Yours truly

Well, I totally forgot to snap a photo of this themed cafe building. Basically there are two Teenie Weenie in Myeongdong, located quite a distance from each other. You need to find the one with multi-floor building with a dessert cafe at the top level.

RM18 each, anyone keen?

A lady bear that look like a Harvard student.

Teenie Weenie is a local Korean brand, they sell a series of apparels and merchandises, from casual, back to school concept which probably you'll find something that match your style.

Hot Mocha, anyone?

Cake for three.

While waiting for other friends joining us in Myeongdong,we ordered a piece of cake and a hot chocolate. There's nothing extraordinary in store, luckily it was during Christmas month and we have a nicely decorated Christmas Tree to check out!

Nicely decorated Christmas tree with little bears and puffy balls.

When I first arrived, the cafe has many vacant seats. My friend told me that this is one of the famous cafes in Myeongdong. Local teenagers love this brand, especially their clothing line. It was so crowded downstairs that I need to squeeze myself in to reach the elevator.

Beenie drinking mocha in Teenie Weenie.

There's nothing much to talk about Teenie Weenie Cafe. At the ground floor, you'll find apparels and merchandises, such as bedsheets, kitchenware and more. It's cute though, but it doesn't make me feel like getting it. Most of the merchandise are overpriced for my liking, probably because I'm not a big fan of this brand.

Anyways.



Another themed cafe in Seoul, the Hello Kitty Cafe!

Christmas socks with HK would look nicer.

This cafe is located in an independent building in Myeongdong area. Heading to this cafe we saw a pet cafe as well, I would prefer to visit the pet cafe but advance booking is required.

One giant Hello Kitty

Honestly speaking, I think the decoration of this Hello Kitty building is a little bit off / out of taste. Well, personal preference I would say. You gotta be a die hard fan to overlook the smears on wall and furnitures, the wooden floor is chipped here and there.

It's pink everywhere!

Full house.

Your order is ready, miss!

I went to the Taipei's, I personally think that the cafe in Taipei is pleasant and the ambience is just right. I was in Seoul during the Christmas week until new year, the cafe itself is not heavily decorated with Christmas deco, maybe just some little decoration here and there, but it's still kind of odd to me. I would not highly recommend this cafe, unless you're a fan of Hello Kitty la. There are plenty of cafes in Seoul, even Baskin Robbins or Caffe Pascucci are better.

If you are keen to go any of these themed cafe, well, here's the details if you couldn't ask Mr G:

Teenie Weenie Cafe
50-5 Myeongdong 2 (i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Hello Kitty Cafe
28, Myeongdong 4-gil, Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul

And my favourite? Hollys Cafe and Mango Six!

Comfort drink and sandwich from Hollys Coffee

Hello world!

Been hibernating since last Christmas, and it's time to recover from fatigue. I'm pretty occupied with studio work and events lately, my partner and I have been working relentlessly since last Oct and oh well how much I miss travel and longing for a proper rest.

In between, I travelled to Bangkok twice for a short trip. Although I once said I unlikely travel to Seoul for the second time, but I do really miss the Christmas atmosphere, everything was so christmas!

Oh slurp!

Mango Six cafe, one of the famous cafe chain in Korea. I couldn't remember in which drama the filming took place, but when I saw Mango Six Cafe, I immediately pull my boyfriend and insisted to go in for a drink.

I think I found my answer

Things about cafes in Seoul, they are always neat and magical with those dazzling lights, and special merchandise display. I've never seen any cafes in Seoul that I dislike. I'm not a frequent cafe-goer to be honest, but to get a hot drink and a warm place to stay is a blessing during the winter season. By saying that, expect seasonal drinks and warmer place when you travel to Seoul during the festive season.

Some of the seasonal merchandises are out of stock before I could see it.

Jackets taken up a seat, my seat to be precise.

