Museums and food struggles - Seoul Trip Day 13
2/6 21:30
I'm so frustrated I honestly feel like crying. I just tried and failed to get food several times, and had to resort to a cup noodle once again. The thing is, today went pretty well up until now. Let's rewind.
Today was museum day! I decided to go to Seoul Museum of Modern Art first, because it was nearby at City Hall subway station. I was up earlier than usually but a shower and curling my hair took a bunch of time so I still ended up leaving when I usually do. After a short subway ride I popped into a Quiznos to get some breakfast. I've never been to a Quiznos but I know it from American movies, it's basically like Subway but kind of upgraded. I had a very basic veggie sub and the worst milk tea of my life. It had white bits floating in it and I don't know if it was the fat from the milk or just, off milk.
The trek down to the museum was very warm, but it was super pretty! There was a small garden-y bit with statues in it. The museum itself is a nice building, it kind of reminds me of Kiasma in Helsinki with the white interior and windows everywhere. There were three exhibitions on so I visited all of them. The first floor had a weaving related exhibition and one of the works required visitors to weave one of the hanging threads into the artwork. I've now left my mark on Seoul!
I was through this museum pretty fast and decided to head to the next one, but in transit my phone decided to finally cancel my internet. I was told that my internet would cut out at some point today because I got a 10-day SIM card, and it did. Luckily the subway map works offline too. I took the subway to Anguk, which is now apparently my most visited station. I didn't have a map and couldn't find any tourist maps so instead of finding the museum I just kind of started wandering where it seemed like there were a lot of people or cool shops. I went down to Insadong which I mentioned before! This part of Insadong wasn't super traditional but every store name is in Hangul, so even Etude House etc. is spelled in Hangul. For some reason as I was walking someone tapped me on the shoulder so I turned around, and it was a young Korean lady. I took my earphone out and looked at her and she was just like "sorry" and so I turned around and walked faster. I don't know what her issue was.
I happened upon this wonderful little complex just a few moments later! Basically there was a small clearing in the middle with a stand in it, and then around it there was four floors of stores. Everything was glass-walled and doored so you could see everywhere from whichever store you were in. From the looks of it almost everything was handcrafted and small business-like. I toured the layers and then found a wee shop with super cute postcards so I got a few of those. They had a tent set up on the ground floor for caricature photos and I was feeling brave so I went down. I've never ever thought of sitting for one of those but, I'm in a country where no one knows me and it's a cool physical memory to make. It was quite awkward at first to sit there while the lady kept looking at me once in a while, but by far it was the weirdest to watch people stop and look at me, then look at the photo, then smile and whisper or say something to each other. It's like having something in your teeth but no one actually telling you where so you can't do anything about it except try to get it yourself. I felt very exposed. Anyhow, the drawing turned out cool (she definitely got my sad droopy eyes down) and I headed back out to find a cafe of some sort.
Past some more stalls, one of which was a homemade slime stall, I found a cafe. It seemed like a regular kind of place but the crepe cake I ordered came with a huge melted sugar decoration and several types of sauces smeared on the plate in an artistic manner. It was so extra. The cafe was nice though, I got wi-fi and they were playing a lot of the new BTS album. I was meant to head down to Itaewon later on to find this one vegan restaurant but I decided to save it for another day and just go wherever tonight. I walked along the streets, got a few pairs of earrings and ended up at the next subway station.
I took a subway down to Hongdae but went out a different exit so I could see another side of Hongdae. My random choice was lucky, I found the Line store that does BT21! Line is a messaging app that does online stickers of specific characters, and those characters have every type of merch you can think of. BT21 is their line done together with BTS. It's a genius marketing strategy because the bigger BTS gets the more people will buy stuff with the BT21 characters on them. I got a t-shirt with Koya, a sleepy koala on it. He's the leader's character.
After walking around Hongdae more, and experiencing the sensory overload that is the busking area at 8pm I just wanted to find some food and go back to by airbnb. This is where the disappointment begins. I spotted a huge sign that said Pizza Mall and figured pizza was actually a smart choice, because not eating meat in Korea means most places are going to be a bust. I walked over and took the escalator up. This was my first mistake. Once I entered the restaurant it became clear it was a buffet style thing, but everything seemed to be in Korean. I honestly can't deal with not having anything in English so I decided not to eat there. However, I couldn't find the escalator down anywhere! I panicked and went up to the third floor and then the fourth floor, where I found a really shifty looking door to the staircase. I went down the stairs all the way to the ground floor and got out the back door of the building. Never again will I use one-way escalators.
