Korea, Day 2: 24 Jan 2014
Assalamualaikum,
We planned to go to Lotte World and was supposed to go out around 8AM or 9AM but since we were all tired and worn off, we went out a bit late and took the subway to Lotte World. The ride from Ewha Women's University station to Jamsil took about 35 minutes and so all of us almost dozed off in that sort of long ride.
We bought the ticket using the ticketing machine and a friendly ahjussi helped us navigating the machine even though we chose the English option. It was confusing at first but you'll get the hang of it in time. We purchased the day ticket, worth 44,000 won.
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| The ticket. So cute. |
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| The Adventure side, which is located indoor |
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| Another view. It was spacious and I was lazy to take pictures |
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| Magic Island, a.k.a the outdoor attractions located here. |
Sadly, we only managed to ride few attractions as Lotte World was packed with people, couples, family... Did we come to Korea at the wrong time? :( We went to Korean Folk Museum as we thought it'd be a waste to line up for the rides, which, well, it'd be better we actually lined up for them. Oh well.
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| Notice the typo they had on the sign? Yeah. "Fork" Museum hahahaha |
Before we decided to leave, we stopped at Lotteria and had our late lunch there. I ordered squid burger (오징어버거) while Fatihah and Imanina both ordered prawn burger (새우버거). The cashier warned me that my burger is spicy and I said it's okay, since I really love spicy foods haha. It was really delicious compared to the plain prawn burger. Well, at least mine got this hot sensation going on hehe.
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| I actually miss this burger :( |
We then decided to walk around in Apgujeong and Cheongdamdong and so, it's time to search for the Kpop companies' buildings! The first building we searched for was SM Entertainment. Sadly, the directions given on blogs we found were not even close to the building we're trying to find. And we actually walked for I don't know how many kilometres but we sure walked a lot to find the building. We also met new friends from Indonesia who were trying to find the buildings as well. We succeeded to find the SM Global Artist Training Centre (noticeable with huge poster of SM artists that promoted at the time being) which is located next to Galleria Department Store. We found that but not the actual SM Entertainment building, and so, we continued to walk towards Galleria. And guess what happened?
I saw EXO's Tao, right in front of my eyes! At first I was like "Gosh, that is Tao, right?" and Imanina was like "Yeah that is him!" I was freaked out and we were nearing him, I took this opportunity to ask "타오씨 맞죠?" (You're Tao, right?) and he answered with a simple "Yes" and walked away. Then I felt like it's such a waste to not take pictures with him so I ran back (we were heading to opposite directions) and asked, "우린 같이 사진 찍으면 될까요?" (Can we take pictures together?) He was alone with no managers at the time, and I was hoping that he would agree to take pictures but maybe he's following his company's rule, he said "사진 찍는거 안돼요" (You can't take pictures) so I nodded and he continued walking. I thought of taking his pictures secretly but thinking it'd spread quickly and maybe people will follow him, I decided to let it slip. Pity idols who wanted to rest, let them have their time :)
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| The road where I bumped into Tao by accident. |
We almost gave up since we saw nothing like the entertainment companies' buildings in our sight so one of our Indonesian friend turned around and took the road Tao took before. She said this is the right road to go to SM Entertainment so we followed the road all the way till its end. It was a hill, but luckily we're going down the hill most of the times. You will see a park at the end of the road, and all we need to do is to turn right. There were misdirection occurred and we met FNC Entertainment's building first. We noticed it since there were many people gathered at a place.
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| FNC Entertainment building. I like its architecture the best |
After multiple times of trying to connect to Wifi (sadly, there's no such thing as free wifi available throughout the country hahaha I bought KT Prepaid Card for OllehWifi, costs 9,900 won for 4 days) we managed to find a way to go to SM Entertainment from FNC. We were lost again, but then, after multiple times going back and forth at the same street, we found it. We found the gem. The company that made us walked from 5.25pm till 6.05pm. The SM Building located right after Yonsei Villa apartment's building. We saw 2 girls went out and entered the "idol van" and the way they covered themselves seemed like they already debuted. Can't say from which group but guessing from body size, I think they'd be from SNSD. We also saw EXO's Baekhyun, Lay, and Chen in the transparent elevator going up and down the building.
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| Few members of SM Rookies just walked out that door by the time I took this picture |
Direction to SM Entertainment building: Take the subway to Apgujeong Rodeo Street Station (Bundang Line) and go to exit 2. It is wayyyyy closer than stopping at Apgujeong Station. Trust me, I've experienced the pain of walking in Korea. Walk straight till you see the SM Global Artist Training Centre (easy to notice because of extra huge banner of SM artists) and turn left. You'll see a hill and you need to hike up a bit before you go down the hill. On your left side should be a school, your right side too. Just go down the road and you will find a park opposite the street. Turn right and follow the road. Walk straight till you notice 연세빌라 written on a building on your right. If you see it, just continue walking straight and you will find SM Entertainment building on your right
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| Your feet will hurt, trust me, but this is the easiest way that we found |
We then proceed to JYP Entertainment but we found Cube Entertainment first, so time to stop at Cube Cafe and Studio for a break.
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| We saw this from afar and new we're at the right path. That is CUBE logo btw |
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| The coffee tastes nice and it feels weird to see Rain in Cube Entertainment... |
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| The building up close. I have no idea how to take pictures of this building so yeah |
We decided to not waste time by only taking pictures of the buildings and went back to hostel. We wasted lots of time at SM Entertainment, particularly because there were idols going in and out of the building. We continued walking to JYP Entertainment since it is located diagonally opposite to Cube Entertainment. Easy to notice too because of the sign and all.
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| Only here to take pictures and we off to search for subway entrance haha |
And this is where we wasted our time walking to search for nearest subway entrance. We walked so much and I was really tired of walking but since it was cold, better for us to be in any subway station rather than being outside for a long time. We found it, luckily and so, off to Hapjeong we go. Time to visit the last entertainment building, which is, YG Entertainment.
Direction to YG Entertainment: Take subway to Hapjeong Station (line 2), exit 8. You will see SK Petrol Pump upon exiting, continue walking till the end of the street where you see a junction. On your right supposedly situated another SK Petrol Pump and Namkyung Hotel (they were under construction when we were there) and you should see an island of shops in front of you (called it an island because it's isolated lol). Turn right and continue walking. Take note on small alley on your left side and find "Prouod" sign. You shall see YG Building if you noticed the sign. Cross the road and walk towards the sign.
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| It was dark, really. And so little people waiting outside the building. |
We walked back to the subway station and head back to our hostel. Rest time. The highlight of the second day of my trip is, meeting/seeing idols hehe. Got to talk to Tao is so precious, I was a bit disappointed with myself since I promised to record my whole journey each day but didn't do so.
*see you on next update!
0 munchkin(s)