A Very K-pop Centered Trip to Seoul

SBS Alive Museum in Insadong

Today (Saturday) we headed in to Seoul to see another musical (oh, boy). This one is called K-pop Musical Moon Night and it stars Seungho from the K-pop boy band MBLAQ.

K-pop Musical Moon Night

I like MBLAQ but I'm not really familiar with their stuff. Jenee, on the other hand, really loves Seungho so when we saw the tickets on interpark (discounted, at that) we just had to go. To top it off we were able to snag front row seats! 

The musical started at 3PM so we went to Myeongdong first with the goal of doing some K-pop shopping again but it took us too long to find a place to eat for lunch so we only had time to eat and run before the musical. 

The restaurant we finally found is called Red Sun and it's essentially a ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake) restaurant. You get a pot and you can choose what you want in it (typically ddeok, ramen noodles, and vegetables).

Yummm!

It was super delicious and we even got some cheese to add in there. Yum! 

After eating we headed to the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts where the musical was playing. 

Seungho!

The theater was nice, albeit smaller than the other ones we've been to. Our seats were off to the side but right, directly in front of the stage. Like we could reach out and touch the stage, that's how close they were. 

The musical itself was really good. It was a bit different from the other musicals we've been to in that it was mostly dancing but the performers were all really talented and of course, we were so close to Seungho. Fangirling most definitely happened.

At the end of the performance Jenee waved at Seungho and he noticed (probably because we were the only two westerners in the front row...possibly even in the whole theater) so he sent a head-bob-acknowledgement in our direction. One of the perks of sticking out, I guess? :D

After the musical finished we went to Insadong since it was nearby and made another attempt at going to SBS's Alive Museum. This time we (mostly) knew where to go so it was far less of a hassle and there wasn't as many people so it wasn't as frustrating. 

The museum was fun and had some cool picture spots but I personally think the Trick Eye Museum was better. It's still a nice place to check out if you're in the area. 

We took our time taking some pictures and then went back to Myeongdong. 

Myeongdong at night

Our main goal was to get some concert light-stick things for the upcoming groups we are going to be seeing as they are cheaper to buy at the KPop stores in the Myeongdong underground shopping center than at the venue. After we finished our shopping though we really wanted to get some bubble tea so we headed up to the surface and spent an hour (I kid you not) searching for a bubble tea place. 

Usually, they are not that hard to find but we had a really difficult time locating a place that sells bubble tea. It wasn't too bad since we weren't pressed for time and we got an opportunity to explore the bustling streets of Myeongdong but it was a bit frustrating because the GPS on our phones wasn't working that great which just complicated things. 

Hmm a delicious mystery!

I did finally cave and buy some street food. I've noticed a lot of people eating these sausage skewer things for a while but I was hesitant to try one until tonight. I'm glad I finally did! They are delicious! Another point goes to Korean street food!

Ah, black milk tea...my favorite!

After what felt like forever we finally found a bubble tea place and got ourselves some drinks. It was delicious and totally worth the trouble it took to find it...

Plus, because we spent so much time wondering around we were able to completely randomly come across this live performance by the KPop boyband BTOB on our way out. 

It was essentially another "us" moment when we came upon what we thought was just a b-boy dance off (it was but...) there was suddenly a really big crowd gathered around the stage with cameras and phones out (and fangirls screaming) so we got closer to check it out. 

Wowsers. 

It was totally BTOB doing the final performance for this KPop b-boy event thing. They sang their song WOW and danced and all that good stuff. We kind of couldn't believe it. But it happened. Here's my proof:

Anyway, so Myeongdong. It's a happening place. I love it!

So our Saturday was really eventful and successful. We've still got some more exciting events to attend and stuff over the coming weekends so I can't wait! Yey for being busy!  

B1A4's Concert "The Class" 2014

On Saturday, Jenee and I went to B1A4’s The Class concert in Seoul. Before we came to Korea, Jenee and I discussed various artists we would like to see live and Lee Seung-gi was the person I wanted to see the most (of course) but as far as KPop boy-bands go B1A4 was right up there on both of our lists.

Baro, my favorite B1A4 member on banners at Olympic Park

I’m actually not a big KPop fan. There is only a handful of artists I like so I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to see two of my favorites live in concert already.

Yey!

B1A4 is a group Jenee and I have both followed since they debuted a few years ago. Our tickets for their concert were in the standing section so we were able to see them up so close which was just absolutely amazing. Before the concert, you line up according to your section. For this event, there were 3 different standing sections and we were in the group to the right of the stage.

