teddy's twosome+ cafe in hongdae, seoul

11.48am


this is the continuation of my adventures to hongdae area. in my blog before this, i was telling you guys about haha's restaurant over in hongdae. so after that, i trekked all the way to teddy's twosome cafe. you cant really miss it unless you are that bad with directions. hehehe well here, let me show you.

now if you head towards the hongik university( you definately cant miss it!), which is the huge glass building and was pretty amazing if you asked me (as shown above), just in front of the entrance of this building, look for the 7/11 shop, which is at the street corner. sorry you cant see it from this angle.( i was coming from the opposite direction). when you have found the 7/11, a couple of shops down is teddy's twosome cafe. its facade is black in color with bright red wordings that read - twosome+ coffee. 

i took this from across the street. that's how it looks like.

and inside, you will see a staircase leading to the upper floors of the cafe and on the first level, there's this signage (as above).  pretty cool huh. unfortunately though patrons arent allowed on the 4th floor. i saw a staircase leading down to the basement and there was a sign that read "private area" as well. hmmmm...

a popular korean designer mina kwon, friends of teddy's and big bang, promoting (or selling) some of her art illustration pieces. im not sure though if its really sold or not coz i never bothered to ask. could be expensive. there were some  of her pieces up on the wall, on the upper floor but there were people sitting around so i couldnt take any photos.

an area of the cafe that is selling teddy's merchandise. its just near to the entrance of the cafe, which is on your left hand side from the moment you enter. some of the stuff sold are not cheap. but it all depends on your budget. sadly though, there wasnt any big bang items sold there. which you know, i think they should since they help teddy to promote this place.

thats the counter and cashier area. and as you can also see more merchandise being sold here.

i decided to grab my brunch there. nothing like a freshly baked scone( that comes with jam and some cream cheese) and a cup of hot chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream. yummy not to mention delish! go try it. there's other yummy stuff sold there too but i wasnt superbly hungry so i opted for this instead.

the scenery from where i was sitting in the cafe on the 2nd floor. you can see starbucks just across the street. what a lovely day that was. bright and sunny yet oh so cold!! brrrrrr

ok for those of you who dont know who teddy is let me just give you a brief run down from what i know. (much thanks to the internet). so i'll just save you the work of googling. well basically, teddy park was in a group called 1TYM back in the day (circa late 1990) and currently he's one of the main producers of YG entertainment. (home to big bang, 2ne1, psy etc). you see, twosome+ cafe is a franchise and its not owned by teddy. you could say that he just collaborated with them on just this one cafe in hongdae. apparently, he did the deco of the place. and that is that.

it was really fun going around on my own, getting a bit lost finding my way but its an experience in itself. i mean it would have been even better if my husband was with me but i cant always rely on people tagging along with me all the time. if i waited, i wouldnt have done so much. and frankly, sometimes the things you want to do, others may not like or enjoy it and so the saying goes - one man's meat is another man's poison. 

so my dear readers, the next time you want to do something, just go do it. dont wait for others to join you. if they do, then its a bonus but otherwise, go and explore on your own in a foreign country, get lost its ok. you'll learn from experience. but more importantly, google and check first before venturing out. some places could be dangerous. 

ttfn


12.40pm

my trip to haha's restaurant(a member of running man) in mapo-gu district, seoul

11.55pm

let me start off by asking you this - have you guys seen any episode of the korean variety show call running man? well if you havent, please please i beg you to just go and watch a couple of the episodes and you tell me if its bloody hilarious(or not).

how i started liking this program was by pure co-incidence, or perhaps written in the stars that i'd be sucked into this so called korean phenomena thingy, um..not that i mind! i remember i was at a friend's place one chinese new year( i think which was more than a couple of years back) and so happened my friend's kids were watching this show on tv. so i joined them to see whats it all about and omg it was just so funny. from that day onwards, i  started following the program and even managed to get my mom hooked on it too!

anyways, since i was heading to seoul, i found out that one of the cast members named ha dong hoon (@ haha or haroro) had opened a restaurant over in hongdae. its called paljamakchang. it serves korean bbq if im not mistaken. this was another objective of mine on my to do list when in korea. and so off i went on my adventure on my own (hubby had to work). 