Have I told you about the people in Seoul? Once I encountered an unpleasant incident where a group of Koreans refused to let tourists to sit near them, and rudely asked the tourists to leave. I was in disbelief and shocked. I was constantly worry that I might be treated that way but lucky for me, besides I got cut in line and bumped in stations, the hospitality is tolerably alright.

Like I said, coffee not cheap eh.

Rose Coffee.

Oh nom!

What to expect during the Christmas festival in Seoul? Merry, mistletoe, candlelit, snow, spiritual and Christmas shopping! I patronized Dangdaemon, Myeongdong and Lotte morning and night. I was skeptical with Christmas deals that they might offer, all doubts dismissed after my first time to Myeongdong, rest assured that the festive shopping offers are fairly good deals!



Street foods are costly for my liking, but I still can't resist it. My favourite snacks are priced between 5000 to 8000 won, I kept telling my boyfriend that the pack of food must be good to stop my (constant) heartbleed.







Name any Korean cosmetic brands you will find it here. It's seems like facial masks are hot items, you see all girls bring home dozens of mask. I've got myself the first ever BB cushion (in my life) from IOPE and some facial care from Hanyul, Innisfree, Laneige, and Too Cool for School.


Cosmetic shopping is never a choice when I'm with my boyfriend. He will constantly tell me to get these and that since it was cheaper even though I told him that it'll be a waste of money since I don't apply facial care on daily basis.

Anyways,


Cafe hopping again! This time we patronized one of the biggest cafe in Myeongdong, Italian Gelato.





While waiting for others, (boyfriend's relatives joined us on our third day, their impromptu travel since everyone was free) we had a good rest eating gelato and enjoy the atmosphere.


Most of the shops open till 12:00am. Always check the subway schedule, luckily for us we have hired private vehicle, we stroll the streets enjoying the cold weather before everyone returned to the hotel.

My first snow in Seoul.

Would I go to Seoul for the second time? I bet I will. I missed a lot when I was in Seoul, I was travelling alone for the next two weeks, the weather was so (deadly) cold, the people were rude and oh man I hate that when they spit on the floor, the subway schedule was unclear, and the station exchange route was far (no wonder most of the Koreans are slim), despite all these, I'll overcome all and travel to Seoul again just for Bibimpap and grilled meats.

Travel date: December 2016 - January 2016


There's basically nothing much for me to share about Ihwa Mural Village located in Ihwa-Dong, as there are plenty of bloggers had blogged about it.

I've been anticipating to explore this artsy-patsy neighbourhood since "Rooftop Prince". I became addicted to Korea drama ever since I watched Rooftop Prince, then The Heirs and the rest. It's a bad addiction that I spent most of my toilet break holding iPad watching dramas.

Daehangno area

At Naksan Park, a steep walk up of slopes you'll find Ihwa Mural Village. First take the Seoul Subway Line 4, take off at Hyehwa Station and exit through Exit 2.

My hotel was located just opposite the Seoul Station thus I don't need a line transfer. Taking subway in Seoul need some research before hop-on-hop-off especially if you don't read Korean or Mandarin characters. English is not as common as what I expected in Seoul. The citizen hardly speak English and they weren't as helpful as Japanese, better to search for the direction and memorize the routes before you reach Seoul.

The first sculpture once exited the station

Take a stroll down in the area commonly known as Daehangno. There are several universities around, walk straight once you exited the station according to the signboard showing Ihwa Mural Village. Turn left at Ihwajang-Gil and walk for another 400m.

All sold out.

Along the street there's Starbucks too. I never Starbucks-ing while I was in Seoul, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Tokyo because there're more coffee shops to explore and try besides Starbucks.

A dried out pool

The first thing in my mind, why monkey?

The 'Welcoming Kitty' is one of the landmarks for your next turn, turn left and we we came to a small neighbourhood with rows of small shops.

The Welcoming Kitty

There's traditional restaurant on our left sells Chicken Soup set at 5,500WON only! Korea is famous of its Ginseng Soup, my favorite is always chicken soup with rice, nothing can beat a warm soup with chicken broth and drumsticks, especially during the winter.

