Coming to the end of my trip.... T.T

"It's really dreadful to be counting down the days this way: Melbourne-bound next week; work IS starting next week.... And I haven't had enough of Korea. Yet. And of all times I have to be so broke there is no way I can stay any longer even if I want to. Oh gawd.... T.T"

A posting off my facebook wall.... Describes perfectly what I am feeling right now.

And yes... another warning: DREADFULLY LONG POST + PICTURES. Not very recommended for tired eyes. :) 

First it was counting down the days to my holidays. At least that was something exciting, and something worth anticipating~ However, now I am counting down the days to the END of my holidays. I am seriously not looking forward to that! Now that I know my holidays are going to be over, I feel like I've been relaxing too much in here... Suddenly I want to go as many places as I can in this 6 days leftover... I realized that I've just been living like a normal Korean civilian and not doing anything exciting, other than meeting friends, eating, cafe exploring, and sleeping. And flipping through my travel guide book made me realize that there are actually so many things I haven't done yet, and that I'd love to do. But no more time left for me.... AHHHHH..... 어떻개?!

Korean ability has definitely improved as compared to when I first came. Classes did help, but I did lots of self studying too. Especially when I go to a cafe, I will be there for a good 2-3 hours interval, so I will bring my book along and start self-teaching. I realized that by doing so, even though I still suck at implementing what I've learnt, but sometimes unconsciously I will use it when I need to. It's like additional info at the back of my head that will surface when I needed it the most. As I've probably blogged previously, I really like the cafe culture here, so I will go to at least 1 cafe every single day and try out the coffee and enjoy the ambiance it provides. Very nice and relaxing. 

Walking along the walls of the Palace (Gyeongbok-gung) with the trees of winter... Nice walk...

Cafe B612 Le Petit Prince
I was actually looking for other cafes, which I've failed to find. But I stumped upon this really nice cafe instead. The coffee was good, and I liked the cookie.
I won't mind going  back again if I can afford the time~ It's good to study there actually!

And yeah, another one of those pork belly BBQ parties we have (삼겹살) and met new friends again - 2 Chinese girls from Shanghai, one American boy hailing from California, a very funny Japanese guy, and a German guy too.... All friendly peeps... And also another Korean guy whom I found out to be the elder brother of our manager at the guest house. Also include some of those whom I've already known - Sachi, Jinny, Jan and another Korean guy whom I know but didn't know his name.... Hmmmm...

Me and the 2 Shanghainese girls... I forgot their names already.... Surprisingly, we are all of the same age.

Cafe exploring at Apgujeong's Garousu-gil was great~ So many nice and cozy cafes around, it's hard to make a choice! Luckily I had recommendations taken from a friend's book, so I headed for this one - 5 CIJUNG. It was FANTASTIC! Enjoyed every single thing in there. 

The first cafe of the day - 5 CIJUNG.
This cup of latte is too cute to drink! Like seriously~ 

Sometimes, when I am in the same vicinity and there are many other cafes lurking around waiting for me to go, I will 2 or sometimes even 3 cafes all in one day.

Beautiful exterior - BLOOM and GOUTE.
The coffee there was nice too, though not the very best.
However the dim ambiance inside, together with the nice smell of fresh flowers, makes it all up. Very nice indeed! 

Went to Bukansan 북안산, where the Seoul Fortress is. It's like Great Wall of China, but of course, not as big.... It was a long trek up and then down again, but it was worth it. 

View from the top... with fresh air and nice view, GREAT~~~ 

So we climbed these stairs... tiring, but then good exercise, and not to mention, the fresh air was just great~

Jinny offered to bring me there. Really appreciate it!
Jinny's from Gangwon-do, and he speaks Mandarin too~ Well his gf is Chinese, so he learnt it really quick.
However, most of the time we converse in Korean, for my learning 'benefit'.

No matter how tired I am, or how bad the weather is, cafe hunting is still a must. So I went to Hongdae after climbing Bukan-san, and checked 2 cafes out`

First one was ORI PEKOE.
Another cute coffee art... Cant' bear to drink it at all!
I love this cafe. Nice ambiance. Took many photos but I can't possibly share all here.... Lazy to post on FB at the moment, but I really want to share this place if I have a chance! 

