Bupyeong Underground Shopping Mall / Ihwa Mural Village

Hello everyone!!!!!! It's already October... can you believe it???? My midterms are coming up in a few weeks' time and I. Am. Seriously. Not. Ready. I thought my study habits/time management skills would improve while I'm in Korea.. but honestly, it's actually becoming worse LOL.

Anyway, this post is about my trip to Bupyeong Underground Shopping Mall as well as my trip to Ihwa Mural Village. If I'm not mistaken, this was my first weekend trip after school officially started. (Yes, I really cannot sit at home and do nothing... there is so much to explore in a foreign land!!)

Bupyeong Underground Shopping Mall
In Seoul, there are heaps of underground shopping malls, where you can find a lot of things - from clothes to souvenirs. Most of them are actually quite cheap and affordable, so I guess that's why a student/tourist like me love these places.

Bupyeong is located outside of Seoul - it's actually very close to Incheon. It took me and my friends a bit over an hour to get there from Anam. We reached Bupyeong around 11ish in the morning I think? And there were a lot of stores that were still closed.

Anyway, this place is MASSIVE. I think we took nearly 2 hours to cover the entire underground shopping mall. And because the interior pretty much looks the same, I got dizzy after a while.... And to be honest, most of the fashion stores here probably got their stocks from the same supplier, so I guess that explains why everything looks the same to me.

As I've mentioned before, there's a lot of stuff you can find here - clothes, skincare products, shoes, souvenirs. Clothes are mostly 10,000 won, which is quite reasonable if you really look closely at the quality of the clothes. Some stores might sell their products a little more expensive than others, so you really have to look around to get the best deals. And if you're good in speaking Korean, you can try your luck at bargaining. (I still think my Korean skills are very limited, so I dare not bargain lol.)

The only picture I took of Bupyeong Underground Shopping
Mall. It pretty much looks like this throughout the mall.

After walking around the underground shopping mall, we decided to have lunch. And coincidentally, there was a halal Nepali/Indian restaurant nearby, so we decided to check it out. The restaurant is called Bihani, and they're self-certified Halal. Me and my friends had naan with butter chicken, and it was pretty good. The owner is very accommodating - he kept asking us how the food was, and he even provided a space for us to pray. So yeah, that was a really nice gesture.

Bihani from the exterior. It's located next to a carpark.

Naan and butter chicken :3

Afterwards, we decided to head to Bupyeong Shopping Mall, which is located above the underground shopping mall. We didn't really explore the place because we were already too tired at that point lolllll. There's Lotte Mart, a hawker food centre and some cafes here. Again, didn't really take pictures here. Sorry T_T But anyway, that concludes my trip to Bupyeong Shopping Mall!

Bupyeong Shopping Mall

Ihwa Mural Village
I decided to meet up with Jay, a friend of mine from Melbourne, who is also on exchange in Seoul. We decided to go to Ihwa Mural Village, since both of us have not been here before. Before going there, we went to have sushi for lunch. I actually have no idea where the sushi restaurant is exactly, but it's somewhere near the shopping area in Hyehwa.

Afterwards, we headed to Ihwa Mural Village, which is located 10-15 minutes walk away from Hyehwa Station. These murals are actually painted on the walls of the houses there. And yes, this village is actually a residential area, so tourists have to be mindful of the residents living there. Anyway, there's a lot of murals scattered everywhere, and it's just a really nice place to wind down and admire the murals. If you keep walking uphill, you'll eventually reach Naksan Park, where you can see a skyscraper view of Seoul. We didn't really explore the entire park, but managed to see part of the Seoul Fortress Wall.

Omg cool/funny story time! Me and Jay took a picture of a mural of a granddaughter with her grandfather. And coincidentally, the person in the mural was ACTUALLY THERE, talking with other residents. It was kinda cool to see that the murals of people at the village are actually the residents there. Anyway, picture spam time!!

Found this cool building in the middle of the neighbourhood.

Me and Jay had ice cream here. It was such a nice place
to just relax and chill.

I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

One of the shops at the mural village. I love the interior :)

Can you see Namsan Tower? :)

The neighbourhood side of Seoul.

A part of the Seoul Fortress Wall

Anyway, that concludes my trip to Ihwa Mural Village!

More blogposts coming up! Stay tuned :)

Until next time!!!

