Day 11 / 12 : Last days in Seoul

Day 11 was when my stomach failed me. I woke up to a nice sunny winter's day but my gut had a mind of its own this time and decided to relieve all the contents for the next 24 hours. Therefore I stayed in bed and only replenished myself with sport liquids. forever cursing the doughnut I had from Paris Baguette.

Obviously I had no photos, so here is a cartoon which represented the day (with some censoring).

The next day, or our final day in Seoul was more promising. Thankfully I didn't miss out on walking through the streets of the Ehwa Shopping district. This is a must-go place for young shoppers, with its affordable and stylish clothing boutiques, accessories, hair salons and small cafes to chill out (which I did in a 2 storey cafe surrounded by clothing boutiques (view captured below)).

I won't bore you with the shopping details, but one place that I've been meaning to visit was an animal cafe. They're pretty popular in Asian countries, and after some research I found a couple of dog cafes, cat cafes, and even one sheep cafe. I went for the dog one and chose Bau House which could be reached on foot from Hongdae. Due to the many positive reviews online, I couldn't wait to visit it as my last tourist destination in Seoul. Location wise, the cafe is very convenient since it's close to Hapjeong station. At Exit 3, we had to backtrack a bit to find the sign to the cafe leading to the back of a high rise building. Fortunately I recognized the picture of the dog silhouette representing the cafe.

Because the cafe is not directly visible it can be hard to find, particularly since the entrance is at the back. After coming down the small alleyway, the clear window panels revealing the warm interior can be seen with the business name printed at the bottom of the door.

 

Upon entering the cafe, we were greeted at the front reception and asked whether we wanted to be with the small dogs (front room) or big dogs (back room). Below is the front part of the cafe.

 

We chose to be with the big dogs in the back half of the cafe, and sat ourselves down as we ordered our drinks. At first I though the place would be smelling slightly of dog excrement, but instead the air was smelling of disinfectant. The reason for it was self explanatory as the workers clean the floors with a mop constantly, and heavily disinfect and clean the areas where the dogs have relieved themselves. So no not all dogs seemed to be potty trained but at least there were plenty of workers ready to clean their mess up. 

The price of the tea may seem higher than usual (and it wasn't super special tea either), but part of the money goes towards the upkeep of the animals. 

 

 Being a weekday, I was surprised at how many people visited the cafe still. It was a popular place for foreigners too, and many including myself couldn't help but purchase some dog snacks and treats from the counter so that the dogs can pay attention to us lol. Oh yeh, these dogs are spoilt rotten with many visitors every day, so they're pretty immune to all the attention given to them. If you want a group of dogs coming your way, just hold out some snacks in your hand, otherwise they won't give you the time of day!

Below is Bau, the beautiful dog who seems to be the leader of the pack and belongs to the owner. The cafe provides the list of dogs and their photos and names residing in the cafe so you can call them by their name (not that they respond so much unless you have food).

 Most of the dogs there were gentle and approachable, although it's always a good idea to not force yourself on them if they don't feel comfortable. They're allowed to freely roam around the entire area, jump on seats and onto the side ledges as if the building is their own.

 Time spent at the cafe is unlimited, but by lunchtime we needed to eat so we popped out and had pasta at Han's Deli. I found their pasta sauces to be quite light with less of the tomato pungent taste.

 By late afternoon, we headed back to our hotel to pack our luggage and took the taxi to the Best Western Airport Hotel so that we can catch the early morning flight to Taiwan the next day. Compared to all the accommodations we stayed at, the queen size beds and the enormous rooms were the most extravagant, and the price didn't lie either! However since it was our last night we just had to call room service for dinner, something I don't normally do so it was a little bit exciting.

 

Bimbimbap set and creamy mushroom soup.

Day 10 : Busan tour

I woke up to a sunny clear day in Busan as the start of the new year 2015. The view outside the hotel pretty much represents the city as a litter of buildings surrounded by high mountains and the sea. Today we were going to continue exploring Busan before returning to Seoul.

 

For breakfast we ventured out to the streets where virtually no store was opened besides restaurants and some cafes. In comparison to the busy atmosphere in the afternoon and evenings, mornings before 11am turned the streets into a ghost town. 

