Day 118: 23 December, Monday

Temperature: -7/1 degrees
Weather: Windy

Woke up super early to meet Yvonne and Cheryl to head to Petite France, our first destination of the day!

Petite France is actually not located in Seoul, so we actually took the subway and transferred a few times before finally arriving at Cheongpyeong Station on the ITX. The journey took us about an hour plus, slightly further than travelling to Incheon.

Transfer!

Snow-covered tracks!

We arrived and then waited for the bus to transport us to Petite France. The bus trip costs us KRW$5,000 which provided two-way transport between the subway station and Petite France itself. The bus trip was super bad because it felt like we're going up Genting or something because the roads were uphill and winding. Had a little motion sickness when I alighted but felt better after the fresh and cold air.

Petite France is a popular filming location for dramas and variety shows such as Beethoven Virus, Running Man and Secret Garden. I was only aware of the Running Man parts so as a RM fan, I have got to admit I was pretty excited to be there to see the places I've seen in that episode of RM.

But the place was much smaller than we expected. And the food there is super over-priced. And plus its a little bit secluded, you should only come if you're a die-hard fan of those dramas and variety shows or else I don't think its worth the time and money. Entrance fee is KRW$8,000 for adults by the way.

So we roamed around and took pictures of the place and a few of the places I saw I could clearly remember what happened there during the episode of RM! So let the photos do the talking! (Check out my Instagram video & video too!)

The jail!

Where Nickhun & Taecyeon ran down!

Secret Garden, Beethoven Virus & Running Man filming locations!

Little Prince!

Where Gwangsoo was trapped in the toilet!

We hanged around there (with a tour group of PRCs) for about an hour or so before we waited for the bus to bring us back to the subway station. It was about 2pm then. We purchased the bus ticket when we boarded the bus to Petite France, so we have to show them the ticket again to be able to board the bus back. However, Meihwa couldn't find her ticket so it was kinda a problem when we boarded the bus.

So I talked to the aunt checking tickets.

Me: "이모, 이친구가 티겟 찾아 못해요."
Aunt: "아 잊어버렸어?"
Me: "네. 이모 아까 우리 여덣 명 같이 버스 타곳 기억해요?"
Aunt: "아 그래 그래 어서와."

So the aunt let Meihwa board the bus without her ticket because she remembered we bought the tickets together, the eight of us. And while walking in to my seat at the back, I heard a Korean guy tell his girlfriend, "와 한글말 진짠 잘해" in the very amazed voice (not kidding). I overheard it and I'm guessing he's referring to me because while waiting for the bus he definitely knew we were not Koreans because we were speaking in English and Chinese and I guess he was shocked when I could speak Korean. I'm not self-praising or whatever, but I just feel happy when I'm appreciated for my hard work. So glad that all these years of learning Korean indeed paid off. The feeling of being able to strike and continue a conversation in a  foreign land is definitely a great sense of accomplishment.

View on the way down~

When we reached the subway station, we saw this three Taiwanese tourists who seemed like they needed help in purchasing the tickets to the subway. Cheryl saw them almost approaching us but we all tapped in with our student passes (don't forget we're not tourists hehe) and then they stopped. So Adrial and I exited the station to help them again and turned out they're heading to the same stop as us so they followed us. But we kinda missed the train because of helping them. The train timings for 2pm-3pm is at 2.14pm and 2.45pm. When we reached the platform after helping them it was already 2.16pm... So we waited for the next train. But they didn't seem very grateful to us too. So kinda regretted helping them. Yeah.

While waiting for the train~

View form the subway station!

Elmo eating cookies?!

But anyway, we transferred lines and headed back to Hongdae. It was actually late afternoon already (almost 4.30pm) and our only meal for the day was a slice of bread by Yvonne and Cheryl in the morning. Yeah so we were all super hungry. We went back to Hongdae and decided to have Pizza Hut for lunch (or dinner?) so Taiquan and Sean went to find seats first, Cheryl and I went to buy Gongcha (my fourth time in a row) and Adrial brought everyone else to go buy Isaacs!! It was cheaper than Daejeon and slightly different. But still happy because you can dine in there for breakfast and there's wifi there!!