BIGBANG Exhibition / N Seoul Tower

Hi guys!!!! I think I'm extremely behind in blogging about my experiences.... lololol but slowly but surely, I will blog about everything that I've done so far in Korea. Anyway, I'll be blogging about my experience to the BIGBANG Exhibition and N Seoul Tower. I went to these places on the same day (on 30th August to be exact) - exhibition in the afternoon and the tower at night. I was so tired by the end of the day but it was a day well-spent for sure ^^

BIGBANG Exhibition
I went to the exhibition with Atirah and it took us roughly 20 minutes from Anam Station to get to Seongsu Station, which is where the exhibition is at. The exhibition is located at S-Factory, which is about a 10 minute walk from the station. I managed to spot the huge BIGBANG Exhibition poster, which is a surprise because I'm usually very oblivious....

Ticket costs 12,000won, which isn't too bad I reckon.... all for BIGBANG ♥♥♥
LOL anyway, professional cameras/video recording devices weren't allowed, so I couldn't use my GoPro to take pictures... I even tried to snapchat video on my phone but the staff said it wasn't allowed either.... Nevertheless here are the pictures I took at the exhibition! Sorry if the pictures seem.. disproportionate. I couldn't be bothered editing the photos lollllllll.

I absolutely love this shot of Taeyang. <3

Too damn true :)

THIS REALLY BROUGHT ME TO TEARS.
It's BIGBANG during their pre-debut era. :'(

Anyone recognise some of the props?
(Hint hint: it's from a music video)

<3 <3 <3

All of their concert outfits!!

This is a prop used in their tours and they actually showed
a video of the members breaking this prop into pieces.

This is meant to symbolise BIGBANG's future apparently lel

All of BIGBANG's albums <3333333

A corner where you can listen to BIGBANG's music

After leaving the exhibition, there is a gift shop and a mini food counter at the bottom floor. I bought little fridge magnets (because that's one that I could afford LOL) and churros from the food counter.

It was honestly an amazing experience because you get to see BIGBANG's achievements and you get to see REAL-LIFE PROPS from their music videos/tours etc. And I guess it makes me proud, as a fan, knowing that they've achieved so much in 10 years. :)

N Seoul Tower
After the exhibition, we headed to Myeongdong Station, which is about a 20 minute subway ride from Seongsu Station. We boarded the Namsan Shuttle Bus #5. The bus ride itself took about 15 minutes until it reached N SEOUL TOWER!!! Initially I thought that N Seoul Tower is a separate tower from the very famous Namsan Tower...... until I realised what the N stands for in N Seoul Tower -_-

TIPS ABOUT TRANSPORTATION TO N SEOUL TOWER:
- They provide shuttle bus services to N Seoul Tower at different locations in Seoul, which includes: Chungmuro Station, Dongguk Uni Station, Itaewon Station, Hangangjin Station and Seoul Station
- There is also a cable car that you can ride from the bottom of the hill, which is located 15 minutes away from Myeongdong Station Exit 3. This is for those who wants to experience THE cable car ride that Jandi and Junpyo once took in the all-hailed Korean drama Boys Over Flowers LOL.
- For more info, visit this website: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264550

Once we arrived at our destination, we had to walk uphill to the base of the tower (also known as the plaza), where it's pretty much empty~ We took the lift to the 1st floor, where we bought our observatory deck tickets for 10,000won. Other than the ticketing booth, there are also restaurants and gift shops here. Well, I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking now :) (Sorry again for the lack of quality in the pictures!)

The view of the N Seoul Tower from the bus stop :)

View of Seoul at the top of the hill

View of Seoul at night. Too beautiful ♥

View of Seoul. Again ♥

N Seoul Tower at night ♥♥♥

A good photo opportunity for couples.... lel

The couple locks. I tried to find Yongseo (Yonghwa + Seohyun)
couple lock but there were just too many locks LOL

We spent nearly 3 hours at N Seoul Tower, and it is a definitely must-visit-place if you are in Seoul! I cannot emphasise enough on how beautiful Seoul is at night. If you ever have the chance to travel to Seoul, please do visit the N Seoul Tower at night. You won't regret it :)

That's about it for this post! Also, I will try and get a blogpost up every Wednesday, since I don't have classes on Wednesday lol so stay tuned!

