Korea Travelogue: Day 5 - SMTOWN at Coex Mall and Countdown to 2015
Continuing from the previous post, the group of us went to the SMTOWN area which is outside of Coex Mall. You can see the big SMTOWN sign when you exit from the metro station. Just go up the escalator and it is pretty self-explanatory.
Our first stop was the SUM store which is a moneysucking store selling all SMTOWN related merchandise. Be very prepared to spend a ton of money here if you are a huge fan of idol groups from SMTOWN.
Hello Donghae oppa!!
Everything you can think of, it is available here. From clothing, stickers, stationery sets, mugs and even paper bags with SMTOWN related wordings are available. We kinda had to control ourselves by not grabbing everything off the shelves.
One very cool thing about the SUM store are these stamps that are free of charge. Just remember to bring along a notebook (or you can buy one at the store which was what we did FOL) and you can stamp however many times you want lol. Jace and I stayed behind to do all the stampings for the rest cos they had to rush off for the SBS Drama Awards' red carpet.
Later on when everyone came back from ogling the stars on the red carpet, we headed up to the SMTOWN Liverary Café. Every corridor is lined with all SMTOWN related items from outfits used the artistes during their performances to photographs used from their promotional period. It really is a SMTOWN fan's biggest dream literally to be there.
The café area is very cosy and of course filled with a ton of SMTOWN stuff for you to buy. Yes, even the food is also SMTOWN endorsed okay HAHAHAHA #takingallyourmoneyeveryday
It's a spacious area with loads of tables for you to enjoy your snacks and beverages. The shelves are all real trophies/awards won by the SME artistes themselves which... is freaking cool lol.
I didn't try the ice cream, the bff, Stella and Wanjun bought the SHINee and EXO flavoured ones. According to them, it tastes quite okay lol. But.... mad expensive ice cream!!! KRW6000 per ice cream omfg!! *coughs* daylight robbery *coughs*
Left the place because it was closing time and we head back to Hongdae to tabao fried chicken back to TP.
Thankful that we spent the countdown to the new year together <3
Bought beer and soju back to drink because what is fried chicken without any alcohol?! LOL. Oh and soft drinks too heh. We tabao-ed them from one of the fried chicken stores at the road leading in to TP. The chicken is pretty nice and crispy, not oily at all. We bought 2 different types, original and with garlic seasoning.
Now this cake came courtesy from TP because we found a centipede in the room the night before. Yes, centipede. How it crawled up to the 4th floor is anyone's guess really. IT.WAS.MORTIFYING. For some unknown reason while sitting on the floor I noticed the centipede crawling at the corner of my eye. Screamed and attempted to find something to kill it lol. In the end we got the night manager to come and dispose off the centipede for us. Alive of course lol. But we really didn't expect the cake as an 'apology' for the bug - actually we weren't expecting anything - so thank you very much Traveler's Planet! You have the best service among the guesthouses I've stayed in Korea *thumbs up* :D
Welcomed 2015 by watching all the performances from MBC Gayo Daejun and eating our late dinner before calling it a night at 2am. It's my 2nd time experiencing New Year's Eve in Korea and I have to say that it's a wonderful experience having the cold weather to usher in the new year. Alright, ending off the final day of 2014 here. Will be back with the subsequent days of our trip soon ^^