Heavenly food, fantastic place, a great escape from the city. What’s amazing about Marcia Adams’ Restaurant is how they market the place - merely through word of mouth. Reviews are available online and you can see that everyone’s had a satisfying experience. Check out the full account on my blog and I am sure you will put Marcia Adams’ Restaurant in your To Go To Places list.
^_^
Long overdue trip for 2011 care of SM Cinema. Too bad the boys can’t come and the tickets are not transferable. But we had a lot of fun!
- Helmet Diving
- Para-sailing
- Full body spa
- Night life in December
- Girly dinner with wine care of hotel
- fun fun fun!
Edited by: Clarence
Music: Hello - Martin Solveig feat. Dragonette (i do not own this)
P.S. After 5 months, I was able to finish this video. Yay me! Finally found time to do this!
I would like to produce a video like this some day. I’d love to have great footage to work with. Some day. Soon.
We’ll create more memories, take more pictures, see friends, meet new people, explore more places, eat a lot and fall in love all over again.
Secret trip or not, Korea is our home. <3
I just realized I haven’t written down our Day 7 because remembering our depressing last day in Korea is just… depressing. But here it is anyway. Read the rest of day 7 entry here.
Well, basically our last day was about pasalubong-shopping and packing and re-packing our luggage to fit every quirky stuff we bought.
We went to Insadong and around Ssamziegil, tried out the huge quirky glasses:
and bought poop bread!
As we were leaving Hotel Sunbee, my heart was so heavy but I managed not to cry. Kizia managed to catch some sleep but I woke up several times (again with a heavy heart). I just shot every interesting bit with our Flip.
One of our must-do’s in Korea is try some of Dunkin’ Donuts’ donuts. Our last chance was to buy some in Incheon Airport (above photo)
What actually made us want to do this is because of Simon and Martina’s video. To read more about their review, go here. We tried to create a video on our own but we can’t grab a table inside Dunkin Donuts, and the waiting area was crowded, we had to share a seat and make the video. I will edit this soon, I promise. But here are photos from my iPod.
I can say half tasted great, and the other half’s just okay. But we enjoyed doing the video, that I can tell you.
So we boarded Korean Air and we were welcomed with a scrumptious on-board meal
with dessert!
I’m not familiar with the types of planes but I sure know we were inside a big one. Each passenger has access to a screen and one can listen to music (Korean or not), watch music videos, and watch Korean movies! Amazing. I started Hello Ghost first but the first part was a little dragging so I changed to Cyrano Agency and apparently, Kizia was watching this one too! The movie was a bit long so we weren’t able to finish it. Don’t worry, when we got back, Kizia grabbed a copy of the movie and shared it to me. THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING.
There are merch shops above ground but you haven’t explored all your options until you head down these stairs and see the treasure trove of CDs, DVDs and posters down here. —Trixie
If you haven’t read their book yet, you should go straight to the bookstore right now and buy Popped and Popped Too.
The author brought the characters to life with this tumblr and boy, how I enjoyed reading it. I hope you do too!
Just to give you a proof of the Myeondong underground shopping center, the girls in Popped was able to take a photo of it. I highly suggest you go here to find great stuff. We were able to buy stickers, stationeries, concert DVDs of Big Bang, Taeyang’s Solar Concert and Super Junior’s Super Show 2 in Japan - comes with free poster too!
Read longer version of Day 5 here.
Day 5 was short and simple. :)
Driventolive got in contact with Mo the night before and they finally pinned down the time and location of the meet up.
We met her at Itaewon and we grabbed a traditional Korean lunch nearby. Sorry I don’t have pictures, but what I have is this:
It’s a wet tissue/towel. If you read it, it says: CLEAN TOWEL (cu-lin to-wel) :D
After lunch, Mo brought us to this really great waffle place: The Waffle Factory.
The place got huge forks and knives!
Everything’s delicious. Huge untensils = huge servings. Unbelievable. I never had waffles that big.
After waffles, we went to a book store nearby (sorry no pictures again, was too preoccupied with the wide range of books available!) and we grabbed something to drink at the Standing Coffee.
