Debuting my short bob, finally! I can’t explain the reverse Alfalfa my fringe is doing but it’s crazy, as is the faint left overs of a tan from a summer of fun-day rays, living daily in short shorts and much needed exercise.
Following from Sora’s great write up on Alice McCall’s Cruise 14 S/S collection, I couldn’t stop dreaming of owning a piece from this oh-so-fine range and settled on the super pwerdy “Over the Rainbow” playsuit. The details really speak for itself – quirky, flirty with a bold graphic liner that feathers into the cut out detailing mixed with pastel shades. Wear alone or stack some accessories, it really is a simple outfit to pull off since Pastels + Playsuit = New BFFs – the combination is just too cute!
Currently Alice McCall is having a sale so be quick if you found anything that catches your eye!
Wow I’m finally back from travels (but that’s for another post sorray!)
We had our first blog shop exactly a week ago and it was great success with some pleasant surprises. Here’s what you missed!
Tadah our store set-up. We got a bit high tech with the iPad for the Etude House and Skinfood cosmetics we had on display. It’s all in the details :)
Our variety of “ViVi” inspired vintage items got people curious which was wonderful! Personally, I feel our love for this style is still new and niche for a majority of people but we hope to spread the love around the Sydney scene more! Thanks to Little Treasures Market and Margaret from le petite mademoiselle for having us and to Blackflower Patisserie for all the macarons on the day! Not to mention everyone who came to visit (and to Shu for hanging out with us!) :)
My favourite piece from the stuff I got was this two-piece matchy set. So cute for that summer-by-the-pool kind of vibe. No doubt the person who bought it also thought it was adorbs!
The weather in Sydney has been pretty shiot lately I must say. Cold, rainy than a hint of sun just to tease us blah! But I capped off the busy week with some festive Thanksgiving dinner at Neutral Bay with the home sick office folk!
Couldn’t get past all the pumpkin hype! Got some pumpkin ale from Seattle to wash everything down.
The menu includes honey glazed ham, prime rib and oven-roasted turkey, cornbread, stuffing, *gasps for air* green beans, candied yams, sweet potato pie, succotash and mash potatoes. Absolutely yummo! Dessert was pecan, apple and pumpkin pie! Would’ve liked it more if there was the whole pie and not a tasting plate because family style all the way!
If you came to our blogshop let us know what you thought! We might have another one so stay tuned and make sure you follow us on facebook and instagram!
If you guys have read Le Petite Mademoiselle’s interview featuring us you would not only have come across our fellow WhatIWear fashion bud Margaret’s blog but also the fact that …Siree loves markets.
Margaret’s been a busy lady preparing for the launch of her project Little Treasures Market, a new monthly market showcasing everything vintage, local creatives and emerging Sydney designers. It’s such a great concept to add to Sydney’s vibrant market culture and Talyssa’s been a bit M.I.A because of her new crib (moving into a new place is a lot of hard work!) so I was lucky to have a taste of what’s on offer at the VIP launch night at District 01.
Marked with a cute bunting outside the entrance I was welcomed with the cheery faces of some of the stallholders and the first thing to catch my eye was the cute fashion collars by Collars from Neverland. How fitting! Since our blog’s name is also derived from Peter Pan. Clarisee hand makes all these fashion collars herself and runs an esty store as well.
I also had a friendly chat with the guys behind Pigeon and Weasel. Creative “chandlers” by passion and trade (yeah we had that moment of giddy amusement over that fun fact) I learnt more about their eco friendly triple scented soy wax candles made out of recycled beer bottles that are sanded down and smoothed before filled with wax. The scent (not flavour!) combos are pretty unique with names that pick exactly the sort of scent you were thinking of. Fresh Linen smells exactly like fresh clothes straight out of the dryer, Citrus Sunsetif you could imagine Sex on the Beach would smell like if it was breathable, and Red Frogsthat smells like… Red Frog lollies! Clay did a great job at designing the packaging and logo for the brand! Just proving that candles aren’t just a “chick thing.” Really. Guys, beer, guns and Red Frogs? Yeah, it sounds like a guy kind of gift he’ll appreciate on his man-tel piece.
Hooray for food! Refreshments were sponsored by Santa Vittoria and Mak Mak Macarons on the night with Margaret ‘s home made cupcakes and (vodka) punch. I’m now convinced she is a very multi-talented lady! She also runs a food blog Baking With Maggie and made the gorgeous flower arrangements for the night.
Congrats to Margaret and Chris for organizing a great night and all the hard work involved in making the markets happen!
Want to know when the Little Treasures Market is on next?
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..Siree’s part time job.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 RhinoI love my sushi!!She was like this the whole trip. What a junkie!Nicki Minaj right there.Siree’s tactic for stealing the Museum’s food.Being posers in typical Korean style LOLSiree’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 styleAnother restaurant. Pretty~Cute, I love Hongdae!!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!!hehehe Master Roshi!!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.BEST. CHICKEN. EVARRRRR!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. YUMMMMOur 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
Map of Hongdae
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.
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”.
ooooohhh so pretty!Traditional indoor settingLOOK 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.
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.
Our meal :)
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!!
Awesome map of Insadong!The shopsChristmas Decorations
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…
Traditional snack foods
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.
Quirky shop fronts!
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.
Cute accessory store. Look at the detailing with the product labels, its all so pretty
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!!
