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My friends and I’s quarter life crisis trip πŸ’• Read more
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  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 16

    Final day in Seoul πŸ‡°πŸ‡·βœˆοΈπŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ - Day 15

    September 24, 2023 in South Korea β‹… ☁️ 24 Β°C

    Alas we’ve made it to the final day in Seoul and the last day of our trip! 😭 Maya and I had our flight in the evening (our flight kept getting delayed πŸ₯²) and many of the girls had many plans so we all split up this day. Jen had plans to meet with her family in Korea so she came to say bye to us early. Farheen and Yebin also were about to leave so we also said our goodbyes until we’re all back in TO. πŸ₯Ί I felt somewhat emotional at this moment cuz our trip was nearing its end.
    Maya and I didn’t have any solid plans this day, but we decided to explore the Lotte department store in Myeongdong, which was also its main store! We entered and it immediately felt like entering a Nordstrom or Holt Renfrew! Everything was quite pricey but very nice! It was over 10 floors full of shops! The first floor was the Lotte grocery store! It reminded me of a Whole Foods haha! We were about to eat some bibimbap but found out you needed to enter a phone number to reserve a spot but both of us didn’t have one so we couldn’t eat there. πŸ₯²
    This Lotte department store had a few floors with all the expensive brand name items (Chanel, Gucci, Versace etc). We saw many foreigners here, perhaps the deals in Korea are better than their home countries! 🀣
    Connected to this department store we’re a few other small malls called Star Avenue (k-pop related merch stores) and Young Plaza (which seemed to have a lot of stores directed towards young adults LOL). Here Maya and I stopped by the Muji and Uniqlo in Young Plaza! πŸ˜‚ We both bought a few last minute items from Uniqlo before we left!
    We finally left the mall to find somewhere to eat lunch. It was around 2-3pm at this time and weirdly enough, a lot of restaurants in the area seemed closed. We looked closer and saw that many had a small break between 3-5pm (like a siesta). We had some trouble finding a spot, but we found one a restaurant that was open, and also sold bibimbap! We walked in, ordered and had our meal! It was so delish! πŸ˜‹ Best part is that it wasn’t that expensive either! Less than 10,000won per person!
    Once we left, we were pretty full so we decided to walk around the neighbourhood! We were pretty crazy in that we were debating to have Korean fried chicken before we left for the airport! πŸ˜‚ Sadly most of the stores were closed, so we couldn’t have our Korean fried chicken before we left… I was a little disappointed but it gives me a reason to come back to Korea! 😊
    As we were walking around the neighbourhood (not too far from our hotel), I actually saw a Korean celeb! It was Kwak Shi Yang! He was with a lady and they were just walking around and talking! I lowkey freaked out and told Maya! She didn’t notice him while we were walking but wished she saw him! πŸ˜‚ It was so funny, I had to tell the other girls!
    We walked more and found this heritage site, with a lot of people going in and out of a gate! We decided to check it out! There seemed to be some sort of performance happening and a lot of people were watching! Not sure what it was for but it was cool to see! We also saw a bit of N Seoul tower (Namsan Tower)!
    It was around 5pm, so we headed back to our hotel and picked up our luggage to walk to the shuttle bus stop. Even though it was only 10 mins walk, it was a struggle, probably since our luggages were so full of stuff to bring back home! πŸ˜‚ While we were waiting, we got approached by some taxi driver to see if we wanted a ride to the airport several times… he tried to give us these deals but we kept declining. It was a bit annoying… finally the bus came and the driver helped us put our luggages into the bus, then we were off!
    A few hours later, we arrived at the airport and they took our luggages off the bus. It was funny cause they mentioned both our luggages were pretty heavy and we just laughed it off πŸ˜‚
    We checked in then got through the security pretty smoothly. The airport was quite busy though since I think a lot of people were travelling during the Chuseok holiday! Once we were through security, we were pretty hungry and wanted to grab a quick dinner before our flight. We both had our credit cards to enter the airport lounge. We found one but it was soooo busy and it didn’t seem very relaxing… We walked to the other lounge we had access to and it was definitely the better choice! It was a buffet style meal! 100 times better than the Pearson airport lounge! The food was good, and they also had unlimited alcoholic beverages! Plus even a ramen making section! We definitely filled our bellies with lots of food!
    We finally left to catch our flight, we boarded, then we were off! πŸ›«
    For some reason this flight seemed a lot longer than the flight to Japan. Maybe we were just so tired from the trip! πŸ˜… I was able to finish One Piece live action (absolutely loved the show! πŸ’•), watched a movie and even a few episodes of the kdrama Destined to You! 🀣
    We landed in Toronto at about 10pm EST, and it took us about an hour to grab our luggages, get through customs then leave the airport. My parents were nice enough to pick both of us up and drive Maya home!πŸ’–
    Overall, the Korea portion of our trip seemed to go by a lot quicker than the Japan portion! I wish we had stayed a bit longer in Korea to explore more of the cities and try more foods! Definitely wished I could’ve had the famous Korean fried chicken with beer, but I’ll come back and try it another time! 😊 I also wished I could’ve seen more areas of Seoul like Gangnam, Hongdae, Itaewon and Seongsu dong. I also would’ve loved to go to Lotte World (maybe even trying to rent a school uniform to wear haha)! Another time for sure! πŸ₯°
    The trip itself was amazing! I had the best time I’ve ever had on a trip with these girls, and I definitely think our friendship has grown from living with each other and hanging out every day for 2 weeks! I hope we can travel all together sometime soon! ❀️    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 15

