All posts by Talyssa

BoomShakaStylin’ Shinee – Why So Serious?

May 7, 2013 Talyssa Leave a comment

Shinee is back with their new debut song “Why So Serious?”

I don’t really understand the KPOP trend in Korea at the moment with the saying “Why so serious?” I guess GDragon made it popular in Crayon…then Epik High had that performance at the MAMA awards which featured every member dressed as a Batman character…and now this..

but what exactly sparked the trend…? Batman was never overly big in Korea?

Dun dun DUNNNNNN

We don’t know.

But what we do know is that Shinee’s hero outfit for this music video is perfectly suited to the lyrics and zombie dance moves of the song.

ZOMBIE GRUNGE

Shinee’s outfit seamlessly ties the MV together by further communicating the vibe and character of the song – a man whose heart has been in a zombie-like state for some time (or maybe the song is actually a supernatural tale about a zombie who has been buried for way too long). Regardless of your reading, his love has finally been awakened by a beautiful lady, who he tries to convince to be his, but she is a bit apprehensive as he is not the typical guy she would go for. The character likens his feelings of love to that of awakening from a zombie-like state “A heart where only dust used to be,” “my pale lips are again crimson-colored lipstick,” “my blood is heating up again, all that is because of you.”

Shinee’s grungy punk rocker style in this look, acheives a zombie-like aesthetic by coordinating together colours of red, black, grey and white with ripped cage tops, patchwork pants, casual T-shirts and ripped jeans.

Does anyone also get an MJ Thriller vibe from these outfits?? lol. Here you can also see Minho and Key with their blazers and Taemin with his Fedora X Top Hat.

What I find interesting is the addition of gentlemanly attire in the outfits – e.g. blazers and Taemin’s Fedora x Top Hat. The juxtaposition this creates with the grungy messy clothing, compliments the lyrics of the song as if to say, “hey I know I may look like a dangerous and unusual guy (zombie grunge clothes), but If you gave me a chance you’d see my feelings are true and despite my look, I’m a gentleman (blazers!! yay). Trust me, this won’t be a sad love story, everything will be great!!”

Shinee enhance the supernatural element of their look through accessorising. All members have dyed hair, painted nails and coloured contact lenses.

Now, Taemin’s stare has always creeped me out…I don’t know exactly how comfortable I feel having THAT STARE enhanced with contact lenses….To the right Onew flaunts his beautifully painted nails. In the clip the polish appears to have a gold-ish metallic shine to it when in the light.

Key’s sailor hat also adds a nice supernatural touch. At first I was like “what the…?” But it actually helps to give that supernatural vibe in two ways. First of all, it has magical powers or something because Key manages to dance, jump, lay down, and all the while it does not move an inch on his head!!! Secondly it gives off a supernatural vibe of “a time much before now.” Like maybe Key is a sailor zombie~~ who died out at sea oooooooooooooh.

Close up of Key’s outfit and his sailor hat. I think Key’s look has the strongest zombie vibe out of the members because it is the most unusual and quirky – I mean look at those mixed-matched shoes! The photo to the right I had to put in because he just looks hella creepy in a cringe-worthy way!!

For me Taemin and Onew rock this look flawlessly…well almost. Taemin’s Fedora X Top Hat is slightly confusing just as his “A” side pouch/bag thing is..

What does the “A” mean Taemin??! What does the “A” mean?!?

Then it hit me. Aria, Hannah, Spencer and Emily!!!! I have found who “A” is!!!!! He has had a gigantic label on him this entire time!!! Sheesh! Who knew Taemin had a double identity as the villain of Pretty Little Liars?!!?!?

Dayum ~~girl~~ boy! Your legs are fine~ And I really love the cage top.

Absolutely love the casual vibe of Onew’s outfit. I love the layering effect of the tshirt, shirt and jacket. The shoes are awesome as well!! Great look!

The biggest disappointment is my favourite member…Minho!!! First of all, his gorgeous hair has been ruined!! His red blazer, over his grandpa buttoned up cardigan and 1960s old man checked pants just make me so sad. His cute boy vibe has changed to one of a middle aged (or older) Korean man. I want Minho’s pinchable cheeks back!! I want his PINCHABLE CHEEKS BACK !!!!

What has happened Minho!? You use to be so CUTE!!!!

THE WHITE TUX

I like the concept of this look. The clean palette, minimalistic graphic shirts and fitted blazers make it pretty hard to fault this modern take on a combo staple. I love how the look takes the concept of the ‘classic tuxedo’ but transforms it to a wearable everyday look with street fashion pieces like creepers, fedora hats, zipper details etc. This captures the essence of a tuxedo without the formality.

If you look closely you can see that there’s two versions of suits: symmetrical and asymmetrical.

Symmetrical

Minho and Key.

Winner: Minho

Ultimate favourite is Minho’s style. It’s just classy period. The black trimming on the blazer’s lapel collar against the white of the blazer and the simple graphic button down shirt with rare comprehensible English sentences, check!

The white skinnies are what pull the look together. Choosing a pair of black skinnies would be playing it safe but white just took it to the next stage of class.