So, determined to eat pizza tonight I remembered there was a huge pizza place called Pizza Up near exit 3 from Hongdae station so I continued walking forward. I confidently stepped into this establishment and then realised there was a machine that you had to use to order, and a 6-step process that for some reason had DRINK UP before PAY UP and the last step was PIZZA UP so I had no idea what to do in what order. The only English turned out to be the titles and nothing on the app was in English except the names of the dishes, which doesn't really help the ordering process. With the process of elimination and logic (left button is usually exit while the colorful button on the right means continue etc.) I had an order of spaghetti and some water, but once I was ready to pay it had a long text in Korean and a photo of one of those round things that starts making noise once your food is ready. There was a number menu under it so I'm assuming it meant for me to write down the number of my round thing, but I had no idea how to get a round thing and I wasn't just going to put my order on someone else's thing. I could hear the girls behind me get frustrated and I couldn't figure out what to do and there were no workers around so I just deleted my items and left. It was embarrassing and frustrating. I just wanted food.
I found my third option, a place called Salad Brothers that I had wanted to visit for a while. I went up to the second floor but as soon as I got in they told me it was closed already. Defeated I head back down. I still had my eyes out for any possible meal locations but at this point I was honestly just so exhausted by even having hope. I got a vitamin water and a cup of noodles from the Seven-Eleven and head back.
I guess the universe just didn't want me to have a warm dinner tonight. I know a bakery nearby that's open until late so I think I might go over and pick up something even if it is sweet, to fill me up after the noodles. I'll try again tomorrow with the meals I guess.
...
Okay, I went outside, got a chocolate strawberry tart and an egg tart from the bakery and picked up another pack of ramen and some kimchi. I have combined the ramen packs and the kimchi in a bowl and it almost looks like a meal! Never give up kids. I'm excited to try the egg tart, I've never had one before but they're all the rage in Asia.
I think tomorrow will be Itaewon day, I don't wanna miss any notable neighborhoods and I still have a bunch of stuff to buy as souvenirs. I'm normally the kind of person that likes a few days off after I've gone out and done something so it's getting really difficult for me to keep thinking of things I want to do and actually go out and do them. Like sure the fact that I'm paying for this holiday myself is a motivator but man, I just wanna be lowkey for a while.
Thank you as always for reading! See you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Becks
I'm so frustrated I honestly feel like crying. I just tried and failed to get food several times, and had to resort to a cup noodle once again. The thing is, today went pretty well up until now. Let's rewind.
Today was museum day! I decided to go to Seoul Museum of Modern Art first, because it was nearby at City Hall subway station. I was up earlier than usually but a shower and curling my hair took a bunch of time so I still ended up leaving when I usually do. After a short subway ride I popped into a Quiznos to get some breakfast. I've never been to a Quiznos but I know it from American movies, it's basically like Subway but kind of upgraded. I had a very basic veggie sub and the worst milk tea of my life. It had white bits floating in it and I don't know if it was the fat from the milk or just, off milk.
The trek down to the museum was very warm, but it was super pretty! There was a small garden-y bit with statues in it. The museum itself is a nice building, it kind of reminds me of Kiasma in Helsinki with the white interior and windows everywhere. There were three exhibitions on so I visited all of them. The first floor had a weaving related exhibition and one of the works required visitors to weave one of the hanging threads into the artwork. I've now left my mark on Seoul!
I was through this museum pretty fast and decided to head to the next one, but in transit my phone decided to finally cancel my internet. I was told that my internet would cut out at some point today because I got a 10-day SIM card, and it did. Luckily the subway map works offline too. I took the subway to Anguk, which is now apparently my most visited station. I didn't have a map and couldn't find any tourist maps so instead of finding the museum I just kind of started wandering where it seemed like there were a lot of people or cool shops. I went down to Insadong which I mentioned before! This part of Insadong wasn't super traditional but every store name is in Hangul, so even Etude House etc. is spelled in Hangul. For some reason as I was walking someone tapped me on the shoulder so I turned around, and it was a young Korean lady. I took my earphone out and looked at her and she was just like "sorry" and so I turned around and walked faster. I don't know what her issue was.
