Korea! - Again, really?

Yes, really. I was sick of Europe, so I went back to Asia from 16th till 26th February 2014.
It's only been a short stay, but nevertheless I enjoyed being back and meeting my friends again and overall I had a pretty good time.

While I did plan to travel out of Seoul, to Panmunjom and Jeonju for example, I never made it across the city borders because somehow we had something else planned every day, haha. As it's my third time in Seoul, one would think it gets boring, but I was pleased to discover new aspects of the city I haven't known about before (the advantages of wandering a city with locals, hehe!) and to re-discover places I've been to before, because a Chinese friend of ours joined us and it was his first time in Korea. :)

One of the first things to do was finding this Hello Kitty Café. ♥ I find the Hongdae area to be super confusing and I always get lost, despite my pretty great sense of direction, so I never was able to find this Café before. Of course it's fairly easy once you know where it is. ^^;

Hello Kitty Café Hongdae

Inside

Upstairs

It's a super cute place and you can buy HK merchandise cheaper than at those tourist-souvenir-shops. They have super cute HK-shaped cakes, which I didn't try and coffee, which I did try. Staff is remotely friendly, but they insist you find a place to sit before you can order anything. This is weird, because what if I am alone? Am I supposed to leave my bag laying around unsupervised in order to 'reserve' a table while I'm ordering? And it's not like they don't serve their coffee in paper cups, which you could take out with you, if you weren't able to find a seat after ordering. I found this pretty weird, to be honest.

Hongik University (Hongdae)

Sinchon

Can I live here now please?

The house above is a café around the Bukchon Hanok Village (below). We didn't go inside, but I just found it super pretty. There's a school next to it where Korean teens stand in front of to goggle the European fangirls screaming over the idol shops next door. XD Apparently there's also some drama filming site close, because I don't believe that as many giggling fangirls as we've seen there have been there just because of those two idol shops. There are plenty places around Seoul with more (and better) shops. ^^

Bukchon Hanok Village with Seoul downtown Skyline in the background

I'm a big, big fan of this Hanok Village. I love Hanoks in general (in fact, my dream house is located in the street next to this on the picture, it's the 'Sanggojae' from the K-drama "Personal Taste") and this place is just...idk, especially pretty, I think. I had the luck to be able to stay in a Hanok for a few nights when I came to Seoul for the first time, back in 2012, and I loved it.

Samjigil in Insadong.

I've wanted to go to Samjigil since I've seen it in some Drama I don't even remember. It's basically an open-air shopping center on 4 floor (+ 2 floors down) with an open square in the middle. You just walk around in circles and it will talk you to the top. I think it's pretty cool. :D

It was the first time I've been to Insadong, another place I've always wanted to go but inexplicably never been able to find by myself, and I just loved it. ♥

On the top of Samjigil where couples can purchase a pink...something, write on it and hang it there.

These are giant wafers made from what I assume to be corn and they fill the whole thing with soft ice cream and it's delicious. *-*

That's what the whole thing looks like. Every wafer is different and it's just enormous! =O

In the basement of Samjigil is a traditional Jeonju Bibimbap restaurant! Jeonju is said to be the home of Bibimbap and this restaurant has been recognized by the city of Seoul as one of the best restaurants around. I've had a lot of Bibimbap before, but this one was just amazing, I don't know what they did to it, haha.

Original Jeonju Bibimbap! Sooo good! 

Insadong side street

Insadong main street

Jongno

Here (pic above) we spent our very first and very last night, at a place called Blue Water (green sign above the 'DVD Kinema'). It's a fantastic, modern place with a great atmosphere, great interior, great food and drinks and amazing staff. Highly recommended!

Of course we had to go up Namsan Tower again. While I have been there before, I went during the day and took the bus up. This time we went at night and by cable car. Love it up there!

Up, up! In the cable car.

Falling out of the cable car and being greeted by this view.

Uuuuup. Well, not ON the tower, but as far up as we could go w/o going up the tower. ^^

Loving this city too much.

Avenue of Stars, Lotte Duty Free department store.

Deoksugung (Palace). One of the great 5 palaces of Seoul

I had been excited to visit another of the great Palaces, because for some reason I've only ever made it to Gyeongbokgung (whic is fine, because it's the most beautiful place on earth, imho). I have been disappointed, though. It's small and very....unspectacular. There is absolutely nothing to look at, really. The entrance fee is 1,000 KRW, which is really not much, but you get nothing in return. :(

Seouol City Hall in the background. (That funny-shaped building)

Inside is the throne, outside those number stones that determined who would sit where while discussions were going on with the King inside. The most important people would sit at 1 in the front, the less important people behind, until number 9. :)

On the palace grounds

Another thing I never got around to do is visiting the Blue House. The Blue House is the Korean equivalent to America's White House (what's with the color's people? Germany should get a Purple House or something. XD) and they offer tours on certain days for which you have to register 3 weeks in advance with your passport and everything. While I didn't do that -again-, I was still hoping I could catch a glance at it. So we went down that street leading to it and we were stopped at two points by policemen asking about our business walking there and why we want to see the Blue House. Good thing we had Koreans with us. ^^; The security seemed a bit over-the-top to me, since the Blue House itself is of course gated and we didn't get closer than you can see below, so why position police guards within a kilometer radius all around it? (We left taking another way and encountered police guards again).

