We last left off having adorbs refreshments at Judy Mary before continuing our stroll around Hongdae before heading to lunch at Plant.
I had no idea why I took this picture but then remembered that Chooch made me take this because he wanted to send to his friends because of Halal Guys…? I didn’t ask because I didn’t care. But I’m keeping it because of the pool hall above it. Henry noticed on our very first night that there were pool halls everywhere and asked if they were around when we were here last time and I have to believe there were pool halls here but once he pointed out the first one, it was like every time I turned around: pool hall. I think we saw more of those than noraebang and again – is it just because it was on our mind this time?! I mean, most of them had signage that didn’t like new so I guess we just didn’t notice them before.
WHATEVER, YOU HAD TO BE THERE, I GUESS.
I was excited to go to Kakao Friends because I love Kakao Friends but also because they were currently having a collab event with Wiggle Wiggle and I LOVE ME SOME WIGGLE WIGGLE! I’ve had phone cases from them in the past, but it’s hard to get their products outside of Korea because their webstore is not very foreigner friendly.
I ended up getting a cute Wiggle Wiggle travel pouch, a Kakao portable charger (it’s awesome), a Peachy Boi (Apeach) for Wendi’s baby, and Chooch got a new plush for himself, as is tradition. (The same plush that caused a ruckus on the security conveyor belt in the Detroit airport haha.)
God, I love Kakao Friends so much.
And then we walked a short way to Plant! It was nice being in this part of the Hongdae (well, Plant is actually in Yeonnam I think) because it’s where we stayed in 2019. The purple adult store is still there! The multi-level Daiso still looms across the street! I genuinely loved our most recent hotel and the area but there is really something special about Hongdae.
Plant is definitely geared towards the ex-pats and tourists, as veganism is still not very prevalent in Korea (it’s grown though since our first time there!) and as much as I love Korean food, it’s still fun to mix it up with other things. I was looking forward to putting some healthier fuds into my gut, you know? So much street food. So many desserts. Subway snacks. Convenience store breakfasts.
Chooch and I got beautiful drinks! I don’t know what he got – looks like dragonfruit is among the fruity floaters? Mine was a cherry blossom matcha latte. Good goddamn. I tried to have matcha the fuck out of myself while there. Hits way different that matcha in America. For instance, and this is a terrible comparison because hello, but Henry got me a matcha latte from Dunkin’ today and you know, it was FINE considering, like of course you’re not going to have high expectations coming from Dunkin’ but it still made me so sad to think that just a few weeks ago, I was enjoying high quality Korean matcha, ugh.
It’s fine.
I’m fine.
Moving on.
Henry treated himself to Korean beer and I enjoyed the sips that I kept sneaking, lol.
I got this fucking delicious, fresh peanut tempeh wrap and beasted it even though I had reached my limit after eating half. It was too good to stop though!
Henry got a Philly cheesesteak, and Chooch got a veggie burger which was gigantic and I remember LOVING the last time we ate there but I didn’t think my stomach would love me if I tried to smash that down thee ol’ gullet.
Some foreigner family came in and they were like HIGH FALUTIN’ ya’ll, like possibly there on a medical vacation IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, Mommy looked like she was in the market to add more Gangnam procedures to the punch card, and Honey Baby Girl Young Adult Daughter looked like a dollar store Kylie Jenner IG model. But DAD was the WORST. Looked like the type of guy who is thinks he’s the most popular at Rotary Club but everyone actually fucking hates him and speculates on who cat-face wife is cheating on him with this week. You know that type?
There was a big TO DO over where they were going to sit and I think they expected maybe that the tables should be brought to them, velvet-cushioned chairs gently tucked beneath their butts? And then the dad kept getting up and walking around like he was sizing the joint up for purchase, “YOU WILL PAY RENT TO ME NOW, PLANT.” I don’t know, they just kind of sucked the air out of the place but at the same time, they were interesting to observe. I’m not sure if they were American. If not American, French. That’s my guess.
OMG though, what a satisfying lunch.
Afterward, I thought my stomach was going to blow up and wanted to go back to the hotel so bad to “just lay down, just let me lay down for 10 MINUTES while my food fetus gestates.” But idiot Chooch was like, “I WANT TO GO TO THAT ONE PIECE CAFE THAT WE SAW IN 2018” and then kept saying it was in some small mall-type building near the multi-level Daiso that we had gone to before Plant because Henry had boring things to buy while I stocked up on cute bandaids and birthday cards that I might need for the future and fun tags for our tennis bags. I reluctantly followed him inside but it ended up not being a cafe, it was just some dumb store BUT!!! while we were in there, there was a really fun store that had all kinds of cool street clothes and PHONE CASES by some brand called Flict that I’m now obsessed with! I bought this cheeseburger case and the other one earlier that morning at some accessory store in Hongdae:
Back at the hotel finally! Henry was off at that place getting our marriage license certified or whatever WHICH YOU WOULD KNOW IF YOU READ MY MARRIAGE POST FROM THE OTHER DAY THAT IS OVER 4,000 WORDS AND TOOK ME 23 YEARS TO WRITE!!
