We are finally back in Seoul again! Seoul is one of our favourite cities to visit. Lots of nice cozy cafes with delicious cakes and lots of shops with plushie accessories and fun trinkets. We had really started to miss Seoul. During the first week we stayed at a hostel in Hongdae. It is one of our favourite areas with many cafes along the Gyeongui Line Forest Park. On the first day there we went to Cafe De Rabbit. Surprisingly we have not been there before. Lots of bunny plushies and artwork at the cafe! We got a bluberry shortcake and iced americano. Mjau! Just thinking back to enjoying that refreshing slice of cake and drink on a sunny day makes us so happy!
The hostel was not the best. Loud brazilian women stayed in the same room! Not as peaceful as the hostels in Japan. At least the location was nice so we only went there to sleep. We had seen a cafe on instagram that we really wanted to try. It is call Antique Coffee. Despite it being in a good location it is never really too busy and they have lots of seating. We went there three times during our trip. It might be one of our favourites after Offer and Layered Cafe! We got the strawberry basque cheesecake twice as it was so delicious. The slices are also a good size so you can have it as dinner, mjau! They also have a signature coffee drink called dirty and cream. It was delicious with the cream on top. Cream seems to be the theme of the cafe as most of the cakes and pastries have a thick layer of cream on top. That is why we chose the strawberry cheesecake as it had more strawberry topping and only a little bit of cream. The second time we went there we got the chocolate and cherry cake. It was good but we prefer the cheesecake. Those were really the only two interesting cakes there so that is why it is not our number one favourite cafe.
Our butler had originally planned for us to go hiking again as we did when we visited Seoul in October. However as it was already much sunnier and hotter than we expected we made the executive decision to spend our month in Seoul visiting cafes and only taking walks by the parks. We remember how challenging the Bukhansan hiking trail was and we do not want a repeat of that! Walking along the Gyeongui Line Forest Park in search of cafes is enough exercise for us! Mjau!
Our butler was jealous of the Skzoo plushies we got from Malaysia and wanted their own. Mjau! They are so difficult to find and so expensive! Not as easy to find as the BT21 plushies! Our butler found a shop called Hallyustorm that sold official Skzoo plushies. They only had the bigger Leebit plushie on display so our butler had to ask help from the staff. They had a box of the correct size behind the counter. Mjau! When our butler saw the box of Skzoo they could not resist getting the Han Quokka too. They were quite expensive. Our butler claims they would have been more expensive to order online and that they can not even remember how much they cost so it is not that bad. We can even got them tax free! Mjau! We think they cost a little over 75k together. In the underground mall in Myeongdong they one Leebit cost 95k each! So we got them for quite the bargain in comparison. Mjau! Now it is even more crowded in the already limited space in our butlers purse.
At the AK Plaza they happened to have a Disney pop up store. They had Korean themed merchandise but nothing really stood out to us so we only took some pictures. It would be nice if they sold Nuimos Hanbok that we could wear.
More on the topic of cakes! We of course had to visit Offer Bakery & Cafe and get the delicious salted caramel iced latte and the delicious quiche. We also tried another new cafe. We mostly went there as our usual visits were too crowded and this one had available seating. Mjau, now we see why. The pastries were quite disappointing. The fig scone was nice although a bit too dry for our taste. The black sesame croissant cube had too much filling and could have been more flavourful. A shame as we like black sesame flavour.
Fortunately Cafe Layered came to our rescue! It was our last day at the Hongdae hostel so we just left our suitcase there and hung out at the cafe until it was time to make our way over to our new accommodation. At Cafe Layered we had the most delicious blueberry cheesecake. We have wanted to try it for awhile but it is usually sold out. We can see why! When we went there a couple days prior we got the matcha cheesecake and cinnamon pecan scone.
Our new accommodation was a private room with a refrigerator and a shared kitchen and bathroom. Mjau, the room was quite small but an upgrade from a regular hostel. Much more privacy and no need to fear the snack thieves!
The building was by the Cheonggyecheon stream and Jonggak station so the location was perfect. We can imagine staying here during our future visits to Seoul. Unless our butler starts staying at nice hotels.
It is really nice to walk along the Cheonggyecheon stream. No need to wait for traffic lights to turn green! The trees also provide a nice shade during the sunny days. If it gets really hot you can sit by the stream and dip your feet in the water to cool down. Just be careful as there are fish that might bite! Especially if your toes are long as they might mistake them for thick juicy worms! There was also many paper lanterns as the lotus lantern festival was ongoing during that time so it was even more pretty during the evenings and sunset. One evening on our way back to the apartment from our hunt for the duck salad from GS25, we came across the parade. Many people walked with paper lanterns and were chanting things we did not understand. A lot of them were from different schools or associations. We did not take any pictures of them but below you can see a similar lantern statue that was in the parade.