The last photo before my camera fell to the floor and broke.

It broke my heart when my camera fell from the bench. Camera was broken! Luckily it still under warranty, I sent it to the Olympus service center in Mont Kiara once I'm back from Tokyo and settled down with my works. It took just a night for the repair and I received call for camera collection the next day, just days before the Chinese New Year, Olympus rocks!

Seaweed soup is love!

Stomach is satisfied and time to walk uphill to reach Ihwa Mural Village.

The first interesting mural art we saw while climbing the slope

Just a brief introduction of Ihwa Mural Village: In 2006, Naksan Project is carried out the Local Public Art Committee to improve the environment of Ihwa Village. As you can see from all the travel blogs and photos, many interesting art pieces installed and wall painting in the area. Since then Ihwa Mural Village has become of the tourist attractions in Seoul.

Plenty of this plants in the city.

There's a board indicating the Mural Village Walking Tour Course on your right. Before we reached the first metal art piece, we came across an unique cafe and decided to pay it a visit.

The decorative logs.

The Entrance

Wood and Metal.

The coffee machine island.

Differently from all the cafes I've visited, the coffee machine is facing outside with the menu board hanging above it. Jazz Story is owned by a retired couple who had their son-in-law in charge for the interior design of this cafe.

Coffee, tea or me?

Waiting for the coffee brewing.

The wood and metal are installed piece-by-piece for a minimum of 6 months before the business starts.

Cozy

Caffe Mocha is in the house.

First Caffe Mocha in Seoul

To be honest, the coffee wasn't cheap. The coffees cost around 6,000 - 8000 WON each. Some of you may think it's economical but it surely quite pricing for me, considering my favourite daily coffee costs me RM2.00 only. I had my coffee earlier thus I didn't order one but sharing it with my boyfriend. He's an ultimate coffee lover and sip up to 4 cups per day, which I think it'll compromise his sleep and health. But, anyways,

The happy-face rooftop art!

Identical art piece

Father, son and a pet

He thought I can't spot him

Artsy?

When my camera is not functioning

Take a minute

Some carvings on the rock

A weird museum

Inside

This 'museum' offers photography session where you can rent uniform and take photos in the village, alternatively, to take photos with girls in the black uniform.

Bugs and a pink wall

The coffee counter is closed.

Many staircase.

This is a neighbourhood and you are advise to keep your volume down.

Bunch of teenagers posing at the staircase.

Like I mentioned, there are many stairs in this village. Make sure you are wearing a good pair of walking shoes.

Roses.

Running student

This cartoon characters are so famous in Seoul and I practically can see them everywhere.

Inspiration.

So tempted to bring this orange bird home.

Took us about 2 hours to explore the art pieces. We skipped some of it unintentionally, in case you want to explore all, make sure to do some researches online and jot down the details.

I remember I took a photo with the famous spreading wing, but too lazy to retrieve it from the boyfriend's phone. :/

#PassionPassport

This cafe is closed too!

Spot the cafe at the back of this sculpture, it's "Happy" in Chinese Character, which is my Chinese name too.

University Park

Students are selling roses in this park. I've seen many are gathered under the Christmas Tree waiting for their friends, some of them play musical instruments and some of them are doing parkour, which are more interesting compared to magic show.

I became a little moody since my camera was broken, the boyfriend cheered me up by getting me a cute cup cover from Dunkin Donuts!

Gaspard x Lisa

Got Gaspard Cup Cover!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I'm gonna nom you.

It was Christmas Eve, got no plan at all. It was my first time in Seoul and have no idea where to for the celebration, unlike in Tokyo, you'll see couples with flowers and gift boxes. Christmas Tree and decoration is everywhere, you pretty much feel like you're in a western country.

I decided to check out the illuminating rose field in Dongdaemon at night, want to know more, check out the next blog, kamsahamida!