Key’s look is a bit hit-and-miss on the blazer detail. The pockets in the design are great to show contrast and to balance the kneepads (I’m guessing) however the subtleness in the border trimming gets overtaken by the presence of such a bold patch of colour. His blouse detail is AMAZING I must say, but not enough for me to forgive that blazer!! haha His “beat” earring was a bit out there when I first saw it. It matches his personality though; I dunno what I feel about it with this outfit yet.

Asymmetrical

Onew and Taemin

Winner: Taemin

Can’t go wrong with a top hat to bring some extra swag to your threads. Seriously, top hat, WTF? How do you keep that thing on your head while jumping around on beds Taemin? HOW?!

Anyways, there’s something very TOPSHOP design about the simplicity of the text on the tee with the zebra print. The fact that the pants are a dark green colour wins props in my stylebook. It’s a nice alternative to black. But, is the alternating zebra stripes from right to left too costume stage wear or can it be wearable for the everyday?

Hmmm, if you look from afar it may be subtle but I think it’s pretty unnoticeable in the video. Should guys wear zebra print (would a guy even wear zebra print)? That’s a look not for every guy out there. Taemin’s manliness got knocked back 1000 points in Sherlock so yes – Taemin can wear zebra print. LOL :)

Onew’s outfit is quite stage wear I feel. It reminds me of back in my Visual Kei stage where all the guys in the boy bands wore something similar to be visually pleasing on stage and compliment the other band members. And there was always that ONE guy stuck wearing the long coat/suit who had to suffer on stage LOL. There wasn’t anything striking about Onew’s outfit that I liked (except for the nice crisp tie). It was quite average. Except he can play great hide and seek in it…

MILITARY UNIFORM PREP STYLE

This outfit is just love, love, love! Maybe it’s the nostalgic feeling I’m getting of The Beatles fashion in the 1960s, but the idea of mixing classic powder grey suits and the preppy office wear of the past, with the outer exterior of a bulky trench, anoraks and overcoats in that khaki shade look so handsome on them ohohoho

The addition of zips and buckles seem to be a must for the Shinee-fashion way and works well to bring a fresh interest to the pieces but… the Union Jack?

Sorry to the Brits who might be reading this (please don’t kill me cos we’re Aussie as well ahh ><) but damn, did the stylist/designer just paint that on or what? It’s just so…obvious it’s not meant to be there. If it was faded into the fabric a bit like the other designs, then sure! It works! But that paint job…eww and it’s so obnoxiously big!! It literally screams: LOOK AT MOI!!

AWESOME JACKETS BUT NOT SO AWESOME PANTS!

This outfit is very cool, unique and alternative – very different to the other outfits in this clip. It is very much to show off Shinee’s style rather than to suit the MV or the song in any way. I’m totally digging all the members super quirky and cool jackets!! The trend of excessive zippers is continued in this look, and I’m trying desperately to figure out the function of the zippers on bottom of the sleeves of almost ever jacket and blazer featured in this clip…Perhaps all Shinee members have extraordinarily fat wrists that they need the aid of zippers to fit their arms into their jackets?

Key’s jacket and arm zips! I don’t understand why his face in this entire clip looks so creepy. It has crossed the line of creepiness to the point where I found it hard to differentiate him from Taemin. Yes, his face got THAT creepy.

The jackets are just so unique, I am especially loving Taemin’s baby blue jacket with clouds and the yellow lapel collar!

Taemin’s fabulous jacket! Look at the excessive detailing with the zippers!!! I never knew one jacket needed so many pockets!! Taemin must need to carry a lot of things.

The unique leather floral print on Minho’s jacket was also pretty cool!

Minho’s edgy jacket with arm zip! He definitely looks a lot more handsome here!

And then the awesomeness ends.. totally not loving ONEW’s Hawaiian print leather jacket…that’s just taking things too far.

Argh! Instead of the classic arm zip, Onew has decided to differentiate himself from his group members and flaunt…THE ARM TIGHTENING CUFF.

This overall look is very special in that we only really ever get to see the top half of the look (except for Onew and Taemin which we get slight glimpses of mid-thigh). This kinda got me thinking…Maybe SM ran out of money to feature pants for this last look so they just used dodgy ones and tried to avoid showing it…? Or maybe the jackets were just so amazing the stylists couldn’t find anything to match?? Or maybe…the zombie stage has just completely taken over that Key and Minho’s legs have completely fallen off, whilst Taemin and Onew have still managed to retain their thighs?!??!

Regardless, I’m sure we can all agree that the fact Key and Minho are never shown below the waist for this look, it is evidence enough to safely assume that they were not wearing any pants during this part of the MV. *drool*

Greatly Terrific Food Outing, Korea, Korea Food Guide, Travel

Korean Themed Restaurants and Cafe’s – Part Two

November 23, 2012 Talyssa Leave a comment

Korean Cafes

Here is part 2 of our Themed Cafes and Restaurants Post. For the restaurants please read Part One here.