Our apartment was in a very convenient location as three different Hanok Villages were in the vicinity. The Ikseon-dong Hanok Village is filled with cafes and restaurants and small shops. Several shops even sold clothing and accessories for plushies. Our butler wants to buy outfits for Leebit and Han Quokka as we siamese kittens only like to wear costumes (Disney costumes!). No human clothing for us! Ikseon-dong Hanok Village can feel really crowded as there are lots of people and the streets are really narrow. On our first visit we were scouting cozy and cute cafes for us to try. We came across a promising looking cafe, Highwaist Cafe. When entering the cafe we saw that it looked similar to Layered Cafe. Even the same cakes and scones! It turns out they have several locations! We were very happy and to our surprise the Highwaist Cafe was never as busy and crowded as Layered Cafe in Hongdae so we visited several times. We could not resist the blueberry cheesecake and also tried their butter scone. Mjau! It is one of the best scones we have had. No butter, jam or spread needed for this scone. The coffee here is also really good as you can choose from two types of beans. We always pick the bitter berry one as we think it is the tastiest for iced americanos!
Another cafe we wanted to try in Ikseon-dong Hanok Village was Nakwon, a train themed cafe we saw on Instagram. The display cake train was nice and the train track outside was a nice detail. However we found that the cake and coffee were not particularly special. We had the iced maple cream coffee and earl grey chocolate cake. Do not misunderstand us, they were tasty, but not on the same level as the other cakes we have had in Seoul!
While we are on the subject of disappointing cakes, we also visited Woo'z Bakery. We had a salted caramel macchiato cake that was quite bland. We later saw the same cake at other cafes so we suspect it is a mass produced factory cake being distributed to cafes that do not make their own cakes. The basil salt bread we had at the bakery was tasty. So we would advice people to only get their baked goods. They also had a squid ink salt bread that looked interesting but we forgot to try.
Bukchon Hanok Village is also really popular but as the streets are wider and more spread out it does not feel as crowded. We did not really find any cafes there that were to our liking but it is a nice area to walk around. There is a nice shop that we visited several times that sold Disney items. Mjau, our butler saw another Leebit on display there. The Leebit from the Skzoo and Zootopia 2 collaboration. Mjau, that is one of the reasons we kept visiting the store as the Leebit was quite expensive (over 30k!!!) and our butler was being indecisive. The second reason we visited was the cute cat (perhaps the owner of the store?!) that was willing to be petted by our butler. In the end our butler caved and got the Zootopia 2 Leebit. (Three Leebits amongst us now!) They were also tempted to get the Han Quokka one but we put our paw down! We instead demanded our butler buy us Nightmare Before Christmas Bitty Pops! As we did not find any nice cafes here, we headed over to Highwaist Cafe to open our presents. Si got Sandy Claws and Au got Jack Skellington. Mjau, Au was a bit disappointed as she would have preferred Jack as Santa Bitty Pop instead. Of course, at the cafe, we got the blueberry cheesecake and iced americano!
On the other side of the Gyeongbokgung Palace is Seochon Hanok Village. It is also less crowded but also less interesting shops to visit. We did find a Scoff Bakehouse there. We had previously gotten the ginger cake from their Lotte Department Store shop. Very delicious baked goods! We got a slice of the chocolate cake and their scone. Delicious. Although we prefer the scone at Highwaist/Layered Cafe. This one is a bit more dry but has a deliciously crispy top.
We also visited the Unhyeongung Palace as it had free admission. Mjau there was currently an art exhibit with nice paintings of tigers. We wish they had sold some postcards we could take home. Mjau! Where is home?! We are homeless mjau!!!!
We decided to take a short daytrip to Ilsan Lake Park to get a change of scenery. When we exited the station there were some street performers. Perhaps an aspiring girl group. We were more interested in the whimsical miniature houses by the entrance.
Mjau, unfortunately there was a flower festival with a ticketed entry on one side of the lake so we had to walk a bit before getting to walk by the lake. There are many benches and swings by the lake where you can relax and enjoy the sun. The observation deck, Wolpajeong, was also nice. When we got on the side of the lake across from the festival, we were able to see a bit of the festival grounds. Mjau, we do not think it would have been worth the price to visit. We would much rather visit the flower and garden festival at Epcot. Mjau! We want to return to Disney! We can not believe our butler deprived us from a Tokyo Disneyland visit while we were in Japan the month prior!
We also visited the Starfield Library that has become instafamous. Mjau, what a disappointment! We were expecting a spectacular library on par with the one Beast had in his castle. Belle would not have been impressed by the Starfield Library! At least there was a Toy Story display outside the shopping centre and small Disney pop up store by the food court so our detour to Starfield Library was not a total waste.
Before the library we had been to Cafe 1953 with Audrey in Mullae-dong. The cafe is very elegant with a colour scheme reminiscent of Tiffany's and crystal chandeliers hanging from high ceilings. There is also a collection of Audrey Hepburn Barbie dolls in different outfits and some memorabilia from movies Audrey Hepburn has starred in and personal items. The owner must be a big fan of Audrey! We got an iced tiramisu latte and the signature Audrey chocolate cake. We were expecting it to be more similar to a Swedish kladdkaka but it was not as gooey. However it was still delicious. The tiramisu latte was also nice but not as fancy and flavourful as the one we had in Da Nang a couple of months prior. Mullae-dong had several interesting small shops and art on the walls.