    COEX Mall & Jen’s fam dinner - Day 14 πŸ“š

    September 23, 2023 in South Korea β‹… ☁️ 25 Β°C

    Our final full day in Seoul was a busy one, and somewhat bittersweet! Today, Jen and Yebin both had their hair appointments, so they had plans of their own. Farheen, Maya and I knew we wanted to visit the famous COEX library within the COEX mall. Maya and I thought we’d grab a quick breakfast at Paris Baguette before heading over to the mall, but when we looked, there weren’t many good food options so we didn’t end up going. I was slightly disappointed since Paris Baguette recently opened a new location in Toronto but it was a little expensive here. I thought it’d be better in South Korea, where it originated but it wasn’t πŸ₯² Yebin also joined us, so us 3 went to a random cafe near our hotel. It ended up also being on Yebin’s list of foodie places to visit, it was called 79 Founyard! The cafe was so cute and aesthetic! 😍 Us three got drinks - Maya and I got a latte and Yebin got a slush. Maya also got a hotdog since she was hungry! Farheen met us at the cafe and she also ordered herself a drink and a croffle! It was all really good!
    Once we were done at the cafe, we took the transit down to Gangnam to the COEX mall! We arrived and since I still hadn’t eaten yet, Maya suggested we go try the Korean McDonald’s, while we were waiting for Jen! Maya and I shared a Bulgogi burger meal with Injolemi fries and a yuzu tangerine slushy. The whole meal (like Japan) was less than 10,000 won (>$10CAD)! We tried it all but weren’t impressed πŸ₯² The Japanese terriaki burger was better. But it was still a good experience! Jen met up with us at McDonald’s and we saw her new wave perm! It was so pretty! 😍
    We made our way into the mall and headed right to the library first (since Yebin’s appointment was soon)! It was so pretty and felt like we transported into a kdrama! It was quite busy though, probably because it was a Saturday as well. But we took a lot of cute photos and looked around! They also had an Arabica % coffee shop! β˜•οΈ
    Yebin had to leave to her hair appointment so the 4 of us started to look around the mall!
    Farheen found a super cute perfume shop and bought one, as I know she wanted to get one before she left Asia. πŸ’• I finally decided to try Gong Cha (my first bubble teaπŸ§‹ the whole trip) and it was pretty good! I wish I got less sweet though, it was 50% and still quite sweet for me πŸ˜…. Maya and I found an Olive Young and since Maya hadn’t shopped there since we arrived in Seoul, I stayed to look around too. Farheen and Jen left to look for some cute clothes.
    Maya and I also walked into Sephora and immediately spotted the Laneige Foundation Cushion, which isn’t available in Canada. We both were looking for one, and bought it there πŸ˜‚ At this time Jen and Farheen left the mall to visit a different one, so Maya and I explored the mall a bit more ourselves. We walked near a super cute indie korean clothing store, I wish I could’ve bought more clothes as they were all super cute. πŸ₯° I bought a cute sweater vest there and was so happy I found it! We also walked into a Daiso and both of us bought lots of souvenirs from there haha! πŸ˜†
    We walked into another Artbox and I bought a super cute shot glass, similar to Maya’s πŸ’–
    That evening, Jen’s grandma kindly invited us out to a dinner meal with her and Jen’s cousins. This was so nice of them so we all made sure to dress up nicely, as it was also at a very nice restaurant! As we were about to leave, Maya and I found another Uniqlo and just looked around quickly! πŸ˜‚
    We took the transit towards the restaurant to meet up with the other girls and Jen’s family. It was a buffet restaurant in a nice hotel! We arrived and met Jen’s grandma, who was so kind and very well dressed! 😁 Jen’s cousins were also very nice too! Both of them were around our age, one was our age and one was a few years younger! The buffet food was so fancy and absolutely delicious! Lots of seafood and many food options! πŸ˜‹ I also learned that their kiwi is a known delicacy there and I wish I got more πŸ₯² it was probably the most sweetest kiwi I’ve ever had!
    Overall it was a great dinner and we were so thankful to Jen’s grandma! ❀️
    After the dinner, Jen and Yebin had to go to their friend’s place to pick up some items they had ordered to her house. Maya, Farheen and I decided had some time to kill so we were planning to go to Han River to see the night view. Unfortunately it was pretty late, and Han River was quite far, so we just took the transit to Star Road in Gangnam. ⭐️ I wish we had arrived earlier in the day since it was such a nice street! It was full of expensive brand name stores and their shop designs were so interesting!
    We walked down a random street and saw so many cool bar/restaurants, but they definitely looked expensive! πŸ˜… Funny enough, we also saw a bunch of guys with black caps and masks (it’s kind of a known thing that celebrities or trainees wear this to hide their identities). Not sure if they were actually famous but we were just guessing! πŸ˜‚
    Jen and Yebin were on their way home the same time we were leaving. We ended up meeting at the hotel. Since it was our last day in South Korea with all of us together, we decided to look for a karaoke bar. Sadly it was super late in the night so a lot of the karaoke bars were closed. We found one that was open all night and we decided to check it out. It was upstairs and when we entered, we already felt a bit of a sketchy vibe. 😬 There were a lot of people smoking inside and they seemed like they were partying. Yebin asked if they had a room for karaoke and the lady showed us to our room. Sadly it also smelled like smoke 🫀 But we were already there, and they said it was about 20,000 won for the hour, so we just sucked it up and decided to accept the second hand smoke air πŸ₯² The room was nice and we found all the songs we wanted (it was essentially YouTube). We had such a fun time we forgot how long we were supposed to stay! We left at about ~1:30am (we got there at like 12am). The lady was about to charge us an extra 6,000 won for the extra 30 mins but Yebin told her she never told us this, then she let us go! πŸ˜‚
    We were absolutely exhausted by this point so we headed back to our hotel for the last night in Seoul 😴.    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 14