Now onto the cafes! Korea is filled with cafes and all of them are so lovely!

I have never really been a cafe type person one, because I don’t really like coffee and two, the idea just never really appealed to me. That is, until I went to Korea. In Korea, it seems as if every cafe as its own little vibe going on which is so welcoming, so calming, so cozy and so comfy. I love the atmosphere that each cafe seems to be able to create. Cafes in Korea are the best places to chillax with friends and the best part of all – you only ever have to order one drink and you can stay there as long as you like – seriously – people do work on their laptops for hours! You never get that “can you leave now?” vibe from the waiters!

Unfortunately, I’m yet to find a cafe in Sydney that has quite the charm of a Korean cafe! But I intend to keep searching~

One of the first cafes we went to in Korea really captures this charm and vibe that all Korean cafes seem to have in common.

See this is what I mean, what would you call this vibe?? I just love it so much!! It’s so homely!

Message walls/trees seem to also be a common feature of the Korean cafe culture. They are basically a collection of photos, drawings and hand written messages that people stick up on a wall or hang up on a tree in the cafe.

You might be thinking…why is this photo here?? Well, another common trait in Korean cafes is the presence of notebooks whereby people use to draw, leave messages or play games with friends. Most amazingly, you wont see one penis, curse word or sexual image in these books!! Can you just imagine what kind of things would be in these books if a cafe were to include them in Australia…? Yeah…let’s not even go there..

One of the many cafes Siree and I stumbled across was actually a couple cafe! We walked in not realising, and it was filled with couples! None the less it was a really amazing cafe. I loved it and it’s vibe! It totally lived out those Christmas scenes in Hollywood movies where its snowing and cold outside but the stars of the movie are cuddled up inside their immaculately Christmas decorated homes, by the fireplace…*sigh*…so lovely.

Some delicious food and drinks commonly sold in Korean cafes, which are not sold or easily found in Australia include:

Pumpkin Lattes – seriously delish!
Chestnut Lattes
Green tea lattes
A variety of teas – floral, fruity, herbal, traditional – sometimes there are mixes of all of these.
Waffles, sweet breads, parfaits

Tips:

If your looking for cool cafes, majority of them are located up in the second level of buildings, so when searching don’t just look for places on ground level, look up!

Hardcore Themed Cafes!

Unlike the general Korean cafe vibe, there are numerous cafes in Korea that go ALL out!! Here are some of our experiences:

Hello Kitty Cafe

Wow. Always in my life I have wanted to visit one of the notably famous Hello Kitty cafes. I have always been jealous of seeing my friends photos and finally, I was able to experience it myself.

If there was one word to describe the Hello Kitty Cafe it would definitely be PINK OVERLOAD. Okay two words! So much so that it kinda makes things hard to see, the lighting on your face is terribly unflattering (would not recommend for first dates! haha) and the photos didn’t turn out so nicely because of the light! But it does keep with the vibe so all’s good!

We ~~forced~~ brought along two of our male Korean friends to this restaurant and upon entry, they instantly commented on their masculinity decreasing …! However, being the good hosts they were, they swallowed their pride and joined in as enthusiastically as they possibly could haha. We appreciated the effort..

Wow, it looks so majestic! Haha any man would be scared of this building

Interior decor! Pretty cool right. I mean they have Hello Kitty shaped chairs!!!

If I’m to be really honest, the food here is only mediocre, but then again you don’t really visit the Hello Kitty cafe to eat spectacularly good food. You visit for the vibe and novelty, and judging by that aspect, visiting The Hello Kitty Cafe is worth it.

Directions:

Follow the pink line on the map

MAPfin — Original map from Visit Korea website.

From exit 9 out of Hongik Station, walk straight along yanghwa – ro and turn left into Hongik – ro. Turn right into the third street on your right. The Hello Kitty cafe is hidden up a little alley street, so keep an eye out on your left. The cafe is clearly visible when looking up into the alley.

Cats Living – Cat Cafe

Right next to the Hello Kitty Cafe, is Cats Living – a fully fledged cat cafe with real cats running around!! I’d only ever seen cat cafes whilst watching my favourite KPOP stars visiting them in Korean Variety shows, so naturally I always wanted to visit one myself – after all I love animals!!

But I have to admit, it was not exactly what I was expecting…I guess TV really does put a glossy shiny bubble of shazaam over everything, making it look extra spiffy that you tend to forget about the possible negatives of such a cafe. I mean the cafe looked nice and some of the cats were kinda cute too (SOME WERE SERIOUSLY EVIL)…but the smell was terrible!! I was honestly not expecting that at all! I don’t know what part of my brain put together the fact that a place with 12+ cats all in one room would not smell, but I was so shocked that I actually remember saying to Siree “I don’t want to do this anymore..” I don’t know I guess the thought of eating and drinking in a place with such a smell was kinda off putting…

Nevertheless, it was a very unique experience and I’m glad I did go even though I felt highly uncomfortable…

And I guess after a while you do get over the smell…

Cute signage! I love this aspect of Korean cafes and their use of signs and drawings. Also I may be mistaken here…but I think they spelt “open” wrong haha. Konglish! Love it!

