KOREA 2014: DAY 7 ~ SEOUL: Anguk, M-Countdown, Myeongdong
23 OCT 2014
Arriving well before our check-in time at Jeju airport, we found a slightly quieter spot to take a seat, relax and eat our breakfast.
The airport also has shops selling all the Jeju specialties (chocolates etc) but a slightly differing range (branding) with a higher price as well so if you have time to visit Jeju markets or even the e-mart, it would have made for a better shopping place for bringing back these as gifts.
Another thing to note about this airport is the immigration; I made a mistake thinking that the gates were just there but no, there is a counter to clear and its a combined one for all the gates so make sure you queue early cause we were a bit late and once the tourist china buses arrive the queue gets crazy. The clearance is once again moderately slow; as per Korean speed standards but once you clear it you're all set to board and take off =)
There are still shops present after you clear the counters so we managed to top up our water bottles, chill out for a while before boarding our flight back to Seoul! It was a short and comfortable ride and honestly I think it's worth your money; I believe we paid about 50SGD for the one way trip. They served drinks and snacks onboard the plane and once again I found myself arriving at my destination very shortly.
First up on our list was to get to our hotel via the subway once again; Myeongdong Skypark II. Apologies for the lack of picture because we were too busy lugging our big ass luggage around. I must say that the counter was very helpful in letting us keep our bags there prior to check-in and upon request, they even arranged for an early check-in for me and called me on my phone when my room was ready =) Also, we got a free upgrade to a triple room with three single beds for free so that was definitely a plus as I found the room very spacious and comfortable.
Leaving our baggage behind, we headed over to Anguk station where most of the beautiful tourist attractions are located; the palaces.
Taking Exit 3; you will come up to this view. What you do is take a right and turn right about 2 streets down (indicated by a school and most highly populated street)
Walking down the street for a bit, we arrived at a recommended tteokbokki restaurant which was rather hidden; well-known amongst the locals but not commercialized which also means; good and cheap food! True enough it was!
The way you order is quite interesting but it is hard if you can't read Korean/Japanese/Chinese. Don't ask me why there's no English.
What happens is; the base will be similar and you choose the type of noodle and ingredients you want to add into the soup base and tteokbokki. We chose; tanghoon, seafood and cheese.
The result; a whole pot of yum:
Here's the name of the restaurant (ignore fulfilled ugly face)
sAfter lunch, we decided to explore the area with the first stop being towards the direction of Gyeongbukgong Palace. The main entrance of the huge area looks like this: indicating it as a park. Basically, the Palace is within the park (1/2 palaces in the same area)
The place is rather pretty and scenic; resulting in my favourite picture in this entire trip:
The place in general was nice and pleasant except for the fact that there were too many humans. Really, it spoilt the entire image and we were so put off by the sheer large number of china tourists that we decided not to even enter the palace.
I'm sorry I have no good pictures of the palace even from the outside because yes the Koreans are smart enough to cordon the place appropriately enough to prevent stingy people like me from catching pretty glimpses of the full palace free-of-charge.
With time to spare, we decided to head towards the folk village but the place truthfully didn't have anything much and we made a choice not to enter the museum because the hotel called to inform us that our room was ready.
So here is the walk around the folk village with loads of hippy looking shops.
ELFs, recognize this picture? Yes this is the same coffeeshop SJM (Team Eunhyuk/Ryeowok/Zhoumi) visited and had their caricatures done. (Yes me and Hyuk are fated I won't say anymore)
Tired of walking around under the hot sun, back to the hotel to freshen up it was! =)
The weather wasn't pleasant to me honestly, the temperature was low but the sun was burning so my body was cold yet my head was on fire. Note in my pictures I was wearing a tanktop in a temperature of about 16 degrees because truly I felt more comfortable cold than being too hot. Random Korean passersby did advise me to put on my jacket haha
Anyway back to our nice hotel:
We had very nice smelling Etude House toiletries =)
I will give a review of this hotel now since we only stayed for one night. I can only say that I highly recommend this hotel if you intend to do loads of shopping. It is located smack in the middle of the shopping district with the shops being literally across the road. So basically, you can shop till you drop before heading back to your hotel easily. Also, it is of a reasonable price considering the prime location. Lastly, there was laundry, internet, coffee and even a powder table in the basement of the hotel; making it an ideal place if you want to spend a longer time there.
