myseouldiscovery

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Cafe Edition: Stylenanda Pink Hotel and Pink Pool Cafe

🇰🇷 스타일난다 핑크풀카페

📍Hongdae: 335-21 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul

📍Myeongdong: 66-2 Chungmu-ro2ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

📆 Year-round, best to visit during weekdays soon after opening. The Hongdae location is nearby Hongik University Station, and the cafe fills with students at lunch time.

Stylenanda 

Stylenanda is a Korean fashion and beauty brand which began in 2004. Now owned by L’Oreal, the make-up division is the popular 3CE. 

Stylenanda have two cafes - the Pink Pool Cafe located in Hongdae and Pink Hotel in Myeongdong. Both cafes are bright, pink, and thoroughly Instagrammable.

Pink Hotel Myeongdong

The Pink Hotel is located in the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong in Seoul. Myeongdong is crammed with department stores, independent retailers, restaurants, and cafes.

Stylenanda Pink Hotel is on six floors, and despite the name it is not actually a hotel; it’s a fashion retail store and cafe.

Exterior of Pink Hotel, Myeongdong (source)

The theme of both cafes is, obviously, pool and hotel related. Everything is made to look just like 1950s vintage pool decor -  from the changing rooms made to look like showers, to the pool rules adorning the walls, to the umbrellas over the seating. 

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The menu is filled with sweet fare, such as cotton candy coffee (which I’ve actually had here in Melbourne, it’s amazing). 

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Stylenanda Pink Pool Cafe Hongdae

The location in Hongdae is much larger and grander than Myeongdong, and is the one with the pool! According to There She Goes Again, it is the one where you can most sit down, relax and take in the atmosphere.

The Hongdae location is much larger and more spacious, but keeps with the same vibe. (source)

The pool, sadly, is not for swimming, even dipping in your toes. It’s purely decoration. (source)

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Either location would be amazing to visit and take photos! 

Further Information and Sources

Anakjajan

There She Goes Again

iwanderlista

Amino App

Preview

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Quirky Edition: Lotte World Magic Island

🇰🇷 롯데월드 어드벤처

📍240 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea

📆 Year-round

Lotte World has been a backdrop in the last few entries I’ve done. A major recreational complex in Seoul, it “consists of the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters.” (source) 

It was opened in 1989, and according to latest figures it averages over 7 million visitors a year.

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The amusement park is divided into two sections: Adventure (indoor) and Magic Island (outdoor).

Adventure

The inside amusement park spans four floors. There are rollercoasters, water rides, and VR rides. Some examples include:

The Adventures of Sinbad: an adventure with Sinbad through an underground waterway.

French Revolution: a high octane rollercoaster that rotates 360 degrees and is entirely indoors.

Camelot: a carousel of 64 white horses.

Aeronauts Balloon Ride: allows visitors to see Lotte World from the sky.

Pharaoh’s Fury: a dark Egyptian-themed ride similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland.

World Monorail: travels through the amusement park both indoors and outdoors.

Lotte World Adventure (source)

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Magic Island

The rides continue outside, framed on the Seokchon Lake.

Atlantis Adventure: an intense steel rollercoaster with a lost world of Atlantis theme.

Gyro Drop: VR goggles are used while ascending that simulate a futuristic landscape, before the visitors are plunged downward (similar to Lex Luther Drop of Doom at Six Flags or the Giant Drop at Dreamworld Australia).

Comet Express: a steel spinning enclosed rollercoaster.

Gyro Drop (source)

Gyro Spin (source)

Comet Express (source)

Along with the rides, Lotte World has exhibitions, cultural experiences, dining, events, and gift shops. To list everything, this post would be massive lol

Lotte World is open 365 days a year including holidays. There’s an app that can help you buy tickets, make reservations to events, find your way around and locate points of interest, check wait times on rides, and even sets alarms for you when certain events are taking place.

Further Information, Sources, and Location Map

Wikipedia 

Lotte World Website

There She Goes Again

Klook Lotte World Hacks

Klook Australia

Traveloka

Coasterpedia

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Landmark Edition: N Seoul Tower

🇰🇷 남산서울타워

📍105 Namsangongwon-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

📆 Year-round

The N Seoul Tower is a communication and observation tower located on the top of the Namsan Mountain in central Seoul. It’s 236 meters tall, and the second highest point in Seoul. It offers unobstructed views of the entire city, and is one of its most iconic structures, serving as a backdrop in countless photos, music videos, and Kdramas.

