.
ALL OF US BOUGHT IT. That's how good a sales person I was LOL! No la, the hair serum and essence is really good.
Headed to the Hello Kitty Cafe after that to just nua the night away.
Map from the official website
Directions
Get out from Exit 5 and walk straight. Turn left when you reach the corner junction and walk straight ahead. Turn right where you see the stretch of stores and keep walking till you see a Watsons on your left. Turn left after Watsons and walk up a small up slope. You should see the cafe there. Alternatively, ask around! :D Hello Kitty is a universal character just remember that cafe is not pronounced as 'ca-fe' but 'ka-pay' in Korean.
My.. how pink :3
This is actually my second time in a Hello Kitty cafe.
I've been to the one in Taipei before and this looks exactly the same just that it's self-service here as opposed to having servers in the Taipei outlet.
Waffles were sold out that day :(
Juyin waiting for our food and drinks!
Toilet is so... pink O.O
This happens on a daily affair I swear it takes a good 5 minutes before we can tuck into the food LOL
Only Lirong, Juyin and I had drinks again lol My colleague who follows Lirong on Instagram keeps asking why everytime only see 3 portions cos she knew we were a travel party of 5. I told her the 3 of us were perpetually thirsty. Ok not funny haha.
And that ends our third day in Korea!
We headed back to sleep because we need to recharge for Everland the next day.
Took the airport express train back because it was less crowded and we didn't have to change that many trains to Myeongdong.
Will be back with Day 4's travelogue soon! :)
Update: Day 4 is up! Do check out Day 1 and Day 2 if you haven't :)