Seoul Day #6

Day 6!!!! Favourite day from the whole trip (and possibly whole year)!!!!

We dedicated this day to touring around Gangnam. Yes, that Gangnam. The Psy Gangnam. Gangnam is the district to shop if you're one of the rich and famous. We walked along Apgujeong Rodeo where you'd find your friendly ol' plastic surgery office after every 5 designer stores. We also came across the hair salon where Girls Generation would do their hair and make-up. Pretty surreal, guys!!!!!

Anyway, so the reason we made Day 6 all 'bout Gangnam because we wanted to be close to SM Town. What happened was, after leaving SM Town on our first trip there, Tania forgot to get something from the gift shop so we actually went back to SM Town after having late lunch at the Italian place just downstairs.

As she was paying for her things at the cashier, some of the employees were setting up this banner just next to it, about SHINee's new album. Tania looked and didn't think of it much because by then, the album has not yet been released. It was due to release on the 3rd of August. And she knew this because I had mentioned it to her earlier. What caught her eye was the date '5th of August'. She came out of the store and called me in to ask when the album was going to release. As I confirmed the 3rd of August, we both got a tiny weeny bit excited "... so if the album is releasing on the 3rd... what's on the 5th... ?" and she asked one of the employees to which she responded "fan signing upstairs".

Quite difficult to stay calm and composed knowing that SHINee will be just upstairs in a few days time. So we decided to come then on the 5th, but I kinda knew it would be difficult to get admission for the fan signing event. Regardless, we both still wanted to come to SM Town again. Thus, our trip to Gangnam!

So, first! We went to Gangnam but somehow, stopped at the wrong subway station and so we had to walk quite far to get to the tour bus stop. I persevered but survived only by complaining hahahaha I really really cannot stand heat, it's been like that always, I don't mean to be mengada or anything like that, I just really dislike heat, it's very suffocating and rimas for me. I pitied Tania who had to endure not just the heat but my complaining and whining but I mean, she's stuck with me for the rest of our lives anyway hahah

We had to go find the Gangnam Tourist Center which is where the kind lady told us of the tour options. The bus was leaving only an hour later so Tania and I had to go find lunch first. Damn. Susah. Nak. Cari. Makan. In the end we settled for a boring shrimp burger at McDonalds.

The lady at the counter couldn't understand my "Shrimp burger, please" and she was looking so confused 'til I altered my pronunciation to "She-rim bo-go, ju-se-yo!".

After eating and taking advantage of the cool a/c in McD, we headed out to the bus. Thank God the bus was also nice and comfortable with air-conditioner! We were the only ones aboard though, seeing how it was a weekday and it's not school holidays so tourist count is very low despite it being summer. The tour guide was an old man but he could speak English well and he showed us all the landmarks and bits of history about it which I genuinely found very interesting. Seeing how we were the only ones there, we could ask him questions personally. It felt like being on a private tour!

Hahaha I took this photo 'cause of CPK as it's a big family favourite for us. I remember going there EVERY Friday all the way in KLCC. Pity they've closed down, they had quality Italian food! 

We finished both tour lines in about an hour and and 45 minutes, if I'm not mistaken. This one is not bad compared to the previous tour bus we took. This one at least we learned something and not completely in a daze hahaha

We then walked to Garosu-gil, another street of shopping. You can find A Land here and lots of skincare shops that you won't otherwise find in Myeongdong or Hongdae. There's also a 3CE standalone store. The whole street exuded such a cool vibe and I kinda regret not going there earlier  on the trip to spend more time there. There were so many pretty café's along the street too!

For some odd reason, we didn't take much photos whilst in Garosu-gil. Like I said, I wished I'd spend a longer time browsing through the shops. It's just a small street but really cool shops like the vintage one (above). Apparently it's where SHINee's stylists got their clothes for their Married to the Music photos (below). 

Which leads us to the highlight of the day...

So after Garosu-gil, we left for SM Town. It wasn't that far to travel to Coex because it was already just around the area. 

We went at 730 I think and the event starts at 8, on the 5th floor. The escalator leading to the 5th floor was guarded by an employee so when Tania asked the girl, she said you had to register beforehand and obviously we wouldn't know how to do that. 

Regardless, Tania and I chilled at the café on the fourth floor and we saw fans diligently writing notes and letters to the SHINee members. We would too IF WE KNEW HOW TO REGISTER?!?!?!

But it didn't matter, for me it was as long as I could just ***see*** them. So what we did was camp downstairs by the entrance because they had to leave the building one way or another, right? 