So at Pizza Hut, Taiquan and Sean ordered baked rice each while Adrial and Cheryl shared a pizza. Yixin, Yvonne and I ate Isaacs while Meihwa didn't eat. Because the rest were eating, Yvonne, Yixin and I decided to check out the graffiti playground featured in Running Man Episode 69 (Hip Hop Episode)!

Pizzaaaaa

Graffiti Playground @ Hongdae featured in Running Man Episode 69 - Hip Hop Special!

It was actually very near and indeed Hongdae is a very nice place to be in. There's so many shopping streets, so many cosmetics shop (Face Shop, Missha, Etude House etc) and food outlets (like Gongcha, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell etc). Once we took photos of the playground we went to Artbox to shop a while before heading back to Pizza Hut to meet them!

Next in plan was Trick Eye Museum! We paid KRW$12,000 (at a discount price of KRW$3,000 because of the discount coupon I used) and the price includes entrance to the Ice Museum and Trick Eye Museum. W headed to the Ice Museum first and took photos and played the ice slide (video)!!!

Ice Car!

Ice Angel Wings!

Ice Toilet!

Ice Piano!

Ice Living Room!

Ice Bed!

Ice Bar!

Ice Kennel!

The ice museum was pretty small so it took us only about 10 minutes to finish it. We headed to Trick Eye subsequently and took photos as well! It was quite fun and we ended off the trip by exiting through the mirror maze!

After which we walked around and did some random shopping (which actually was shopping for our secret santa presents) and then to H&M and all. The guys went back first while we continued shopping! At 9pm Yvonne and I decided to head to Haha's BBQ restaurant first because it didn't seem near so we decided to explore first! Accordng to the map it said to walk out of exit 5 of Hongdae Station but we couldn't find it after walking for 15 minutes so we gave up and walked back to the subway stationa and tried another route.

The alternative is to take a subway to Hapjeong Station (which is just one stop away from Hongdae) and walk straight from the exit. The problem is the map didn't provide us the exit numbers! So Yvonne and I tried our luck and went to Exit 6 (what seemed to be nearest from the map) and asked for directions. We met up with Cheryl and Yixin soon after at the same subway station and headed to the direction we thought was correct after asking passers-by.

The map says to walk straight from the exit and after passing by KB Bank and GS 25 the restaurant’s just straight ahead! But the problem came when after passing KB Bank, at the next intersection, GS 25 was on the right instead of straight ahead! We made a bet and turned right instead. We asked this group of girls of about our age where's the restaurant and they suddenly got so excited. I'm guessing they either have been there or are also kpop fans (at least fan of Haha or Running Man) because they gave us the correct direction to the restaurant!

Finally! A well-deserved supper at 10pm after so much walking!!

We ordered one portion of 막창 (bbq pig intestines) and two portions of 삼겹살 (just pork) and one seafood soup that I didn't eat. Oh, and three lunch boxes too!! The lunchbox was so good that I ate 2 by myself!!

We finished dinner soon and headed back because it was so cold and it was late! Yvonne and Cheryl took the subway back while Yixin and I cabbed back! But the taxi uncle didn't know how to go our guesthouse and he just dropped us at some random nearby place. Because it was freezing and Yixin wanna use the washroom urgently, we did a very stupid thing: taking another cab. Hahaha it was only a less than 2 mins taxi ride because we were so near but nonetheless we reached home safely.

A tired and long day and finally we get a free day tomorrow so its a day for me to sleep in!! Sorry for delaying the blog posts because I've been really tired due to unpacking and travelling. Oh and I forgot to mention that on Thrursday the 19th, Emily LINE called me and I talked to Halimah and Vijey!! Missing my colleagues and managers and clerks at work so much so wait for me! Hehe I'll be back soon.

On the side note I saw a cute guy at Trick Eye Museum so I'm happy. Probably the first guy that can really be considered cute during my four months stay in Korea. And I think its just me who find Korean guys cute. Because all my friends don't and they often question my taste. Except my bff Joanna. Hehe :P

Another long day and finally we have free time tomorrow so I can sleep in! Gonna replenish my sleep and on the side note its Christmas Eve tomorrow! How fast time passes!! #6moredays and some of us are leaving already!! T_T I don't want to leave Korea...