    Hanboks & Hanok Village - Day 13 πŸ₯°

    September 22, 2023 in South Korea β‹… β˜€οΈ 24 Β°C

    We got up bright and early for a busy day ahead! 😌 We had plans to head to Gyeongbokgung Palace and wear hanboks there! We were all pretty excited since we were planning to all dress up this time! πŸ₯°
    We decided to walk there since it was less than 30 mins away! On the way we decided to pop into a random cafe we saw! It was so cute! I got an Earl Grey latte and omg it was AMAZING! I think a lot of the girls agreed it was also quite good! I wish I could get it again πŸ₯² We arrived and went into the hanbok shop! They had a huge variety of hanboks of all different colours! We all chose our colours (I opted for a lavender one πŸ’œ) and the ladies kindly helped us into them. Wearing a hanbok is definitely a lot less work compared to a yukata! I remember the workers in Japan took almost 10 minutes just to get Farheen and I into the full outfit! Hanboks were all done within minutes! We also decided to get our hair done! πŸ’πŸ»‍♀️ It was so cute! We grabbed cute purses they offered us and put our valuables in them, and then we were off! If you wear a hanbok, entering the Gyeongbokgung Palace is free of charge. I think normally it’s $6 for entry! But a lot of people were also dressed up in hanboks or other Korean traditional clothing! It was such a cool sight to see! 🀩
    We entered and took so many cute pics of each other! (Peep at some of them here!) Farheen and I also did a cute dance to BraveGirls’ Rollin’! It was fun!
    After a few hours passed, we had to start heading back to the hanbok shop to return our hanboks. Once we changed back into our regular clothes, we were quite hungry! We walked a bit and Yebin suggested to get mandu soup (korean dumplings). Farheen went to a nearby shop for pizza! We ordered our noodle soups and pajeon (korean pancake) and omg it was so delicious!! It was hot but such a comforting feeling when eating it! πŸ˜‹ I was so satisfied after, I literally felt like passing out πŸ₯± We met up with Farheen and started making our way to Bukchon Hanok Village. This is a famous spot where many tourists go to take pictures of the traditional Korean houses (called hanoks). As it is a neighbourhood with people living there, there are many signs stating to keep the volume low. 🀫 But omg, we walked to get here and it made me realize how hilly Korea is. I remember us walking up this steep hill and I’m like, how do people walk this all the time?! Crazy πŸ˜‚
    After this, we wanted to explore the shopping area of Korea more. So we decided to walk over to Eulji-ro, which Yebin and Jen said had a lot of shopping malls and markets. I wanted to go mainly to find some cheap Korean chopsticks and maybe some cute clothes. Sadly they started closing up when we arrived. The shopping malls were a bit out of our price range so we decided not to go.
    We walked by Dongdaemun Design Plaza, which is a famous landmark in Korea, and a lot of kdramas film here! πŸ˜„ (I recognized it from Vincenzo πŸ‘€)
    Yebin also said there was a famous accessory store nearby called Nyu Nyu. I heard of this store on TikTok so I was so down to check it out! It’s 3 storeys full of jewelry, purses, hair accessories and even some clothing! 🀩 Safe to say, we spent at least an hour in here browsing and shopping since many things were so well priced!
    After our mini accessory haul, we were all starving, but didn’t know what to eat. We thought it’d be best to eat around our hotel neighbourhood as it was already quite late. We all decided we were craving some kbbq, so we searched a bunch of restaurants. Sadly a lot of them were closing up for the night, but luckily we found a hidden spot that let us sit down. It wasn’t a typical kbbq spot though, it seemed quite fancy. 😳 They sat us on the bar and we looked at the menu. Farheen accompanied us since it was pretty late and we all wanted to hang out together, but she didn’t eat anything from the restaurant (she had some food before). Yebin and Jen looked at the menu (which was all in Korean) and told the servers what we wanted. As it was such a fancy place, they grilled the meat in front of us and served it to us. It was SOOO YUMMY! The pork belly was just *chefs kiss*. 🀀 I do wish we could’ve found a restaurant where we could grill it ourselves but oh well! At least we tried real Korean BBQ! πŸ–
    As we were all exhausted from that day, we left to go back to our hotel and passed out immediately 😴    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 13

