Throughout the 1st night, harsh weather decided to take a toll on me. Boo hoo! I had runny nose and it was bright red. Accompanied with 4 hours of sleep, it didn't do much justice. Can u imagine 40'c in Msia then 6 hours later 0'c in Korea..!! Oh the adjustment period. Nevertheless, i was actually thrilled waking up to a stuffy room with its every-once-in-a-while-it-gets-too-warm floor (try standing for over 5mins and you are so gonna get your feet burn!)...and breathing the same air as Jaejoong~! *my no1 bias in kpop!
Tip 1: When you are showering, stick to one type of shower: cold or hot. Might get skin rash if u have sensitive skin.
Tip 2: Apply lip balm whenever u can feel your lip is drying.
Tip 3: Face mist. Please don't use it while roaming the streets LOL wanna get frozen face, ah?!
Tip 4: A map! Would be better if u have the Hangul map~most Koreans have hard time reading the romanization ver of a map^^;
Tip 5: A calculator. Comes in handy when it involves u and the shop owner haha.
Tip 6: Wet tissue. Nature call..duh~
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| Annyeong! Me with Kei! (cr sheLOVESjae) |
Btw can u imagine how heavy my sling bag was?? A bulky dslr+a handycam+an a 2 paper-sized multi purpose purse (passports, IC, coupons, cash, pen, wet tissues, makeup, calculator, note pad etc) 10-ish am we're mindlessly made our way to Myeong-dong. I guess we're kinda early since most stalls on the streets weren't visible=( Hm since we got ample time to kill, we took breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. I've had some bread before leaving so i ordered a cup of caramel hot latte. My!! Oh-so-sweet!
- Most shops were opened at 10.30am-11.30am~? Maybe it's in winter so people had hard time getting up from bed? Haha!
- Closing hour was around 9pm-10pm. So hush hush, get your shopping done on time:P
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| Clear road |
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| Filming..we saw it from the 2nd floor hihi! (cr sheLOVESjae) |
Spao was having sale and guess what..i didn't buy any!!!! Stupid me thinking there would be another time to drop by! Found couple of nice down jackets that cost about 50,000won after less T____________________T
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| Shelves full of SNSD's and Super Junior's merchandise! |
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| DBSK merchandise/cds were at the other side. I bought the Korean ver of TONE ^^ |
Nature Republic store! JYJ were their models before they decided to discontinue the contract in 2011. I missed my JYJ big poster!!! *cries* Price ranging from 1000won to less than 100,000won (if i'm not mistaken?) Due to Korea Grand Sale season, foreign tourists were entitled to get 5% discount if we bought over 50,000won or 10% for over 100,000won. Just shoved your coupon at the cashier and ka-ching ka-ching away!! Price deducted! They gave me ample of free gifts! I love NR so much i ended up going there almost everyday!
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| With my DBSK Changmin and Yunho in front of Missha store. |
I DID NOT KNOW KSTORY BELONGED TO KIM HEECHUL'S NOONA! I think the cashier lady was her? Haha. KStory; the K-Pop cafe...some idols dropped by here a lot and left their signatures on their albums..which made them rare stuff. Those selling here were already ZzzZ, let alone the signed ones. Yikes:P
Namdaemun market!
Offers a variety of clothes, kitchenware, stationary, accessories, carpets, ginseng and imported goods. Most store owners here were in their mid 40s and 50s. We went inside this one store and bam! Ahjummas were all over us! Tips: They are nice to talk to but only if u have the intention to buy their goods/clothes! Kei 'succeeded' knocking off a 120,000won winter jacket to 60,000won! One of the shop owners took me to her stall -.- I refused, "No, ahjumma, no..joesonghabnida" but she bothered me so much i couldn't do anything! She insisted me putting on the jacket! She even shoved the jacked into a plastic bag! Talk about being pushy!! Scary wey! T^T y do i always be the one being pulled over here and there
- Namdaemun is a place where u can put your bargaining skill into a test:P
- Offer them your desired price (starts with asking 50% out of the original price) They might be persistent at first but eventually u will come to a good deal~make sure u shower them with 'Kamsahamnida' and smiley face afterward!
Namdaemun was seriously crowded by the time it passed lunch hour. Tbh, it wasn't the best place for a person who's extremely devoted to fashion >< More of an ahjumma style with thick fake fur clothing..very the datin haha! I saw a stall having sale and guess what? I bought a nice wool trench coat at only 10,000won (around rm30)!! Kei bought a cool leather boots, She and i got ourselves 'I Love Korea' tshirts at this one stall where an ahjushi caught our view as he 'woo-ed' with his broken Bahasa, "Satu 5 ribu, 3 sepuluh ribu" (1 for 5000won, 3 for 10,000won). Sun was setting and we didn't grab lunch yet! Too bad we forgot to list down places to eat so after contemplating, we decided to have dinner at Itaewon. We took the subway. 10mins walking, we settled in this small, comfy Arabian restaurant.
Many restaurants serving international dishes could be found in Itaewon including cuisine from India, Pakistan etc foods that are not widely available in Korea. Hence, explaining its high-priced in the market. Want some good Kebab? Itaewon serves the best! I ordered this one chicken "Couscous" that cost me about rm43! The taste was so-so but the stew reminded me so much of Ayam Masak Gulai (Chicken Curry)!
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| Snap snap before digging time! |
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| Back at Myeong-dong! |
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| Boxes of fresh fruits.. |
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| When the camera is rolling, never forget to put on a smiley face! |
CAN U SEE HOW BIG THE GRAND SALE WAS? I was so tempted to go there again but i should called it a day by now...i can't even move my limbs hoho. Tomorrow's itinerary, JYJ shops!
