Day 8: Finally settling down.

We have been wanting to eat Bonjuk for the longest time, or at least I really do. We decided to have Bonjuk on our last day together, though it's neither me or Shan's last day in Korea. She went on to have another week of adventures with her friend.

So, here we are thinking, what should we do with our luggage? One thing was that we don't want to climb up that steep slope to reach our room again. (Everytime we do, we had to rest for a good 15 - 30 minutes before doing anything again.) But neither do we want to drag our luggages around Myeongdong. Thankfully, we found out about the locker rental service available at most, if not all, subway stations. Proceed to put your luggage in the subway's locker (4,000KRW) if you need to. I find it perfectly safe since you are entering a password of your own choice.

Bonjuk was alright. Not AWESOME though. First mouth was awesome, after a while, it does get a little boring. After a late breakfast, Shan and I rushed down to M Plaza because Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Centre on level 5 allows you to try on hanboks for free! However, the bad thing is that you only can reserve the slots on the day itself. Shan and I was slightly late (it opens at 10.30am) and we could only get the 2pm slot earliest. Which both of us couldn't make it. If you are interested in it, please do go down early and do note that though there are hanboks available, there are no photographers there so do come equipped with your own cameras and probably your photographers aka friends.

And guess what? Ever since I fell in love with SHINee about a year ago, I've been paying close attention to them. Since Etude House launched "Be My Princess" perfume from SHINee, I've been wanting to get it. But it wasn't available in Singapore yet. When I saw my first Etude House in Korea, I immediately went in in search of this. And I found it!! Since 5 SHINee members created their own perfume, I had 5 choices. I immediately reached out for Jonghyun's and subsequently Onew's, because they were my #1 and #2 respectively. And I fell in love with the scent Jonghyun created! But I was still procrastinating and not buying because I want to settle down first because I get all these things. Too troublesome to drag them around. But my travel partner decided to give me a surprise gift!! When I was bathing the night before, this girl left this on the table. While I was out and she was bathing inside, I took a look out of curiosity and found out it was for me! Hahah I'm still using it now and totally in love with it. Thank you best travel mate everrr!!

Subsequently, the awesomely-nice lady decided to bring me to meet my friends before she head off to meet her's. Together, we dragged our 17kg luggage all the way to Hansung University subway station. That was where my next guesthouse is, for the next 1 month. Finally met up with Lydia and Jenny and after lugging my luggage up the stairs, I finally bid Shan goodbye and head off to find our guesthouse. Actually, Exit 5 of the subway disappeared (was closed for renovation or smth) so I totally couldn't find the way at all. Asked many people but to no avail. So, I called the owner who will come down to fetch us, and then chatted with an uncle who was selling fruits at the subway exit. He was nice and I'm glad my very-bad Korean was understood by him, sort of.

As you can see, I stayed in a guesthouse instead of SKKU dormitory. That's because SKKU told us that they do not have anymore spaces in their dormitory, which I was extremely unhappy about. How could such things happen? Nevertheless, staying in a guesthouse has its own benefits too. But I would much prefer the school's dormitory still.

I stayed in Open Guesthouse in Hyehwa area. It was about 15-20 minutes walk from Sungkyunkwan University, and as can be seen, it's in the housing estate so you really get to experience the life of true Koreans. Most guesthouses are above or beside stores and cafes, but this isn't. I mean there are still cafes around, just walk out to the main road less than 5 minutes away. But other than that, I really love staying in that place. The owners and staff were pretty helpful, and whether you prefer interacting with others is really up to you. You get your peace and quiet if you wish to, but you can also find plenty of other occupants in the guesthouse if you want to know more people. :)