Some of the cute cats! I like the ears on the one of the left haha

The cat on the left was so cutely tragic. Poor thing was so old and I felt sorry for its eyes!!

The decor was also very fitting. I though this idea was really cute.

More of the interior. I really liked that cage chair!

Nawww. Siree and I couldn’t tell how many cats were bundled in here – I’d say 3? Maybe just two lol!

Directions

Follow the pink line on the map

From exit 9 out of Hongik Station, walk straight along yanghwa – ro and turn left into Hongik – ro. Turn right into the third street on your right. Cats Living is located right next to the Hello Kitty Cafe so keep an eye out for that in an alley on your left ( Cats Living is not visible when you look into the alley way only the Hello Kitty Cafe is). As you walk towards the Hello Kitty cafe you will see Cats Living.

Price

The entry fee to the cafe is 8,000 won which includes a drink. The drinks provided here are the standard drinks you might find at Starbucks, so they aren’t that great but its better than nothing. Again though, you visit for the cats not for the food/drinks.

Tips

When you enter Cats Living there is a protocol foreigners may not be aware of.

Upon entry, you are required to take off your shoes. Your shoes can be locked away in a locker and you will be provided with slippers.
Sanitize your hands at the door.

Charlie Brown Cafe

I think out of all the themed cafes, Charlie Brown was my favourite. Maybe because I really love Charlie Brown – I think the drawing style of the characters is super cute! Also I remember watching the cartoon series when I was younger – it was so cute and hilarious!

The front of the cafe! It looks so cute! Charlie is soooo cute!!

One thing I really liked about the Charlie Brown Cafe was that they actually served your drinks in actual Charlie Brown mugs, whereas the Hello Kitty Cafe and Cats Living served their drinks in paper/plastic cups.

More of our drinks! Snoopy and Charlie Brown dusted chocolate.

I liked all the figurines that decorated the cafe! Especially seeing the way Snoopy’s character has changed through the decades.

Directions

Follow the green line on the map

From Hongik station, exit via exit 9 and continue walking straight along Yanghwa -ro. Turn left into Hongik – ro and walk straight until you reach Honik University’s front gates. Facing the gates, turn right down Wausan -ro and turn into the second street on your right (it should be after a small park). Continue walking straight down that street, down the length of the small park.

Greatly Terrific Food Outing, Korea, Korea Food Guide, Travel

Korean Themed Restaurants and Cafes – Part One

November 22, 2012 Talyssa 2 Comments

Get ready to get salivating because these next series of posts are all about the unique food experiences on our Korean Trip.

Whilst the entire trip was filled with amazingly grand and ultra delightful banquets of delicious foods…

….there are just wayyyyy too many photos and experiences for us to show all of them in one blog post. So I’m going to focus on those places that went that extra step further…to the level of themed restaurants and cafes!!

We would be lying if we said that everyday of our Korea trip we were all outgoing and did adventurous Korean things, completely immersing ourselves into the culture. Bu alas, some days we reserved entirely for eating. Yes eating. Whilst inside Siree lies a little piggy that enjoys her food….inside Talyssa the mammoth of all little piggy’s lays dormant, only to be epic-ly released during meal times. In fact I actually LOST weight in Korea because Siree couldn’t handle eating 3 meals a day + snacks. Level up Siree, level up!

Onto the restaurants~

Whilst we saw many themed restaurants in Korea, there are just so many places that look amazing to eat at, that we really only visited one themed restaurant (cafes are another story…).

We were guided by some Korean friends to a restaurant named Flying Chicken – a military themed restaurant in Hongdae. When Koreans do a theme, they go all out. The chairs, to the tables, to the utensils/drinking glasses, to the entire interior design was military themed. We even got served these crackers/biscuits, which our Korean friends kindly let us know that they were a typical snack they ate whilst doing their compulsory military service.

We went to Flying chicken at night – I don’t think it’s open during the day. It is located above the Bar “Vinyl” which is popular for its robot shop front and for serving alcoholic beverages in zip-lock bags!!

The interior decor! It really does have a military vibe!

Here you can see the beer served in the military container. Our Korean friends told us they drank from these shaped containers whilst doing military service. You can also see the ‘military biscuits’ we were served.

Can I just say, that I am so thankful we came here with Korean friends. Amongst our side dishes was some rice wrapped in seaweed and a boiled egg – If we had come here by ourselves Siree and I would have had no idea what to do with it or that we were suppose to mix it in with our chicken! haha

Food Specialty:

Spicy chicken dishes.

Directions:

Follow the blue line on the map.

The map makes the restaurant look really far away, but its not actually that far. From exit 9 of Hongik Station, continue walking straight on the road you are on (Yanghwa – ro) and turn left into Hongik – ro. Follow the road all the way up until you get to the front gates of Hongik University. Facing the front gates of Hongik University, turn right and walk down Wausan – ro. Flying Chicken is located next to a 7-11 and above the popular bar “Vinyl.”

Address:

411-1, Seokyo-dong, Mapo-gu.

