Seoul Trip 2015 Day 8

I woke up at 7:30am to a cold and extremely cloudy morning. The mountains in the background couldn't be seen. It didn't look good, rain might be inevitable. :( By 9:30am, it started raining heavily with thunder. :( :( It's our day in Seoul, why did it have to rain?! 

We spent the whole morning watching Korean period drama, which is unusual for me while on holiday! It was still raining away with thunder. It seemed to be a whole week's worth of rain that didn't happen throughout the week all accumulated to today. Oh well, every cloud has a silver lining (pun intended lol!), the rain gave me some time to refine on my whole school workshop presentation next week when I return. :)

We were hungry so had to venture out in the heavy rain to our backyard, Insadong for lunch. We had dumplings at this small restaurant, packed full of Koreans. The dumplings were delicious! Went well with Jeju Hoji tea latte from Starbucks! :) 

The dumpling chef who sportingly smiled for my photo

After lunch, we headed back to the apartment as the rain was still heavy. I have sank to a new low while on holiday! I found myself surfing through the 559 channels. I was watching a continuation of this morning's Korean period drama only to have Juliane telling me that it's a different drama! Have to get out of the apartment, rain or shine! 
At 3pm, we ventured out even though it was still raining. The temperature was only in the low 20s, nice and cool. We went to Shilla Duty Free Shop to help an family aunt buy her skin care products. We were lucky to catch the free Shilla Hotel/ DFS shuttle bus at Exit 5, Dongguk University Station. We bought the stuff, left Shilla DFS and arrived at Myeong-dong all within an hour. :) 

The Shilla Hotel and N Seoul Tower in the background

The free shuttle bus provided for people going to The Shilla and/ or Shilla DFS

I bought some additional souvenirs on stand-by in case I miss out some colleagues and friends. The rain has let up by then. We browsed around for a dinner place. Settled on School Food at M Plaza. I tried the Special Mari 2 (7,800won, fusion mari combination with cuttlefish ink, cuttlefish, flying fish roe, and spam! Juliane tried Grilled Pork with rice (10,300won, rice on sliced onions, grilled pork and potatoes). The food at School Food was delicious and the pricing was very reasonable. :) Wish we had discover this place earlier lol. :P 

After our early dinner, we went back to the Cat Cafe! It was pretty crowded due to the rain. We managed to find a table at 6:30pm. Not long after we sat at our table, guess who came along?! Cookie, the Siamese cat came and curled up right on my laps again! There is a cat who loves me! Lol. :) She didn't sleep on any other patrons' laps. Guess we have a connection. :)  

A cat loves me!

Photo-bombed by Juliane lol

Not the best place to sleep/ nap 

Byee, Cat Cafe

We didn't stay too long, leaving the cat cafe at 8pm as we have to pack our luggage.
We took a walk down Insadong before returning to our apartment as it was our last night in Seoul. 

Tile art at the Anguk station

Back at the apartment just before 9pm, and it was packing time. 

Rain has stopped. What a clear night. 

Can see the crescent moon and star

I think we managed to keep our luggage weight under 40kg. Darn, should have bought more haha.

Seoul Trip 2015 Day 7

Another free and easy day! :) 
We left close to 10:30am and headed to Kyobo Bookstore at Gwanghwamun Station. Pretty surprised that we spent 2.5 hours at the bookstore, just looking at and buying stationery. :P

After the bookstore, we headed to Myeong-dong. While looking for lunch, we accidentally stumbled upon Two Two Fried Chicken lol. Decided to try it as I recalled reading about the chicken being pretty decent. We shared a JjaJangMyeon and a Marinated Soy Bean Fried Chicken. The chicken was pretty tasty and mostly tender, except for one or two pieces which were a little dry.

It was almost 3pm when we were done with lunch. We walked around Myeong-dong, window-shopping until we saw someone eating an ice cream. We bought one to share - a 32cm tall ice cream! We were scrambling to eat it as quickly as possible as it was melting in the heat haha. :P

Myeong-dong Theatre in the day

As promised to ourselves, we went to the Cat Cafe which we saw during our first visit to Myeong-dong. There were only three table occupied when we arrived. The entrance fee is very much cheaper than that of cat cafes in Singapore! I only paid 15,000 won (approx SGD$18) for Juliane and myself which included two drinks (hot or cold) from a pretty extensive drinks menu and the best part, we could stay for as long as we want!! :) And we did stay for as long as we want. We were there from 4:30pm until 8pm! There was a point of time where we were the only patrons at the cat cafe around 6pm to 7:30pm where the after dinner crowd started coming. We were really pleased to have that alone time with the cats. Despite the fact that we didn't buy cat treats to lure the cats to us, the cats came naturally to us. :) One Siamese cat, Cookie even took turn to sleep on our laps, mine first before going over to Juliane lol. I thought that was the highlight of our day - the Cat Cafe: playing with cats, stroking the cats and to have a cat napping on our laps. :)

The Cat Cafe mascot who helps to direct people to the cafe

Our two free drinks with entrance fees: iced yuzu soda and iced chocolate mint

Do I look grumpy? 

Siamese cat, Cookie decided to nap on my laps

One manja Siamese cat, Cookie

Just swing your tail this way so I can swat at it!

What are you looking at?!

Sitting pretty

Three in a row

A curious tabby about our belongings :)

I am a royalty. Bow to me lol.

What's in a name? Calculator? Pillow? Serves its purpose for my nap

A last look at the cats before leaving

Bye, cats! We'll be back!

We finally left the Cat Cafe to look at the night market at Myeong-dong. We left Myeong-dong after satisfying Juliane's craving for Gongcha lol. Since it is on the way home, we dropped by Lotte Mart again to get buckwheat tea which Juliane has taken a liking to. 

Street stalls selling clothes, food, etc.

Crowded street of Myeong-dong but not many people wearing masks

Myeong-dong Theatre at night

Gongcha!

N Seoul Tower in the distance all lit up. Pretty. 

In the train heading to Lotte Mart lol

Culture Station Seoul 284 at night

We headed home after 9pm and grabbed some sandwiches from 7-11 as dinner. It is definitely a relaxing and therapeutic day for us with the cat therapy and the stationery shopping. :)

Our goodies from Kyobo Bookstore