From a Fangirl
October 2016
Seoul is even sweeter the second time around.
Ever since I have accepted the fact that I was eaten by everything Korean, my travel go-to bucket list has already changed. South Korea is like my item number zero on the list, I knew from then that I would not only visit the country once, but numerous times. If circumstances permit, I may opt to stay in the country for the long haul, we’ll just never know.
Since last year’s visit, multiple stops are now added to my fangirl list. We still went to those shops we have visited last year, but some of those were already closed. And there were some serious stalking we have also done this time, stalking in a mild good way.
From last year’s, the following were already closed:
1. Kona Beans - Leeteuk
2. Grill5 Taco - Donghae
3. Choco BonBon - Eunhyuk
Mom House/Cafe - Kyuhyun, Wiki Cafe - Sungmin, Mouse Rabbit - Yesung
Mom House, like last year is our go-to place whenever we make Myeongdong shopping street as our destination either at the start or at the end of our day touring around the city. We visited here twice on our entire trip this year, the ambiance did not change at all. It’s always peaceful being here, there is some kind of a homey feeling whenever we visit here.
Our second visit this year happened to be our last day in the city making it as our last stop before finally going off to the airport and go back home. It’s pretty much the same as last year’s, Mom House is becoming our parting place whenever we leave Seoul.
To top it off, our last day in Seoul was really cold, the weather changed in a way that it was way colder than the previous days, also the rain started pouring. As we were walking at the Myeongdong shopping street, we were like embraced by the strong wind and drizzled by the drops of rain, the jacket I was wearing seemed like just a shirt on me.
Our warming place was Mom House. Our first visit here this year was so warm like you came back home, on the contrary, our second visit felt so empty. To add to the feeling of farewell were the songs which were playing that time, SuperJunior’s and Kyuhyun’s solo songs. While filling our eyes with the sight of the whole Mom Cafe, we were also filling our hearts so as not to miss Seoul that much, because we know we will be coming back again.
Wiki Cafe, whenever we go here is like a walk in the park. This was the first coffee shop we visited for our fangirl reasons. We visited at daytime unlike last year, the road was not crowded.
We made our way to a very good spot of the coffee shop after placing our order. What we had was, to make it a summary - a lot of sugar to charge us up for the whole day of going around the place - true enough, the sugar did help because the day we visited here was also the day when we end it too late, you’ll see why on the latter part of this entry.
We also grabbed a lot of chances this time to take seversal pictures since people are just starting to come in when we got here. It was the time of the day to just relax our minds and this shop literally did it for us.
The whole place is design like a home, so is the feel.
The facade looks even greater than the last time we visited since the clouds are clearer this time.
Mouse Rabbit, a place where my ultimate fangirl experience happened last year, it’s a place where I do visit and that encounter always shoots my mind even not just this second time visit but also at random times.
It’s a lot to take in because we did visit this place on our second to the last day in the country. This time we are not expecting anything at all, we kind of know how busy Yesung oppa is around this time.
But the memory of last year’s keeps on flashing my mind, it still feels surreal, and there is a sense of “like it just happened recently”. The whole place is still cozy and the vintage stuff around are still there.
Now, more than ever, for more than a year - I lost count already, I am really craving for their comeback.
YG Building, JYP Building
Our visit to the agencies’ buildings last year were not so remarkable as compared this year. We visited the agencies like we were passers-by that time which is beyond different this time. We added groups on our “stanned list” that’s why we had a different approach this year.
The longest time we have seated on our entire trip, at the convenience store right in front of the YG building. iKON members do go out from the YG building and go straight to this convenience store and buy stuff up like normal human beings. When you are lucky enough, you’ll get this kind of encounter when you get to be at the store at the very same time as they are. On my standpoint as an iKONIC, I do strive for this kind of lucky card chance. Thus, we stayed there for almost three hours - quite long, right? We were lucky enough, the internet kept us company. We saw fangirls and fanboys from different nations came in and out. What I can really remember is that one specific fangirl, she was alone and I think she waited there longer than us. She was staying at a small vacant space at the back of the convenience store just right at the front, opposite the YG building entrance. Now, what about her? Remember this fangirl, I may have to say something about her again. We also saw a huge number of cars going in and out of the building, it either parks or drops off someone or picks up someone.
