South Korea: six days in Seoul!

I just came back from a short week in the capital of South Korea!

I've been wanting to visit this city for some years now, mainly because Korea has amazing and cheap skincare/make-up products and also because of the various music scenes and the notoriously spicy but delicious food.

After a lot of issues, in which I had to change my flight twice, I finally arrived in Seoul on Sunday, the 12th of July.

I actually slept at the airport for a night so that I wouldn't miss my early morning flight. I suppose that's something I can cross off my bucket list hahaha! It was quite fun though, I felt like a lonesome adventurer!

I met up with my friends and we headed straight over to a mall. Due to all the traveling I've been doing I've been pretty short on cash, and maybe good so because if I'd had more money I think I would've spent a fortune in these stores!

The thing is, Korean skin care and make up is really amazing AND the prices as low as heck! You can get 20 sheet masks for under 10000 won (around 8 euro)! Their lip stains (3-4 euro!!) and BB creams are far superior quality to the west and their skin care works fast and efficiantly.

I sound like a spokesperson haha!

I swear it's not as much as it looks

Another awesome thing is the amount of free samples you get when you buy something. I think I've got around thirty packets of samples of makeup and skincare now, all to try out for free!










I've been using Korean brands for a few years now. I usually buy on Ebay, but buying them here in stores, where I can test products out and they're even cheaper, is even better!

But enough about make up! There is more to Seoul than cosmetics!


The same first day, we visited the SM town building. SM Entertainment is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) Korean pop music company. They basically pump out pop groups like a factory. I personally quite dislike the company, as they are known for treating their artists like absolute crap. But then again, I really like some of these groups so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to at least go in and see what was inside.




It was basically a place where fans could come hang out and see pictures of their idols, watch their music videos on a big screen and buy tons of merchandise. It was pretty interesting to say the least. The most fun part for me was that there were all these life-size pictures of the idols you could take photographs with. I know I probably should feel shame for my behavior in there that day (taking countless selfies with static images of idols) but I honestly didn't care. When was I ever gonna be able to do this again? I had to enjoy it to the fullest right?

Here I am, just chillin' with the imaginary husband hahaha! I used to want to marry him so bad I'm not even kidding (I mean I did name my chicken after him: Chanyeol). Seriously, this idiot! I'm so happy I got Kazuki now instead hahaha!





Lastly, me and my friends went to the You Are Here café in Hongdae, really close to where our Hostel was. The cool thing about this café is that it is ran by a couple of Youtubers I've been watching since 2008. They're a married couple who make videos about life in Korea and I really like their content so me and my friends (who also watch their videos) felt like we should go check it out.

The place felt really homey, kind of how the whole Hongdae area feels. I had some really good tea there and my friends had smoothies. The cafe also has this little "speaker's corner" where customers can go in and record themselves for a minute, to talk about various topics relating to Korean culture. So we did that, and maybe we might actually appear in one of their Youtube videos, I don't know, we'll see. ^^




I wanted to go see Hongdae park as well, because there are usually street performers playing really good music, but since it was raining we figured we should leave it for another day. 

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On day two, we went to Lotte World, which is a little theme park in the middle of the capital. Most of it is indoors, with a little outside part. I'd seen this theme park on Korean television a lot because tons of variety shows are shot there. I have to say it wasn't all that great. I mean, I had a lot of fun, but as amusement parks go, this one is probably the lowest on my list. They did have a fairly big pirate ship like they do in the Efteling (though it wasn't as big as the Efteling one, that one is the biggest in the world). I also liked that there were a lot of cute children running around and I loved how jolly the staff was! That stuff always makes me happy!

Hongdae. I spent so much of my time here, I fell absolutely in love

It wasn't raining that day so we headed on over to the Hongdae park area where we watched some people make music. I really, really enjoyed this. I have a big love for all kinds of Korean music. I think my ipod at this moment is filled more than 50 percent with Korean indie. There is just such a great variety!! The songs I heard on the streets of Hongdae were mostly the more soft acoustic songs Korea has tons of but sometimes there's be a fun little surprise when they'd play a song by my favorite Korean rapper which made me really happy!

I think there's just something about the Korean language that makes for really good soft, smooth lullaby-like songs like and this and this and this and this and this and this. At the other end of the spectrum Korea has some great rap like this or this or this or this. Or rock like this or this or this. There's loud guitars and soft guitars and sandpaper voices and deep voices and soft voices. Oh and some great electronic stuff too like this and this and this. And it is all wonderful!

I'm just really passionate about this ok??

But seriously, people with a passion for music, I truly recommend checking out the Korean music scene. There's so much more than Gangam Style and shallow boybands, I swear!

Aaaaaanyways.. on with the show!

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The next day we went to visit Changdeonkgung Palace and the Sercet Garden. I've seen a lot of Japanese palaces and temples so it was really interesting to see what the Korean palace would look like. The site was a complex of colorful structues, meant for the royal family and other important people.