Until next time :)

Trips to Itaewon

Hi guys! I know I've blogged a lot about administration stuff with regards to uni.. And I figured it's time to switch gears and start blogging about the fun stuff. Sooooo from now on, for most of my blog posts, I'm gonna start posting all my random sightseeing.

First off on the list is..... Itaewon!!! Itaewon is an area where you'd see a lot of foreigners hanging around. That's because there are a lot of businesses here that have been established by international residents living in Korea. You can find a lot of stuff imported from overseas here..... which of course, includes foooood!!!!!

I knew I had to visit Itaewon even before I arrived in Seoul. Due to the fact that there are a lot of Halal food in this area, particularly in the area where the Seoul Central Mosque is located. I've been to Itaewon a number of times since I arrived in Seoul, so here's just a recount of my experience so far.

Halal food

When I first arrived in Seoul, I had to firstly find a place where I could buy my groceries. In Itaewon, there are a few shops that sells imported Halal food products and local Halal food products. The only downside to it is that some of the products might be a little expensive (well, for me it is because I'm on a student budget lol)... but I guess you'll have to deal with it. Also... some of the shops don't have clearly stated price tags to it... which kinda sucks when you're trying to compare prices with other shops.

This is Foreign Food Mart, which is where I buy most of my groceries from.

After finding different grocery markets, I had to find a butcher that sells Halal meat. Again, there are a few butcher shops available in Itaewon, but all of them that I've been to only sells imported Halal meat, which also means that it's on the pricey side. If I remember correctly, 500g of mince meat costs 6,000 won, which is about AUD$7. Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of the butcher shop that I usually buy my meat from... will probably update this post again with a picture next time.

If you're trying to find a Halal restaurant in Itaewon, there are A LOT of them around here.. to the point where I can say you are spoiled for choice. And depending on what you order, some of the food may also be on the pricey side. Anyway I've only been to two restaurants:
1. Itaewon Halal Pizza, a small cosy fast food restaurant which sells burgers, chips, and of course, pizza.
2. Makan Halal Korean Restaurant, which sells super delicious Korean food.

I've been to the Makan restaurant twice now and oh my god their food are so delicious I cannot even describe it in words. My favourites on their menu are the 떡갈비 (tteok-galbi), which is a beef dish, and this squid dish, which I totally forgot its Korean name. Also, their 반찬 (banchan), which are side dishes that are served with every meal, are TO-DIE-FOR. I seriously love all of their side dishes T_T

I'm already drooling just by looking at this picture.... 

Seoul Central Mosque
The mosque is located on a hill, so you'd have to walk up in order to get to the mosque. Anyway, to enter the mosque area, you'd have to be dressed appropriately (i.e your legs, arms need to be covered and not exposed). Even if you're not, the mosque provides clothing that you can wear temporarily while you are within the mosque area. I've seen some Koreans who were keen to learn about Islam and were talking to a person who was working at the mosque. It's a pleasant feeling seeing that people are still interested to know about Islam, despite all the hate that is happening around the world.

Anyway, I've been to the mosque a number of times, of which one of the occasion was for Eid ul Adha. It was a refreshing experience because I've never been away from my family for Eid before. And even though I was far away from home, being at the mosque for Eid prayers was truly a nice feeling. Cool fact - the sermon after the Eid prayers were conducted in English and Korean. How awesome is that????!!! Anywayyyyyy after the Eid prayers ended, there were a bunch of Indonesians crowding around this lady and taking pictures with her. Turns out, she's the wife of the ex-president of Indonesia (Yudhoyono) LOL. Both Yudhoyono and his wife were present at the Eid prayers. I thought that was cool lol.

The view from the top of the hill where the mosque is located.

Seoul Central Mosque in the day

Seoul Central Mosque at night

Other stuff about Itaewon
Itaewon is a really happening town at night... and that's because Itaewon is also home to a lot of  nightclubs. Quite a number of people from my dorm love going to Itaewon because of the nightlife. If you have any questions about the nightlife in Itaewon, I'm sorry to say that I'm the wrong person to ask about this matter LOLLLLLLL.

Itaewon can get kinda dodgy at night, so it's best that you always have someone with you at all times..... Actually this applies for everywhere you go in Seoul... so yup.

A street in Itaewon.

... And that concludes my post about Itaewon! I will be blogging about more places very soon :)