[travel] seoul 2012

This particular trip to Seoul involved me running around frantically to check off everything on my list. Since I had to make pit stop trips to Thailand and Hong Kong, I had literally six days to gotothedermatologist-getmyhairdone-meetsomefriends-hitupmyusualspotsinapku-checkoutthenightmarkets-sayhellotomydoctor-eatwithmyfamily-andallthatothergoodstuff. To say that it was manic would be an understatement.

Yayoi Kusama for Louis Vuitton at Incheon Airport

Found these macarons in a cafe off a side street near Garosugil. Really good.

Went to this Cafe with V from NO NAME blog!

My old hood in Apkujeong

Cheon-gye River, one of the greatest things Lee Myungbak did as mayor of Seoul.

Night in Cheong-dam

Window display in Cheong-dam

I fell in love with this window display for a men's shop in Cheong-dam.

Namdaemun Market

Rice cakes sold in a subway car for the Korean Thanksgiving.

Bulgogi at Han Il Kwan, a must for every trip.

The ubiquitous apartment complexes all over Seoul. 

Goods for sale in underground shopping complexes. Love this concept and seems unique to Seoul.

The menacing, massive shopping complex that is Doota in Dongdaemun.

pushed on by the fingertips of dreams

The last photos from Seoul, seen through the cheap lens of a T50. I used to be really obsessed with film cameras, but I feel like I'm coming to see the value of a digital lens. Maybe it was spending that extra $400 to fix my Leica, but the Digilux has really become a metal extension of myself lately.

I used to be drawn to film because of its "magical" quality. It still has some sort of magic, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't use Photoshop to manipulate some of the images. It might just be this particular camera, but some of the photos came out too grainy for my satisfaction.

Sunny, who's been featured on this blog a number of times, is one of my favorite people because she's so multi-talented. You wouldn't believe some of the skills this girl has - one of them being a great shopping enabler. "Get it. It looks good on you." A phrase that I heard one too many times, and my suitcase barely survived to tell the tale.

Brunch at Original Pancake Story, buying masks at the local pharmacy because of the yellow dust, wandering around Hannam-dong and seeing celebrity vans (연예인 차), picking out our future houses in the UN Village, going to Passion 5 (also chronicled here).
My last day in Seoul had me running to the hairdresser last minute, so I was in Garosugil where we grabbed a really late lunch at Abiko Curry and stopped for some of the best coffee in Seoul at Cork & Turtle.

We found these masks hilarious. We looked like birds.

Penthouse style apartments in Hannam-dong.

Colorful houses in Hannam-dong.

Entrance to 2nd level at Passion 5.

At Abiko Curry.

At Abiko Curry.

Tables at Cork & Turtle.

View from balcony at Cork & Turtle / sipping Americano.

People To People on Garosugil.

i had a weakness for etiquette

Hannam-dong (한남동) is quickly becoming the new hotspot for bourgeois taste buds in Seoul. On my last weekend in Seoul, Sunny and I nursed her hangover at The Original Pancake Story (which was disappointing, or so she says), walked around the UN Village and picked out our future houses, and devoured pastries at Passion 5.

I wish I'd discovered Passion 5 earlier. One long floor of pastries, breads, and confectioneries, this place is a sweet lover's dream. They're also the originators of the Baum pudding sold in Hyundai Dept. stores, which was one of my treasured foods while I was on the liquid/soft chew diet.

I love their innovative menu, interior decor (which I had enough sense to photograph but a mini fiasco resulted in all the film being ruined ... or nonexistent), and extensive drink menu. Be sure to stop there for brunch, because their BLT sandwich is supposedly amazing.

Yongsan-gu Hannam-Dong 72-74

Telephone: 02-2071-9505

7:30-21:00

Nearest tube station: Hangang-jin, line 6, across from Leeum Museum

주소 : 서울시 용산구 한남동 729-74 1F
전화번호 : 02-2071-9505
오픈시간 : 오전 7시30분~오후 9시
찾아가는 길 : 한강진역 근처, 리움 건너편

sidewalks are unassuming fields

These are the remaining photos from last Friday. After going to the Paul + Alice sample sale and eating oven brick pizza, Sunny and I wandered around Bukchon (복촌) to take photos of houses. I bet the people who live in the area hate living there because of all the tourists. It's one of the last areas in Seoul where traditional Korean style houses (한욱) still exist. A lot of the older areas in Seoul are being torn down and rebuilt in the name of modernity, and it's sad that these relics of history are slowly being removed from Seoul's architecture. At the same time, they're a total bitch to heat in the winter, so I can understand why you'd want an upgrade from spending $500 on heating.




My eyes look kinda closed in this photo. I swear my eyes aren't small.

i was a creature of appetites

Last Friday, I got word of Paul + Alice's sample sale, so Sunny and I hightailed our ways over to 헤화동 (near 대학로) to get our fix. Sunny picked up this khaki sleeveless cape/trench thing from Fall (which looked SO good on her), and I got a striped skirt from their SS11 collection. I noticed that we're both carrying beige bags. We first spotted her Miu Miu bag at the duty free store, and I convinced her that she needed it. We're both enablers and should never be allowed to shop together.

Afterwards, we went to 가회동 to eat oven brick pizza at 대장장이 화덕피자. We ordered the rucola pizza, and it was pretty delicious. We were skeptical over the ability of the tealight, but it did indeed melt all the cheese in the center of the pie. Power may come in small packages?



Celine Bi-color Pouch

Miu Miu small satchel bag

build the foundation with bricks they've thrown

Aside from my computer classes and obsessively documenting the outfits of the hottie in my Dreamweaver class, I've been doing this:








01. Spring is coming. Except it's snowing right now.
02. Extra large book collection in a Hyoja-dong cafe.
03. I bought a book journal. It's motivating me to read voraciously.
04. Got my nails did in at Nail Love near Ewha.
05. The best nail art I've seen.
06. Where my great-grandfather's house used to be. Now it's an art museum. And the house where my dad was born is now a Kolon printing office.