Side Note – Korean Bars

This isn’t technically a themed restaurant, but I thought it was an interesting cultural aspect to include…especially since I thought these places were just another type of restaurant…turns out they are actually Korean style bars! Unlike bars in Sydney, which are more of a social event amongst randoms, a Korean bar is completely friendship group orientated, with the seating being confined to separated booth spaces. Why I decided to include this here, is because the bar we went to was decorated all cool – like!

One thing I love about Korean drinking culture is that when you buy a drink, boy do you get value for money!! Not only is the drink significantly huge (check out the beer above!) but you can actually taste the alcohol inside, for example, mixed alcoholic beverages like Vodka lemonades!! Alcohol in Korea is affordable and non stingy, which seems to be the opposite of Sydney – over priced with zero alcohol! The picture on the right shows the anju we ordered. When drinking at Korean bars, it is customary to order some food snacks with your drinks. You must always do this!!

Location:

This particular bar was located near where we were staying in Gaebong. Korean bars however are practically everywhere in Korea and easy to find.

This concludes the end of Part One. Part two here!!!

Korea, Popular Posts, Travel

Your Winter Guide to Everland

November 15, 2012 Talyssa 20 Comments

Your Winter Guide To Everland

elcome to Korea’s largest theme park! If there’s anything South Korea does well, it’s theme parks and I would estimate there’s at least 10 major theme parks in South Korea alone. This is particularly amazing when you compare that to Australia, which only has about 6 theme parks and is a whopping 78 times bigger than Korea! As Korea’s largest themepark, Everland is also one of the 4 major theme parks in the world.

Everland’s sole aim is to make people happy, and it does. But is Everland always magical every day of the year? Let’s find out.

For those that don’t know, Everland has annual festivals much like Disneyland, where the park’s decorations, shows and parades all change to suit the new theme.

If you’re traveling in winter, there are two festivals in Everland:

Nov – Dec: Winter Wonderland (formerly known as “Christmas Fantasy”)
Jan – Feb: Snow Festival (previously known as “Winter Wonderland”)

As someone who went to both Winter Festivals, one greatly outshone the other. Let’s compare both experiences:

Everland Snow Festival

Everland’s Winter Wonderland Festival: Nov – Dec

hen I went to Everland the first time I went on December 17th during the Christmas Fantasy Festival (now called Winter Wonderland) and it was absolutely beautiful. I had never seen so many Christmas lights. Judging by the images online, the newly named ‘Winter Wonderland’ looks very much the same, just with a different name.

What you can expect during this festival is the entire park to be immaculately covered in lights, with a Christmas theme.

How it differs from the Snow Festival (Jan – Feb):

Everland: Winter Wonderland

Everland Attractions Nov & Dec

Everland: Four Seasons Garden

FOUR SEASONS GARDEN

Millions of flowers welcome you in a magic garden all year round. Enjoy the fascinating themes of seasonal flowers, including the tulips and roses of spring, the lilies of summer, the chrysanthemums of autumn and the snowflakes of winter.

Everland: Magic in the Sky

MAGIC IN THE SKY

Magic in the Sky is a winter night performance that includes lasers, searchlights and a snow machine. It’s an impressive winter night experience!

Everland: Moonlight Parade

MOONLIGHT PARADE

A brilliant parade lights up the night of Everland.

Everland: Magic Lighting

LIGHTING Ceremony

The lighting ceremony takes the day garden and lights it up in spectacular fashion to welcome the night. In winter you can expect a winter wonderland of fairylights, decorated pine trees, and the central highlight – a giant Christmas Tree!

T-Express Everland

T EXPRESS

The steepest wooden roller coaster in the world presents sudden drops and sharp rises at 104 km per hour!
Welcome to Everland’s most thrilling experience. During the Winter Wonderland festival, the T Express is operational unless there is severe weather.

Everland: Snow Buster Sledding

SNOW BUSTER Sledding

Sledding fun for the whole family!

Everland: Winter Wonderland

Everland in Winter

The Christmas Decorations during the Winter Wonderland Festival (Nov – Dec) are absolutely stunning!

Everland in Winter

Everland - Winter Wonderland

Everland in Winter

A few shots of the ‘Four Seasons Garden’ lit up in winter, as well as the stage for the ‘Magic in the Sky’ and ‘Lighting Ceremony’

Everland’s Snow Festival: Jan – Feb

Everland: Winter

oving Everland the first time, I decided to take Siree there when we traveled to Korea about two years later. We visited during Everland’s then “Winter Wonderland Festival”, now known as the Snow Festival. Unfortunately, it is probably the worst season to visit Everland. This is due to a couple of reasons:

Many rides and food stalls were closed because of the cold – this included things like T Express and Safari Adventures – Both MAJOR park attractions.
The park closed early and was not open at night.
Due to point two, there is a lack of parades and shows, particularly those at night – The ‘Moonlight Parade,’ ‘Lighting Ceremony’ and ‘Magic in the Sky’ weren’t on during this festival. They were so magical the first time I went.
The entire back section of the park was closed off. During other festivals, this section is completely decorated and lovely to walk through.