I don’t have a picture of the whole place but what I have is this:
The cute baristas who agreed to let us in their counter to have our picture taken with them. Nope, it’s not our idea. It was Mo’s. Hahaha!
While we were walking we passed by an Italiani’s and I just find it amusing how it is called in Korea.
Mo brought us to her place and gave us a tour around the base.
We were still full so we skipped dinner and grabbed another cup of hot drinks while going around the mini-mall inside the base.
We had such a great time around a different side of Korea, all thanks to Mo! Let’s see each other soon! :)
——————————
So you know how we went to Club Cocoon the night before and we were actually hit on by people and how we were amused with the night life in Seoul? Well, we decided to hit another party place on our 5th day.
.
We went to Club NB that night. We were pretty scared because the place is darker than Club Cocoon. The place has that misty and eerie feeling maybe because there’s too much smoke. But then again, it was really dark, we couldn’t see anything clearly, so 20minutes into the club, we decided to spend the rest of the evening in… Club Cocoon. Hahaha!
Partying in Seoul is non-stop. How did I know that? Because that night was a SUNDAY. Unbelievable.
I don’t really recall that much about our 5th night in Seoul. The music that night was not really our thing so we just observed the people around us and had a blast just doing it. People watching FTW!
Disclaimer: The following accounts are true. I am not making up stories. And you should not blame me for what you’re about to read. These are purely observations and personal opinions. If you didn’t like it, or got offended by it, I apologize in advance, especially to the people close to the ones we encountered that night. These accounts are based on pure amusement (in a good way) towards the party/parties involved. We are not to blame for the following accounts - we are merely tourists having fun in a foreign land, you can’t blame us for the actions of certain people around us. kei??
This is also what I posted in my other blog. But if you want to check that one out also, you may!
So where was I? Oh yeah, the getting ready part:
After some dinner/junk food, we hailed a cab and went to Hongdae. We decided to go to Club Cocoon for the night.
When we got there, we realized we left out IDs back at the hotel (so foolish of us). So we had to go back again to grab our IDs. True and funny story.
BUT! The night was EPIC.
This is going to be a suuuuper long post. Read more after the jump.
(Read Day 3 Part 3 here)
We’re supposed to meet Kizia’s friend today in Namsan Tower. So we grabbed lunch…
almost lost my camera (ssshhh don’t tell BF) and apparently, it was in my pocket all along. But the good thing here is that I learned that most Koreans, no matter how scary they look (ajhumma is kind of masungit) are kind enough to help you out and flip our table to look for my supposedly-lost camera. :)
Anyway….
I researched that to get to Namsan Tower, you must take the subway and then ride a bus. As it turns out, I think we got off at the wrong stop or took the wrong exit, because the bus that we’re supposed to take is nowhere to be found. In the end, we hailed a cab and were dropped off at the cable car center/building/station.
It was my first time to ride a cable car! It was very scary and exciting at the same time. The view was awesome. I bet it’s better if we went there during night time. (This was around 3 or 4pm)
And when you get to the top:
Amazing view. I love it.
Namsan Tower is well-known for the “love locks” around the area as what I’d like to call it. Couples, friends or family put up locks at the gates to symbolize their undying love or promise to each other.
With enough pictures, we decided to stroll around and look for Kizia’s friend, Mo. We ended up buying each a Namsan Tower Tumblr. :) I also bought several stickers in the souvenir shop. After an hour or so without Mo in sight, we thought of going back to Myeongdong so shop. :) And prepare to parteh.
We walked downhill to grab a bus…
And we didn’t get lost, which is good news!
We grabbed something to eat, freshened up (more of dressed up and got ready to party) and went to Hongdae to party. :) I don’t have pictures but I sure do have stories!
Read a longer and detailed version of Day 3 part 2 here.
——————————————————————-
Our next destination is another palace in Jongno 3(sam)-ga.
Thinking that it’s just near Changdeok-gung, and based on the map, we walked towards the wrong side of the palace. We located it, yes, but apparently, only one entrance is available. Boo. We missed the last available tour (the entrance fee comes with a tour) for the day. Another boo. (Sorry Kizia) I should have taken into consideration the scale of the map. But oh well, it was part of the adventure!
The Jongmyo Ancestral Shrine.