Stepped into Cafe SOURCE slightly hungry, so I ordered their Japanese style yaki soba pasta. Very yummy too!
This cafe is also in Hongdae.
Sometimes I wish there are more nice and unique cafes like this. I hate to see Starbucks and Coffee Bean everywhere! Seriously what's so good about them? None of their drinks taste good, and they are all overpriced... :\

A relaxing afternoon @ Seoul Forest, located just right in the heart of Seoul, at Ttueksom station.
Really nice and quiet walk there... 

Love these waffles @ Neal's Yard (Itaewon)
You can choose what flavour ice-cream you want with it! Many places just give you the basic vanilla ice-cream, but I was given a choice here... Of course, GREEN TEA ice-cream it will be!! Love green-tea ice-cream! ^^ 

Girls night at Fly Bar in Sinchon
Met up with Airi, and we went to Sinchon where Ri Hye and 2 other friends were.... Made friends with Eugene and Mizuki. Had like 10 tequila shots before I left.... >.<
Made my way back by the subway on my own though.... I was still quite sober... 

And more cafe exploring on a rainy day in Hongdae.

It was like half raining, half snowing, but either way you will need an umbrella. I haven't got mine and was caught in the rain for a bit... Was looking around for this cafe called Mobssie but couldn't find it no matter how hard I've tried. In the end, I realized that the name of this cafe was just a small and insignificant word on some poster pasted outside of the cafe.... The big words on top of the cafe read "Chocolate Cake", and I've passed the place like 5 times, not knowing it IS the cafe I was looking for! >.< I was seriously blaming myself for my 'excellent' sense of direction then! Peered into the cafe and realized that it is a small cafe and there were too many people in there. So after all the efforts have been put into locating this cafe, I changed my mind in the end and went to the other cafe opposite called "Be Sweet On". It was a good cafe too~ And it was brightly lit and quiet enough for me to study as well. Nice~

Be Sweet On
Nice cuppa latte with a lovely made heart... so nice!!!
Plus a very yummy tiramisu
Sinful... but really delicious!

Cook and Book Cafe
After Airi came to look for me at Be Sweet On, I left and went with her to this cafe. Ordered this dish with a name along the lines of 'baked potato with chilli' something. Yummy too!
Airi really like this cafe though... She has been there for like 8 times or something? The cafe also serves organic food, and offers many books for you to read too (however it only helps if you can read in Korean lol). 

Having wanted to watch some famous stage performances here, I decided to book myself in one.

Tried to book "Nanta", a famous performance here, but was unable to book through the web.... Something was wrong with their links page, so I have to try again later, or personally go down to the theatre. So I've booked 'MISO' (미소) instead. The performance was at Jongdong Theatre (전동극장) in Seodaemun/City Hall area. The 1hr15min performance was fantastic, depicting a story about a pair of enduring lovers long time ago in Korea, separated by war and jealousy, then reunited again afterwards. Yeah, as you can see I am lazy with my synopsis..... :P

The main characters of the performance.
I wanted to take a photo with them, and also take more pictures OF them, but then this big horde of tourists (from HK and JPN)  just swamped up  to them for photos that I only managed to take ONE photo of them without me in it. Unless I want to capture together the rest of the people I didn't know... 

The performance was a great portrayal of the Korean arts and culture. Enjoyed it a lot~

And then I did something I've wanted to do for the longest time ever - wearing a hanbok!

However this isn't the regular hanbok that regular Korean women wear... I wanted to wear one like that at the Chongdong theatre, but then the ones they have there seems more elaborate and elegant. So I chose one that they said is popular amongst other people... I look like the ugliest Korean bride ever~

I have tried on 2 head dresses, but I hated the other bulky one cuz it looked weird on me (especially I had my hair down, which made it even stranger!)
I liked this mini one though... Very much lighter~ 

Before I made my way to the performance, I bade goodbye to Nana - a girl from Thailand who has been staying at the guest house for a long time. She's a very quiet, but kind girl who even helped me trim my fringe so I can save a few bucks from going to the salon! hehee...
Behind the counter is the owner of the guest house. He's one of the nicest persons ever~ Very friendly and always willing to help out.