After dressing up, the three pretty ahjummas are ready for some kpop action =) Mcountdown here we go!
Directions given from Mnet is as such; dropping at the Digital Media City Station and walking down. Luckily the weather was pretty good and we weren't in a huge rush thanks to leaving early...because it was a pretty damn long walk down; close to 15-20mins and trust me ahjummas weren't even walking that slowly. Here's the tip on how to walk: Take Exit 2 and walk along the "main road" towards the World Cup Stadium and from there it's literally a straight walk down without any turns. You will pass by quite a few cafes and shophouse like places but overall a very quiet place.
If you intend to get there in a more comfortable manner you may try this tip I found off the net but it was hard to identify the bus stop so we gave up.
MNET M!COUNTDOWN ADDRESS: 마포구 상암동 1606번지 CJ E&M센터 2층
METRO STOP: Digital Media City Station (디지탈미디아시티역) Line 6/Airport Railroad. Exit 2
DIRECTIONS: There is a bus stop across the street from exit 2. You will need to take the 7711 bus from that stop to the studio. The stop you want is the Sangam Digital Media City Public Information Hall (상암DMC), which is the third stop from the station. The announcement for this stop is made in English so listen for it if you can.
(cr: http://koreancodex.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/mnet-mcountdown/)
The MBC studio is quite recognizable so you know you're at the right place (TBH the ahjummas spotted a fangirl looking teenager and decided to tail her =p)
Finding the actual building where the recording takes place is slightly more tricky but we saw a bunch of full made-up people (dancers) having a smoke and groups of fangirls loitering around and finally the twosome cafe; we knew we were at the right place.
The first thing we were ushered to was to pick up our packages and join the tour.
It was pathetic.
We did not get to visit places any other normal fangirl couldn't. Also the guide kind of sucked, he didn't even know who the guests were for the Open Studio being recorded at that time; the answer is below.
Where the fans gather to watch the open studio:
This is the famous place where you can find all the handprints of idols. Accessible by all.
If you laugh at my fat arms I will punch you.
The only thing i have to say is; a lot of male idols with two particular EXO members ...have extremely small hands and you know what they say about men with small hands =) Go figure EXO fans if you're even smart enough =)
As I was standing there with KH waiting for our tour guide to give us the next instructions, these people walked by:
Bunch of snobs really. It was quite disappointing because they walked straight into the studio without acknowledging any fans but then again no one really shouted. I called out to Rap Monster and got ignored and this exact moment was when I decided I wasn't going to support their Singapore leg of the tour.
Anyway, that was all there was to the tour. Pathetic right? The only advantage was we got slight priority in entering (after the official fanclub but before the general crowd) There were three groups of us; split by language: English, Chinese and Japanese. A big thank you to our representative who won the game of rock, paper, scissors, allowing us to be the first group in when doors opened hehe.
We had quite a bit of time to kill before entry was allowed and I think a couple of artists walked by the group cause I heard screaming and well here's my privilege: (but I'm not telling how I got it mwahahaha) Hint: Super Junior has their comeback on this very day
We were told to assemble on the second level, seated along the stairs well before the start of recording and given my strategic placement, I was able to take photos discreetly. I get a view of their rehearsals everytime the doors open.
Oh and artists exit from this door post practice so we get to see them pass by and go down the stairs. When we were heading up a rookie girl group (minxx?) passed us and bowed and greeted us politely. So we cheered for them when they performed HAHA. But to be honest, I couldn't even tell they were stars I thought they were random polite young girls haha.
And then Project S came for their rehearsal and all of us went insane at their gorgeousness. They were sooooo good looking! This is my view without zoom:
All the girls were pretty excited about my pictures so everyone was trying to protect me from getting caught haha...
After a very very very painful long wait where we were almost falling asleep (and knowing that Super Junior just left the studios sadly and me scolding the guide when he said SJ was here haha; basically he only knows the line-up and not whether they were pre-recorded)
Well I'll give the sad announcement first; these acts were pre-recorded: Epic High, Project S, Super Junior and Gaeko and out of all the acts, everyone except Super Junior bothered coming for the actual live show. I was disappointed. I won't deny. I was actually looking forward to seeing them after almost one year. Epic High even came down stage to shake our hands, Project S sang live nonetheless, putting up a very professional performance and Gaeko came to take his award at the end after winning VIXX.
