Daehanminguk 2014 Day 6 ♥

17th June 2014.

Kona beans, Grill5Taco, JYP building, Cube cafe, Cube building, FNC building, SM building.

Day 6 of our Korea trip and we planned to go to all the cafes and places related to Kpop. It was supposed to be a slow moving day but we still ended up walking a whole lot! I guess that's something normal especially when you're in Seoul. People walk like everywhere!

As per usual, we woke up around mid morning and headed out. I honestly don't remember if we had anything to eat but we mostly ate at the same few places.

Our first stop was Kona Beans at Apgujeong! It's a cafe that was owned by the mothers of Super Junior's Kyuhyun, Sungmin and Leeteuk. But just this year, Kyuhyun and Sungmin's mums pulled out from the partnership.

Address: 13 Apgujeong-ro 42-gil (640-9 Sinsa-dong) Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

We alighted at Apgujeong station and exited from exit 2. We walked quite a fair bit before arriving at the cafe. Of course, we stood across the road to take a photo before entering.

The cafe was surprisingly empty. There used to be photos of Kyuhyun, Sungmin and Leeteuk but now there were only Leeteuk photos left. We were deciding what drink to get and while doing so we took photos. As tourists, taking photos seemed like the basic thing. But then, we were told off rather rudely by the counter staff to stop taking photos and to buy a drink. She was really rude and she gave us like dirty looks. We eventually bought a drink and left, feeling rather upset.

We left the cafe and stood outside I think to open the drink and take selfies, not of the cafe but of ourselves when another staff approached us. He came from across the street, maybe from a smoke break or something. He told us, once again really rudely, that we should go inside. So of course, we just left. I've no idea what's up with the staff. It wasn't like that when I went there in 2012. There were people, fans and we could take photos. It was like totally empty when we went there. Totally. Empty.

After Kona Beans, we took the subway to Sinsa where Garosugil was at. I don't remember what exit we took but I believe there were signs in the subway station. Most of the time we really just followed the signs. Haha.

It was basically a street that has many fancy shops and cafes. It's not for those on budget.

We went there just because EXO went there to shop for Chanyeol's birthday present. We tried looking for the shop that Kris and Tao were shopping in but the shop fronts looked quite similar and we didn't want to walk into a store if we weren't buying anything. We did though, manage to find the hat shop that some of the members went to. I think we did take a photo outside the shop though I can't find the photo >< Countless of disorganised albums on Facebook. Sigh.

After walking from one end of the street to the other, we took a cab and headed to Grill5Taco! The outlet that Donghae owns.

Address: Cheongdam-dong 88-10 beonji Bo building, 1st Floor (서울 강남구 청담동 88-10번지 보빌딩1층)

 

We ordered a burrito, a taco and a double cheese quesadilla. I don't remember what burrito and taco we order but it tasted pretty good! Even the fries were quite delicious! The only thing I didn't like about the place was the oil smell. Thankfully, I don't think the smell stayed on our clothes.

By the time we finished lunch, I think it was already around 3 or 4. I can't really remember if we took the train or we walked but somehow we ended up at the area where many Korean entertainment companies were at.

Due to the lack of preparation, we probably ended up walking more than needed. But that's alright! Since holidays and trips like this are meant for adventures and well, getting lost. Haha.

We arrived at the old SM building first, where the huge EXO poster stood. So, of course, we took pictures. Though it was really difficult to get the whole poster! We would need to cross the road to do that. And even if we did, there were trees right in front of the poster -.-

It took us awhile to find the new SM building with the magic glass door that all the SM artistes walk through. Yes, it's probably quite obvious which company I favour, rather I favour their artistes.

We passed by JYP and Cube before arriving at our destination.

We spent I think around 30 minutes or so at the Cube Cafe cos G.NA and Eunkwang from BTOB were filming there! So we stopped and hung around to watch. Whoa, Eunkwang is really good looking in real life! Sometimes I think the cameras don't do them justice at all!

We hung around a little while longer to see if anyone else would stop by the Cube Cafe but unfortunately no one else did. But as we walked passed the JYP building again, someone came out! Baek A Yeon! We should have gone up to her and greeted her but by the time we realised who she was, she already disappeared round the corner.

Then, we continued on our journey to the SM building. We passed by the FNC building as well. But they have a huge gate and there weren't many people waiting around. But while walking there, a black van drove past us and the windows were down. My sister thinks it's a FT Island member. He winded up his window when he realised we probably weren't fans.

Finally, after much walking, we arrived at the SM building!