Every car felt like a celebrity car that you wish the windows of those cars are as transparent as they can be. A fail experience though - it was already late when we realized, like days late - iKON members were all on their days off around the time we were here, so they went on to their hometowns and families, so we cannot really see them at the agency no matter how long we wait there.
Making it not so wasteful of a time was an actual unexpected encounter, at a random time of the day, we have realized the feeling of being at the same place at the same time with an artist.
AKMU suddenly popped out in front our eyes there, Suhyun, looking so young in person, in her casual wear, I don’t know how she came to be there, but when I set my eyes on her direction, I suddenly realized it was her. Then, seconds after she was joined by his brother, Chanhyuk. They walked just right in front us, it was pretty fast, thankfully my camera was ready that time. They walked briskly going to the wide alley in front of the YG building.
YG building though, unlike from the shows where I saw it, it’s quite smaller than I have expected it to be, but the design definitely lived up to what I have imagined. The architecture is really elegant - I am not an expert at this area though.
When we passed by the JYP building last year, it was not planned at all. We never intended to search for it, but we just found it on our way. We got it lucky last year, and here this time we are hoping we get lucky again. Agency buildings are like placed in a way where a store in front of it can be a hangout place of fans. In front of the JYP building there is the Dunkin Doughnut place.
Seoul’s Dunkin’ Doughnut is somehow different from ours here in the Philippines. The ambiance can be resembled to a coffee shop, and they also offer smoothies, and you can pick your preferred doughnut of choice at a large glass storage at one side of the shop. As it is just right in front of the JYP building, there are a lot of JYP artists’ pictures on the walls, with their signatures, too. We captured GOT7 members’ pictures, on my phone though was all Mark’s.
Now remember the fangirl from the YG building, we spotted her again here at JYP, she was with her friends this time. It’s quite amusing, being at the same places at the same time with her, fangirl coincidences. There was a little commotion during the time we were there. We were not so sure, but when my buddy and I are busy chatting, most of the girls at the front of the shop suddenly chased a most probably a celebrity car. I was quite shocked, I don’t know what is happening, I don’t know if I’ll follow them or just to continuously sit comfortably. I decided to take a sneak peek of what was going on, I just walked until I was right in front of the shop and tried to sneak in what’s happening. The car and the girls were already around ten miles on the left away from the shop, I don’t have any idea if the car stopped because the fans were chasing it or the car really was supposing to stop at that certain area.
We just let it go, though. There were talks from the girls when they returned to the shop that those were GOT7 members, I even hear BamBam’s name, I really cannot understand everything since they were speaking in an unfamiliar language for me. We let it go since that night at that same day, we will be going to a place where they will be recording a radio show – this might be our ultimate fangirl moment of our Seoul 2016 trip.
KBS World - Kiss the Radio Show
From last year to this year, we have proven how fortunate and unfortunate we are when we intended to watch the Sukira show live. Last year, we hoped to see Ryeowook oppa in flesh since he was the DJ back then before enlisting. But to our lack of information, the night when we decided to watch there was no live broadcast. The show is scheduled to air at 10PM KST every weeknight, sometimes it’s live and sometimes it’s recorded. KBS World building is located all the way to the National Assembly station, not far but not so near to where we were staying. We just have to accept the fact that time.
But this year, we planned on watching GOT7’s guesting on KTR - now hosted by FT Island’s Lee Hongki. This was our last stop for the day, sugar rush from Wiki Cafe, to visiting JYP Building, you get now why we we needed all the energy and also why we ended the day so late.
