✈ South Korea 2022 — YG Entertainment, the SameE Café and Start-Up Filming Location

 I recently talked travel essentials, and now, we're on the more exciting bit, the travel itself!

Oh, I booked AirBnbs, and this is my first one: at Cheongdam Oneroomtel. Yes, it's basically a little room to sleep in and leave my bags. It's in the Sookmyung University area. Kinda uphill and about 10 minutes from the subway station, which was a sore when I arrived and brought my luggage. Okay, I actually HATED it. Then again, after staying a while and transferring to another AirBnb, I appreciated this place more with its bustling school neighborhood. And especially when I realized there was a super close bus station too!

And look at what my host greeted me with~ They were so awesome; I just asked if they had an adapter and they told me they'd just buy me one, like???? That level of service 👏 Not to mention, the "Have a good day" message got me giggling because WINNER thingz 😏 

Now, off to my first agenda... We are exploring Hapjeong and fangirling 💙

 YG ENTERTAINMENT 

🔹 Hapjeong Station, Exit 8

This day was WINNER's online concert, so I thought I'd go to the YG building and maybe see them? But I ended up seeing another group, which was still lucky!

Just exit from the subway station and go straight ahead. It'll be around 10 minutes walk.

It's not as gigantic as I thought, but it's still amazing to see it in real life already. From stanning Big Bang, 2NE1 to WINNER... I was finally able to see where my faves made music, with my own eyes. It's a pretty quiet neighborhood, by the way.

I think this was the time when it was announced iKON left YG. Good for them, to be honest 👏 (Cough let's leave too, WINNER cough)

Anyhoo, when I came closer and saw this bunch in front of the building, I just knew an artist was about to leave and I hoped so hard it would be WINNER 🙏🙏🙏🙏 But yeah, as I said, it wasn't them.

It was Treasure! Specifically Junkyu, Jihoon, Haruto, Yoshi, Jaehyuk and Junghwan 😊

@_pearlyjane My first day in #seoul #seoultravel and I saw #Treasure #yg ♬ 可愛くてごめん (feat. かぴ) - HoneyWorks

They were wearing masks though, which is quite a shame. Because did I really see them?? Chos.

And when they left, I proceeded to take my photos! You know, I love photos, but I get shy especially when I'm alone, right, but ever since solo traveling, you really learn to overcome this shyness 😆 The fans did disperse / leave so it wasn't really THAT embarrassing / awkward.

The guards will tell you to not go beyond the dark gray concrete you see here. Understandable. I also definitely do not want to be labeled a sasaeng / stalker fan 😂

And because it was getting too cold for my liking, I move on to just in front of YG, which is...

 THE SAMEE CAFÉ 

It's their very own cafe~ Capitalism. Eme

Of course, it's filled with fans. I honestly felt awkward entering and going straight to filming, with the staff seeming hostile. So, well, I ordered before going upstairs 😃 I did expect that I'd get to eat their signature donut, but this was 2 PM, and they were already sold out. Just drinks left.

I don't really drink coffee, but my stay in Korea had me drinking a lot. And for this first time, I chose hot vanilla latte~ (It's fcking tasteless, gaaaahd, how to choose the right coffee.) They don't accept cash— it was my first day; I had a lot of cash on me, you know? 😄 So, the SameE is where I first used my debit card. I was nervous the payment wouldn't push through, as I didn't inform about overseas use. I asked some travelers online, and they said they didn't have to contact the bank. Thankfully, mine worked as well 🥰 But I think it's safer to coordinate to have no worries.

The 2nd floor is with more seats and a large screen that plays snippets of YG artists' music videos. For WINNER, it's I LOVE U 💙 I spent a chill time here until evening, finishing my tasteless coffee to get my money's worth with YG songs playing in the background 🎶🫶 No, but the real reason was I was sitting by if WINNER appears 🤡 I wanted to watch their online concert from there, but it starts at 9 PM and the cafe closes at the same time.

What was most interesting though: I got to witness for the first time how Koreans reserve / save their seats. They literally just leave their belongings, even gadgets. I'm like ???? AMAZING. And I braved it out too when I went to the toilet and the merch shop in the basement.

Took a photo to make sure! 🤣 But super safe. I'm awe impressed 💯👏

I didn't buy anything because I already bought WINNER albums during release. I just looked around and filmed. I was alone with the staff, so doing that and leaving without getting anything was 👀😅 

Okay, what the hell, I almost forgot part of my itinerary of the day was to visit...

 START-UP LOCATION - GRANDMA HOUSE 

When mapping, I saw this was near YG. Off I rushed, and again, this was a quiet neighborhood, so when I went, it was kinda creepy to not really see anyone? But as if I'm not used to this back home 😄

I did wanna take a full body shot of myself but I already felt it was a hassle to set up my tripod then cross the street and pose X repeat 😅 But I'm satisfied as it is! It'd be nice to be back in spring when the cherry blossom tree is in full bloom like in the drama 🌸

Oh, when I left YG for this, fans were frantically running outside so I followed suit 😆 It was because Treasure Doyoung was leaving~ My luck with Treasure should be my luck with WINNER, sigh.

Screenshots but someone got to see and experience snow on her first day in Seoul! 😍 First one was when I walking to Hapjeong Station and the other was when I was roaming in Myeongdong.

And yay to seeing the Shinsegae light show I kept seeing on TikTok! Of course, I made a TikTok myself:

@_pearlyjane And it was snowing! ❄️😍 #seoul #seoultravel #서울 #christmas2022 ♬ Candy - NCT DREAM

And this is why I like to blog~ It's so fun to reminisce and now, I super duper miss SK 🥹

More reminiscing on my next post!