I just really liked the composition of this photograph, OK. Maybe I will enter it into a contest one day and then I might win a $25 Amazon gift card and won’t you be sorry for making fun of me.
Waiting in the lobby for Henry, ready to go to KWANGYA which I cannot stress enough was so difficult to find which is insane considering it’s SM Entertainment’s official store that can be accessed at the top of a subway station literally named SM Town. But OK, we walked around, went outside, walked around the building, walked THROUGH THE SM BUILDING LOBBY (holy shit the video screens in there are hilariously gargantuan and the people working at the reception desk have to sit there all day and watch literal larger than life music videos from SM artists…..
…..where can I apply???
Anyway, we split up from Henry and found it before him!! I tried to text him to tell him that we found it because Henry had the portable wifi thingie so Chooch and I were SHUT OFF FROM THE WORLD.
Anyway, if you watch the video at the end of this post, you can see clips from Kwangya but I was really happy because the new NCT Dream video for “Smoothie” was playing on the large screen and it was so epic to experience it with other Czennies!!! IN KOREA.
Meanwhile, Henry was outside looking for a secret entrance, a trap door, anything that would lead him to Kwangya and in his travels, he saw the protest trucks that Czennies sent to SM to protest SM’s mismanagement of Haechan AND HE DIDN’T EVEN TAKE ANY PICTURES.
Why do I even bring Henry anywhere.
Anyway! I bought the new NCT Dream album (obvi) and the cashier had me choose from a tray of these poker chip-like photocards as a freebie and I pulled RENJUN!! He’s my Dreamie bias in case you didn’t know.
“No, and I don’t care,” Chooch said when I tried to happily show him.
Then we went back outside and crossed the street to Seoul Forest! Somehow, it was our first time going here! Henry carried his Kwangya bag like a boss. “Let them guess if I’m a Shawol or Reveluv,” he said.
(No, he didn’t say that. Why would he ever say that.)
It was really fun dialing it back a notch, slowing our pace, and being in nature. There were so many dogs, too!
A random witch house.
I was hoping that we would see squirrels while here, but…not a one.
I bet this area is really beautiful later in the spring.
This park / forest has something for everyone really: sports, nature, deer, play areas, art installations, plenty of places to just sit down and unwind. It was really a great way to end a super busy day.
I said something about dolls at one point and Chooch goes, “Speaking of dolls, how old do you think I have to be before I can start waitresses ‘dollface’?”
Oh my god.
Never Years Old.
Chooch got distracted by a climbing wall thing and other opportunities to injure himself and while that was happening, we lost Henry, who had been drawn to a map around the corner. Of course he’d find a map. HE ALWAYS FINDS A MAP.
the
This was outside of Seoul Forest. I thought it was so cute!!
We were going to try and find something for dinner but it was getting late and we had reached the point where no one could agree on anything, we didn’t know where to go, but also we were fucking tired and had to get up early.
However, we had to transfer at Wangsimni and there happened to be a Dunkin’ there – I had wanted to try their injeolmi latte ever since seeing it on the menu in passing so we went there and you guys, Dunkin’ in Korea? So much better than here. First of all, we also got donuts (those were better too) and decided to just stay there.
It was just like being in a real cafe the way it was served to us! Sorry for the shitty picture, I couldn’t beat the shadow and also I was too tired to care. There was no one in there when we arrived, to the point where I was worried that it was closing (but this is Korea, and I think they’re open until 11PM), but then once we sat down to wait for our drinks, people started streaming in like it was the grand opening. There was even what appeared to be a club of ajusshis that pushed some tables together and convened over cups of coffee. It was so lively!
I think this was pretty much the last thing that happened before heading back to the hotel, other than stopping at Olive Young because Henry needed to break a large bill so that he could top off his T-Money card and said, “Do you think you can find something here to buy?” and before he finished that question, I had a Peripera lip tint in my hand, ready to pay.
Fucking love Peripera!!
Anyway, we tried to get some sleep that night because we had another early morning ahead of us since we were setting off on an overnight trip to Gyeongju!
Please enjoy this video comp from the day now, cool thanks leave a comment etc.