On the plus side, there are significantly less people during this time of year, so lines for rides are not as long.

Everland Snow Festival

Snapshot of a parade during Jan – Feb at Everland

Everland Attractions: Jan & Feb

Yes that’s right, there’s only TWO outdoor events. But in some cases, there may even be only one outdoor event available – when we visited the four seasons garden was closed off. The only way to see what will be open during your visit, is to check the Everland Schedule. Unfortunately it only shows the schedule for the current week, so you’ll only be able to check it within a week of your visit.

Everland: Four Seasons Garden

FOUR SEASONS GARDEN

Everland: Snow Buster Sledding

SNOW BUSTER Sledding

Sledding fun for the whole family! During the Snow Festival the Snow Buster sledding is only available in February. It is closed in January.

Everland entrance gates

Everland Snow Festival

Everland Snow Festival - Gift Sops

Everland Snow Festival - T Express

The T Express

Everland Snow Festival

The Verdict: Should you visit Everland in Nov & Dec OR Jan & Feb?

When it comes down to it, visiting Everland is always going to be fun no matter what season you visit, however you definitely get more value for money when you visit during March – December than you do in the months of January and February. The reason for this is that while the entrance fees stay the same price through out the year, the park during January and February is a little lack lustre. As mentioned in this blog post, during this time a lot of the major attractions are closed like the T Express & Safari Adventures, food stalls are deserted, the park closes early so you don’t get the opportunity to see the night shows and so on. Overall, if you’re visiting Everland in winter, plan to visit in November or December.

Everland General Information

Entrance Fees

Day Ticket: Adult: 56,000 won | Child: 44,000 won
Night Ticket (after 5PM): Adult: 46,000 won | Child: 37,000 won
Two Day Pass: Adult: 87,000 won | Child: 69,000 won

Foreigners also get a special discount coupon: click here!! View more coupons here.

View Everland’s facilities.

Opening Hours

Spring, Summer and Autumn: 10am – 10pm

Winter: 10am – 9pm and 10am-8pm (sometimes it’s even earlier, check the opening hours.)

Transportation:

This really depends on where you are travelling from, but if you are staying Seoul based, you want to catch a train to Gangnam Station (Line 2) then catch bus #5002 from Gangnam.

Map

Click on the map above to download the larger version from the official Everland website.

Updated 10 July 2018

Korea, Travel

Hongdae – Because Korean Hipsters are WAY cooler than Hipsters in Newtown

October 26, 2012 Talyssa 2 Comments

Talyssa checking in – beware people, this post is gonna be a long one!!

Becauuuuuuuuuuuuuuse it’s about Hongdae!! I. absolutely. love. Hongdae. It’s so refreshing to be in a Hipster-esque place style wise, fashion wise and people wise, minus the arrogant, overly pretentious, clique-ish, self-entitled hipster attitude that unfortunately accompanies much of the hipster crowd in Sydney. Seriously. Sooo nice and refreshing.

I really wish Sydney had a similar place to Hongdae so I could at least describe to some extent how awesome Hongdae is…I guess Newtown might be the closest, but seriously, it doesn’t even compare. Actually scrap that. Newtown is nothing like Hongdae. Period.

We set out on our first venture to Hongdae to visit the Trick Eye Museum. Online there was absolutely no information on the Trick Eye Museum – nothing about how to get there or where it was located…so basically we took a giant stab.

Our giant stab lead us instead to a tourist information center (pink dotted path on map below). I really recommend coming here if you don’t know where to go or what to do. The customer service is amazing – they are extremely helpful and super friendly.

Not knowing where the Trick Eye Museum was, the staff provided us with maps and hand drew directions on them for us. On top of this, they gave us info on specials and Grand Korea sale cards so we could get as many discounts as possible during our trip!! How nice right!?!

Even with our amazing directions, the Trick Eye Museum wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to find…I’ll let you guess why:

It’s like completely hidden right?!?!!?!?!!? I was expecting like some separate building which was quite large with considerable signage since it is a tourist spot!!! We walked passed it once or twice – it was hard to see!!!

You do need to set aside a fair bit of time for the Trick Eye Museum – the museum itself is broken up into sections (we almost missed one section). On top of this, there are three galleries and a cat museum. We just did the museum and it took us approx 3-4hours?

You definitely want to come here at a time where people are usually at school or work…seriously…otherwise there are huge lines and a stack of couples left, right and center. If you don’t know it now, you will definitely find out when you go to Korea that Korean couple culture is INTENSE. There has never been a time in my life where I wanted to be more in love. I was like damn…I want a Korean man right now, they appear to treat their girlfriends so well!! *Filled with envy*

— End of sidetracked tangent —

So what exactly is the Trick Eye Museum? Basically it is an interactive museum revolving around a new concept that stimulates your creativity and imagination through the Trompe-l’oeil (eye tricking) technique through vision. To achieve this, the museum features a mixture of artworks and 3D installations you can interact with and take photos of, so you end up looking like a part of the picture.

