Times Square, Kyobo Bookstore in Gangnam and SM Artium at Coex- Day 3 and 4 - Korea 2016

On our third day, we trained back to Seoul catching an earlier train so we arrived at our accommodation in Hongdae around 4pm. After a bit of rest, we headed to Times Square.  It was getting quite dark by this time and we got hella lost, walking around in circles before ending up close to where we started. At least I got to eat odeng on the street. When we finally got into Times Square, we looked around at some shops before eating at Ni Pong Nae Pong, a fusion restaurant where they use the same type of noodles but cook them in different ways and flavours from a variety of countries such as Italy, China and Thailand. They also offer three types of pizza (ni pizza, nae pizza, and ni nae pizza). The food was great and I would highly recommend it. It was interesting to see the variations they could do and I would definitely like to go back.

After heading back to Hongdae to find Karaoke, we actually ended up staying overnight at a multi-entertainment room. I'm not really sure what to call it, but we went out around midnight looking for a karaoke place and ended up at this business that had karaoke, movie facilities, wii and board games. We sang karaoke and watched movies - leaving around 5am. It cost 30,000 won for 12-8am, so it was a pretty good deal and experience. As we were walking home, we were amongst all these late night/early morning clubbers who were probably trying to catch the first train home.

The next day we headed across the river making a stop at Kyobo book store in Gangnam to purchase some albums from their Hot Tracks section, before heading to Coex. When we previously came to Korea, the Sum store was still being built and so we were excited to finally go in.

Gamcheon Cultural Village - Day 2 - Korea 2016

With some further research before we slept, I realised the Taegeukdo Village and the Gamcheon Culturual Village were the same thing so I didn't have to choose between them which one to go to. Initially a refugee filled wartime town, the village was is built on a costal hillside and can be compared to the favelas of Brazil. In 2009, the area was vibrantly decorated to make it more appealing and has since become a major tourist attraction in Busan, with many of the laneways filled with art and the walls covered in murals. Gamcheon Village also has artists in residence.

As it had been pouring that morning and the sky remained somber, I was worried about walking through the village's many stairs and laneways. Fortunately, it only rained lightly for a few short periods while we were there. The area is quite large, and you can buy a map at one of the two information booths (both near the entrance) for 2,000 Won or follow the fish in one direction. The map also contains an activity where you can collect stamps at certain areas within the village, with some of the destinations also giving a free postcard.