Note: You will see a lot of Seoul entries highlighting on Myeongdong. After all, it’s my favorite shopping place and it’s Yan’s favorite area in the city.

We went home after our Hongdae trip. I changed into my sandals and Yan, despite the freezing 4 degrees, opted to wear her Havaianas. (Summer mode on!  But I wished I brought slippers because I will definitely wear them, too, given our feet’s condition!)

Hehehe. Sandals/slippers + cold autumn don't match? Think again.

Myeongdong was the only shopping place I visited in 2010 due to lack of time. It has been my favorite shopping place ever since because it was easy to explore. Yan adored the place! Hahaha! Tonight is the night we shop – not for ourselves but for the items which several friends and family members requested us to buy. There are still some which we were not able to get yet but we decided to find them on the next days instead (because it’s already getting late.) After the fast shopping, we headed on here:

This is one of the food places which immediately caught our attention while planning for our trip. Plus, if you don't know yet, I'm a big green tea/macha/nokcha fan sooo there.

O’Sulloc is more than just a tea place/cafe. They really grow and export tea. Having one of these, though, is a bright idea to expand their reach to individual customers. Lots of people our age were the ones hanging out when we were here.

We ordered the jasmine cake and the green tea cheesecake. It was a bliss! Who wouldn’t want that the lingering scent of jasmine tea or the bitter taste of green tea on your cake? Not too many, but we do. ♥

Jasmine tea cake - Perfume in your mouth LOL ♥

Green Tea Cheesecake ♥.♥

Boo!

Ish-li-pi! It's too cold, I can feel hives making its way on my face.

:P We love taking photos of table napkins.

To conclude our second day, we decided to be a little adventurous and tried out some soondae (blood sausage) which I happen to like, and our ever favorite odeng, before heading to this secret shop within the Myeongdong subway station. *grin*

On our way home, after the subway line transfer, we met our new Thai friends at the station. They were probably done with their shopping already judging from the bags they have with them (some were for friends, though, as they said.) We parted ways at the station near our home because they need to be getting someting while we needed to rest our feet, hoping the corns will go away overnight (which was not the case, by the way.)

The day was long but we had our good night rest and it helped cure our feet. Such a shame; if you notice, there aren’t too many Myeongdong photos for this evening. Stay tuned to more posts!

Going to Myeongdong:

The easiest thing you could do is take the subway: Line 4, Myeongdong station. It’s pretty easy to navigate once you’re there.

Kekeke...

Our main intention of going here is to check some quirky coffee shops – one thing which Hongdae is known for. Here are the few ones we went to:

Hello Kitty Cafe

Lots of those who go here are students. Me and Yan would like to try every coffee shop we went to but yeah, too much caffeine is bad for the health so we just took photos.

Coffee Prince - However, this one's just a branch which was beside the Hello Kitty Cafe. The one which was featured in the drama is still very far from where we are - and we can walk no more.

The menu in Coffee Prince

The Bau Haus door - This is a place where my sister, Mica, and I would love to go to. Yan doesn't like animals. Period. :

We opted not to wait for the Hongdae night life, too, which many people tagged as full of music and life.  If you want to have some more fun in the area, there is also a trick-eye museum that you can go to. We didn’t go there, too, because we were meeting one of my friends tomorrow and that was one of the places we originally planned going to.

5pm and we can't wait for the Hongdae night life. Here's the scene during day time. Shops and students.

Some "alleys' around the area

Is-tu-dents eb-ri-wer

So walking, walking, we opted to find other subway options. In the verge of getting lost, a lady found us and immediately asked us what were we looking for (I tell you, we were really surrounded by angels here) and pointed us to the nearest subway station.

Here's the intersection where we got lost. Thankful "savors" come to us from everywhere. :') #grateful

We really need to go home! It’s time to sacrifice fashion for us to heal our feet.