Our expectation was so high that we will eventually see GOT7 members in flesh. But, when we arrived at the KBS World building, the section where you will be able to watch the live broadcast was already packed with fangirls with their cameras - professional cameras even. Then, several minutes passed, fans keep on coming, we then realized that somehow, it will not be an easy task to see the members. There were Korean iGOT7 of course, Japanese, Chinese and Thai iGOT7, I wonder if we were the only Filipino iGOT7 there. Because of some language limitations, we don’t know the reason why, but all of a sudden we did witness an aggressive fangirl battle, both were surely aggressive. We have no idea what was going on, but one of the two was too aggressive, luckily the guards were able to tame them down. It was quite shocking witnessing that kind of mood overseas. Nonetheless, by that time, the area was already crowded. My buddy and I needed some plan B and C here, just in case.
Fans brought their own chairs, not to be seated on but to stand on, we are just made aware by this, so we decided to proceed on our plan B, to wait them at the KBS hallway where the guests usually pass by before entering the KTR booth. I did grab a very good position in there, several minutes we were waiting, my camera is ready to record their entrance. We were so near, we could really say “Hi!” to them and greet them. We were on stand by for far too long, all of a sudden people started running, then the security in charge shouted something we did not understand. A little later, we just realized that the members already made their entrance from their cars parked just right in front of the KBS building. If you are used to watching Korean variety shows, that long series of stairs in front of KBS, there they were. We lost our chance there. We don’t know the reason why their entrance is different than the usual. Then, with a droplet of hope, we went to the section outside the building, right in front of the glass window wall of the booth. Everyone is standing on the bench and on the chairs they brought. What we all see are the butts of the fans. There was no hole where even half of your eyeball can pass through. Time of decision then - do we go now or wait for their exit? We go back and forth at the thought of it’s already too late, subway is closing in a while but then will we regret this chance, we’re so far away in Seoul, in a foreign land and here we are, we may get the chance to see them up close. After some more thinking, we decided to wait until the show ends. While waiting, we laid down our options on how to go back to our accommodation in case the subway station is already closed by the time everything has gone down. We opted to go for an UBER ride, just in case. Exciting, UBER ride in a foreign country.
Now, we got not just a good spot on the KBS hallway, but a great spot. If they will make a proper exit from the show’s booth, we will definitely see them crystal clear. After around an hour and a half of waiting, my camera is ready again to record everything. The excitement is building up. Then, all of a sudden again the security in charge shouted something, immediately all the fans ran their way again to where the cars were parked, this time no time to be timid. We came all the way here, waited a long time here, I shall capture something out of this. When I got out of the building, most of the members were already on their cars. The fans’ cameras were like flashing here and there, they were like paparazzis. My slight night blindness does keep the best of me at this very moment of when I should be all alert, my eyes have not adjusted yet, luckily my buddy already spotted Jinyoung transferring to the second car parked nearer from where we were. My camera is already on record; I literally have no time to check if I was recording everything clearly. I had to scatter my small eyesight to see my ultimate GOT7 bias, Mark. My buddy managed to see him, but unlucky me I did not get a glimpse of him, even if just half of his face you know. He exited with JB, but I was able to see JB since he rode the same car as Jinyoung. Mark, if you have gone with JB and rode the car with the JJs, I would have seen you. Nonetheless, our trip and our waiting did not go to waste. Three hours for like a 20 second fangirl moment. The feeling lingers, yes it does. Jinyoung slid down his window and waved bye to us fans while the car is moving away from KBS.
Time of reality hits us again, we have to snap out of the moment for a while and quickly run for the subway station before it closes. This was definitely the moment when you would expect you absolutely have no more energy left, but no, we still have plenty, it might be the Wiki Cafe’s sugar just taking effect that night, or we just had a long day and we just came from a fangirl moment and we had to rush and run for our lives so we can go back home. We ran and made it to the train. What is more fascinating is that we were laughing like crazy idiots about every little thing we see and say. We were so high in energy that when we get back at the guesthouse almost at 1AM, we have to silent our laughs since our two company might already be dreaming in their sleep.
