8th Anniv Celebratory Trip

This year we chose Seoul as the celebration venue for our 8th Anniversary.  Good that our Wedding took place towards the end of the year so the festive mood added on to our celebration :)

It's the first time that we took an afternoon flight.

Comparing to our first visit 5.5 years ago, we toured Seoul a different way.  Over these years, it's sure turned into a charming city & a paradise of cafés :)

During this trip, we visited quite a few cafés, ate a lot of the popular Korean fried chicken and bought many skincare products.  We like that Seoul is a spacious city with very clean public toilets.  It's a pleasure to walk on the streets including those shopping areas.  It's very different from HK streets (which, of couurse, we love too!).

When we reached Seoul, it's late night by the time we cleared immigration.  Upon arrival at hotel, we'd problem with the taxi driver who charged us KRW200,000 (approx S$240) for the airport-hotel taxi fare!!  Thank God that my Honey stood very firm & negotiated with him & that the driver finally agreed to half of the fare - KRW100,000 instead.  We could only blame ourselves for letting our guard down by going with the 1st man who approached us at the arrival hall instead of looking for the taxi stand (we've never made this kind of mistake in all our past travels!).  Actually hubby already sensed that it''s not too right when we saw that  the taxi was an MPV but the driver stressed that it's charged by meter.

After the scare, we finally checked in but were not what we expected to see.  Not only the room was tiny, it's also twin bedded.  And we waited a while for the front desk to change room for us.  It's so different from the one we stayed in 2008.  Both were Fraser Place properties & this is less than 1 year old.

We're pretty affected by what happened right from we landed at Seoul - the congestion & overwhelmingly long waiting time at the immigration which consequently contributed to our carelessness, the sky-high cab fare, the wrong room given, the room size..... seemed liked we didn't have a good start.  But praise God that those were just initial hiccups so we would cherish what a nice holiday He has blessed us with.  Afterall, we're safe and healthy through the trip & the taxi driver actually willing to reduce the fare by half!   Well, it's a matter of how we look at things ;)

And what really cheered me was the surprise that hubby prepared for me :)

Pretty bouquet from hubby which was placed in the room prior our check-in

We reached Dongdaemun just after midnight.  First cafe, BeansBins, we visited as I was hungry.

Late night shopping @ Dongdaemun.  And it's 5°C!

We're still shopping & eating @ Korea time 3am.  First time for us!

DAY 2

Rise & shine!

We woke up a lil late the following morning & just missed the breakfast.

Spent some time talking to the front desk & visited a couple of rooms (of another category) as what we wanted to change to was fully booked that day.  By the time we headed out, it's almost noon.

Enjoyed our walk to Myeongdong

First lunch - Samgyetang (参鸡汤) & Tongdak (Korean oven-roasted chicken).  Yummy!

Myeongdong

Cafe 2 - Cat Cafe in Myeongdong

Cat Cafe in Myeongdong

Cat Cafe in Myeongdong.

Seoul Station/Lotte mart in the afternoon.  

Went there for some skincare products/cosmetics that I'm currently using.

At Hongdae - for our Anniversary dinner.

Alfresco Korean BBQ dinner with soju :)

Round 1: Korean BBQ dinner with soju

Round 2:  Korean fried chicken & beer at the restaurant next door :)

Cafe 3 - Angel in-us Coffee in Hongdae

DAY 3

Morning walk in Myeongdong 

Lunch in Myeongdong which made us appreciate those in Singapore more.

Finally got to change room after lunch :D

Exploring Itaewon.

Cafe 4 - Coffeesmith in Itaewon.

Relaxing at their balcony, enjoying the cold air ...

Coffeesmith in Itaewon

Itaewon at night.  An interesting place.

Another Korean BBQ dinner.  

Nicer than the previous night yet the price was about the same with much better service.

 

Post-dinner drinks at Itaewon.  Cold!

Korean Fried Chicken supper @ HOF (Korean style pub).

There're HOFs everywhere in Seoul!

Cafe 5 - Hollys Coffee next to our apartment to end the night.

Our first taste of the super yummy Sweet Potato Latte :)

DAY 4

Trendy Garosugil (meaning tree-lined street).

Cafes everywhere!

Cafe 6 - Cafe Publique on Garosugil street

Pitstop & people watching... it's a great one.

Garosugil - tree-lined street

Cafe 7 - MoMo Cot at Garosugil.  Nice place to chill.

MoMo Cot at Garosugil.

Next stop - Gangnam

Indulging in street food from Pojangmacha (roadside tent)

Chicken again @ another HOF!

DAY 5

Back to Hongdae. 

Cafe 8 - aA Design Museum Cafe in Hongdae.

Museum, designer furniture showroom & cafe all in 1 premise.

Cafe aA in Hongdae.

Cafe aA in Hongdae.

A very impressive cafe with high ceiling that exudes nostalgia yet blends with a lil modernity. 

The stairway to restroom

Cafe 9 - Toms Cat Cafe in Hongdae

Toms Cat Cafe in Hongdae.

So many cats! 

Toms Cat Cafe in Hongdae

Toms Cat Cafe in Hongdae.

This kitty was particularly adorable!  Look at how affectionately hubby talked to him :D

Toms Cat Cafe in Hongdae

Hongdae 

Street food again, in Myeongdong & last round of shopping. 

Had our fav food & beverages again on the last night. 

Thank God it's such an awesome holiday we had.

Initially we only had one main objective for this trip, that's to enjoy the cool weather but at the end of the trip, we realised we've brought back lotS of fond memories from the cafe hopping, walking in the Seoul streets & the nightly HOF session etc.  Thank God that we're not once lost in Seoul... the Seoul metro app and Google Map which hubby downloaded were excellent.

Blessed 8th Anniversary Honey! :*