South Korea – Insadong

Insadong is the arts and culture hub of Seoul and its one of my favorite places. It provides one big visual stimulation. My eyes couldn’t keep up and my camera never stopped clicking.

One thing I came to really appreciate Korea of, is how much attention to detail they pay to everything. The intricacy in everything builds up to a bigger, more exciting, and unfathomably harmonious picture. Especially in Insadong, I felt like the term ‘vandalism’ wasn’t associated with the suburb’s many graffiti. There was no random scribble of words on the wall or childish markings of territory. The graffitis felt like real artworks, that people respected, and in return, the graffitis respected the city back.

We spent an entire afternoon at Insadong. And just like last time, I took a million photos just walking down the street:

There are A LOT of animal mascots in Korea. I feel bad for them if I saw them wearing the suits in summer, but in that weather I was one jealous tourist! Where can I buy them from??

 

 

Wtf can I not have one convo without a meme in there now?? I wonder if I can write an entire entry in meme…………..

 

GAWD. Thank god I got a bf before this happened.

Anyhow I digress. The mascots we saw in MyeongDong were a bit snobby, they didn’t really interact with anyone – or maybe I’m just spoiled by the friendly mascots in Disneyland? But this lonely squirrel was VERY friendly though. One look at my uncomfortable smile should tell the story.

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I lied, I SECRETLY LOVED IT! *Chases after the squirrel with manic laughter*

 

Check out the yellow sign! So funny!

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Filed under Art, Photography, Thoughts, Travel

Cat Cafe in Korea!

The story began with an ancient tale of a magical beverage inn in a far far away land called Hongdae. It was said that the inn held mystical furry creatures, of which upon a single glance, will cast an eternal spell on any mortals, turning them into babbling, cooing idiots.

It was a dark and stormy night as our heroine and her sidekicks trekked through Hongdae in search for food and shelter. A long day of shopping has tired all 3 warriors, and the conversation quickly turned onto this ancient tale. Her sidekicks, as they were both not fans of furry creatures, gasped in horror as our heroine excitedly retold the tale.

Cue lightning and fog….

……

OOOOOOkkkkkkkk… Imma going to let that finish, but that was only fun for the first sentence, after that it was like *too much effort, brain explodes*.

Anyways in layman’s term, something amazing happened when I was in Korea. My boyfriend, his cousin and I were in Hongdae after a hard day of – I don’t remember what we did, but it’s safe to assume – shopping. It was getting dark and I was feeling tired when my thoughts started to wonder off, and I remembered reading on the webz about this magical cat cafe in Seoul. My boyfriend is a dog lover and his cousin doesn’t like cats, so I knew it would be fruitless to ask them. But just as I was telling them about it, I saw a glimpse of a sign:

I LITERALLY just finished telling them about it when I saw the sign. I swear my heart skipped a beat. Could it be……? COULD IT BE??

Then when we went in all I saw was:

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ALL MY DREAMS CAME TRUE!!!!!*

*Term will be used in another post about another magical beverage inn in said far far away land (not cat related).

^ I want him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you say moar cat photos plz? NO PROBLEM MOAR FOR YOU:

The place is called CheongChong Cat www.ycat.kr. It’s located in Hongdae, Seoul. I think it use to be called Gio Cat Cafe?  I’m not too sure because the interior structure looks exactly the same, especially that bookshelf area in the second last photo.

There were a lot of rules to get into this cat cafe. First you gotta pay the $$ (not that much) which includes a drink per person. Then you gotta change into slippers which they provide, then you gotta deposit your jacket and bags, then you gotta sanitize your hands, then there’s no flash photography… In short there were a lot of rules….a lot of reasonable rules….a lot of them.

I really appreciate my companions for going with me, because I can see the bore/occasional-horror in their eyes. There is absolutely no where to hide from cats in there. I’M NOT COMPLAINING hehe.

Anyways I’m churning this post out because someone’s hassling me about Korea photos – so here you go! Hope you like cats! >:D

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Filed under Animals, Travel