It was an experience again; I already lack the words to describe this episode of ours. By the way, because of this we now realized how hard working and dedicated the fansites are, not just for GOT7 but to all the idol groups’ fansites. We know how hard it is since we are also fans, but they were really on a different level. Thank you to their HD photos - they’re bringing their huge cameras while running, even with their tripods, that is how we are able to see those photos that we save on our phones, those which we make our wallpapers and DPs into. Imagine, I held back when I was running that night going out from the building, it would cause me not just money but a lot of time and effort if I accidentally bump into them. But seriously, thank you to them.
Fangirl Merchandise Shopping and Other Bonuses
Our trip this year might be the year when we made a lot of stops to places where we can buy albums and merchandises. I have SuperJunior and iKON onboard and I intended to buy their official merchandise. So from several shops in Myeongdong, to Dongdaemun all the way to Gangnam, we almost made our way to all of them to search for the goods. It was so hard searching for a SuperJunior official lightstick, though. We went to almost all SM TOWN shops in the city, but to no avail. If you happen to know a place where I can purchase, please do let me know.
Certainly, our luggage going back home were full of proofs of a fangirl.
Another interesting happening would be, while going on our way by using the subway, we did see iKON’s Hanbin (BI) and Jiwon (Bobby) project banners on a station, specifically at Hapjeong. I just cannot hide my excitement when we saw them since it was so unexpected.
In addition with these bonuses also would be seeing SuperJunior’s maknae Kyuhyun every time we go back at the guesthouse since his endorsement pictures were placed right at the station where we pass through almost everyday - Seoul Station.
At these certain times, it maybe so usual seeing billboards here in Manila, but it does feel different when you encounter one in their homeland.
Now, here comes our lucky day, we get to be in Korea by the time Donghae oppa’s new coffee shop opened. It finally opened Thursday of the week we were there, October 19, 2016. We visited on a Saturday, October 22, 2016, Hanbin’s birthday but they are in Japan. It’s a new stop and it’s not even listed in our itinerary, but we always can adjust. Located at 92, Achasan-ro, Seongdong-gu, you just have to walk straight from Seongsu station exit 4 and it’s very easy to spot.
When we arrived there, you would easily notice that it was indeed newly opened. There were flowers around, the entrance is very white on a clear day, the ambiance outside is eye catching, very western but did not stay away of how Grill5 Taco was.
Now, Donghae oppa is one very conservative being, again, if you are not into entertainment, you would not know that this cafe is idol owned, together with his brother. The shop looked like any other cafes with its own theme of course.
I ordered strawberry smoothie (by this time, I am already banned from taking any caffeine), and again we shared a slice of cake. They had their cup holders customized depending on the day, since we were there on a Saturday, our cup holders say “haru & saturday”. We chose to seat at the very end corner where we can see the wholeness of the cafe.
This would be certainly visited not just by fans, but even non-fans. It was strategically located and the vibe you get when you’re here is quite peaceful. There were all kinds of emotions rushing through us, to me and to my all-buddy, co-ELF, Donghae-biased friend. It was second to the last day of our trip and it saddens us, but at the same time, the peace is just right there. We talked about visiting Seoul every year, that it will always be a part of our travel destination list every year. Hoping for the best about this plan of ours.
After this week, literally, Heechul oppa and Donghae oppa himself often visits Haru & OneDay. I do hope when we cross our Seoul 2017 item, they will also visit the place very often, together with the other members, please.
Right there, my Seoul 2k16 trip, the fangirl part of it.
I am claiming that we will get a dozen notches level up when it comes to having ultimate fangirl moments when we get back here again for the third time, 2017.
I will drop the count right here since I plan on visiting Seoul like its part of our neighborhood.
MUP (Make U Proud)
by iKON
솔직하게 지금의 난 별 볼 일 없지만
soljikhage jigeumui nan byeol bol il eobtjiman
별 볼 일 없지만
byeol bol il eobtjiman
꼭 약속할게 삶에 언젠가
kkok yaksokhalge salme eonjenga
Girl I’m gon’ make you proud
I’m gon’ make you proud
Honestly, me right now I don’t have much to do
I don’t have much to do
I promise you that one day
Girl I’m gon’ make you proud
I’m gon’ make you proud
