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.
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.
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