    Busan to Seoul πŸš† + Cafe - Day 12

    September 21, 2023 in South Korea β‹… ☁️ 22 Β°C

    Our final city in our trip was Seoul! We woke up pretty early to catch our train from Busan to Seoul. The train recommends people get there a bit early, especially if you have big luggages as the only areas to store big luggages are the storage areas in between carts. Although we got there relatively early, we were too late to find luggage space. Yebin and Farheen had to go to a different cart to store their luggages. Maya and I stored ours right behind our cart but it was tucked right beside some seafood packages, which I assumed were being transported into Seoul! Maya was quite worried about anything spilling into our luggages and having them smell like seafood πŸ˜‚ Jen couldn’t even put her luggage into a storage section and the worker just told her to store it off the side, near the door. We got to our seats, and we were off to Seoul! πŸš… It was a pretty relaxing ride and I fell asleep for a bit! Jen and Farheen were also doing a school assignment on the train ride haha! πŸ˜† We got to Seoul in a few hours! We were planning our route to the hotel in the quickest way possible because Jen, Maya and Yebin had a scheduled Colour Palate appointment where a professional will tell you what colours complement your skin tone, in terms of clothes, makeup, hair colour etc! As we were getting our luggages off, Jen, Maya and I were struggling on how to get off the train with our huge luggages. Luckily as we were about to get off, the guys who loaded those seafood packages came to unload them. They saw us struggling and generously helped us lift our luggages off the train! πŸ˜‚ We took the subway to the station closest to our hotel, in Myeongdong! We walked for a good 10 mins to our hotel and checked in. Weirdly Yebin, Jen and Farheen’s room wasn’t ready until 6pm but Maya and I could check into our room (it was around 1pm then). The other 3 girls left their luggages in our room and quickly left to their appointment in Gangnam.
    Farheen and I had a few hours to kill on our own! We decided to walk around our hotel to see if there were any cute cafes nearby!We realized how big cafe culture was in Seoul! There’s literally a cafe every block so we had no shortage of choices! β˜•οΈ We decided on a really minimalist aesthetic one called Luft! It was a little later in the day so many of their items were already sold out, but we managed to grab a few treats we were interested in! We also got two drinks! I got a Rose milk tea and Farheen got a Lavender cream latte! They were so good! πŸ˜‹ And the sweets were also quite delish as we didn’t really eat lunch that day!
    When we left, we decided to explore the well known Myeongdong shopping area! This area was so lively and bustling with people! It’s a well known tourist spot as there are many stores selling skincare, makeup or clothes! πŸ›οΈ Farheen also wanted to check out the big Nike store since they have this feature where you can customize an item for a price! She decided not to get one but it was really cool regardless! 😊
    Myeongdong is also known for their street food vendors! There were SO MANY! And nearly all of them were packed with people! Farheen stopped to get a pomegranate juice at one of the stalls since it was quite a hot day! πŸ₯€
    One shop I was DYING to visit was Olive Young in Seoul! It’s almost like Sephora but they mostly sell korean makeup and skincare. The flagship Myeongdong store was sadly closed for construction so we went to another location nearby! Let me tell you, it was crazy busy full of people! πŸ˜‚ Farheen and I were slightly overwhelmed but everything was so cheap! πŸ€‘ The night before I had done a bit of research on TikTok as to what products were good to buy! We stocked up on a bunch of masks as souvenirs for people, we got some sunscreen, some pimple patches and we both got a Kahi stick for our moms to use! πŸ’• I also got a few nail gel stickers, gel cream and vitamin c serum! The total cost wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be, less than 200,000 won (~$200 CAD) so I was satisfied with our haul! πŸ›οΈ
    We walked around a bit more and found this cute ice cream shop that sold ice cream in shapes of roses! We got one that had 3 flavours: strawberry, matcha and chocolate! It was so pretty and so yummy in the hot weather! 🍦
    We found a really cute shop that sold cheap jewelry and accessories! We looked in here a bit! Then we found another cheap souvenir shop! I got some soju key chains cause they were so cute! πŸ₯°
    There was also a really good food mart! I saw some snacks I wanted to pick up, but I decided to get it near the end of our trip so I just made a mental list of things to get later. I also found the alcohol section 😜 Let me tell you, it is no joke how cheap the soju is there! It’s only 2,000 won (~$2 CAD) which is SO CHEAP!!! Here it’s like $10 πŸ₯² and they even had sparkling soju!! So cool!
    We walked around the area a bit more before heading back to the hotel to meet up with the other girls!
    We were all pretty tired so we decided to grab a quick dinner. Farheen went to a kbbq place she found in the Myeongdong shopping area earlier. The 4 of us decided to try Korean Domino’s pizza! We got a sweet potato pizza and a Bulgogi pizza! We also ordered a side of fried Mac & cheese balls! We ate in store as it wasn’t too busy and it’s not as sketchy as Domino’s stores here πŸ˜‚ The Bulgogi pizza was definitely my favourite! The sweet potato was pretty good too, but more on the sweeter side. The Mac & Cheese balls were ok 😬
    We decided to explore the Myeongdong shopping area after dinner and it was still so busy with people despite it being night! πŸ˜„ Jen wanted to drink a bit so I took them to the mart I found earlier with Farheen and we got some sparkling soju and a grape flavoured one. I also bought a few snacks this time too! πŸ˜† We went back to Jen, Farheen and Yebin’s room and just drank and watched korean tv shows! It was such a fun day! πŸ₯°    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    11222
    Day 12