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Namsan Mountain (source)

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The tower construction began in 1969 and was completed in 1971. According to Wikipedia, the name was changed from Seoul Tower to N Seoul Tower in 2005, with the N standing for “Namsan”, “New”, and “Nature”.

Tower Observatory

The observatory offers complete 360 views of the city through floor to ceiling windows. On the very top most floor, the windows indicate which major world city you are facing at any one time. 

The observatory is open until 11pm Sunday to Friday, and midnight on Saturday. Access to the observatory part of the tower does cost money, approximately 10,000 KRW for adults ($11 AUD / $7.30 US).

Panorama of the Seoul skyline from the N Seoul Tower (source)

Namsan Cable Car

Constructed in 1962, the cable car is the easiest way to get to the N Seoul Tower without trekking up the steep, difficult mountain. 

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Namsan Tower Padlocks

When first arriving at the base of the tower, there are thousands of “padlocks of love” that couples have locked in the hopes of bringing good luck to their union. It can also be used to symbolise love and unity amongst friends and family! N Seoul Tower is one of approximately 40 such “padlocks of love” locations across the globe.

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A view of the bridge of padlocks from the tower (source)

The tower itself has many amenities and stores (including a Starbucks, naturally). 

Namsan Park

Surrounding the tower there is Namsan Park, a spralling free public park along the slopes of Namsan Mountain. 

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Cherry blossoms in Namsan Park (source)

Further Information and Sources

Official site stats (source)

Wikipedia

N Seoul Tower official site

Time Out

Alanisko Photography

Travel-Stained

Agoda 

Myeong-dong Blog

[myseouldiscovery]

Cafe Edition: Seoulism

🇰🇷 서울리즘

📍435 Yes Building 1, Floor 6, Baekjae Goboon-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul

📆 Year-round

Looping on from my last post, one of the best ways to get stellar views of the Lotte World Tower is to take a trip to Seoulism Cafe.

According to Travel-Stained, in 2021 the famous SEOUL sign with the backdrop of the Lotte World Tower has been tagged on Instagram over 10,000 times (and this was a year ago, so by today it’s probably another 10,000 more!) 

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Everything that I’ve read so far about Seoulism emphasises three things - the incredible views, the fact that it is unassuming from the outside, and the fact that you need to purchase at least one drink to stay in the cafe (I guess because of the influx of people wanting to take in the views for the ‘Gram). 

Also, the drinks are expensive, even by Seoul standards.

So let’s go one by one through these three things.

Apparently, Seoulism is on the sixth floor of an unassuming building in the middle of a not-as-touristy area of Songpa. It’s not until you are actually inside the elevator of the building that you can see you’re in the right place. 

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Inside though it’s another story. Spacious with a heady mix of modern and vintage and with amazing views of the city, Seoulism looks like some sort of hidden treasure. There is a roomy interior, as well as a covered patio/deck. 

The interior is spacious, with eclectic vintage Victorian furnishings set against the sleek modern ceiling to floor windows showing the Seoul skyline. (source)

The deck/patio is covered, and fully accessible despite the weather.

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If you visit Seoulism’s official Instagram right now, you can see images of how beautifully decorated the cafe is for Christmas. 

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Everything is designed to be picturesque and invites photography, and it became so popular for that reason they had to institute a rule that in order to spend time at the cafe, you have to buy a drink for each person wanting to take a seat inside.

Menu 

Because of the premium views, Seoulism is more expensive than other cafes in Seoul. But one of the first photos I ever saw that lead me to Seoulism was their Cherry Blossom Latte, and I would pay a pretty penny just to try one of those, even without Seoulism’s Instagrammable atmosphere. 

But the “exorbitant” menu item prices are one of the comments I consistently saw when looking at people’s reviews of the cafe.

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Some menu items include: 

Signature Salted Caramel Cream Latte: 8,500 KRW

Signature Coconut Frozen Latte: 11,000 KRW

Espresso: 7,000 KRW

Cold Brew Coffee: 11,000 KRW

Cold Brew Latte: 11,000 KRW

Apple Mint Milk Tea: 11,000 KRW

Berry Aide: 8,000 KRW

I wouldn’t even hazard to convert those prices to US dollars or Australian dollars now, with the way the economy keeps sliding all over the place. But compared to other cafes in Seoul, it’s quite a marked difference.

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There’s also pastries and desserts ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 KRW.

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At night, Seoulism turns into a cocktail bar with a range of alcoholic drinks. These are also, as you can imagine, very expensive. 

But I feel as though it would be worth it purely for the experience and to take views. Imagine going during the cherry blossom season??

