Day Trips Outside of Seoul

Week 15: June 1-7

With only about a month left of my time here in Korea, I realized I haven't traveled much outside of Seoul. I thought now would be the perfect time to take a few day trips outside of Seoul before stressing over finals. One of my friends recommended to take a day-trip out to Paju which was only 2 hours by public transportation. The first stop I went to was the First Garden. The entrance fee was 8,000 won and it was a lot bigger than I thought. I wanted to go as soon as it opened so it wouldn't be too crowded and as soon as I arrived it was a lot more peaceful with hardly anyone there. The garden is incredibly pretty with statues, flowers blooming, fountains, and more. I spent about two hours just walking around the area and exploring. After that, I caught the bus to a cafe called Forest Outings. This cafe was so big it reminded me of a hotel! The atmosphere was nice and filled with plants. It was extremely hot that day and so I just cooled off in there for a while. As I started to make my way back home, I also wanted to visit Ilsan. I stopped by this craft store and designed a mini flower rug for about 20,000 won. It was a lot more complicated than it looked and so I ended up staying there to finish the rug for about 2 1/2 hours. It was still really fun though and the instructor who helped me was nice and told me it was his first time teaching a class in English. After the class ended, I also took a walk to Ilsan lake. The area was big and I didn't get to explore all of it. However, I found a rose garden tunnel which was filled with pink roses! After taking some pictures of it, I walked around the main lake area and found a swinging bench and watched the sunset from there. The area was again peaceful and family-friendly. There were a lot of families having a picnic or riding their bikes and I recommend making a trip out there to walk around the lake!

Over the next few days, I hung out with my friends in Hongdae and ended up coming home on the first train back home which was around 6-7 A.M., went to a place called CommonGround which was a similar atmosphere to SALT Kaka'ako to watch my friends' dance battle performance, and also visited Seoul Forest!

Seoul Forest was one of the places on my bucket list to visit and so my friend and I spent a few hours walking around the park. Since it's Spring/Summer season, there were still flower fields everywhere and I'm glad they were still in bloom. We also went to take a look at BTS V's fan project bench for his song "Winter Bear." We also saw people riding their bikes and having picnics on the open field and I would suggest going there for a picnic during sunset!

Overall, I'm glad I got to have a relaxing week before finals and making the most of my sightseeing before I leave.

A Trip to Paju, First Garden, Ilsan Lake + Rose Tunnel, & Seoul Forest

Week 16: June 8-15

On Friday, I decided to go even further away from Seoul and on yet another day-trip to Cheonan. My friend who lives in the area recommended me some unique cafes to visit! From my dorm to Cheonan was 3 hours by the subway. It luckily went by fast since there were seats to sit on and I just watched a show to kill time. As I arrived, I noticed the bus system isn't like Seoul where the busses come every 10 minutes because I found myself walking 20 minutes to the bus stop and then waiting 30 minutes for the bus to come. As I got off at the first stop, I went to a cafe called Fade In. Their matcha latte was good and the view was nice with the stepping stones in the water. As I was getting ready to leave, I realized my phone was dying and I always carry my portable charger on me but that day, I didn't bring my cord with me. With only 7% left on my phone and every convenient store being with a 45 minute walk, I called a taxi and got dropped off at the next place I was going to and thankfully there were stores nearby. I went to GS25 to buy an overpriced charger because there wasn't a Daiso nearby. After a moment of panic, I walked to the next place I wanted to go to which was a popular bakery village called Toujours Bakery. This place is known for its unique shape baking shops. (As you can see below in the pictures). I bought a mini loaf of bread, and a variety of mochi filled donuts. The bread was fresh and it said it was made in the Kiln stone oven. Since nothing is really within walking distance in Cheonan, I caught the taxi to the next two locations as well. They weren't as far away within each other so the taxi fare was cheap. The next place I visited was Mariseu Coffee. It was unfortunately too hot to sit on the bean bag chairs outside but the view on the patio was nice. It overlooked a walking path along the lake. That day was also slightly overcast so it was kind of gloomy but nonetheless the view was perfect and I got a seat inside the cafe on the top floor with a window view right in front of the lake. Finally, the last location I went to was cafe Isup. This was my favorite place because of the daisies everywhere. It was especially nice as the sun was setting. I also enjoyed a rice latte which I was excited about because I love trying new drinks that you can only get in Korea. It was refreshing with a scoop of ice cream in it too and I sat outside near the flowers and enjoyed the rest of the day there. It took another 3 hours back home and I forgot about rush hour on the train so it was hectic but thankfully I got home at around 8 P.M. and made it back safely.

To end off the week, I went to the Blue Spring Festival at Olympic Park because one of my favorite artists I've been wanting to see was performing there. The festival was family-friendly and everyone brought their own mats to sit on the lawn to enjoy the performances and eat but my friend and I decided to go stand in the barricade since there were no open space to sit down in. We luckily got front row but we were standing there for about 5 hours waiting and watching. It was even hotter that day but the security were handing out waters to everyone every hour which was nice. After seeing a popular K-Pop group, Treasure, and my favorite Krnb artist, DPR LIVE, my friend and I decided to leave since we were tired of standing. I really enjoy the music festivals here in Korea and happy I've been able to experience a lot of them since there's hardly any in Hawaii.

Day Trip to Cheonan, Toujour Bakery Village, Cafe Isup, & Blue Spring Festival