My ticket!

After you line up, they let you into the venue accordingly and then you are free to mesh and mingle as necessary. Mesh being the key word, here. At first, it was absolute chaos. Actually, I was nearly crying because the people kept pushing and I was scared I was going to fall and die. I’m not even joking. I distinctly remember thinking, This is it. This is how it’s all going to end. At a KPop concert. Fantastic.

This is a picture @maiizzzz posted on instagram of the concert, we were located about where the red dot is

My shoe kept coming untied and those terrifying  moments nearly made my life flash before my eyes until I could get it tied again (which was a feat, let me tell you). Also, I am above average in the height department in Korea (5’4”) so I have no idea where they came from but there were like three girls in front of me who had to be at least 6-feet tall. What even.

Plus, there was this girl who ended up squished between me and one of the giants at one point and she was wearing this big ol’ stocking hat with two pom-poms on it that kept whacking me in the face. And so I would lean my head back out of the way and this jerk-wad behind me kept pressing TWO OF THEIR FINGERS to the back of my skull and thrusting my head forward. EXCUSE ME.

It was awful.

Everyone would push and push until I couldn’t believe we weren’t all breaking and then the security personnel upfront would tell them to push back and it was like a big game of back-and-forth.

Our section wasn’t the only one with this problem. You could hear the wave of screams happening on and off in the other sections as well when the pushing was going on. I’m very surprised no one was seriously injured.

The only good thing that came out of the pushing was that, once it was all over we somehow ended up only 3 people away from the very front. So that was kind of awesome.

When the concert finally started everyone was jumping around and stuff so the crowd actually evened out and it wasn’t so bad. Sweaty and gross, but survivable.

Plus, they were right there! B1A4 was right there.

The boys were great and they played all my favorite songs. The stage was also really neat and there was some cool special effects. I really enjoyed the concert after I wasn’t afraid of being crushed to death.

The only thing I was really disappointed in is that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. That’s a pretty normal thing for concerts here but a little sad especially since we (foreigners) usually only get one chance to see (a particular group). Oh well, I’ll have the memories with me forever! And maybe they will come out with a concert DVD :)

The Moon Embracing the Sun Musical

The Moon Embracing the Sun

This past Sunday was a very special day for us. It started off disappointing…we headed up into Seoul to Insadong with the goal of going to the SBS Alive Museum (similar to the Trick Eye Museum). Unfortunately, instructions were vague at best and the address on the museum’s website was wrong so we spent about an hour and a half wondering around Insadong before we finally found it. By then, we were running out of time before we had to head to our main  even for the evening—The Moon Embracing the Sun (해를 품은 달) musical—and the line was too long, so we weren’t able to go.

Somewhere near Insadong haha...

It was a wasted trip that far up into Seoul but the good news is that we made it to the Seoul Arts Center just fine and with plenty of time to take some pictures and eat before the musical.

We wondered around outside near the Arts Center looking for somewhere to eat for a little while before we ran across a Tonkatsu place that—admittedly—looked a little shady but we were hungry so we went inside and it turned out to be a nice, cozy place. The food was delicious and Japanese-style (with a little bit of a Korean touch). Oh, how happy I was to taste miso soup again!

After eating we headed back to the venue and got our guide books, tickets, and (yey!) binoculars. Our seats were in the front row on the second floor but I wasn’t sure how good our view was going to be (second floor at the Seongnam Arts Center was pretty far away). Luckily, these seats were much closer to the stage and we hardly needed the binoculars.

The musical was fantastic. I wanted to go at first because I’m a big fan of the drama (staring none-other than Kim Soo Hyun!)

Poster from the original drama with Kim Soo Hyun and Han Ga In

But when Jenee and I saw the tickets on interpark we noticed that Kyu-hyun from Super Junior was performing in it as the lead. That sealed the deal! Back in the day we were both huge Super Junior fans and Kyu-hyun is one of their best singers.

Kyu-hyun from Super Junior as Lee Hwon

Of the three musicals I’ve now seen, The Moon Embracing the Sun is my favorite. I think the visual effects for Ghost was still better but overall I love the story and the music they used for this show more. Also, at the end of the performance, everyone whipped out their phones and cameras and were able to take pictures as the cast was bowing. Yup, no photo ninjas going around trying to control the chaos (although it probably would have been impossible anyway). The funniest thing was when Kyu-hyun came out to bow and the Korean girl next to me about had a fangirl heart-attack. She legit freaked out, yo! It was funny!