This photo was taken when the sky turned dark but just so you know, we stayed outside the building for almost 3 hours! Of course, our efforts paid off and have a lot of names to add to the list of people we saw that day!

I think since this post is already pretty long, I'll write a separate post on our experience outside the SM building! Hehehe. I think it's actually really depends on like the day that you choose to go though. I guess we chose a good day!

Stay tuned for more posts on our trip to Korea! Days 7 to 14 left!

Jukebox #16 두 번째 고백 (2nd Confession) ♥︎

Weekend. Shuffle. Play.

Trying to get this week's song recommendation out on time but I doubt that'll happen. Haha. Every weekend I'm either resting or meeting up with friends. I guess that's the difficult part of working life. Haha.

Anyway, let's get on with this week's song recommendation. It's BTOB's 두 번째 고백 (2nd Confession)!

I've actually blogged about this song before when I had background music for my blog. Hehe. You can read that old post here, though I think it was kind of spazz mode kind of post. And it was written more than a year ago! Whoa.

This song has been one of my top favourite songs since I've heard it! It has also been a earworm since forever! I remember singing this with Mel Unnie in Boston like almost every other day. I really liked the whole concept of the MV. I think there's this like really cute feel to the whole MV although it's a song about confessing to a girl for the second time. But I thought it was quite unique to have the whole radio show kind of concept.

Up till now, I'm still trying to master the few sentences of the song >< It'll need a bit more practice.

The lyrics of the song, well talks about a guy making his 2nd confession to a girl. So it's like his story and what he wants to say to his ex girlfriend. Initially I thought that it was ridiculous to be making a 2nd confession to anyone at all. I mean like if you don't want the relationship to be over then don't end it? I was thinking along those lines. Then I realised a few Korean dramas had their plot along those lines. Emergency couple, My Secret Hotel and Discovery of Romance. So I guess it's actually something quite common in the Korean dating scene and a popular theme for dramas.

Nonetheless, I really like the tune and generally how the whole song is put together. Of course, not forgetting to mention the cute dance. It's quite apt since I guess some cute factor is required in winning a girl's heart right? Hahaha.

So here's this week's song recommendation! I should really start writing these during the week so I can publish them on time. Till next week :>

Jukebox #15 3.6.5 ♥

Weekend. Shuffle. Play.

Trying to regularly blog song recommendations. Otherwise I might really have nothing to blog about. Haha.

Let's get right into it since my introductions are always pretty much the same ><

This week's song is EXO's 3.6.5! At first iTunes shuffle chose A Pink's Nonono but I vaguely remember blogging about it sometime before so I pressed shuffle again and 3.6.5 was chosen! Hehehe.

I honestly like the Korean version more. No particular reason why but I always had the feeling that these songs were written originally in Korean and then translated into Chinese. So sometimes I feel that the Korean lyrics flow better. But of course, I do listen to both versions and dislike neither. And there are some songs that sound good in Chinese too, like Into your world and Miracles of december.

There are similarities to the lyrics of both versions. First, it's a happy and cheerful song. Second, I think the idea behind the lyrics is rather similar. It's about not giving up! Supporting someone for 365 days? That's why I gather from the translations.

I don't just like the lively vibes from the song but also the cute dance!

Actually it's just the chorus that has some kind of choreography but nonetheless it's totally adorable! It was awesome watching this live during TLP SG. It was super adorable! I don't really know how to describe their movements but whatever they're doing it's cute. Hehehe.

Sadly, that video brought back memories... OT12... Kris and Luhan ㅠㅠ It's very different without them in the group. I think I've written and shared my thoughts about Kris's departure but I'm thinking whether I should write another post like that about Luhan's departure. I actually really like Luhan and it's sad seeing how all of this unfolds. Mehhh.

Anyway, enough negativity! Hope this week's song recommendation was interesting! Stay tuned for next week's one!

Jukebox #14 Round 1 ♥

Weekend. Shuffle. Play.

It's been a few weeks since I wrote a song recommendation post! I've decided to change the title for these song recommendation posts! *applause* It was previously titled 토요일 Tunes and now it's titled Jukebox.

Jukebox posts will usually be up either on Saturday or Sunday! So do keep a lookout!

This week's song we have Dalmatian's Round 1.

I guess most people wouldn't have heard of Dalmatian or even know about them. They've been out of the scene for quite some time. I'll write a little about that later on. Let's talk about this song first!

Round 1 is Dalmatian's debut song. The lyrics speak about, well, the group's journey to their debut. It's quite a personalised song and I feel it's meaningful to each of the members. My favourite part of the song would be the part where they sing so sweetly, "We've come so far to be a star..."