We came across this famous chain restaurant known for their chicken ginseng soup so we decided to try it out. Their standard ones for 14 000W are a huge stone pot of ginseng soup with chicken stuffed with ginseng and rice. Unfortunately the flavor was pretty bland compared to their Seoul counterparts.

The first destination we visited was Igidae Park, where we can take a picturesque view of Busan and its famous Gwangsan or Diamond Bridge. I followed the directions from this website where it outlines the trail from the train station in Namcheon to Igidae Park (http://cityawesome.com/busan1/2011/10/a-walk-through-igidae/). It was pretty easy to follow, but it did get a bit confusing once we reached the intersection after MegaMart. Below is a photo of where we stood and looking back after heading straight past the intersection and under the Gwangandaegyo bridge above us. We then crossed the lower bridge and up on the pink wooden boardwalk on the left hand side facing the coast.

As we continued walking, we slowly left the city behind us.

Gwangandaegyo bridge towards Haeundae

Off in the distance was a trapezoid looking glass building on top of the cliff, which was where we're heading.

Once we scaled past the coastline, we had to walk up the hill to get to the viewing area at the edge of the small cliff that overlooks the northern side of Busan. In the photo below, that's below the glass building (which was called 'The View'). In terms of the weather, it looked nice and sunny but the real chill came from the wind >.< 

Below is the view that we came for at Dongsaengmal Observatory. On the left is the Diamond Bridge, and on the far right is Haeundae Beach. The entire journey took us 30 minutes.

Although we didn't walk the entire course, we strolled across the boardwalk that's built on the edge of the coast.

By the time we turned back, I was very keen to take the taxi after all that walking to our next destination: Gamcheon Culture Village. If not taxi, there are other ways to get there such as either 1) training to Toseng station and taking the bus (Bus 2 or 2-2) in front of the hospital or 2) taxi after arriving at Toseng station.

The village is known to be the artistic and crafty side of Busan, where their cute colorful houses stacked on the mountainside facing the sea is iconic to the area. It was constructed by refugees during the Korean War, and later locals and artists decorated the town as a conservation art project.
Because it was a popular tourist area for locals and foreigners, a trail map was provided for us as a guideline to explore what the town has to offer. At the very start of the trail, we came across these thin toffee candy. Initially the owner makes them in a circle and a shape is pressed in the center. What's fun about this is that customers will use pins (shown on the left) to try and pry out the shape without breaking it. It's actually harder than it sounds, and it depends on the shape. Usually the owners will give them away for free if the customer can avoid breaking it (sadly we broke ours, but the result was still nice and sweet).

Another snack we came across were red bean cakes in the shape of cute turtles. Below is the photo of the owner quickly squeezing bags of red bean filling onto the cake batter before snapping shut the cooking plate to heat them.

I really wanted to take more shots of this statue, but there were people waiting behind us so I only took this one shot of the little prince, based on the French novel "The Little Prince" overlooking the village.

As we ventured our way further up the village, we came across the observation tower, which serves as the perfect point to soak in the sight of the entire town and its charm.

Walking down the stairs can be super scary since it's a very steep way down.

Since we had to take the KTX back to Seoul at 5pm from Busan station, the tour around Gamcheon was cut short in order to head back to our hotel and grab our luggage. Once again, we bought bread from the bakeries at Busan station for lunch. It's really not hard to miss a chain bakery in Korea. 

Back at Seoul, it was already dark and we were tired from our train ride. The taxi brought us to our new lodgings at Gyengbokgung where we stayed at a traditional style house (https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/1734950). This house was located in a small alleyway but its wooden traditional style doors luckily gave it away.

 

The entrance taken in the morning

In terms of the room, even though it's made for 3 people, personally I think it should fit 2 because it can easily become very cramped. The bedding was surprisingly heavy, so setting it up on the floor whilst we were tired and sleepy was a 'challenge'.

The living room was very nice, fitted with dozens of the owner's books, a laptop for guests to use, TV, electric kettle, water, tea, coffee and cups. Each room has its own bathroom, and the house fits about 4 families.

Although despite it all, tragedy struck. I was food poisoned by a doughnut that I bought at Paris Baguette so for the next 24 hours, my experience in this part of Korea was halted and became a nightmare. GARGHHHHHHH!!!