Oh look, it's the Blue House!
(Well, the roofs in the back are...)

Cheongyecheon

In front of Deoksugun, next to the City Call, looking down to Gyeongbokgung. ^^ Funny flower pots.

Some umbrella art

Gwangwhamun Square with the Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin

Gwangwhamun Square with Gwangwhamun (the main entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace) and the statue of King Sejong.

Namdaemun

Namdaemun

Namdaemun Night Market

With "Rooftop Prince" being one of my favorite Dramas, I had to go to Naksan Park of course, to find some shooting locations. The area is just super beautiful, because there is art all around. I loved it!

Colorful!

Cute

One of my favorites. :D

Angel's Wing. So so beautiful ;__;

Avengeeeeeers!

One of Rooftop Prince's shooting locations! In the drama the main actress is standing right there, too. :)

Great view included! Loved this guy and his small dog. =3

Beautiful stairs!

And another shooting location! Those flower stairs actually appear in several dramas and they're too beautiful, really!

Another cute café :)

The first time I went to Seoul I also went to the Lotte World amusement park with someone I met during my stay. This time, with great friends, it was of course a lot more fun! Last time I also mainly stayed inside and this time we explored the outside, too.

Inside

Well, great column.... -.-

The Lotte World castle at night

Being the fangirl person I am, I of course had to find Jaejoong's (of JYJ) coffee shop "Coffee Cojjee", to have a coffee surrounded by like-minded people and stuff my no.-1-musician loves. The fact that it's located in Cheongdamdong, which I had been meaning to visit since I saw "Cheongdamdong Alice", was an added bonus.  I was scared I wouldn't find it because fan accounts online spoke of a horrible confusing way. So instead of following those directions, I entered the address in Google Maps and went with that. It turned out to be super easy and I found it immediately! When I arrived there was a black van with tinted windows and grim looking people parked in front of it and i like to think that Jaejoong was actually around somewhere, haha. =P
Anyway, I went inside and: tadaaa...it was closed due to construction (renovation) work. -.- The foyer was open and some nice ladies were there taking calls (I suspect for "The Red Carpet"), but other than that....nothing. Q__Q Oh well, next time! At least I've been to Cheongdamdong now, hehe.

Outside.

Inside, in the foyer, are shelves with signed JYJ (and related artists) stuff. *-*
Some fan wrote online that she believes, due to the handwriting, that the "Don't touch" signs have been written by Jaejoong. Well, I don't know, I didn't bother to memorize his handwriting, but it's nice to think that! ^_^

Cheongdamdong.
On the way to the coffee shop. Not quite what I expected it to look like, but for sure all the expensive brands were around!

Below you can see a Korean instrument of torture. XD; No really, 's supposed to relax your legs and help your blood flow after a long day of work and stuff, but I was basically in pain the whole time. My friend, at whose place I stayed, recommended me to try and told me how amazing it would be, but really....

The bandages pump full of air so that it squishes your legs and then there are small balls massaging your calf from below in different rhythms, or patterns. But because your legs are so squished to it, it feels like the balls pop out the front of your legs any minute. The vibrating and rhythmic even-more-air pumping doesn't help. By the time the second program started I was almost crying and had cramps. XD

Oh the pain.

Waiting for my flight home, at Incheon Airport. A parade of Queen, King and some subjugates through the airport, so beautiful! :)

On my way from Germany to Korea I had a layover in Fukuoka, Japan. While I have never actually made it to Japan yet (mostly because it's insanely expensive), this country holds a special place in my heart for several reasons. So during my layover, my first time in Japan, I obsessed over everything, lol. From the Japanese signs over Japanese people and Japanese spoken all around me, to -cliché as it is- the funny Japanese toilets. XD" I spent most of the 2 hours at souvenir shops, got myself some signature Cherry Blossom KitKat, and made a video at Fukuoka Airport, as this would be the only thing I see from Japan for a very long time. Its kinda sad. -.-

But I did fall in love even more from my mini-Japan-experience, and I can't wait until the day I can finally afford going back for a proper tour. ♥