    Gamcheon Village & Gukje Market - Day 11

    September 20, 2023 in South Korea β‹… 🌧 26 Β°C

    Our one full day in Busan was well spent! Yebin was finally feeling better so she joined us on our adventures today! We started off pretty early, heading towards Gamcheon village! We took the subway, then a small bus (which was quite a ride since it was such a hilly area) πŸ˜‚ We arrived and the views were amazing! I felt like I was watching a kdrama! All the multicoloured houses and buildings were so pretty! It was already quite busy since it was midday when we arrived, but we all managed to take some cute photos! ✌🏻
    We decided to go down to Gukjae market to look around and find a place to eat! It was really cool cause all these shops sold so many different types of things for relatively good prices, such as clothing items or kitchen utensils! My friends ended up buying a few socks for a good deal! πŸ˜„
    We finally settled on a spot to eat, it was a local noodle shop that was all fish based! Plus everything was so cheap! A bowl of rice noodles was only 6,000won (~$6 CAD)! We all got one, Farheen got udon noodles for the same price! We also shared some fish cakes and a pajeon (Korean green onion pancake)! Everything was so tasty, and it tasted so comforting as well, if that makes sense! 😌 After the satisfying meal, Yebin also told us the famous tteokbokki place in Busan is right in Gukjae market as well! We walked over to the stall and ordered a bowl! It was so delicious and chewy! It wasn’t as spicy as I had thought it would be, but it was more on the sweet side! We all really enjoyed it! 🀀
    After our tummies were full, Jen suggested we check out the Trick-eye museum not too far from the market. We walked over and bought tickets to go in! It was so funny and we took some pretty cool pics there! 🀣 We were craving a cafe, so Farheen found a good one (Yebin also had it on her list) called Caffeinated! It was such a cool cafe spot. Jen and I ordered an Iced Vanilla latte, Yebin got a fruit drink, Maya got an iced Americano, and Farheen ordered an affogato as well as this brownie with ice cream topped with cheese! It sounds weird but it actually tasted so good! 😍 The cafe was so cute as well and all the staff were so nice!
    In the evening, Yebin wanted to visit Spa Land so we all travelled back there together! We looked around the mall, Yebin, Maya and Farheen ordered a dessert to try! As Yebin left to go to the spa, Jen and Farheen were looking around the mall before they had to leave (to finish a school assignment) so Maya and I joined them. We found some cute souvenirs as well as a small Artbox (a famous stationery store in Korea). Jen and Farheen left so Maya and I stayed so Yebin wouldn’t have to go to the hotel on her own. Maya and I picked up a few breads from the bakery before they closed for dinner. πŸ˜‹ We met up with Yebin and hopped on the subway back to our hotel! At this time I also realized I left my umbrella at the subway station, but we were already half way to our hotel so I didn’t go back… I was a bit sad πŸ₯²πŸ₯² We got off our station and got a few texts from Jen. She was looking at a pretty Busan cup from Starbucks when we first arrived, but didn’t buy it. She was looking for it again that day but a lot of the Starbucks were sold out of the cup! She was freaking out a little since she wanted to buy it for her parents. Since us three were still out, we went to one Starbucks near the station and luckily found the cup! She was so relieved! πŸ˜„ We picked up a quick extra few snacks from the convenience store before heading back to our hotel to sleep. 😴
    Overall Busan was a beautiful spot to travel! I wish we could have gone on a cable car ride (unfortunately the weather was rainy and cloudy our whole time in Busan πŸ₯²). I also wish I could’ve tried some more seafood in Busan, especially their marinated crab. πŸ¦€ Perhaps on my next trip back to Busan, I’ll be able to try them all! 😁I    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    2212
    Day 11

    πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅βœˆοΈπŸ‡°πŸ‡·+Haeundae Beach/Spaland - D10