A bonus – according to the brochure:

“…The trickeye artwork helps you learn aesthetic senses of form and also stimulates your creativity, which leads to the activation of your brain. Your logic and thinking abilities will enhance!”

LOL! Woahh okay I’m sure these paintings aren’t that miraculous! None the less, they are still awesome. Now onto the photos!

One of the different kinds of optical illusions at the museum. These were paintings on the floor which when looked at from a certain angle, looked 3D

Nothing better than a warm drink on a frosty Korean winter day..

This illusion was awesome!! Jokes, Siree is just a midget and I’m a giant.

Love struck. My expression is good no? That’s what I call dedication.

It’s not everyday you get to be up close and personal with a Rhino

She was like this the whole trip. What a junkie!

Siree’s tactic for stealing the Museum’s food.

Being posers in typical Korean style LOL

Siree’s typical ‘pretending to be on the phone but really I’m just a poser’s’ pose

These are only some of the AMAZING interactive artworks – there are many many more cool ones as well. All in all, The Trick Eye Museum is a great experience, a lot of fun, good laughs and results in some pretty awesome photos that friends and family were highly amused by.

For more info on the Trick Eye Museum such as transportation and pricing, check out the bottom section of this post.

The rest of Hongdae is pretty amazing. It’s just a really nice place to go to just chillax with friends. There are super cute and relatively cheap fashion boutiques (the pinkage wig store is also here, but we were slightly disappointed with it!!), really cute cafes, awesome street food, epic clubs for amazingly great clubbing adventures, and just an overall really nice youth atmosphere – really safe, REALLY nice people, and no drunkard idiots – you can actually make real friendships.

The Hongdae Charm

Hongdae by day. I don’t know why, but I really like the look of streets like this…maybe because it looks quite foreign from what we’d find in Sydney.

This is along one of the back streets of Hongdae where most of the clubs are. This street also connects to Hongik Uni. The shopfront you see in the picture named “Mama” is actually a club. This is what most of the clubs in Hongdae look like – they usually have a small black-painted entrance with the club’s name on it in large white text. Inside you usually go down a set of stairs to the clubbing area.

Very naice. LOL. Opposite Condomania is NB1, where we had our awesome clubbing experience!!

This believe it or not is a restaurant. How nice is it?!!? This is what I mean about Hongdae, its style is sooooo nice!!

Pizza restaurant up close…completely diggin’ this style

I don’t know why, but Korea tends to have a thing for owning a shop pet (usually dogs). Cafe’s have them as well, we found it was fairly common. This one belonged to a cute accessory store in Hongdae.

HOW NICE ARE THE CAFES!?!?! Seriously Sydney!! Get your act together!!

Yup! Love Korean couple culture. So freaking cute.

Hongdae at night. Look at these cute shops!! I wish we had something like this in Sydney. I love Korea’s concept of using really visual store fonts/windows, and the clothes are just too cute!

Hongdae at night. I really love Hongdae at night – it comes alive!

Hahahaha this photo says it all!! “Why am I here?!” “I hate my job”

Food

Look at that preparation. Look at that skill. As soon as we saw it, we had to try it.

That block right there is butter. Yup. Buttery Goodness.

Although I’m not a huge fan of sweets, this was delicious – buttery, sweet and savoury all at once. YUMMMM

Our dinner. This was delish!! Spicy seafood hot pot. We also ordered a kimchi pancake…but unfortunately that was not so good…

FREE ICECREAM AT KARAOKE!! Seriously Korea’s service is AMAZING!!!! You never get that kind of treatment in Sydney. It is seriously all these small things that make Korea really stand out and your holiday much more enjoyable!

I LOVE HONGDAE!!!!!!!!! Soooo good!!

Map

Transportation:

For the general area: Take subway Line #2 to Hongik University Station, exit #5.

For Tourist Centre: Take Exit #5 out of Hongik University Station and follow the pink dotted line on the map.

Trick Eye Museum: Take exit #9 out of Hongik University Station and follow the blue dotted line on the map.
Address: B2 Seogyo Plaza, Seogyodong 357-1, Mapogu, Seoul.
Pricing: 13,000won Adults, 11,000won Students.
Opening Hours: 10:00AM – 9:00PM
Website: www.trickeye.com

How long should I spend there?

There are sooooo many things to do in Hongdae that Siree and I came here on many different occassions. You definitely need a day to look around, but you will find you need to come back here to dedicate time for shopping, checking out some of the awesome places to eat and to visit places such as the Cat Cafe and Trick Eye Museum. This is also a great place to hang out with friends, so if you have Korean friends, you will find yourself hanging out here with them often, as Siree and I did.

When to come to Hongdae:

You should experience Hongdae both at day and at night. There is always something going on in Hongdae, expecially at night, so it is definitely worth checking out. For example one night we went to Hongdae, there was a HUGE outdoor silent disco going on. FREAKING. AMAZING.

Korea, Travel

Insadong – For all your Holiday Souvenir Needs!