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!!
Our order~ I got the pumpkin latte!! First time I tried a pumpkin latte was in Korea and they are AMAZING!!Siree’s orderHahahah check out the shopping bags in the background
Map
Map of Insadong
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!
Dongdaemun is, quite frankly, HUGE and overwhelming. In my life, I have never seen so many shopping places all in one area. Infact – considering Australia’s severely lacking shopping industry – I bet Dongdaemun alone has more clothing and larger amounts of shopping malls than all the shopping centres combined in Australia. I mean magine 5-6 Westfields in one spot, with some DFOs chucked in as well. That is what Dongdaemun is, the Armageddon of SHOPPING MALLS!!!
I don’t know if it is because we live in Australia and shopping here is somewhat unobtrusive, but we found shopping in Dongdaemun (or anywhere in Korea) extremely straining – mentally and emotionally. Shopping in Dongdaemun is this mixture of head spinning clothing overload and extreme hyper-giddyness over the sheer amount of clothing available to one person. It was so emotionally draining that Siree and I actually became physically tired – we had so much to cover in such little time! You just didn’t know what to buy in case you found something better elsewhere, but by the time you had looked elsewhere, you had already forgotten about the first item because there were just THAT many clothes. It is completely impossible to compare items and pricing in Dongdaemun. Just don’t even try. If you see something and you really like it, buy it. Chances are you wont find it again if you don’t!!!
The Cheonggyecheon Steam and one of the many shopping streets in Dongdaemun which we didn’t get to explore…
Don’t get me wrong, we still loved shopping here and always will.
One of my favourite highlights of Dongdaemun was the abundance of street food. So being the foodies we are, this was naturally our first Dongdaemun pittstop. We decided to stop at this little stall that sold fish shaped “pastries” filled with all different kinds of fillings.
Some of the flavours. I had pizza it was actually really yummy!! Though I really wanted to try the sweet potato one too…should have bought both.Look at the cute menus! I love how Korea always decorates everything so nicely!!!The process of making our pastriesLOL totally doesn’t look like the picture haha but tasted way better than expected!!
Street food vendors literally line the streets in Dongdaemun. The smell is so good, and trust me after a long day of shopping some Korean street food goodness is just what you need.
Some more streetfood…I am seriously drooling remembering the smell and taste. My favourites – Ddeokbokki as well as fish cake in this really nice broth…soo good in winter in KoreaSiree’s potato chip and sausage hotdog…? LOL Gotta love Korea’s inventive street food.
If you think Dongdaemun is awesome by day, it completely comes alive at night with entertainment, influxes of people and amazingly lit shopfront displays. One thing I got to love about Korea is they seem to really enjoy their Christmas decorations, so even though almost a month had passed since Christmas, everywhere was still filled with Christmas lights and decorations, which was super pretty!
Going all out with the lighting. Where do they keep all the cables??The lights on this building would move and change into different animations. It was so pretty!! Unfortunately we didn’t even have time to check out the inside of the building.Soooo pretty!!!Doota!
Something you might want to be wary of when shopping in Dongdaemun, or anywhere in Korea for that matter, is the amount of shopping bags you are holding. Because there will be a point somewhere in your trip, where you are holding way too many bags that…you accidentally leave one of your shopping bags behind…and don’t realise until it’s too late… That is exactly what happened to me *cries*!!!! I know right how could I?!!?
The entire trip my brain was mush, but this seriously was the icing on the cake. I was so pissed off I resorted to modes of self punishment, which included retreating into quiet bouts of internal self reflection on how I could be so freaking reckless. I was so upset as my really nice (and cheap) double collared blouse was in the bag I had left behind. If theres one positive thing about Korean shopping its the fact that usually when it comes to the clothing and shoes there is usually only one piece of each item available to purchase, making your outfits more unique…however this obviously becomes a negative when you lose your shopping bags and now fear that you will never be able to find and buy that particular item again. Luckily for me though, I was reunited with my beautiful blouse the second time I went to Dongdaemun, although overall this meant it cost me 50000 won instead of 25000 won. sigh.
Map:
How to get to Dongdaemun:
Exit Dongdaemun Station exit 7 or 8. Dongdaemun has numerous shopping places, but for the “main” tourist area, you will need to pass Dongdaemun gate and cross the bridge that passes over the Cheonggyecheon river (see first image in post). 5 minute walk..not even.
How long to spend in Dongdaemun:
Siree and I spent 1.5 – 2 days of our schedule at Dongdaemun…and we only explored apM, Migliore and Doota..which is roughly (hardly) one side of Dongdaemun…soooo dissappointed at our efforts right now.
Tips:
If you are planning on shopping hardcore in Korea, go here first!!! Clothes are much cheaper here than items sold in Myeongdong and Hongdae – and often all 3 areas sell the same clothes.
Take a map with you so you dont miss any shopping areas. We didn’t take a map and therefore didn’t realise how many areas we didn’t explore!!!
Bargain wherever possible in stores like apM and Migliore…and use “aegyo”. It seriously works wonders – I got shoes down from 50000 won to 40000 won..and even ended up saving $160 on a leather jacket! Bargaining doesn’t really work in Department stores though.
Run by two travel and lifestyle bloggers, The Hidden Thimble focus’ on creating truthful and in-depth travel guides, food & beauty reviews. Enjoy drool-worthy photography from around the world!