If you want to know the line-up; check the show of 23rd October =)
Here is my front row position at the stage left where I got a tiny monitor to look at.
**Before I go on, kindly note that pictures are strictly not allowed to be taken inside the studio. I am posting these for fans so if you report me I will be quite pissed.**
And I'm confessing the rule because I don't want any of you to try taking photos and getting horribly punished; my friend did kind of so...yup. Friends if you want to know how I did it, whatsapp me =) If you can't whatsapp me, you know you're not one of those who deserves the truth. (sorry if that sounded bitchy I didn't mean it)
Anyway first up was purflies? And they were so so so bad. Along with every other rookie performer. The dancers had much more charisma and stage presence than they did. It was basically very unprofessional and this is coming from the standpoint of an experienced performer. They were simply not appealing or captivating. Work harder.
The crayon pop twins:
Other memorable acts included:
- Jieun who lost way too much weight but sweet nonetheless
- Madtown whom I fell in love with the gymnast and right after I declared him mine on twitter, he came down the stage via the stairs right in front of me, ran over and said hi while waving two hands. Yeah the noona shrieked and my friend had to calm me down HAHA
- BTS fans were asking if they could switch places with me but I wanted to watch too so I had to reject them
- Project S was hot hot hot
- VIXX were also snobs
- I had a fun time distracting Boyfriend =p
Sorry but to me, I think idols should appreciate their fans. A simple hi and wave should have suffice as they took the stage which was lacking in lot of the "popular" groups. Apologies if I am unable to "comprehend" the "k-pop culture" which I have termed to be arrogance and conceit. I grow up in a culture highly influenced by the western music scene where the fans are the most important thing to a star. Also been with the second generation of k-pop idols who worked hard to achieve what they have today and basically putting k-pop on the world chart, paving the way for these new generation of idols who seem to be able to gain fans by simply debuting. Add to that, I'm a lot older than these kids =P
Negativity aside, I managed to capture the final moments of the show with my camera:
Congratulations Gaeko for winning
Here's a picture of the landmark outside the studio:
We declined hanging out with the younger girls (fellow ELFs) at Hongdae for BBQ and headed back to MyeongDong instead because ahjumma can't stay out late and so far from 'home'
But if any of you girls are reading this; it has been a pleasure knowing you girls, let's keep in touch!!!
We continued gushing over Project S throughout dinner:
And me and KH continued with shopping in MyeongDong!! (HM went back to rest early because she wasn't feeling well)
The whole streets are lined with Korean brand cosmetics such as Faceshop, Etude House, Tony Moly, Shara Shara, Innisfree, Clio etc..you name it you've got it. The good thing about this place for tourists is; every shop is well-educated on the ways of tax rebate BUT you have to ask for it. It is not given by default and sometimes it takes a while. The down side of this; yup it is targeted particularly at China tourists and to cut things short; it is not a pleasant experience being crowded in a shop full of China with the salesgirls forcing themselves onto you, promoting everything and anything in their fluent Chinese. I guess if you speak Chinese this is an upside to shopping there but note these girls don't know anything about the products apart from the promotions so it did not please me at all.
I am the type of girl who goes into a shop already knowing what she needs save new products I wanted to give a try to; eg the CC Cushion. It was relatively new and I wanted to know the difference between the different types on the shelf and guess what? They can't answer it. I stepped into Shara Shara asked her what the different was between the usual CC Cream I'm using and the one on offer and she said "this one has an offer" LIKE DUH. Let's not be mean to salesgirls but yes...let's just put it this way; if you're not one to use Korean cosmetics and need someone to talk you through the products; I'd make a better option than the salesgirls =) Phoebe for hire; services for free, you only need to pay for my flight and accommodation =)
Anyway, we did manage to get our hands on a couple of items which I thought was value for money and a necessity such as the foot mask because my legs were dying from the hike and long walks (in heels mind you)
And here are some photos I took hehe =)
Final tip: the promotions and discounts vary shop to shop; ie different outlets of Faceshop on the same street so it's a huge hassle trying to find the most value for money buy for the products you have your eye on. =( Also, the free gifts such as posters are given only upon request.
Have fun and I will share more shopping experiences in the next few days of my Seoul stay =)
Since blogger screwed up my template; read about the other 13 days of my trip here: http://phoebefeehily.blogspot.sg/2014/11/korea-trip-2014.html
Feel free to reach out to me on twitter @phoebefeehily
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