While walking along the Cheonggyecheon stream we decided to walk to Naksan Park and Ihwa-dong Mural Village. Mjau as we were walking in Naksan Park we saw posters for K-Pop Demon Hunters. It turns out some scenes in the movie takes place there. We have seen the movie. We liked the beginning and the blue Minhwa Tiger was our favourite character! Although we like k-pop we were not all that into the songs in the movie. It started raining so we decided to go to one of the cafes and wait out the rain. We got a chocolate cake with a raspberry mousse topping. We also got a hazelnut cream latte. Mjau, the view from the cafe was really nice. We could see the Namsan Seoul Tower from the cafe. It was extra cozy with the rain falling down. After died down we walked along the narrow streets and admired the artwork. Mjau, there was a cafe that was closed that was cat themed and had cat artwork in the yard and on the building. Mjau, of course our hideous butler deleted them on "accident". Humpf!
We usually walked the Cheonggyecheon stream every day so that our butler could get some exercise. Close to the stream you can find several nice cafes. Although not as nice as in the Hongdae area. We visited Burnt Seoul and tried their tomato basil bread. Mjau, why was it so spicy?! There is a lot of seating and if you can get a table by the big windows it is nice. The sound echos so if there are groups of people it gets really loud.
While we were at the Lotte Department Store we made quite the discovery. We found Fazer chocolate on sale! It was so much cheaper than in Finland. We were so excited we lost self control and bought a lot of chocolate. We got all this for less than 15 euros! In one of the boxes we found a chocolate that was without a wrapper and looked quite beaten up so we took a picture and sent it to Fazer Customer Service. We were gifted a 15 euro gift card so we basically got all this chocolate for free! How lucky!
We visited Seoul Forest Park were they had a Pokemon event. However you needed a ticket or qr code so we just viewed the Pokemon area from a bridge. We wanted to visit the Lowide Bakery we had been to during our previous visit to Seoul. Unfortunately it was permanently closed. We saw online that they had a second location in Gangnam so we went there as well. The cafe was not as nice but we still got a speculos cheesecake so that we did not travel all the way to Gangnam for nothing. It was starting to get so hot that it was unpleasant to walk outside or by the Han River. We will have to walk there in the evening instead.
Speaking of events, there was also a Lego event one weekend by the Gwanghwamun Square. Mjau, so many people! We looked at some of the displays and got out of there. Much more pleasant to visit a Lego store with air conditioning on.
As we were nearing the end of our trip in Seoul we did not do much else except walk around and enjoy the weather. One day as we were sitting by the stream there was a street performer. He was doing pantomime. At some point he must have snuck up on our butler as we found lollipops in our shopping bag later. Mjau! Maybe that is why people were laughing! We naturally assumed it was because our butler is so hideously ugly they resemble Quasimodo!
On our last day we left our luggage in our room and took the subway to Hongdae for one last visit to Antique Coffee. Mjau, of course we could not resist the strawberry basque cheesecake! Afterwards we got our bags and headed to the airport where we were met with a terrible surprise.
Mjau, we could not find our flight! We asked the staff and they informed us the flight had been cancelled due to operational issues over a month ago and we had been moved to an earlier flight. A flight that departed yesterday! Mjau! No one informed us of the change and we are not time travelers. The next flight would depart in two days! We had important business to attend to that we could not be late for! We had booked through booking.com and they were of no help whatsoever. Last time we will book flights with them! As later you will find they managed to mess up our flights once more. We managed to find a flight that would depart within two hours with an overnight layover at Haikou Airport with Hainan Airlines. We were not too keen on a layover in China as our previous visit to Shanghai was a bit unpleasant but we did not have many other options. Mjau, we had no need to worry. Hainan Airlines and the airport were wonderful. We even got tiramisu on the plane! At the airport they gave us a 100 yuan meal voucher, unrelated to our missed flight. They give meal vouchers and hotel vouchers for international transit passengers as a courtesy. How nice! As one would have to pay a small fee for the hotel voucher as a single traveler (as all rooms were double rooms) our stingy opted to sleep on a bench at the airport and get a meal instead. The staff at the restaurant were not able to communicate in English but they were eager to help and use an app to translate. We only wanted a small snack but they insisted we get the entire voucher's worth. We got a bbq and rice dish, fresh pressed orange juice and three steamed pork buns. Mjau, needless to say we were stuffed! Our transit in Haikou was so nice we are eager to visit China once again. Perhaps we should just stay clear of Shanghai. Although that could pose some issues for our mental health as we can not imagine going to China and not visit Shanghai Disneyland! The Zootopia ride is one of the best!
After many trials and tribulations we had finally reached our destination where new adventures await us! Singapore and Disney Adventure Cruise!
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