Despite Myeongdong being my favourite place in Korea, Hyehwa has this special sentimental meaning to me. It is the place I studied, and the place I lived most like a local for the one month. Hyehwa is like the heartland malls in Singapore. It has everything you need, but to some, it may just not be as hip. I find that the area may not be that big to explore, and it may not be as tourist-friendly, but it has no lack of interesting activities and lovely cafes as well.
Anyway, starting my morning with the milk bread from Paris Baguette. I think I've mentioned this a dozen times but it may well possibly be the first time I actually posted a picture of how it looks like. Get this if you're in Korea :) Sadly not available in Singapore's Paris Baguette.
Lissya and I headed out for lunch after lazing around for a bit. I had always wanted to try the dosirak at Miss Lee's cafe so we headed there. Unfortunately, the sausage is likely to be pork (we didn't ask, that's based on my tongue). That's why I look like I have a lot of it - I took Lissya's share. The kimchi too, have traces of meat inside. If you're open to trying more food and willing to close an eye, then this might still be good.
I chopped up the sausage and the egg, covered the lid, and shook it like how it's supposed to be shaken hahah. The final result... tada~~
I can't explain how something so simple can taste good. The few mouthfuls were heavenly. Subsequently the kimchi taste was slightly overpowering and I get a little sick of it but I think I still managed to finish most of it. (It's a huge lunch box btw).
The interior of Miss Lee's cafe. This cafe got popular after Yonghwa and Seohyun of WGM came here on one of their dates. I believe they went to the Insadong branch instead, not too sure. The papers you see hanging from the wall are all well wishes written by the customers. I couldn't remember if I wrote anything though hahahah.
So... we walked further down from Hyehwa subway station to find the starting point of Ihwa Mural Village. Frankly speaking, it's a little hard to find. We were googling for the route along the way and we were also turning into alleys and walking out again because that was not the right direction. I kind of prefer our way of handling things this trip. Not much prior research on directions. Everything was spontaneous.
Some mural arts to welcome you into the village.
One of the photos I love so much at Ihwa Mural Village. I believe this is some spot for some k-drama but I don't know which one because I'm not a real k-drama fan and anyway I can count the numbers of k-dramas I have watched with my 10 fingers.
This "before I die..." thing caused quite a hype a while back. I searched and searched and found someone with the same wish as me: 죽기 전에 나는 결혼하고싶어요. Hahahaha
Unfortunately, halfway through my climb up (told you Korea is full of stairs and slopes), my most sturdy pair of heels gave way. I kind of tripped and my shoes gave way. Well, if it didn't, my ankle could possibly have suffered a sprain. I was so unhappy because this pair was snagged by Oktavia for me. I still remember going shopping with Oktavia one day in Myeongdong and she grabbed onto this extremely versatile pair while I was pondering which to get. I wear this to school almost everyday and I even have exchange students coming up to me asking where I bought the shoes from.
I was even contemplating to stuff it into my luggage and drag it back in hope that my mum can help to fix it. Thinking back, I should have tried to find a cobbler to fix it when I was in Singapore. I clearly remember walking past a cobbler on my way to school everyday from my previous Korea trip.
When you get all the way up, you will see this. Not much of a view, but yes fresh air, and a different perspective. Not the typical tourist attraction. You will find many grandpas and grandmas strolling and exercising instead.
More mural arts. Of course being a mural village, they have mural arts everywhere, every corner. What I post here is only a fraction of what is available. Also, there is this very popular "wings" mural art. Didn't managed to snap a picture with (or without) myself in it because the crowd at that particular mural art is so crazy everytime we walk past.
Hahahah and I found one that could well qualify to be in the trick eye museum. Kind of looks like I'm sitting on a bench yeah?
The wind was pretty strong that day and sunny hence we had good lighting for the pictures. Climbing got a little tiring and we started sweating after that but otherwise, it was a good weather to head there. Lucky us :)
Lovely dandelion picture and opps an over-edited/over-exposed picture. My fashion sense was pretty horrible this trip but definitely better than when I was studying the previous trip. (I was practically in shorts everyday then.) Mainly because I'm very afraid of the cold, I wore jeans/leggings every other day. And I'm definitely not a jeans kind of person so I had to ponder really hard what to match when I was packing my clothes.
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And just in case you're wondering, I was still wearing my spoilt pair of heels. It broke shortly after we reach the top so I had to walk down with it no matter what. Interestingly, it survived until I went down to Myeongdong.
We headed to Myeongdong in search of a cafe. Because we were both feeling really warm and tired. Despite it being a windy day, but climbing and walking nonstop for 2-3 hours does make you get sweaty and sticky and tired yeah.
I also wanted to head to Everysing because I heard of this neoprint machine which could allow you to take photos with your SM idols. Lissya and I were standing too far away. We should have stood nearer to the camera so that it will look more realistic with our faces closer to the boys. And yes, I obviously chose Jonghyun and Onew which were my #1 and #2 bias in SHINee.
It was meant to be a day of planned shopping at Myeongdong so that's exactly what we did. However, we were too full from tea break (cafe break was at about 4.30pm) to have a full dinner. We wanted to get some light snacks along the way back at the nearby GS25 (which is like our 7-eleven) but on the way I spotted a small shop selling udon. Totally craving for it and Lissya got ddeokbokki (which is one of the only few Korean food I don't eat).
And tada~~~ my loots for the day. Hahah I don't think I went crazily mad right. Best buys had to be IOPE Bio-Essence Intensive Treatment. I've been using it since August 2014 and it's already May 2015 and I'm almost done with one bottle. No doubt it's pretty expensive (even for a working adult like me) at 60,000KRW per bottle (which translates to about $72 SGD) but I really felt like my skin cleared up a lot ever since I use it.
A tip to anyone who wants to get it: I realised that you can get 2 bottles of it at 90,000KRW at duty free store (that's about $52SGD per bottle) which is much cheaper than in the Aritaum stores.
And yes, I did buy a pair of shoes as replacement. I did bring an extra pair of flats but I still want to go around wearing Korean heels. Tried to find a similar nude pair with clogs-looking heels but failed. I still have this white pair with me, still functioning well, but I still miss my previous pair. ):
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