Anyway, after the performance, as we were leaving, we noticed a small crowd gathered near the stairs on the first floor (which, since this is Korea, is actually the “B1” floor). They all had their cameras and phones posed for action so we decided to stick around and see what was going on. It pretty much went like this:

Me: “What are all these people doing here?”

Jenee: “I dunno, are they from our musical?…I don’t think it’s for our musical.”

Me: “Well, they have cameras out…could it be? Why do they have cameras out…?”

Jenee: “Let’s see.”

So we merged in with the crowd and waited around to see what was going on. Eventually, the cast members from The Moon Embracing the Sun musical started to come down the stairs and walk past us. They laughed when they saw the huge crowd standing there and we finally started to get excited.

At long last, Kyu-hyun appeared and went right by us. For real. He came down the stairs and just walked right on by, horde of fangirls in toe, snapping pictures and squealing. We were caught up in the crowd, of course, so we followed him all the way to the parking lot where his van was waiting.

Kyaaaa~~

There was a hilarious moment when the sea of fangirls was forced to squeeze through a single set of double doors and we were pretty sure we were going to be crushed but it was like, sink or swim…sink or swim…

It was, to say the least, an amazing experience. For the first time, we got to see a KPop star we love up close. Unreal.

But it wasn’t over yet. As we were leaving the Arts Center, we had to walk across this big 2-part cross-walk. All of the sudden Kyu-hyun’s van pulled up to the stoplight by the second part of the intersection and as soon as The Fangirls realized what was going on, they all started running towards it (of course we did, too). Kyu-hyun—bless his heart—even rolled down his window and waved. Then his van drove off into the sunset~

We spent the rest of the evening rather dazed and giddy. It was the perfect way to end the day that had started out so disappointing. Just one of the reasons why I love this place so much!

Lunar New Year Travels

The Garden of Morning Calm

We kicked off our Luna New Year holiday by doing what we do best: watching a movie.

The Huntresses

This time it was an action/sageuk (historical)/comedy called The Huntresses staring Ha Ji-won (The King 2 Hearts, Secret Garden). The movie was very typical for a Korean film in this genre but overall enjoyable.

We decided to spend our first day of vacation exploring Gapyeong County. It is east of Seoul and took us about two-hours to get there by train (yuck). Since we were short on time, when we arrived we skipped out on the inner-city tour bus and took a taxi to the Nami Island ferry first.

Nami Island is a very famous tourist attraction because of the drama Winter Sonata. Actually, I haven’t watched this drama…I’ve seen the first few episodes but it really just wasn’t my thing. But, Winter Sonata is a classic and one of the first dramas to start the hallyu wave so we had to go and check this place out.

As seems to be the case whenever we go anywhere…it was raining.

Nami Island ticket

There was no fluffy, picturesque snow. Just misty, hair-frizzing air and sheets of slick ice. I suppose it made things look pretty in its own way. But being cold and wet is never fun so that was a bit disappointing.

Anyway, to get to Nami Island, you have to take a short ferry ride. You buy your tickets (“Visa”) beforehand and then hop on the little boat and travel for about five minutes.

The Island is pretty small and you can see everything in about an hour. We just kind of walked around in what we hoped was a circle and stopped to admire sights as we came across them.

Big trees!

Rows of trees are one of the most famous attractions of Nami Island. Even in winter they still looked pretty neat.

More trees...

There are other random nice sights too, such as this sheet of ice little alley and the frozen fountain.

Then, of course, there are the Winter Sonata sights for fans of the drama.

Finally, some other nice things to see from the Island (including the grave of General Nami):

After taking the ferry back to the mainland we got on the inner-city our bus that travels around to all the main sights in Gapyeong and headed to our next stop: Petite France.

This is a little French-inspired area that has some scenic sights and shows. It’s also been used as a filming location for dramas (My Love From the Stars, Secret Garden) and variety programs (Running Man).

The buildings and design of the place was really neat but I think it would look a lot prettier in spring (so we may go back again).

EDIT (02/08/14): My Love From The Stars (You Who Came From The Stars/My Love From Another Star/별에서 온 그대)(Kim Soo Hyun, Jun Ji Hyun)recently filmed some significant scenes here. I'm so happy we visited but sad we missed them filming here by mere days boo.