October 19, 2012 Talyssa 2 Comments

Insadong is one of the most tourist-y places in Korea and is a great place to pick up souvenirs for friends and family. Unlike our Dongdaemun experience, I would like to say that Siree and I did Insadong well – exploring 80% of shops and only passing by shops which were not to our taste.

What I absolutely love about Insadong is its quirky kinda vibe blending traditional Korea with modern Korea, but at the same time still maintaining that “artsy craftsy” style that Korea does so well.

We arrived in Insadong around lunch time and instantly fell in love with this pretty looking traditional hanok restaurant called “Insadong Geujip,” located down the first side street on your left from the Insadong main street. Unfortunately we didn’t know anything about this restaurant prior to arrival so unfortunately…we didn’t order the best dishes…apparently recommended dishes for foreigners include “Insadong Seafood on Rice” or “Geukip On Rice”.

DSCN1646 — LOOK AT HOW CHEAP THIS MENU IS!!!! $6 bux for a freaking huge meal!!! You would never get that in Sydney. Ahh Korea how I love thee~

Siree and I, we needed to be exotic and order something that looked truly maginificent….

But unfortunately….our order was not so great…not that it wasn’t good, it just lacked as much flavour as we expected…probably because the food was traditional based.

DSCN1651 — Our really yummy side dishes!!

Our side dishes were super yummy! Especially the kimchi!! We ended up asking for 2 serves which we – extra sneakily – chucked into our hot pot meal to add more flavour ahahahaha! What foreigners we were at that moment.

After our meal, we ventured off to what is the highlight of Insadong – Ssamziegil. I think Ssamziegil is amazingly cool because it’s just that little bit quirky and that little bit alternative. I can’t even describe what exactly this style is, but it is just so nice and seriously something that is in the essence of everything Korean. I just LOVE it!!

Ssamziegil is filled with amazing little accessory stalls/popup shops and boutiques and every time I leave Korea I wish I bought more things from here. They have some of the most quirky/cool accessories ever!!

On the ground floor of Ssamziegil there are the snack food.

Poo shape filled cakes…this stall was always SOO busy!! I didn’t try any though, I’m not really into sweets…

I bought soo much of these rice snacks, and they are really yummy, my mum loved them. They are a mixture of rice puffs, grains, seeds, sultanas etc. but they are quite nice.

I absolutely loved this little cart stand…look how beautiful it is! It totally has its own charm and character!!! This little pop up stall sold all different kinds of tea drinks which helped you in different ways – emotionally or physically. I ended up buying a lemon honey one which was really delish.

As you go up the levels of Ssamziegil there are mainly accessory stores selling jewellery, phone charms, little gadgets, tea sets, scarves and so on. Whilst there are some clothing stores, its not really the place you go to to buy clothing. None the less, things here are SUPER cool!! I swear all the quirky earrings KPOP stars wear in their videos are bought from Ssamziegil haha.

DSCN1662 — Cute accessory store. Look at the detailing with the product labels, its all so pretty

DSCN1680 — If you’re ever in need of chopstick holders…?

Inside Ssamziegil there is also a miniature museums with little figures that are so cute. Unfortunately the store is TINY and always super crowded!!

DSCN1675 — Miniature museum! Sorry about the poor picture quality – we were trying to take the photo in secret as no photos were allowed…

Another must – do experience in Insadong is to go to a rice cake cafe. We went to Jilrisu at around 5PM but I recommended going there a lot earlier than we did, because almost all rice cakes were sold out!!

DSCN1690 — Our order~ I got the pumpkin latte!! First time I tried a pumpkin latte was in Korea and they are AMAZING!!

Hahahah check out the shopping bags in the background

Map

Transportation

As with most places in Korea, there are many ways to get to Insadong including different stations you can get off at etc, however I recommended getting off at Anguk Station (exit 6), one because it is such a short walk and two, because getting off at Anguk puts you at the beginning of the Insadong main street where as Jongno 3-ga station will drop you at the end.

How long should you spend here?

Siree and I spent 1 -1.5 days there, but really, one day I think is sufficient.

Time to go?

You definitely want to come to Insadong during a weekday (shops close around 6PMish). Weekends are usually crowded especially Ssamziegil.

Tips:

Eat as many foods as you can here because some things you cant find anywhere else in Korea. With almost all snack food places in Insadong ask to try – even if its tea or something, you can try it!

Don’t try bargaining here as souvenirs are already relatively cheap.

Make sure you shop around before buying something, many shops in Insadong sell the same things and different places can sell the same item for more or less.

Bonus Round!

Quirky AF! Check out the rooftop of Ssamziegil and you will find the Poop Cafe, a themed cafe restaurant for poop face emoji love.

If you do go definitely pick up a coffee as it comes in the most cutest toilet mug you will ever see. But before you think this place is too gimmicky for real taste, rest assured the coffee quality is no joke. The milk was creamy, the coffee taste was rich and the seasonal drink: rose water latte’s flavour had a nice floral scent that tasted quite nice with the bitterness of the espresso. Plus the addition of flower petals for that perfect Instagram shot to finish off, this place does gives a crap about their coffee!

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