We saw a lot of ajusshi there playing chess, smoking or just sitting down, looking around. It’s a bit scary though because they look like a mob at first glance. Haha!
We rode the train afterwards to Deoksugung Palace.
Saw this man carving wood at the side walk. His work looks great.
We arrived at Deoksugung the moment they change the guards. There were a lot of people watching outside as well. The experience makes you feel as if you traveled back in time and you’re watching an actual changing of guards, decades ago.
Had to sit down (after that looooong walk) and re-think about our next destination.
(Like a scene from a K-drama. Insert caption: Waiting for Oppa. or: Oppa, where are you? )
Deoksugung Palace.
You want to see what we had on our second night? Click the link!
http://clarsmisadventures.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/seoul-day-2-korean-barbecue/
MARCH 24, 2011. ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE.
(You can check out full account of day 2 here)
Our DAY 2 itinerary:
- Gyeongokgung Palace
- Cheongdokgung Palace
- Ginseng Store
- Jewelry Store
Day 2 is maybe the busiest day in this trip. And it almost didn’t happen. Why? Because we didn’t know we’re supposed to wake up early for the City Tour that came in with our package. We woke up with a phone call at 9 AM and they told us that they’re already downstairs, waiting for us at the lobby for the tour. We didn’t know what else to do! Good thing our tour guide, Nana, suggested that she’ll have us picked up in an hour so we could prepare, get dressed etc.
So we hurriedly showered, dressed, put on make up (YES, I WORE MAKE UP IN KOREA, and that week is the longest week of make up and contact lenses in my life) (and yes, we had time to put on make up) and waited for our ride to come.
OUR FIRST STOP: GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE
We also met a wonderful group of Filipinos who joined us in the tour.
They all assumed we drank Soju the night before that’s why we were late. Pssshhhh.. Can’t blame them. Two pretty young adults in Seoul - what else could they do but party? Haha! What they didn’t know is that we were up all night having fun with our facial masks. (^o^)
More turista shots:
You can also explore the National Folklore Museum inside Gyeongbokgung Palace/Area to travel back in time and witness South Korea’s juicy past. You also might get hit on by some high school dude and get teased by his classmates (psh.. kids. on a field trip probably). True story.
BECAUSE YOU ARE ON TOUR, I WILL SELL YOU SOME GINSENG.
After the Gyeongbokgung Palace, we went to a Ginseng Store (they tried to sell some to our group but, sorry, no one bought even a single pack). Expect a stop over at some store and expect your guide to sell you some. That’s normal if you’re on a package tour or if you got a city tour from the hotel.
Nana also brought us to a jewelry store (was it?) where they tried to sell us jade. I think it was jade. No matter how cute the stones may be, Kizia and I got each a mobile phone accessory from our friend (her sister worked in Korea for a long time, and the stuff came from her).
TRADITIONAL KOREAN RESTAURANT FOR LUNCH.
Nana brought us to a Traditional Korean Restaurant where we can “sit down” on the floor with a traditional Korean house ambiance. She ordered Bulgogi for us and it was one heck of a meal. :)
After the hearty lunch, we headed to Changdeokgung Palace.
CHANGDEOKGUNG PALACE.
Changdeokgung PalaceI instantly fell in love with the palace the moment we stepped inside the area. Here you will see several buildings, again, for the King’s study, bed chambers etc. but what struck me most was the building/chambers of the King’s (at that time) concubine. He loved her dearly but unfortunately, they didn’t have any children.
I also learned that the last in line or the last king of the royal family died in 2005 in Japan. The sad thing here was the Republic of Korea didn’t allow him to go back to Korea fearing the empire or another dynasty will rise again. His remains were brought back in Korea though.
Nana was very nice to answer all our questions. She also gave us a very wonderful tip when picking up talking to Korean boys and how to approach them inside a bar/club.
You say: (in a deep low sexy voice) Hey… let’s party!
She was hilarious.
After the boy tips, we rode a…… BUS (from Van in the morning to a BUS in the afternoon. And yes, we were the only people inside, plus the driver = 3 people in one big bus) to Namdaemun Market. :)
Dongdaemun East Gate
Inside Mare Coffee