My Love From The Stars episode 15

The scene in the drama is was so beautiful...next time we go, we'll have to check it out at night. See, I was right there huhuhu T-T

Little did I know...

Of course we hunted down the filming sight from Secret Garden, too (because that’s what we do…). It was a bit hard to find but we finally did.

Scene from Secret Garden

Once we finished exploring Petite France, we got back on the bus and headed to our final location: The Garden of Morning Calm.

Although this would technically be a good place to visit in spring/summer, the garden has this winter light festival going on that’s super pretty so we decided to go ahead and check it out while we were in the area.

The Garden of Morning Calm

We arrived before dark so we had to wait for the lights and decided to check it out first. Little did we know that there is actually two drama filming sights there for an old favorite show of ours, You’re Beautiful.

First sight: The Flower House

Scene from You're Beautiful

Second sight: The church

Scene from You're Beautiful

We walked around the whole exhibit and there were a few other nice things to see, too. Most of the plants were in “winter” (ie dead) mode but it didn’t look too bad. Finally, at close to 6PM the lights turned on and we were able to enjoy the main event.

Everything was so pretty! There were so many lights set up in all different colors.

Of course, when the lights came on people started popping out of nowhere. Per the usual special event in South Korea, it was pretty crowded but we took our time and enjoyed the view.

After we were finished, we had to get back on the bus. This was a bit frustrating because it only comes in hour-intervals and we missed one by like 5-minutes so we had to sit in the cold and wait for an hour to catch the last bus. It was, of course, packed and only the beginning of our long journey home. In the end, it was worth having gone but not the best way to end the evening.

Since Friday is technically the official day of the holiday, we choose to not do anything and relax. The weather outside was, of course, nice and we probably should of done something because Saturday came with more yucky weather and rain.

Scene from Reply 1997 and I Hear Your Voice

We didn’t have a whole lot planned but Jenee and I did go into Seoul and were greeted by over-cast skies and more misty air. Our first plan on the agenda was to visit the Seoul District Courthouse because it’s a filming sight for the drama I Hear Your Voice (and Reply 1997, among others). We found it easily enough with some help from Google and Naver Maps (since there weren’t any English directions out there that I could find) but of course this lead to a hilarious scenario of two girls walking all around the huuuuge Courthouse trying to figure out what to do because the whole thing is gated off and the only way you can get in is to walk by some security guards.

…we didn’t know if we were allowed to go in. And I don’t mean inside the courthouse…just inside the outside of the courthouse.

We were just about to (cringe) go ask when a Korean guy started to walking towards the entrance and so we followed behind him and looked nervously at the security guards who didn’t do much more than give us confused looks back. I swear the whole time I was walking I thought they were going to come running after us and kick us out or something.

I don’t know if it was because the place was practically deserted or if it was because it’s a government building but I felt really nervous while there, so we quickly took some pictures and bailed. I’m guessing since no one tackled me and confiscated my camera it was okay.

So…if you are helplessly searching the net for how to get to the Seoul District Courthouse and can’t find directions here’s how you can get there:

Seocho Station (green line) exit 8. Walk straight past the first BIG intersection. Cross the street and turn left. Walk straight until you get to the courthouse. You can also get there from the Seoul National University of Education Station (also green line) exit 6 (cross the street and walk up the hill to your right).

Other buildings in the area include the Supreme Court and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.

Once finished with out self-guided “government building” tour we got back on the subway and went to Myeongdong. We’ve actually been there before…Myeongdong is a huge shopping district in Seoul and one of the things it is known for having is KPop goods.  We checked out a few stores and got some CDs (here is me with my stash…)

Because shopping works up such an appetite we decided to head to Itaewon next. This area is frequently referred to as the “ghetto” but it’s also full of foreigners so it has a variety of foreign food. We planned on checking it out and then getting something to eat but since the weather was still so bad we just opted for food and chose the Taco Bell across the street from the station (classy, I know).

Seoul Color Park

Finally, it was late enough that we could head to our last destination: Seoul Color Park.

Scene from City Hunter at Seoul Color Park

This is located in an area we’ve visited a few times and just never realized exactly where it was. Right under Mapo bridge is this little modern art thing that looks pretty cool and is another drama filming sight from City Hunter (you may recall we’ve visited quite a few from this drama already here and here…)

We waited for the lights to come on and then took some silly pictures. Luckily, the place was deserted so there wasn’t anyone around to laugh at us.

And that concluded our rather uneventful trip into Seoul! Happy Lunar New Year everyone!