As we expected, there were fans already downstairs although there weren't as many as we thought there would be, to be honest. There were fans who brought heavy-duty cameras and the girl next to me managed to take close-up photos of Jonghyun as they entered SM Town earlier. 

We saw Amber too from f(x)! She was walking to the building and we later found out it was 'cause she was the MC of the event (we watched a live broadcast of it on our phones). I didn't think much when I saw her (because I didn't realise it was actually her) 'cause she was dressed down with a grey hoodie and capri pants, but found it suspicious that this person was escorted by a security guard. I love Amber, would have loved to see her up close! 

We even saw some of the SM Rookies walk in, all wearing black with caps and masks to hide their identities. But they were all so fit and tall, it's impossible to not spot them. Some of the fangirls followed them in but Tania and I were too excited and nervous as we waited for SHINee.

Guys.

Finally.

They made their way down. 

The guards all came down first and they had to do some serious crowd control, not that there was a massive crowd, but it only takes 2 fangirls (us) to chase after the members, don't it? Thankfully, Tania and I got to the front 'cause like I said, crowd wasn't huge so it was relatively easy to get to the front anyway.

FREAK THE HELL OUT, GUYS. You can watch it all on the video that we made (earlier post!) but here are some blurry photos of my happiness hahaha

Onew was so sweet ok, he bowed to the fans !!!!!!! The others walked quite quickly to the car but Onew took the time to bow to us! How sweet!!

As I waited for them to come down, I kept myself occupied watching this...

SARANGHAEYO KEY OPPA!!!!

UGH THAT. WAS. SO. MUCH. FUN!!!! On cloud 9!!!! So surreal seeing them in person!!! Tania and I could hardly control our excitement along with the other fangirls. So freaking amazing and til this day, I still can't believe we saw them!!!!!

After completely losing it from seeing the boys walk pass us, we had dinner at the same Italian restaurant just downstairs and we had to calm ourselves down. We couldn't believe that we actually got to see them! We didn't have any expectations coming to Seoul to meet anyone but LO AND BEHOLD SHINEE ughhhh and for all SHINee fans, yes, they are as perfect as they look. So painful seeing Taemin omg I was just going to cry!!! We were ridiculously over the moon! 

If you haven't already watched our Seoul vlog, please do go watch it! Our little frantic episode at SM Town was all caught on camera also hehe 

Thanks for sticking around this very fangirl-y blog post you deserve a star hahaha

xx

Seoul Day #5

Back with another post of my Seoul trip!

Day 5 was a pretty laid-back day for us. The night before, a friend told me of a halal Korean barbeque place in Itaewon so since Tania and I were craving for anything really (will tell you about food in Seoul in a bit), we decided to go to this place called Eid.

You can get the directions easily on various review websites and/or on their Facebook page. Granted, it was a bit of a walk and with the heat, it was a bit trying for both of us. But we finally got there!

When we arrived, we weren't greeted with an 'Anyeonghaseyo!' which is what we usually hear but with a friendly and warm 'Assalamualaikum' by the waiter. How nice was that?!?!

He brought us the menu and he spoke fluent English with us, introducing and describing every dish there was and he also explained that they use different ingredients as substitutes for what is usually used. We were pleasantly surprised with how brilliant the service was because out of all the places we've been to, communication can be quite difficult and so this one was very pleasant and smooth.
After telling us of the different dishes, Tania and I chose the Korean barbeque which was what we initially wanted.

I asked the waiter if they had green tea in Korean and he was surprised that I could speak Korean well and we managed a short conversation and we found out that his brother is studying in UIA here in Malaysia which was suspected by both Tania and I because he brought out appetisers for us and he introduced one of them "This is ikan bilis" in which we of course loved. He then brought out the rice and barbequed beef.

Guys. IT. WAS. WORTH. THE. WALK. UPHILL. UNDER. THE. SCORCHING. HEAT.

So, so, so sedap! If this was what I've been missing out on all this while, someone slap me ! We finished almost everything. The ikan bilis (which he said was a sweeter version of ours here) was so good and the kimchi was also very very good and the beef was so good with rice!!! I just loved it. Wanted to go again but we were short of time.

After finishing our food, he brought out this traditional Korean tea. They had no other drinks 'cept for this one because they didn't have the green tea I had initially wanted. But, guys. This tea >>>>>>> green tea. It was super tasty and I can't really describe the taste to you. It was sweet and just the right amounts of all the flavours. It's called 'Omijacha' and it literally means five taste tea (O = five, mija = taste and cha = tea) and it's exactly that, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and hot. Sounds a bit odd and awkward but it is so good, really! Promise you! I haven't been to any Korean restaurants here in KL so I don't know if they have it here.