In Korea, you can order deliveries and have them sent to you. So I ordered my favorite Kimchi chigae and had this for lunch.
Yes, this sorta food is also available for deliveries.
They send it to you to where you are, and you pay them on the spot. After you finish eating, you just got to stack everything together and wrap them in the plastic bag they provide. The delivery man will come back about an hour later to collect them. 

And then I went to Suwon by myself... Have been wanting to go there for a long time now, but ended up still going alone. But I like traveling by myself anyway, therefore it was great... Had plans with friends to get there but nothing worked out, so I ended up going solo. 

People have been telling me how tedious it is to get there... given that it's quite far by subway, and it's not like it's directly accessible by subway... you got to transfer to the bus after that to get to the back door of the fortress. But I've hit the tourist information straightaway so I got the right directions straightaway and didn't get lost. So I got to Paldalmun (팔달문), which is the small back gate of the fortress standing solo in the middle of a few busy markets, restaurants and shopping areas. Made my way on foot to 화성행궁 before making my way to the rest of the fortress - 수원화성 - where I walked the entire fortress and enjoying the view. Very majestic view. At one point I pictured myself as some soldier fighting for the country 500 years ago. Then I pictured myself as olden times Korean women in hanbok waiting for their husbands back from standing guard and fighting the war at the fortress. Some sort of imaginations I have had. The fun part of traveling alone is that I can do my imagination like this, standing at any point of the fortress and just pace out for a while. No one cares. I have the world to myself.

Fortunately Suwon is quite a 'off the beaten path' tourist attraction. I've only seen one tour group there, and I think they are from the States. However, even though it is not widely known to tourists, it is a popular place to visit amongst the Koreans. Especially so cuz it is claimed UNESCO world cultural heritage, and forms a significant part of the Korean history. And since it was a Saturday I went, there were (too) MANY school kids on school excursions. I blended in with them at some point of my tour and listened to their teachers explaining to them in Korean. And I pretended to look lost when the teachers looked at me, so they must have thought I am a foreigner who doesn't understand Korean. But *snickers* what do they know... I understood most of what they were explaining... :P

Outside of the Hwasong Haeng-gung... 

The walls of the fortress
So I walked along these walls for like.... ##### km? It was a long long walk but it was great~
I have heaps of photos with the fortress walls and the buildings along the way, but too many to be posting them here.... Perhaps if I have the time, and patience, I will upload them on FB. 

Oh yes! Korea's most famous historical drama "Dae Jang Geum" was filmed here!!!
OMG... I have loved this drama.... 

The people at Suwon were really nice~ Nicer than Seoul peeps. As usual I went to a cafe after my tour, and because I obviously spoke Korean like a foreigner, they actually gave me extra service~ Free chocolates! I was genuinely surprised that the guy who served me came to me out of his work clothes (I think he was going on his break) and presented me with chocolates, and said they are "service" - a Korean way of saying it's on the house (FOC). Awwww.... I felt touched, I didn't even know how to say my Thank U afterwards!

In order to go to Suwon, I woke up at 8.30am so I can set off nice and early. Then on Sunday, I got to wake up at 9AM so I can meet friends at 11AM. "That's not early!" you may think. But to me it is too early.... I don't usually wake up til 11AM here, and to travel within Seoul, it is OK to set off late cuz many places open til late anyway (unless they are tourist spots like the palaces, they open til 6pm). My weekend was filled with early rises and late night sleep so I was so tired I slept soundly on train rides.... Luckily I didn't miss my stop!

Airi, Ri Hye and I at 감싸롱 - a cafe in Hongdae
Had burgers there... Really nice ones too~
Airi and I will be leaving 31/3... Ri Hye will stay on for her 3 months course in Yonsei, and then go to Beijing to learn Chinese! OMG... She's going to be multi-lingual afterwards! 

Cafe Manolin in Seorae Village
And this coffee was really really good.... both in taste and looks!
Seorae Village is a French Village in Seoul. A lot of French people reside in this area. And although the appearance of the village looks just like another Korean street, there are nice little French cafes and French schools in there... 

Another 3 more days before I go back. I am not traveling anymore... Just going to be cafe exploring and doing some last minute shopping before I set off on Thursday night. Sad to leave!!! I really like it here... and I will miss all the people I've met here too... Dread.... And I start work this Saturday too.... So off I go and face the reality again... SIGH!!!