Changdeokgung palace is one of the five grand palaces of South Korea. We didn't spend too much time at the palace though and decided to take a guided tour of the Secret Garden around it. The garden, lying around the palace used to be for the royal family and palace women to roam and part of it - the secret garden - was only to be used by the king. The nature there was really quite stunning!

secret garden: lotus river

I had my first real Korean food that evening when I tried a real kimchi stew. I never used to be strong with spices, but I feel like I've really grown to like spicy food lately. The stew made my eyes water but it was one of the most delicious things I'd eaten in a long time! It was amazing!!! I've always been a fan of kimchi but I'd never tried the authentic Korean (and most spicy) version and I'll admit, it was really freaking spicy, but I loved every second of it!

the only downside were the shrimp

That night, we decided to go clubbing, since the Hongdae area is supposedly the most fun place to go out in Seoul. The location of our Hostel was so fortunate! The club was just about seven minutes walking distance so we didn't have to worry about catching a train or paying for a taxi. Plus, Hongdae really felt safe to walk around outside whatever time it was.

On the streets as well as inside the club, people were suprisingly nice and respectful (do you hear that Belgium?)! I'll admit I was a tiny bit nervous about going clubbing in this big city, where rumors say people like to get physical in the club, and all this whilst having a boyfriend, but my worrying ended up being completely unjustified! Everyone was perfectly wonderful! Being foreigners, we were approached a whole heck of a lot, sure, but no one was ever innapropriate at all and if I felt like they were, I could just tell them what was up and they would smile, understand and take a step back. I know this may seem like a silly thing to talk about, but where I come from, going out is nothing like this. Often it seems like there's no such thing as manners and that's kind of sad. So good job, Korean guys for being awesome! I appriciate it. 

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We went to bed after sunrise and woke up in the early afternoon to travel to Namsan tower!

Namsan Tower up there!

I've been wanting to visit Namsan tower for a while now and my reasons are quite dumb but I don't really care. I used to watch this Korean show called: We Are Married, where they take two young famous people from South Korea and let them pretend to be married for a long period of time. I used to watch this one particular 'couple' and it was the most entertaining thing in the world. One of the big things they did together was go to Namsan tower and hang a lock on the railing of the view spot.

Namsan tower is known as a very romantic place. Couples go there a lot! You can buy a lock there and write down your feelings for your loved one and then you hang the lock somewhere on the railings at the site, as a sort of promise of eternal love.


That's what the 'couple' from my show did and ever since seeing that, I've wanted to go see the place, just because I love the idea there are so many declarations of love gathered in this little place. It makes me really happy. I felt a really deep and strong happiness walking around there and reading what people wrote to each other. I couldn't resist putting a little lock of my own on the railings. Kazuki may not have been present with me, but one day we'll visit Namsan Tower together and he can hang one of his own, haha!



We didn't go up the actual tower because that would cost money. Plus, the view from the bottom of the tower was great too and that's where the pretty locks were.

I had a great bibimbap (mixed rice and veggie dish) and we spent the rest of the day back in Hongdae, where the street performers entertained us until we got sleepy.

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On my last ful day in Korea we didn't make any big trips. We went to the post office to get some postcards sent, did some last minute shopping (or my friends did. I'd run out of money by this point), and went to sing some norebang (Korean karaoke).

I definitely prefer Japanese karaoke to Korean norebang. The Korean version is often not as high-tech and has way less songs to choose from. Instead of picking your songs via a computer, you have to flip through a colossal book and try to find your way through all the Korean. I can read Korean language alright but that didn't stop me from getting lost in the endless list of Korean song titles! Of course the big positive thing for norebang are the huge selection of Korean songs! I finally got to sing some of the lesser known Korean songs the Japanese karaoke systems don't have, so I was very happy in the end!

We hung around the street performers a little more and had another yummy dinner before getting ready for one last night of clubbing in Seoul. This night was a blast, just like the first time had been! We were planning on getting home earlier this time but ended up seeing the sun come up was we were strolling through the streets on our way home. What surprised me was that there were still street performers doing their thing at a little to five in the morning. We were just passing by randomly, the sun just starting to show itself, when we found a couple of guys with guitar and acoustic drum, playing a soft song, a small gathering of people sitting by them on the stone steps, watching with sleepy smiles on their faces. That was another really great moment.

We slept for a few hours before having to pack and leave our wonderful hostel. My friends were so kind to accompany me to the airport to say goodbye to me (I would have gotten so lost on my own I'm a directions idiot).

I ended up having to wait quite a while at the airport due to a typhoon that was hitting Kansai. But I made it home in one piece, arriving back at the dorm at around eight in the evening, with a bunch of make up in my bag and a happy heart!


Thank you Kelly and Els for being such great friends! I'm lucky to have you!

That is all for now ^^

Goodbye~~!! ♥