So what I'm really saying is that if you're planning to go to Seoul in the future, please make some time and effort to go to this restaurant. It's a small restaurant but the food and the service is brilliant. Tania and I were really pleased with our lunch hehe

After lunch, we went to Myeongdong with the sole reason of buying k-pop albums. For anyone wondering where they can buy K-Pop albums in Seoul, it's not as easy as one would think! Tania and I couldn't find a legit music store. So thanks to Google, we found that there were 2 in Myeongdong station itself. Find your way to Exit 6 and there will be small shops there selling clothes and souvenirs and there are 2 stores selling k-pop albums and merchandises . Which I went crazy over.

Tania and I borong the albums there because we knew we wouldn't get the chance to get original CD's that cheap and that easily in KL. Heck, we had to buy all of our EXO albums via online.

After browsing through Myeongdong and buying some things, we headed home. I bought a bag in Myeongdong and only to find out when I reached home, that it was missing its detachable strap so guess what I did? I went back to Myeongdong. Myeongdong is relatively quite a distance to travel to from Hongdae so it was so tiring but so worth it because I hadn't been to Myeongdong at night then and it was super lively, with the food stalls and lights and the crowd was so happening. Tania wasn't with me then because she was too lazy to travel so far so she just went to Hongdae's shopping site. After grabbing a quick dinner in Myeongdong, I headed home.

It wasn't an eventful day per se, but still tiring nevertheless!

Ah! As I wanted to say about food earlier, it's actually quite difficult to get ahold of good halal food in Korea. Other than that, the language barrier can be quite stifling for a tourist. I tried to communicate as best I can with what little Korean I know, but still, it was difficult. They're not English friendly and the more you speak English to them, the more they speak Korean back to you. Hahaha, elok lah dua dua tak paham each other. To get halal food, you have to do some research but my best bet would just to head to Itaewon where there'll just be loads of halal food for you to choose from.

Seoul lovin'!

Our Seoul trip now in video form! Tania and I both had so much fun in SoKo that we decided to make a video for our own keepsake. A lot of love went into making this video so we hope you enjoy it as much as we loved making it.

We took a lot more photos than videos throughout the trip but we made do with what we had and this is the end result! Tania and I spent the day and night making this video and though the whole process was tiring, we had fun. Made us miss Korea even more! We'll definitely definitely be back!
(I realised this video is a bit shaky but that's all because of my trembly hands, I'm no good in recording videos at all!  The good clips were all recorded by Tania so you have her to thank for that!) 

All songs are Korean because it was only appropriate that we had Korean tunes for a video about our Seoul trip and they're all linked so you can just click on them to listen to the full song;

Attraction 갖고놀래 by Bumkey (feat Dynamic Duo 다이나믹 듀오)
Playboy's Diary by Primary 프라이머리 (feat 정기고, Dead'P)
That Girl by Andup (feat Crucial Star)
Question Mark 물음표 by Primary (feat Zion T & Choiza of Dynamic Duo)
Miss Right by BTS 방탄소년단

많이 많이 사랑해 주세요!

xx

P/S : We are now aware of the grammar mistake in our hashtag #nadiataniagoesSoKo thanks to our English teacher mother, but #nadiataniagoesSoKo sounds so much nicer than #nadiataniagoSoKo so we're going to just stick to that hehe 

Seoul Day #4

Tania and I decided to dedicate a whole day for K-Pop. So that was our Day 4.

First things first! SM Town!! SM Town at the Coex Atrium is basically a 5 floor space where it is just completely decked out with SM Town artists so that includes EXO, SHINee, Girls Generation, Super Junior, and f(x).

Tania and I coincidentally matched with our stripes and blue that day. Very fitting with EXO's latest concept hehehehe #loveofourlives

My K-Pop obsession started with me falling completely head over heels for EXO so it was only appropriate that we went to SM Town.

I bought my outfit from the streets of Hongdae. Those striped pants are my new favourite thing in my closet.

Guys, I proper freaked out, ok. I wanted to be all cool yeah this is no big deal but who was I kidding?!?! Upon seeing the big SM Town sign with SHINee's new album poster on the building, I almost wanted to barf out of excitement.

I just couldn't believe that I was here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After taking photos outside, we rushed in and we're so glad we arrived just as it opened because that meant there wasn't a massive crowd. We couldn't stop ooh-ing and aah-ing at everything and we took so many photos with everyone's posters on the walls. It was so cool lah, anyone reading this who isn't a kpop fan won't understand my giddiness but I was just so completely over the moon to be in SM Town! That was the whole point of coming to Korea, hello!!?!?!?!???