I happened upon this wonderful little complex just a few moments later! Basically there was a small clearing in the middle with a stand in it, and then around it there was four floors of stores. Everything was glass-walled and doored so you could see everywhere from whichever store you were in. From the looks of it almost everything was handcrafted and small business-like. I toured the layers and then found a wee shop with super cute postcards so I got a few of those. They had a tent set up on the ground floor for caricature photos and I was feeling brave so I went down. I've never ever thought of sitting for one of those but, I'm in a country where no one knows me and it's a cool physical memory to make. It was quite awkward at first to sit there while the lady kept looking at me once in a while, but by far it was the weirdest to watch people stop and look at me, then look at the photo, then smile and whisper or say something to each other. It's like having something in your teeth but no one actually telling you where so you can't do anything about it except try to get it yourself. I felt very exposed. Anyhow, the drawing turned out cool (she definitely got my sad droopy eyes down) and I headed back out to find a cafe of some sort.
Past some more stalls, one of which was a homemade slime stall, I found a cafe. It seemed like a regular kind of place but the crepe cake I ordered came with a huge melted sugar decoration and several types of sauces smeared on the plate in an artistic manner. It was so extra. The cafe was nice though, I got wi-fi and they were playing a lot of the new BTS album. I was meant to head down to Itaewon later on to find this one vegan restaurant but I decided to save it for another day and just go wherever tonight. I walked along the streets, got a few pairs of earrings and ended up at the next subway station.
I took a subway down to Hongdae but went out a different exit so I could see another side of Hongdae. My random choice was lucky, I found the Line store that does BT21! Line is a messaging app that does online stickers of specific characters, and those characters have every type of merch you can think of. BT21 is their line done together with BTS. It's a genius marketing strategy because the bigger BTS gets the more people will buy stuff with the BT21 characters on them. I got a t-shirt with Koya, a sleepy koala on it. He's the leader's character.
After walking around Hongdae more, and experiencing the sensory overload that is the busking area at 8pm I just wanted to find some food and go back to by airbnb. This is where the disappointment begins. I spotted a huge sign that said Pizza Mall and figured pizza was actually a smart choice, because not eating meat in Korea means most places are going to be a bust. I walked over and took the escalator up. This was my first mistake. Once I entered the restaurant it became clear it was a buffet style thing, but everything seemed to be in Korean. I honestly can't deal with not having anything in English so I decided not to eat there. However, I couldn't find the escalator down anywhere! I panicked and went up to the third floor and then the fourth floor, where I found a really shifty looking door to the staircase. I went down the stairs all the way to the ground floor and got out the back door of the building. Never again will I use one-way escalators.
So, determined to eat pizza tonight I remembered there was a huge pizza place called Pizza Up near exit 3 from Hongdae station so I continued walking forward. I confidently stepped into this establishment and then realised there was a machine that you had to use to order, and a 6-step process that for some reason had DRINK UP before PAY UP and the last step was PIZZA UP so I had no idea what to do in what order. The only English turned out to be the titles and nothing on the app was in English except the names of the dishes, which doesn't really help the ordering process. With the process of elimination and logic (left button is usually exit while the colorful button on the right means continue etc.) I had an order of spaghetti and some water, but once I was ready to pay it had a long text in Korean and a photo of one of those round things that starts making noise once your food is ready. There was a number menu under it so I'm assuming it meant for me to write down the number of my round thing, but I had no idea how to get a round thing and I wasn't just going to put my order on someone else's thing. I could hear the girls behind me get frustrated and I couldn't figure out what to do and there were no workers around so I just deleted my items and left. It was embarrassing and frustrating. I just wanted food.
I found my third option, a place called Salad Brothers that I had wanted to visit for a while. I went up to the second floor but as soon as I got in they told me it was closed already. Defeated I head back down. I still had my eyes out for any possible meal locations but at this point I was honestly just so exhausted by even having hope. I got a vitamin water and a cup of noodles from the Seven-Eleven and head back.
I guess the universe just didn't want me to have a warm dinner tonight. I know a bakery nearby that's open until late so I think I might go over and pick up something even if it is sweet, to fill me up after the noodles. I'll try again tomorrow with the meals I guess.
...
Okay, I went outside, got a chocolate strawberry tart and an egg tart from the bakery and picked up another pack of ramen and some kimchi. I have combined the ramen packs and the kimchi in a bowl and it almost looks like a meal! Never give up kids. I'm excited to try the egg tart, I've never had one before but they're all the rage in Asia.
I think tomorrow will be Itaewon day, I don't wanna miss any notable neighborhoods and I still have a bunch of stuff to buy as souvenirs. I'm normally the kind of person that likes a few days off after I've gone out and done something so it's getting really difficult for me to keep thinking of things I want to do and actually go out and do them. Like sure the fact that I'm paying for this holiday myself is a motivator but man, I just wanna be lowkey for a while.
Thank you as always for reading! See you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Becks
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