    September 19, 2023 in South Korea β‹… β›… 26 Β°C

    Today marks the start our trip to South Korea, specifically Busan! πŸŽ‰
    Our flight to Busan was quite early, so we had to arrive at the airport around 8:30-9am. Yebin was not 100% but on the road to recovery! ❀️ We got to Narita airport with all our big luggages and checked in! Sadly Maya, Farheen and myself were slightly over the max limit of free checked luggage so we had to pay a small fee. πŸ˜… Our flight was on time and not long at all (about 2 hours). We finally landed in Busan and made it through customs quicker than expected! Since we had a lot of luggage and we didn’t want to go through the trouble of lugging it on the public transit, we decided to take a taxi. Luckily in Korea, Yebin and Jen were with us, so they could speak Korean to the locals. We found a driver of a minivan who offered to take us for ~$40 CAD (40,000 won). But Jen said he had a bit of a sketchy vibe to him… πŸ™ƒ Luckily nothing happened and we got to our hotel in one piece!
    We checked in and went up to our rooms! Maya and I shared one room, Jen, Farheen and Yebin shared the other room. The view was quite nice, you could see the buildings with a mountain at the back!
    One thing we noticed when arriving was that we seemed to have chosen a hotel right near the market, so there were a lot of elderly people walking on the streets. The smell in the air was very similar to Asian markets I’ve been to, but Maya was quite sensitive to this smell haha. πŸ˜… On the bright side, there were plenty of pharmacies around, so Yebin and Farheen visited one of them to see if they could find some products to help them! Another bonus was that there was a convenience store on the first floor of our building so we’d always frequent that! Yebin decided to stay at the hotel for the day so Jen and Farheen went to grab her some rice porridge. We also had a Starbucks as well, so Maya and I went there to wait for the two ladies! πŸ˜„ I think I got either a Youthberry tea or Yuja tea (I can’t quite remember haha) πŸ˜… Maya got some sort of iced coffee latte. We both thought our drinks were quite sweet. We met up with Farheen (who also got a drink at Starbucks) and Jen. We decided to chill at the hotel a bit before we left to the Haeundae Beach. When we were ready, we took the subway (which was about 45 mins) to the beach and it was so pretty!! It was a bit cloudy that day so sadly not many sunset pics. But we did get a few good pics there! We even made a fun little video (which I won’t be posting here haha). πŸ˜‚
    Around 6:30pm, we left to go to Spa Land. This is a huge indoor spa with a bath, several saunas and foot baths! It’s located in the Shinsege mall in Centum City. We arrived at the mall and looked around for a bit but went to the spa quickly as they close at 10pm. We arrived, paid a small fee and entered the spa to change! It gave similar vibes to Go Place in Markham but a lot bigger and nicer πŸ₯° We explored the place a bit but wanted to eat as the main restaurant closed at 8pm. They also had a ramen bar which had so many different ramen packs! Farheen really wanted to try it so she stayed to eat ramen while us 3 went to the restaurant. Maya and I both ordered jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) and it came with fried dumplings. Jen was craving something spicy ever since she was in Japan so she ordered Dak galbi (spicy stir fryer chicken). We all also ordered beer! I tried Terra beer (cause I always see it on kdramas) πŸ˜‚ and both Maya and Jen ordered Kloud beer! 🍻
    After dinner, Maya and Jen wanted to check out the bath. The bath was separated between females and males so you had to strip down to enter. Farheen and I opted to just explore the spa’s many features! We first walked around and found a cute photo booth. For 5 won, we got 4 photo booth strips! It was so fun! πŸ₯ΈWe walked around more, found a facial/massage area but it was closed and the staff had left for the day. There was a movie room, as well as a relaxation room where you can lie on these big chairs and have individual TV’s in front of you. There were also large massage chairs in the hall area, so Farheen and I paid 3 won for a 15 min massage! Let me tell you, it was well worth it! After all the walking we did in Japan, the massage chair felt so nice! πŸ’†πŸ»‍♀️
    After the massage, we walked around the ground floor and found an outdoor foot bath area. There were several shallow pools of different temperatures where you can sit and rest your feet in or just walk through. It was very relaxing and quite therapeutic since the ground was all cobblestones so definitely good for the circulation! πŸ˜‚
    It was near closing time, but we saw that the spa had so many sauna rooms. We quickly went into almost all of them (literally walked in, sat for a few mins, then left 🀣) We were having too much fun here!
    We finally met up with Jen and Maya, who both mentioned the bath was really relaxing as well!
    We all took the transit back to our hotel and had probably the best sleep we’ve had during our whole trip so far! 😴    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    22
    Day 10

    Harajuku and Ginza πŸ›οΈ - Day 9

    September 18, 2023 in Japan β‹… 🌬 32 Β°C

    Today was our final full day in Tokyo. πŸ₯² Unfortunately Yebin still was not well so she stayed home to rest. Farheen also got a bit of a sunburn on her face, so she also stayed home to catch up on sleep. 😴
    Jenny, Maya and I decided to head over to the famous Harajuku area and the ever-so- busy Takeshita street. Today was especially hot so it was not fun walking with so many people around πŸ₯΅ One thing people always get in Harajuku are the crepes. Maya went off to check out a Jujitsu Kaisen cafe, so Jen and I began our search to find a good crepe place. There were a few stores along this street but they were all busy and had very long line ups. We settled on one and waited in line. It was so delicious since we got ice cream in our crepes, which was much needed in that hot weather. 🍦
    We met back up with Maya and we made our way out of the street. We decided to start heading over to Ginza. Ginza is a popular spot in Tokyo, known for shopping and the many high end stores. πŸ€‘ Since Maya hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and Jen and I only had a crepe, we decided to go to a cafe for a quick snack. We stumbled upon a cute one, I can’t remember it’s name but I recall it was quite fancy. I got a iced matcha latte, Maya ordered an iced americano with a cheesecake, and Jen got an iced vanilla latte. It wasn’t cheap but it was very tasty! πŸ˜‹
    After our snack, we left to find the one store I was looking forward to the entire trip, the 12 storey Uniqlo! 🀩 Since Jen had already been to the Uniqlo, she left to explore other stores in Ginza. Maya and I went into the store and we spent nearly 2 hours in it πŸ˜‚ Every floor had something new! There were a few items I had in mind I wanted to buy, but I found a few other things that were much cheaper in Japan vs Canada. Overall, it was quite a good haul! When we left, we saw that the main street was closed to only pedestrians so it was fun walking on the road! Maya and I also went into GU, which is kind of like H&M mixed with Uniqlo. We bought a few things from here as well.
    Around this time, Yebin wasn’t feeling too great so Jen went back to the hotel to help take care of her. Maya and I stayed out as we wanted to check out Akihabara (the main anime district of Tokyo). We quickly went to Itoya (a famous stationary store) but left shortly after. We took the transit to Akihabara and went to this one anime building that sells all things related to anime and gaming. Jen had asked us to buy her a shojo manga (manga targeted towards women) from here, which we were able to find! πŸ˜„ Maya looked through the shelves as well and was telling me a bit more about different type of manga and anime (as I know literally nothing about either). πŸ€ͺ
    As we made our way home, we were deciding what to eat for our last dinner in Japan. Not many places were open since it was already about 8pm. We were initially going to go for Japanese curry, but found this really cool spot that sold Okonomyaki. What was super unique about this spot was that each table had a little cooking areas and the servers made the dish right in front of us! We got these little spatulas as our eating utensils and scooped the okonomyaki right from the grill onto our plates! It was so delicious! We also ordered beer with our meal, I finally got to try Sapporo beer, which was very good! πŸ˜‹ After dinner, we went to the convenience store to pick up a few more snacks and tried Coolio (vanilla ice cream). πŸ₯°
    Some final notes of our trip in Japan: it was definitely one of the hottest trips I’ve ever been on - the humidity was no joke I literally had to buy a hand fan cuz I was sweating all the time, the mosquitoes are also weird in Japan - we all got bitten in Kyoto LOL and I got a very weird allergic reaction to it (my ankle was swollen for all of Tokyo 🫠), I will definitely be back soon since there are so many more things I haven’t done and want to do! πŸ’• Though it was short, my time in Japan will never be forgotten with these girlies! ❀️    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    11
    Day 9