Going to Hongdae:

There are lots of options in getting to the area. You can either take Line 2 and drop off at Hongkik University Station or Hapjeong station; or take Line 6 and drop off at Hapjeong station. It really depends on where you’d want to go. (Anyway, we dropped off Hongkik University. ☺)

*segway*

My parents did not like me attending UP, particularly the Diliman campus. For them, there is too much liberation and I may get corrupted. I insisted; not because I want to be corrupted (LOL) but because it has been where I wanted to study. Ever since. And this was something I prayed for so hard and I just knew I will qualify, and when I did, there’s no point of letting it go.

*end of segway*

I have lots of fond memories of UP. ☺ I never regretted that I chose to study here. Meet a lot of people, learned a lot, had a different look on things… Another thing that I would always remember is my first college crush. Hahaha. Geez.

It was the second day of classes. I was terribly lost in the university, I did not attend my classes the first day because we had a college orientation (You know, akala mo parang high school lang na excuse ka sa klase kapag may orientation kayo. So I wasn’t worried. Yun pala grounds yun for cancellation of your slot in the class. #afraid) I didn’t attend my first class on the second day, too, dahil sa maling akala (E mas strict pala si prof ko sa Soc Sci 2! Buti na lang she let it pass.) so I just attended my second class after the university orientation  - Math 17.

So I was there, riding the Toki jeep going to Math. When it was time for us to get off the jeep, the guy I was seated across to, being his most un-gentleman self went off before me. (I don’t know with the other women but I still value chivalry, thank you.) Walang pansintabi. Talagang mahangos ang pagbaba niya e hindi naman oras ng klase nun para siya magmadali.

Then the person beside him was Jansport (this is my/our code name for him because it’s the bag he uses). I was too disappointed with kuya 1 pero Jansport, making me get off first in a way I can’t explain, did it all to make my mood shift. Hehe. Ang hayskul nito ano pero natuwa ako sa ginawa niya.

So I found out he’s a freshman, too. He was also having his Math 17 class on the room next to mine and he’s from Engineering because that section was reserved for several Engineering blocks. (Not that I researched for it a. It was from kwentos from my classmates since our section is a mix of people from different colleges. And I’m not making excuses or reasons. Hehe. #defensive)

All throughout the semester, we would be riding the same jeep off Math. Or I will pass by him in the building while we were waiting for the class before ours be dismissed. It was extended because I failed Math 17 during the first take. I assumed he also failed because I saw him on a Math 17 class the following semester, too. Hahaha!

Semesters passed. I would sometimes see him all over the place. If I remember it right, we were even introduced to each other by a friend’s friend he was with when me and my friend watched a Maroons game in Araneta. But the rain was heavy then, I didn’t caught his name.

And I never found it out.

After struggling to walk 120 meters yesterday and earning corns as a reward, Yan and I still decided we should not waste the chance of donning something “fall-y” (Ugh. Sorry for the lack of better term.) So even with aching feet, we still donned our boots. (I was never one who chooses fashion over comfort but this was among the rare moments I have to do so. Hindi ba pwedeng fashion + comfort na lang all the time?)

Good morning, Beotigogae!

Being the adventurous spirits that we are, instead of purchasing the Nami Island bus package tour (which includes the bus ride to Gapyeong + Nami Island entrance fee), we opted to take the subway (I tell you, I’m the Seoul Metro expert! Just don’t include line 1 here,ok? Haha!)

Photo of Seoul Metro map - The opening of the Gyeongchun (경천) line made it easy for everyone to travel to and from Gapyeong without having to take line 1. LOL. I'm very averse with that line, I'm sorry.

It was such a breeze! With just three line transfers, we were at the Sangbong on our way to Gapyeong!

It was a long ride to Gapyeong – took us about an hour and a half so we (particularly I) took this opportunity to sleep (Well, I sleep almost everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if I have narcolepsy. Just kidding.)

Yan and I's subway photo and Gapyeong hello! - A kind ahjumma offered to take our photos after seeing us having hard time taking selcas. Hehe. 고마워요! The two photos beneath is taken outside the Gapyeong station.