(source)

Further Information and Sources:

Google Reviews

Seoulism Official Instagram

There She Goes Again

Travel-Stained 

Wander With Jin

OhFISHiee

In this blog I leaned very heavily on There She Goes Again and their gorgeous photos of Seoulism. I could only dream of taking photos as amazing as that.

[myseouldiscovery]

Landmark Edition: Seoul Sky at Lotte World Tower

🇰🇷 롯데월드타워 서울스카이

📍300, Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul

📆 Year-round

Seoul Sky is an observatory on several top floors of the Lotte World Tower. Lotte World Tower itself is South Korea’s largest building, and the fifth largest building in the world. According to the official website, “It is the only place where you can take in a gorgeous 360-degree view of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea roaring with brilliant history and dynamic modern culture.”

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In the last blog post about the Seokchon Lake Cherry Blossom Festival, I mentioned Lotte World Tower being the backdrop of the 1000s of cherry blossom trees during the festival. 

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It’s not just the views that Seoul Sky is known for. The observatory also houses cafes, exhibitions, and even a secret garden. 

Even the elevators inside the tower to take you to the top are record-breaking - they travel at 600 metres per minute, with floor to ceiling screens that display images of Seoul and the Han River.

The elevator rockets you from the ground floor to the top of the tower in one minute. (source)

The inside of the Sky Shuttle Elevator. (source)

Observation Decks

Floor 117 is where you start. Think of it as gradually acclimating yourself to the view and to the idea of how high you are, because the next floor, Floor 118, is where the glass floors start! 

Even better (scarier) - the floor suddenly turns from opaque to clear, leaving you with a feeling of walking on air.

Floor 118 features the world’s highest indoor glass floor at 478 metres. (source)

Floor 120 is the Sky Terrace, where the best views of Seoul are. It can understandably get quite crowded, with people jostling to take photographs amongst the clouds. 

(source)

Cafes, Gifts, and the Seoul Sky Secret Garden

As well as the spectacular views, Seoul Sky also offers cafes, gift stores, and also a secret garden!

The Seoul Sky Secret Garden. (source)

Angel-In-Us Cafe on Floor 122. (source)

The Seoul Sky Gift Store, one located on the bottom floor of the tower and the other at the top! (source)

A spectacular view overlooking the Seokchon Lake and the Lotte World theme park. (source)

Further Information and Sources:

Seoul Sky Lotte World Website

Klook Travel | South Korea

Seoul Sky Official Instagram

Seoul Pass

Travel-Stained 

There She Goes Again

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Season Edition: Seokchon Lake Cherry Blossom Festival

📍 47 Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul | 서울특별시 송파구 잠실동 47 

🇰🇷: 석촌호수 벚꽃축제

📆 Late March / Early April

Seoul explodes with cherry blossoms in the last days of March and the first weeks of April. 

I have been obsessed with cherry blossoms for as long as I can remember. There are two tiny cherry blossom trees not far from my house that bloom for two short weeks in the year. There is something so beautiful and fragile and fleeting about the way they are suddenly there one day and then gone the next, leaving blush pink silken blossoms of the grass behind them.

The tiny cherry blossom trees near my home. Nothing like the majesty of the Seokchon Lake Cherry Blossom Festival, but they still make me happy. (source - me!)

The Seokchon Lake Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the most popular places to see cherry blossoms when they bloom in Seoul. The Seokchon Lake near Lotte World, a famous theme park in the heart of Seoul, is a beautiful lake that becomes lined with over 1,000 cherry blossom trees. 

Lotte World surrounded by cherry blossoms. (source)

Cherry blossoms lining the wings of the Seokchon Lake, with a backdrop of the Lotte World theme park and Seoul Sky Observatory in the 555 metre high Lotte World Tower. (source)

Lotte World and the Seoul Sky Observatory are definitely places I want to visit and will eventually be entries on this blog, but for now I just wanted to investigate the cherry blossom festival in April every year.

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The festival is completely free and never closes - you can visit any time during the blooming, even the middle of the night. 

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There are plenty of amenities and cafes available, but the area is a residential area and busy 365 days of the year. Naturally, during the festival Seokchon Lake it becomes even more crowded with people vying to get Instagrammable selfies in front of the cherry blossoms.

According to the wonderful blog Travel-Stained, if you want a piece of serenity to admire the blooms, heading there early on a weekday morning is a good bet.

Further Information and Sources:

Travel-Stained

90 Day Korean

Korea.net

Songpa.go.kr

Lotte Hotel Magazine

Reddit.com/r/SouthKoreaPics

[myseouldiscovery]

Cafe Edition: Dreamy Camera Cafe, Yangpyeong

📍341-13 Jungwon-ri, Yongmun-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Cafes are going to be a big part of my planning and a big part of my eventual trip to South Korea. I’m from Melbourne which has a huge cafe culture, but it seems to have nothing on South Korea. 