    Shibuya and Ultra Japan Day 2 - Day 8

    September 17, 2023 in Japan β‹… β˜€οΈ 32 Β°C

    Another full day in Tokyo without any solid plans! Yebin had plans to meet up with her friend in Japan, so the rest of us decided to check out Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. Sunshine City is a huge mall, probably most well known for their Pokemon store. Farheen and I planned to check it out, but when we arrived, it was a huge line up looping around the store! πŸ™ˆ Luckily when we lined up, it moved pretty quickly and we entered within 10 mins! Today was also Nipa’s last day on the trip with us so she arrived at the mall a bit earlier to check it out before her flight. Maya and Jenny decided to explore the mall on their own. Farheen and I entered the Pokémon store and it was so busy, but full of cute items! I didn’t end up buying anything so I left to go check out this other store Kiddy Land which sold so many cute merch items, like the famous Mofusand cat, Miffy items, Rilakkuma stuff and even Sumikko Guarashi themed things! πŸ’• Everything was so cute I wish I could buy more! I ended up buying a few things for my friends and family before meeting up with Farheen again! Since we had to leave a bit earlier to head over to Ultra Day 2, we decided to grab a quick snack/lunch before we left. I got a McDonald’s meal! Not too sure if it’s just me, but I love visiting McDonald’s in different countries since they sell food items unique to their own country! I bought a teriyaki burger, with fries and an Earl Grey Iced Lemon tea. I also bought their limited time dessert, called Tsukumi Pie. It had mochi and red bean. Let me tell you, it was the best McDonald’s pie I’ve ever had, I still think about it to this day! πŸ˜‚ What was a bonus was that the whole meal was only ~¥800 (~$10CAD) which was amazing! I don’t think you can get a meal for less than $15 here in Canada πŸ₯² Farheen got a crepe and we both ate before heading over to Shibuya!
    We went by ourselves since the other girls got to visit the day before, while we were exploring Diver city mall. We took the trains towards Shibuya and arrived right at the famous Shibuya Scramble (the famous crosswalk that many talk about)! 🀩 What was super interesting was that there was a special festival happening in that area as we arrived. It’s called the Shibuya Konno Hachimangu Annual Festival. This is where several shrines come together and perform dances, as well as gather for a large parade. Once some of the paraders passed by, we saw the famous crosswalk in full! It was definitely packed full of people and tourists walking!
    One of the other main reasons why we wanted to go to Shibuya was that we wanted to visit the mega Don Quiote. It definitely lived up to its name, it was a full 9 floors! 🀩 Both of us took a little longer than expected shopping there. We did quite a bit of souvenir shopping as well as buying many snacks to bring back home! πŸ˜‹ Overall we had a great haul! We made our way back to the hotel and picked up a quick halal burger lunch for Farheen.
    Yebin wasn’t feeling too great so she was resting in our room. I quickly changed and got dressed, then went to Farheen, Jen and Nipa’s room to finish getting ready. Ultra Day 2, our outfits were “Toronto” themed. I wore a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey that I borrowed from Farheen’s bf and she wore a Raptor’s jersey! I loved our outfits that day hehe! πŸ₯° Jen and Maya left to try the Gyukatsu restaurant near our hotel.
    Farheen and I left to the Ultra venue and saw the end half of Peggy Gou’s set. I’m just happy we saw her song (It Goes Like) Nanana! She was super cool!
    But the main DJ that everyone was dying to see (including us) was Skrillex. I’ll admit, I wish he had a longer set but it was still so amazing! Farheen and I didn’t make the same mistake as the day before where we went up close in the crowd, we just stayed near the back. We also were smarter and bought our drinks before we went to the main stage. 😁
    We left at about the same time as the night before and, again, got a quick convenience store dinner and went to eat at Farheen/Jen’s room.
    Great second day in Tokyo πŸ’•    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 8