!!!!!!!!!!! LEE TAEMIN STOP IT 

First floor was the gift shop but we kept that for last because we knew that if we were to go there first, we'd be spending ages in there so we didn't wanna waste time and moved on to the second floor.

Where one would go crazy... and broke...

I actually regret not getting one of SHINee's caps! 

Wanted to buy everything in store but so many things were sold out!! There weren't Kai posters left on our first trip to SM Town.

Second floor was SM Town studio where at a relatively hefty price, you get to experience being an SM artist with hair and make-up, music video recording and even actual singing recording. Very cool concept but we didn't do that 'cause um lol. And you need to make a reservation too beforehand.

Closest to ever holding Kai and Sehun lol 

BAE, you so ridiculous lah Taemin please be mine

Third floor was the café and they had cupcakes and cakes and drinks all SM themed. There were even cakes of EXO, SHINee and Red Velvet how damn cute guys please take note that this is my dream birthday cake I'd like it very much for you to have this in mind next time 'round ok

Future birthday cake, guys, please.

Fourth floor was the SM Town Theatre. There was an actual theatre where they were showing School OZ, a production by SM starring the singers themselves. There was also a photo booth where you take a photo """with""" the singers (hologram but beautiful) and we took twice each hahaha, if we could, we'd take with all of 'em!

There were also a huge huge screen just showing SM groups music videos so we were there for a long time just 'cause we were dancing and singing along.

Tables and chairs all had autographs of the SM members and it was just SO SO SO damn cool knowing that they were sitting where you were sitting!! 

We stayed on the 5th floor so long because we were busy grooving to SM's tunes (although we've seen the music video so many already)

My 2 favourites ; Lee Taemin and Park Chanyeol.

How cute does Taemin and Minho look like goddamnit!

We then, left SM Town to go entertainment-agency-building hopping. We went to Apgujeong Rodeo and walked under the hot hot hot hot sun. Man, the weather was something else. I'm pretty sure it was a lot a lot a lot more warm in Seoul than it is in KL. It hardly rained and the air was still so there wasn't much wind to cool us off. So warm!
Anyway, so we walked to JYP first and took photos before then finding our way to SM Entertainment building. Hahaha, sanggup tu. Again, we couldn't believe we were standing around buildings where some of our favourite groups record, dance, practice, eat, everything!!! We loitered around in hopes of maybe seeing one of them come out but we were out of luck so we decided to walk back to the station to go home.

There was a Dunkin Donuts just outside of JYP and it's just filled with posters of JYP artists (alongside some others from different companies) and their signatures. We saw fans also in DD, with presents all wrapped and ready to be given to their favs. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of someone coming out of the building but we wanted to get a move on so we gave up after drinking our mango smoothies.

Casually infront of THE BUILDING WHERE THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY KPOP OBSESSION LIVES?!?!?!

By then, we were so so so so tired because we had been walking up and down, back and forth. But ugh, we had SO. MUCH. FUN. I don't know how else to tell it to you, the whole day from start to end was just ridiculous amounts of fun and a lot of "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M HERE?!?!!!!" so you can only imagine Tania and I just going loony seeing all things k-pop.

If this could be my wall in my bedroom, I'd be happy. Ridiculously overjoyed, actually.

With main bae

Overall, it was an amaaaazing day and a really really good one, the kind of good that when you come home, you're just so happy that that day just happened.

Over gila kan?

xx

Seoul Day #3 (ii)

(LOL, I got totally confused. This is actually still day #3 in Seoul, we went to Hongdae for shopping and came home soon after getting these magazines)

So Tania and I just agreed to stay home. We did go out for lunch though. We googled Indian food and we found one with good reviews - best part was that it was so near us! Only a tube station away!

Tania lovesss this restaurant so much that we went again for the 2nd time on our last full day in Seoul!

It's called Jyoti restaurant and it's located in Sinchon! Google it! It was so near us so it was really convenient! And Indian food anywhere in the world never fails so we're glad we found this one!!

We then walked to Hongdae to waste time before going back early (we got home at 5pm) because we were kinda tired from going all out the first few days hahaha we needed a break on our holiday.

But we stopped over at a book store to buy magazines. We actually wanted to get K-Pop albums but the ones we found didn't have too many choices and we were sure that there'll be somewhere else selling loads more a lot cheaper. And when we came across the magazines, we bought those instead.

We basically bought every magazine that had these lads on the cover. I couldn't deal. 

(This seems like a boring and short post but I wanted to blog about it anyway because I wanted to blog our whole time there)

xx