That’s right folks! My Bestie and I met up in Seoul. We live on different sides of the world, so hanging out isn’t something we can do every day. A friend of hers that lives in the same city happened to be coming to Seoul more or less around the same time I had planned to be here. So, she jumped on the chance to tag along. We spent a total of 3 days together (2 of which you might recognize from “First Week in Seoul *LONG ARTICLE*“). You can watch how those days went in the video
If you want to skip to a certain day, here are the quick links:
Day 1
The four of us (My mom, Bestie, Friend, and me) started off by attempting to meet at the Sanrio Lovers Club but when we got there, we saw that you needed to make a reservation via Naver. So we walked around for a bit before they called a taxi to take us to the mall where the Cinnamoroll Cafe is. I was super excited because it is so cute and pastel. It’s a pastel lover’s dream cafe. You also had to make an appointment, but we were able to make one for an hour later. So while Bestie and Friend ate the last Bacon, Egg, and Cheese from a coffee place on the ground floor, Momma and I went to the convenience store. I bought a cheese ramen bowl and a cheese omelet on a stick for protein. Momma, who has developed an egg intolerance (to read about why click here), decided to buy some mixed almonds packs and read bead buns. We ate our breakfast together at like 11:45 am. When we were done at like 12:15ish we headed upstairs for our 12:20 reservation.
We ordered some pretty cute-looking drinks. I got the Sweet Peach Soda that had the little Ice Cream on top. It was delicious. I took my Polaroid camera for a picture to put in my travel journal and decided that I wanted Bstie to be in it. It turned out better than I had hoped, especially since I just figured out how to use the selfie timer. Our limit was until 1:30 and we stayed until the last minute before going up 2 floors to the Animate store for some manga that Bestie collects. I believe that on the floor below it is where there’s a cafe with merch for the Under The Oak Tree webtoon. Afterward, we went o our local Daiso to get some miscellaneous things like markers, cuticle clippers, bang hair rollers, and some double-sided tape. Momma had to go back to work, so the girls and I went to the net stop, which was the Knife Gallery in Insadong.
The Knife Gallery was super cool! There were all sorts of things ranging from ninja stars to swords and kitchen knives to maces. Bestie was looking to get something for her Boyfie to use while hunting, Friend was getting a gift for her son, and I was just enjoying myself. It was so cool to see some traditional Korean Swords outside of a museum. We also stopped by this souvenir store where that lady was super sweet.
We finished off our whole day by visiting (the ending parts of) the Myeong-dong Night Market, where we got some $1 earrings and some face products (I got a bunch of masks as gifts).
Day 2
Day #2 with Bestie started at around 11ish. We met up in Namdaemun Market, which is my 2nd favorite market in Seoul so far. I had done some previous research and found that I could get glasses for cheap in most Asian countries. I have been wearing glasses for a little over a decade at his point, so I know how expensive they are in the US and how expensive my round ones were in Portugal. I saw a video and read an article made by TwinSpeak where I found a recommendation on where to go (I totally suggest checking them out. They have a ton of great articles about Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Click on their name in this article and it’ll take you to their blog).
The place TwinSpeak recommends is called DaeSeong AnKyeong (대성안경). There are tons of places where you can get glasses for a good price in this same area but since they had such a good opinion of it, we decided to check it out. It’s down this little alleyway that we passed the first time cause we couldn’t see the entrance to it. There’s a Hotteok (or Hoeddeok) place on the corner and it was super popular. The people were lining up right on the corner, blocking out view (because we aren’t very tall). Once we got in the place, they offered us little yogurt drinks called Yakult (yes, it does have lactose). There was a language barrier because they didn’t speak much English and we don’t speak much Korean, but we were able to communicate through Google Translate, a calculator, and good old-fashioned pen and paper.
When we were able to communicate that we wanted to buy glasses, they immediately took us over to the area near the eye machines. There, they had frames made from Korean plastic priced at around ₩9,000 or about $7. I was shocked, to say the least. They let us try on multiple frames and gave (read as brought over) some suggestions on which frames could work better for our faces. We told them that we wanted to get an eye test (because we were due for a test anyway) and they took us to the eye machine. They didn’t need to dilate our eyes and it was a short, simple examination (it was also free).