I've honestly forgotten how I loved watching them and listening to their song. They don't have many though, sadly.

I found out about Dalmatian when they were promoting their second song, 그 남자는 반대 (That man opposed). I think it's their second album, correct me if I'm wrong >< But I really liked that song and Round 1. The songs that came after that didn't really catch my attention other than maybe Lover Cop though I do have them in my iTunes library.

Their most recent album, they changed their name from Dalmation to DMTN. Following that, there's not really much about them anymore. Especially since after Daniel's lawsuit. Have they disbanded? I don't really know.

Recently, I think Dari released a solo album or single. Other than that, I don't really know what's up with the rest of the group. I know Daniel's back in USA after he served his sentence. Dayday is still producing music. The rest, I hope they're fine!

I remember listening to 그 남자는 반대 and Round 1 with Mich during lectures and even blasting it over and over again when we stay up almost the whole night working on our FYP presentation. I thought they were a pretty inspirational group since they were all of different ages and different working experiences but they came together to well, chase their dreams :)

So that's all for this week's song recommendation. Though pretty delayed, I hope it was a enjoyable read.

Roommate ♥

It's been awhile since the first season of Roommate ended! And I'm finally writing a review about it. Hahaha. It's not really a review, I guess it's just my thoughts on the program.

So basically. I started watching this program mainly because Chanyeol was appearing in it. The concept actually made me upset at first. I mean why would Chanyeol have to stay with girls, you know? #fangirlproblems. Hahaha. No only that, it was going around on twitter that dating between the roommates were encouraged. Can you imagine the horror!

But anyhow, I ended up watching the show anyway.

What I liked.

I think what got me following the program was the friendships and the bonds formed between the roommates. I don't know like how much of what they said on the show was real and how much was scripted but I do believe that singers and actors are really lonely people. I mean they're always constantly busy with their schedules and whatever that they don't see their family and friends. And most of them faced difficult periods in their lives and were even in a slump period. It could be because they were lonely and thus didn't receive enough support but ultimately they felt the support of their roommates through this program. I thought it was sweet how they just bonded and became close. I'd like to think they genuinely cared for each other. Just like a family.

One of the first thing that caught my attention was the OST or music for the show. I thought it was pretty unique and sets the mood quite nicely. I like the opening song or title track of the show. It was specially written for the show and it's like a cute, bubbly song!

And of course, I really love the house! I think since they built the house purposefully for the show, they couldn't simply cancel the show despite it's low ratings. I think the concept for the program is actually pretty good. But maybe it was competing with other even more popular shows so people didn't tune in as much. Anyhow, the house is like probably quite huge! I like how they had the speaker system throughout the house though if I'm not wrong, they only used it once or twice in the early few episodes. The moving camera was pretty cool too.

What needed improvement.

The editing. I've seen many people talk about this before. The editing for this show really sucks. I mean shouldn't there be like a timeline to these kind of shows? But instead it was all over the place. For some episodes it was even confusing. I think it would have been clearer if they had a popup of the date or day or something. To help orientate viewers of the flow of events. I think maybe because they filmed in advanced that's why it was like all over the place.

I think that the storyline needs to be improved so that more people will tune in. I mean it's great the whole family and friendship concept but there were some episodes I chose to skip because it was just very slow moving and boring. I don't really have any suggestions how to make it more interesting either. Just that I noticed because of the concept of the show, we mostly see the same few members. Mostly those members that don't really have schedules. I don't know how it is for the second season but maybe they would have the roommates on the show more often.

Overall thoughts.

Surprisingly, throughout the whole first season, they didn't really emphasise on the whole dating rule. At first like I thought they would focus more on it since Bom and Minwoo did the whole pretend dating scam thing to trick the members. I thought that there would be at least one couple forming. Honestly, I thought that Gayeon and Minwoo were very cute together and they would end up together. I mean like the way she spoke to him and looked at him that one episode when he was upset. And he helped her with her passport at the airport. She even went with the guys to Japan! Plus he cried while watching her match. Hehehe. I totally wouldn't be surprised if they're together in real life already.

I thought that it was quite sad when the first season came to an end. Actually I was already feeling sad when the members slowly announced their departure. I was like thinking, "what's there left for me to watch?". So eventually I stopped watching after the last episode of season one. I didn't continue with season two. But of course, if season two is any different, do let me know and I might just check it out.

On the whole, I really liked the whole family and friendship concept. It was like helping lonely people make friends and find their support group. It would be good if they remained friends after they leave the show. Gayeon and Minwoo dating news?! Hehehe.

So that's all for my random thoughts on the show roommate~ Do check it out!