    Teamlabs & Ultra Day 1 - Day 7 πŸ“Έ

    September 16, 2023 in Japan β‹… ☁️ 28 Β°C

    You might’ve seen clips or pictures online of this immersive exhibit that people are visiting in Tokyo. This place is called teamlab Planets, where they have several art exhibits that were all interactive in some way! It’s completely bare foot, but they “wash” everyone’s feet before they enter each room. My favourite room was the lights/mirrors room, it was also the first one people entered. It was just so ethereal and the lights changed according to the music! They also had several other rooms, including one with water at calf level, those silver eggs in an outdoor exhibit and finally the hanging flowers room. This room was so pretty and it was really interesting as the flowers were all real and kept at a specific temperature! πŸ’
    We decided to go at the first slot in hopes of taking more pictures with less people, but unfortunately it seems like everyone else had the same idea, since it felt so packed even if it was 9:30am! We still got a few good shots in for everyone. πŸ“Έ
    All 5 of us were there except Maya, who decided to stay around Tokyo and explore on her own.
    This day was also the first day of Ultra Japan. Since teamlabs was so close to the Ultra venue, Farheen and I decided to stay in the area, and the rest of them explore Tokyo themselves. Farheen and I went to the Gundam statue as well as Diver City Plaza. Diver city is a big mall with several floors of stores and food spots! We were starving since we didn’t really eat breakfast when we left, so we got soba noodles for lunch! It was so delicious! πŸ˜‹
    We got ready in the washroom before going to Ultra, as were many other girls. We entered the venue after picking up our wrist bands, and it was so nice! They had a smaller stage, called Resistance, and of course the main stage. That day we were looking forward to Endless Summer, Hardwell, Axwell X Ingrosso and DJ Snake! I have to say all of them were great, but Hardwell and DJ Snake were my favourites! Farheen and I were pretty close to the stage for the first two artists but it might have been a small mistake cause it was so crowded and that day was especially sunny and hot… πŸ₯΅ We were both dying from the heat, and sadly didn’t have water. During the Axwell X Ingrosso set, we decided to leave the crowd in search for water and somewhere with less people. We got our drinks and ended up staying closer to the back since it had more space to move and breathe. We also met some really nice girls who took cute pics of us and even signed Farheen’s Canadian flag! DJ snake was last and did not disappoint! We left around 9pm but didn’t get home till about 10pm cause it was so packed to leave the venue and on the subways. Since many restaurants were closed by then, we just grabbed a quick dinner from the convenience store and went to bed 😴    Read more

  • TravelerπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ and πŸ‡°πŸ‡·
    Day 7

    Kyoto to Tokyo πŸš„ - Day 6

    September 15, 2023 in Japan β‹… ☁️ 28 Β°C

    We took an early train from Kyoto to Tokyo, our last stop in our Japan portion of the trip! We arrived a lot earlier than our hotel check-in at 3pm. We left our luggages at the train station’s luggage storage for a small fee, and left to explore this row of shops called Character street. It’s essentially a bunch of character themed merch shops located all in one hallway. It was so busy but everything was so cute! Like the Kirby themed store and the Mofusand cat store! 🐱
    For lunch, we ended up walking to a well known tempura spot, which was delicious! 🍀
    It was pouring rain outside so we had to find our way around the city with our umbrellas β˜”οΈ
    Finally it was 3pm so we went to our hotel to check in, which was quite nice (definitely better than our Kyoto Airbnb lol) πŸ˜‚
    Later in the evening we ended up skipping our original plan of going to Shibuya and just went straight to Shinjuku to explore the night life. It was so pretty and as bright as all the pictures make it out to be! Definitely a lot of people were there for the same reasons as us! We saw the famous Godzilla on the buildings in the heart of Kabukicho district in Shinjuku!
    We decided to enter the Kabukicho building and it was so cool and bright inside! It was almost like an indoor night market, but it was so packed! All the neon lights made it look so cool! 🌈
    In the evening, we decided to check out the cool spots nearby. 3 of my friends decided to go to this street called Omoide Yokocho, which is a few small walkways with tons of bbq skewer shops lining the whole way. You pick a spot and sit at the counter to order food and they cook it in front of you. I was with Maya and we we’re going to join, but it was a little too busy. We ended up walking further and found ourselves lining up for Ichiran Ramen. This spot is very well known for their solo booths, perfect for people who don’t want human interaction πŸ˜„ You enter and order food on a machine, then you take your number and wait to be seated at a solo booth. They take your order once you sit down through the window and once they give you your ramen, they close the curtain so you get more privacy when eating. I saw Mike Chen (from Strictly Dumpling) come here a few times and I was so excited to try it! Since I came with Maya, they sat us at booths beside each other! The ramen was amazing! I loved the perfectly cooked noodles mixed with the soup and all the toppings! I would definitely come here again if I could! 🍜 It was a perfect way to end the day!    Read more

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