I’m going to put how much we paid in total above the map (below ⇩). We decided that we were going to get 2 frames each and were able to pay upfront with our credit/debit cards. They told us to come back in an hour and our glasses would be done.
During that hour, we split up for a bit in the market. Before meeting back up at a store called BTSeoul. The owner was super sweet and kind! She let me film the inside of her store and even subscribed to my channel. I’m totally going to keep going to her stall whenever I go to Namdaemun Market. I got a cute Tata card holder and lanyard that I put together to make my current train pass holder. Here’s her location and her Instagram.
BTSeoul
33-30 Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul
//www.instagram.com/embed.js
After an hour of exploring, Bestie and I went back to the glasses place while Momma and Friend got some hotteok at the corner. The glasses were in the frames and all. All that was left was to fit them to our faces/ears. They let us put them on and looked to see where the adjustments needed to be made. This wasn’t an extra service, just part of the process. After the fitting, they showed us that they were blue light lenses! They did that automatically, which we appreciate because we both work with computers all day. There are other lenses that you can choose from (like glasses transitioning to sunglasses when outdoors) but I didn’t really pay attention to those. Ready for the ring up? I paid ₩56,000 ($42) and Bestie paid ₩94,000 ($71). In total. Yeah, I know. Bestie and I kept doing happy dances the whole day.
DaeSong AnKyeong (대성안경)
3-5 Namdaemunno 4(sa)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
My mom had to work, so she went back to our place while I stayed with Bestie and Friend. The three of us decided to go to the Han River, where I took a polaroid of the sunset to put in my travel journal. We then walked across the Han River on the bridge. I’m sure that it’s a wonderful walk when it’s not super cold outside. I don’t know how, but we forgot that it was breezy November and decided to commit to a 30-minute walk. Like you can’t back out halfway through. On the bright side, I got in the rest of my steps for that day! When we got to the other side, we took a short walk by the boats and the little heart tunnel before promptly looking for a place to eat. We decided to eat at a place called Paradisio (I think). The food was good and I brought some back to our place for Momma.
Day 3
The third and final day with Bestie was when I met Alba (from the 4 Sisters in Foreign Lands blog). Bestie and I started our day off by eating breakfast at the Paris Baguette in her station. We finished breakfast and left for another station, where we would find Alba. We hadn’t planned what to do beforehand, so we made a quick plan of what to do and left for Gwangjang Market. Gwangjang Market has a variety of food kiosks, vendors, and items. You could get souvenirs, a Hanbok, shampoo, and lunch all in the same place. There’s a kiosk in there that has some amazing Japchae and Tteokbokki. Actually, there’s great food there in general. I absolutely recommend spending the day eating food in the market.
Gwangjang Market (광장시장)
88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
After that, we hopped on over to Ssamzigil, a shopping area on the Insadong shopping street. In this shopping area, you can find all sorts of handmade artisans. You also may or may not find the poop-themed cafe on the top floor. The steps are very picturesque and make for a great Instagram story post.
Ssamzigil (쌈지길)
44 Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Net too far away, you can also find a LINE store, where you can get adorable BTS and/or LINE friends merch. When we were there, I got a 2-in-1 hand warmer and power bank (which was a good investment because it snowed like 2 weeks after). It’s kind of in a mini shopping center. If I’m not mistaken, I think Haribo World is in the shopping center. But if you go to floor 3 (or 5, I don’t really remember) you can find a self-service photo booth store where you can take pictures of yourself and your friends (or just yourself).
PLAY Line Friends Insadong(플레이 라인프렌즈 인사동점)
49 Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
While our time together in Korea was short, Bestie and I had a blast with the few days we got to spend together. I honestly wish we had more time on this trip, but on the next one, we’ll definitely make more plans together.
Stay tuned for more posts about my adventures! Check out my YouTube channel JustMari and my TikTok for videos about things I don’t make blog posts about and be on the lookout for the podcast episode that’ll come out with some more details and my inner thoughts.
This is Mari, signing off!
JustMari's Adventures 