When looking at different cafes, one of the first that stood out to me was the Dreamy Camera Cafe, for obvious reasons.

It is a cafe in the shape of a Rolleiflex Twin Lens camera.

The Dreamy Camera Cafe (Korean: 꿈꾸는사진기) is small, family-run cafe outside of Seoul, in Yangpyeong. Apparently it is quite out of the way to get to from Seoul, but well worth it if you’re a camera buff.

The inside is small and cosy, with camera-themed decor throughout. 

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It is on two floors, with the top floor opening into a larger seating area that has gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside.

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I think if I’m lucky enough to go to South Korea and explore outside of Seoul, this is definitely somewhere special I would like to go. It speaks to me on a spiritual level. 

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Further Information and Sources:

Dreamy Camera Cafe Website

There She Goes Again

Lost With Jen

Google Reviews

[myseouldiscovery]

Historical Edition: Deoksugung Doldam-gil 덕수궁 돌담길 (Deoksugung Stonewall road)

📍Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

One of the Five Grand Palaces, Deoksugung is a walled compound of palaces in the middle of Seoul. It was inhabited by members of Korea’s Royal Family during the Joseon monarchy until the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910. 

Deoksugung Palace itself is a site of historical significance and also a popular tourist attraction - there are forested gardens, stone statues, and even a changing of the royal guard ceremony in front of Daehanmun Gate. 

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One of the culturally popular aspects of Deoksugung is the Deoksugung Stonewall Road. It is a 900m stone gate surrounding the compound that is recognized as one of the first attempts at blending the urban and natural environment. 

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A highlight is to walk the Deoksugung Doldam-gil during Autumn and Spring, because of the changing colours and the cherry blossoms along the laneway. Definitely something I wish to photograph. 

It is a beautiful, picturesque pedestrian walkway and a popular route for couples to take during a date, which is unfortunate because a popular urban myth is that any couple that walks the Deoksugung Doldam-gil is fated to break up! (Lucky I don’t have to worry about that 🥲) Apparently it is believed to be so because there were divorce law courts along the area that you would follow this road to access, so many couples headed towards separation would use this path towards it.

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So many Kdramas over the years have included the Deoksugung Stonewall Road, including one of the most famous of them all, Goblin (쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 – 도깨비)

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Shopping Edition: Starfield CO-EX Library at the Starfield CO-EX Mall 

📍513, Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06164 South Korea

Starfield Mall is the largest underground mall in Asia, located in the Gangnam district of Seoul. It has over 300 different stores carrying both Korean and international brands, such as Kakao Friends, Olive Young, Spao, Billy Angel Cake Company, Starbucks, Zara, Daiso, L’Occitane, Lush, and H&M. 

The mall has been renovated several times in order to bring in more natural light to the underground structure. There is also a 17 screen cinema and a massive aquarium.

The Starfield Library, that stands in the middle of the mall, is one of the first “shopping” kind of photos I saw of South Korea; a massive wall of books from the floor to a glass ceiling looming over an escalator. 

I can’t imagine traveling to South Korea without photographing this amazing library for myself.

The second image in this blog is taken from here !

[myseouldiscovery]

The Secret

I remember when I was younger the big fad was this self-help book that maintained that if you spoke what you wanted out loud, you put that energy out into the universe and the things you most wanted would come to you. It was called the Law of Attraction or the Law of Manifesting.

I don't know that I ever really believed that. I wasn't certain that all the people in the world who had bad things happened to them had those things happen because they were negative people, or thought inherently negative thoughts.

But I guess there is something to be said for being positive and proactive about the things you most want.

What I want is to go to South Korea.

I'm not sure why I became so obsessed with the idea of going. You can pinpoint some reasons, like road stops on a highway map. But there isn't any one reason, it's a myriad of reasons.

I want to explore Seoul and all the cafes I've seen on Instagram. I want to take photographs in the middle of cherry blossom season. I want to sit by the Han River at sunset and watch the street lights make patterns on the water. I want to visit the gardens in Deoksugung Palace and the art galleries in Insadong. I want to drink soju and eat hotteok at a 포장마차 (pojangmacha). I want to ride the Haeundae Blueline in Busan. I want to swim in the warm water on the beaches of Jeju Island.

There are several personal reasons holding me back from just picking up and going now. So at the moment all I can do is plan and hope and dream. And this is where I'm going to do it.