Creamfarfalle: Seoul (Myeong-dong and dog cafe!)

Today, I shall blog about our Myeong-dong visit in Seoul. Myeong-dong is like a shopping paradise in Korea where there are shops, restaurants and cosmetic stores lining a very long street. In the middle of the street, there are also make-shift stalls selling snacks, street food and apparels as well. There are also store brands like H&M, Forever21, Uniqlo etc. Best place to go if you want to do your shopping in one entire area.

Being a morning trooper and got up early, showered, did my makeup, picked my outfit. I think I took about an hour and a half and the other two weren't even up yet! I felt bad waking them up cos Xw said "she will wake up whenever she wakes up" so I can't possibly force her to wake up haha. So I went to have breakfast on my own and did some shopping at the shopping center that's connected to our hotel. I absolutely adore the red beanie that I had on that day which I bought for 4,000won the previous day.

Cerestar building. 17-2, Euljiro 6ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea

Tel: 3407-0700

Reservation: booking@eastgatehotel.kr

This is the hotel that we always run to because it's so cold outside and we needed to get past those glass doors to keep ourselves warm.

The view from our hotel in the morning was pretty amazing. We stayed on one of the higher floors and it was amazing that you could see the mountains and even the Seoul tower from there. Pity we didn't make it to the Seoul Namsan tower cos it'll probably be too cold and we'll freeze to death haha. I need to go back to Korea in summer and visit these tourist attractions!

We had lunch subsequently at a nearby restaurant where we ordered stews.

Tofu stew that I ordered. The rest of the other items on the menu had beef in them.

This was the beef stew that Co and Xw both ordered which didn't had a lot of beef strips or cubes in them.

Myeong-dong was a mere 2 train stops from Dongdaemun History and Culture train station so it didn't take us very long to get there. This was how crowded the area was! (Spot me in the red beanie)

We probably had nothing better to do so we walked into every single cosmetic stall. They were also having some major sale that day in all the stalls so there were discounts Everywhere!

We went to Kosney, sort of like a lifestyle stationery bookstore. It was heaven! haha. They have super adorable notebooks and all the cutesy stuff that you will ever find. I ended up buying some cute notebooks, a pink passport holder, some stationery and a cute hat for a discounted price.

Some potato snack thing where they use a special machine to twirl a whole potato and then throw them into a deep fryer for a few minutes before sprinkling some salt on it.

A cat cafe sign that we saw in the middle of Myeong-dong! Ended up following the address to the cafe. I didn't take any photos cos we didn't end up going in but the cats were so chillax in the cafe haha. I think I have a new-found love for cats these days and I have no idea why. I love the fact that they're so lazy and adorable.

The shops lining the street of Myeong-dong

Xw's friends were in Myeong-dong as well so we decided to meet up with them for dinner! It was really great because Chelsia (Xw's friend) was really well versed in the Korean language and the two of them were pretty familiar with Korea so they knew where the nice eating places were! We ended up eating at a bbq place where you can order meat and vegetables to pan fry.

I believe we ordered the extra-spicy marinated chicken galbi. Believe it or not, but the entire dish cost 8,500won and it was enough for the 5 of us! We also added marinated fried rice later on to the dish to stir fry with the chicken galbi. I think this was the best meal I had in Korea. YUMMM.

I am SALIVATING just by looking at these pictures. Omg I miss this ):

You don't have to cook it by yourself as there are waiters to help you cook the food. I guess a downside about the place is that the whole place just smells of bbq food and you would probably smell like bbq when you leave the restaurant as well. There really isn't any other way to it when you want to enjoy good bbq food. They included a round metal cover to help contain the smoke and oil I guess but I didn't think it really worked haha.

Besides chicken galbi and vegetables, there are even rice cakes and potato slices in the rice as well. I have no words to describe this meal. It was simply amazing.

This was a blue fifi lapin oversized sweater that I bought in one of the sale shops for 9,000won! Super cheap and i am in love with it. I think the shade of cobalt is lovely.

Xw wanted to sleep early so Co and I went to have supper and did some late night shopping at one of the shopping centers. This particular food stall sold really yummy chicken sticks! The lady boss started talking to us because she could speak chinese as well. She was originally from Haerbin in China before migrating to Seoul.

Awesome chicken sticks for 2,500won!

Co ordered fish sticks as well

We visited Myeong-dong again the next day because it was our last day in Korea and decided to visit a dog cafe. Xw and Co liked dogs better and we saw a snoopy mascot advertising for a dog cafe so we decided to follow him.

Entrance fee to the dog cafe was 8,000won which is inclusive of a coffee drink of your choice.

The dogs in the cafe are allowed to roam about freely on their own. Most of the dogs were on the far end of the cafe where there are lying down on the sofa area.

An adorable bulldog decides to sniff my leg! haha. Look at the chewed corners of the tables in the cafe as well.

This huge dog came to our table to say hi. Xw was very afraid of it because we weren't supposed to touch it

They had this photo listing of dogs in the cafe which included those that are advised to patrons not to touch because they bite.

Co decided to befriend this dog that Xw and I were very apprehensive about because it was one of the dogs that bite supposedly. I tried to get close to it and carry it but it kept growling at me even after a few attempts. In the end, it bit Corinne on the finger cos she wanted to let it onto the floor. Bad dog!

I think they coloured the cheeks of some of the dogs for easy recognition purposes. I feel sad for the dogs somehow cos the colored cheeks really don't make them look cute or anything.