Address: 마포구 서교동 486 서교푸르지오상가 B121 (search Thanks Nature Cafe on google maps will do!)
Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm everyday
It was really easy to find using google maps, as it was along the main road leading up to Hongik University
Hehehe so cute hor. We were one of the earliest customers there and the sheep just woke up also la. So the owner went to brush the hair/fur/wool of the sheep to make it nice and fluffy again.
They were pretty calm and tame but didn't respond to our calls. We had to approach them slowly to pet them. Aiyo so cute.
This drink was delicious, grapefruite ADE for 5,500 won (I think). They weren't strict about 1 drink per person, so I only bought 1!
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Yoogane is a franchise for Dak Galbi, stir-fried chicken. There are MANY branches, two in hongdae, one in myeongdong, aiya they are everywhere la.
As I started to find out over the course of the trip, people here tend to be a bit rude when they serve. IDK why. But so many people look like they were dipped in lemon juice -__-
I actually would prefer if you DO NOT eat yoogane. There are better Dak Galbi places out there, like the one we ate during our Nami Island tour (more on that on day 4!). I was horrified to see a fly happily walking around in my kimchi.... and of course the demeanour of the staff just made our meal pretty unpleasant. meh
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We then headed off to Myeongdong, taking the train to Euljiro 1-ga instead of myeong dong station. It was a much more direct journey from hongik to euljiro 1-ga since it was all on the same green line. And just a bit of walking brought us right to the heart of myeongdong.
Look out for the red angels who will be giving out maps of myeongdong and helping you find places.
Here are some pictures of the map I took (you'll need to click it and zoom in). This is much more helpful than google maps but do note some places may NOT be accurate.
Back in 2014, I really hated this place because I bought nothing here, I was hounded by people and there was just TOO MANY HUMANS EVERYWHERE.
This time it was much better though I still didn't shop for much here because.... EVERY INNISFREE I WALKED INTO (FIVE IN TOTAL. FIVE OK) HAD SOMETHING MISSING. This really annoyed me, that every store I walked into had something sold out or had a particular item missing. So I didn't buy anything, bought from hongdae instead:/ I did encounter some aggressive marketing staff but just politely say no no and no.
It was the street food that I enjoyed in the end haha.
There were many cafes I went to check out too but I didn't eat in each one.
The Innisfree cafe! (which was... quite pricey to visit and very hard to find, had to ask the 'red angels' information staff for help to locate this on the map
We visited O'Sulloc again
The green tea layered cake saved the day but even then it was a bit too sweet for my liking.
The Line Store in Myeongdong was so cute, but we thought the one at Sinsa was pretty good too. Took loads of pictures here! Please walk in and enjoy the display and how they decorated the store.
Do note however that the items are really expensive in my opinion. Do your conversions and think carefully if you are willing to pay so much for merch :/ Esp the clothes, which were of really poor quality for 30K won.
Underground shopping at myeongdong is quite small but we zoomed in straight for the kpop store coz CDs are sold much cheaper here than in Singapore. We got BTS's you never walk alone album here for 16,500 won, which roughly amounts to 19.80 SGD... compared to the 30 over bucks that they are trying to sell us -_- so expensive sia.
And despite trying to convince my mum to buy more albums... she settled for just the latest one (yes you read that right, she is a new ARMY hahaha)
Wah the merch here really top class man. Almost bought a scroll poster but tbh put where sia -_- hahaha. But didn't dare to take too much pictures here... :X
because we were living in the heart of hongdae itself we actually went back to look for more food to eat but we were mainly walking the streets, so I will compile those pictures and tips in another post.
That's all for day 1 :D