I think we’re pretty blessed to meet people from the very beginning of the trip, and nice ones at that. This time we met a Thai (yes, another one) father and daughter team (Haha! Sounds Amazing Race?) whose names we didn’t manage to get (yet again). (We had a photo with the daughter, though, but it was on her camera! On how we could ever track them out, only heaven could lead us!) We traveled together until we reached Gapyeong and parted in the ferry since we don’t know what their plans are in Nami.

Two ways of getting to the island: zipline and ferry

I guess it's pretty obvious how we got there. Remember, I love everything that has to do with above the water. Hehe. Besides, the zipline would be less thrilling as per experience.

Nami Island is a place outside of Seoul. It’s oftentimes referred to as a republic – another territory, because it has a feel of another place – outside of South Korea, I guess.

Welcome top Nami Island!

The island was named after General Nami.

Though you can experience foliage in Seoul, it is an experience to see it in Nami; well, aside from the fact that the Korean drama Winter Sonata had some scenes shot here (and I havent watched that thing yet.) So let me take you to our little tour around Naminara.

The squirrels here are so hyper!

LOL I still look like I need more sleep.

K-BFFs!

:)

Awwww... ♥

Isn't this beautiful? ♥

Yes! There's wildlife in Nami. This one is too busy.

Lost in translation

Perfect place if you are a big fan of the drama

Lots of (cute) kids...

... And not so young kids.

We spent almost the whole day in this place. We had a lot of fun and photoshooting (errr… If this is an acceptable word)!

It was around 4pm when we decided to leave the island, go home, have supper, and mellow down on our footwear. But before we did such, we went to Hongdae first.

See you again, soon!

:)

How to go to Nami Island via the Seoul Metro Subway:

1. Ride the subway going to Taereung station (Line 7).

2. From Taereung, travel to Sangbong station (same line).

3. From Sangbong (line 7), transfer to the Gyeongchun line and take the train that will bring you to Gapyeong station.

4. Upon reaching the Gapyeong station, take a cab and tell the driver to bring you to Nami (this should cost around 3,000 to 5,000 KRW only). You will be dropped off to the parking lot where the ferry dock is near.

5. Purchase Nami Island visa (this includes a RT ferry ride, 8,000 KRW as of January 2012).

6. Fall in line on the ferry dock and prepare yourself to the journey to the island.

The movie stars Enchong Dee and Erich Gonzales who plays Lance and Yumi, respectively. Yumi is the typical college girl who has always dreamed of meeting “the one”. Then she met Lance, a boy who came from a traditional Chinese family. Despite differences, conflicts, and oppositions from their families (well, particularly that of Lance’s) and sometimes, their friends, the two still decided to be together. And then Yumi gets pregnant. The top of mind solution: getting married!

Lots of twists and turns happened within the story. It’s so hard for me to enumerate everything but the point is, it seems like fate doesn’t want the two to be together. In the end, they still managed to get married but it wasn’t a smooth ride.

This was the first mainstream movie for the Enchong-Erich team-up (or correct me if I’m wrong). Although during this time, acting-wise, they aren’t at their finest yet, the characters they portrayed would grow on you (I might consider myself a fan of these two in the future. Hehe.) Add to that, the supporting casts would really help you enjoy the film (If Lance has his traditional Chinese folks, Yumi has her traditional Filipino family as well. Haha! And Yumi’s three friends are hilarious. Seriously, you have to watch out for them especially for Bernard’s love definitions!)

Aside from the comedy dose, the movie also has a thing or two to share about life. I particularly like the part where Lance was having a hard time to choose between the love of his life and his family. Will he take responsibility? Also, I like how Yumi’s realizations about marriage transformed from just an ideal or necessary –  about herself or her pregnancy or her child – to something more.

I may be a rom-com fan but I don’t recommend everything I watch but I would say I Do is a must see.

Poster from MovieNews.