Spring in South Korea 2017 - Part 3 Seoul

On our second day in Korea, the forecast said it would be even colder than the previous day. Miss Kiki still had a fever early in the morning so we gave her Advil. We bundled up and headed out. I told Miss Kiki the night before that I had found the main entrance to Tapgol Park when I was roaming around by myself, so we could go there if she wanted. And of course she did.

Inside Tapgol Park there was a very old looking pagoda encased in glass curtain walls. When we were there we saw an old lady doing a ritual, walking around the pagoda and bowing to it every time she passed the front.

After the park we went to Queen's Brown nearby for Panini Breakfast and coffee. Decent panini, bad coffee.

After breakfast, we went to Artbox store, a famous Korean stationery etc. store. They actually sell a lot more than stationeries, and you can find them all over Seoul. We also saw them in Busan later on.

Hugging tree again

 It was cold and the wind was blowing. We struggled to get to the nearest subway station.  Just like in Japan, Korean people are big on waste management too. They meticulously separate recyclable items at home and outside. Korea had way more public trash bins and recycling bins compared to Japan, though.... I really like that. I also saw that the bins get collected quite often.

When we arrived at the station, I decided to head to Ewha Women's University. I had read on travel blogs that the campus had nice buildings and the streets by the university had good shops. We rode the subway to Ewha Women's University Station and took exit number 2. As soon as we emerged through the exit we found a strip of stores and food vendors.

Fried chicken and tater tots

The campus was large and beautiful. We walked around the front area and took some pictures. Miss Kiki was super happy she was running around and arranging poses for Oma. She climbed up the stairs and laughed at us slow old ladies.

Then.... after we go out of campus she started to regret spending all that energy.... she started feeling unwell again. Oma felt sorry for her she gave her a short piggy back ride.

Just a few minutes after she started getting feverish again, so we offered her to have lunch right away so she can take some medicine and get better to go to Lotte World that afternoon. She agreed and asked for KFC. Sigh..... Well, we saw Popeye's Chicken on the way so we suggested that instead. Not that it's better than KFC but we don't have it in Jakarta and we usually like their biscuits. She agreed and off we went to Popeye's Chicken. The biscuits were disappointing. Not nearly as good as the ones in Texas. Well.... we should've expected that, I guess :D

After taking another Advil she felt better and we headed off to Lotte World. It was cheaper to enter after 4 pm, and we also got discounts with our T card. Lotte World is a very large amusement park, not too far off from Disneyland. It has indoor and outdoor areas. The outdoor rides are mostly for adults. There's a large indoor skating rink in the complex. I didn't enjoy it too much but Miss Kiki was very happy. We went on some rides and stayed mostly in the kids area where she can ride by herself.

Manjoo buns in their mascot shape, Lottie

Bunny Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy Stand

When we first entered Lotte World, Miss Kiki was drawn to an attraction called Fantasy Forest. They had a display of beetles right outside the entrance and being the bug lover she was, she asked to check it out. It turned out that we had to pay extra to get in so we skipped it and moved on.

At the end of our time in Lotte World, she was still thinking about this Fantasy Forest so she asked if we could check how much the entrance fee cost. We should've done this earlier because it turned out that the fee was only 2000 won. I was too tired so I asked if she would be okay to go in alone. I was quite surprised when she agreed, so I sent her in with my phone and told her I'd meet her at the exit. I called her several times when she was inside and she was super excited to see the bugs.

Lotte World Tower. Very tall!

After Lotte World, we went to the Lotte World Mall through the tunnels and had dinner there. It was an Italian restaurant on the ground floor. It was alright, nothing too exciting. When we finished dinner, the mall was already closing so we took the subway back to our apartment. By this time, Miss Kiki was already getting cranky again.

We were not satisfied with our Italian dinner so we decided to go out again to a Korean BBQ Restaurant that I came across the night before and noticed, dragging Miss Kiki along with us. She complained that she was tired (very understandable) but said that she would go out anyway because she loved me. <3

I still don't know what the restaurant was called but on the inside wall by the cashier, it had a framed picture that said "Part of the Born Family". I assumed it's somehow related to Born Ga, because it has a picture of that guy in the pictures all over Born Ga in Jakarta.

The food here was AMAZING. The restaurant was not fancy, the side dish selection was not big, but they taste awesome! In the picture is thin sliced pork with bulgogi sauce and another slice of pork, I think the shoulder. They both cost 9000 yen each. Not bad!

These are some of the things I bought that day...

Stay tuned for part 4!