i set off to the subway and headed towards hongdae university station and i got a bit lost. thank god i found the information kiosk and asked them. and then i set off again in the right direction, hopefully! so after walking for like almost half hour, i found the restaurant. unfortunately it doesnt open in the afternoons. only after 5pm till late. ho hum. oh well at least i found it, thats what matters and so i snapped a couple of shots there. 

i cant believe i was actually standing in front of the restaurant, where haha frequents(as well as some of the other members of running man) and helps out, serving people, taking orders or cashiering. for what its worth, i think its great that he does that, very humbling. 

so anyways, after snapping some photos i proceeded on to hongik university area where teddy's twosome cafe was located at. that shall be my next blog. so kindly stay tuned ok??

haha's restaurant just at the corner, you cant miss it. but you gotta know your way to get there.

see, the restaurant is closed. only opens after 5pm! boo hoo hoo... no chance to try the bbq!

front entrance of the restaurant. check out that cute cartoon character of haha as the signage

guessing that that must be the telephone number of the restaurant. i dont know, i cant read what is written in korean. if you know, please tell me lol

along the way, heading towards the restaurant, i quickly took this shot. which means i was on the right track. tee hee

well ok folks, this is it for me. i bid you adieu until my next blog which is about teddy's twosome+ cafe. oh and by the way, im reminding you to GO WATCH RUNNING MAN. start off with episode one. you can always google it ok. dont be lazy! and i really hope you enjoy watching it!!

ttfn


12.33pm

my trip to YG entertainment building near hapjeong-dong, seoul

12.21pm


i had a couple of objectives that i had to achieve once i got to seoul and that was to go to the YG entertainment building near hapjeong-dong, mapo-gu area where big bang's recording company was located. "home" to also 2ne1, PSY etc. 

 thank god one of my husband's colleague who was so kind enough to take us around over the weekend, took us to the YG building. you see, just so happen he likes big bang and 2ne1. (i was like YES thank you very much!! that saved me a trip on my own trying to locate the building without getting lost). he had GPS  so we found the place in no time. 

before heading over to YG, we had our lunch in a tiny but popular dumpling restaurant called jonny dumplings(that served different types of dumplings which is to die for!) over in itaewon, (which i think wasnt very far from hapjeong-dong.)

here's some shots that i managed to take in record time. oh and by the way, not too far away from this building, we saw a couple of girls loitering about and taking pictures in hopes of catching a glimpse of any of these famous artists popping out of the building or heading in. hahaha..now thats what i call die hard fans (well including myself of course!)

this is the main entrance to YG entertainment building. no frills. lots of black cars with heavily tinted windows. im guessing that the big vans probably belonged to big bang or 2ne1? hahahaha

you know come to think of it,  i didnt see any kind of signboard saying that this is YG building but everyone(fans!) knows that this is the real deal. but it makes me wonder now if there really was some kind of signage anywhere around indicating YG entertainment

thats me there, poorly dressed. hahaha hey, you know  i was "unprepared". gimme a break ok guys! anywho, just directly across from the buidling, there was a whitewash wall where fans wrote or spray painted their messages to big bang, 2ne1 etc. i read somewhere on i think someone's blog that every couple of months, some kind soul would get white paint just to repaint that wall and messages that had been written would be wiped off. too bad. i would've loved write something but i didnt have the correct pen or ink marker or a spray can with me as it was an impromtu visit. oh well.

the side of the building. frankly if you asked me, there wasnt  much to look at in this area. its very low key if you know what i mean. no frills about like no restaurants or big shops etc,  the street was pretty quiet and not much activities going on. i only spotted a tiny convenience shop just at the corner of the street and that was pretty much it. the building is located just off the main street, away from all the noise.

that's jonny dumplings in itaewon. if you ever make it to seoul, just go there. you wont regret it, trust me! having those hot dumplings on a cold cold day was absolutely food for the soul. believe you me.

oh and just in case you want to try and go on your own (to YG entertainment building) and have your own little adventure, here's the directions on getting there. (please google it again before going just to be doubly sure). note - that this is just my rough guide.

1. get yourself onto the seoul metro line 2(light green color line) or line 6 (brown) and alight at hapjeong station.
2. use exit 8. walk on until you see SK gas station
3. keep on walking on till you see a CHEERS convenient store (i think) which is on your right hand side, then keep on going. you are on the right track.
4. now not too far after that, you will come across a light brownish building which is the Circle Hotel and yet another SK gas station thereafter.
5. continue walking straight on till you come to a crossroad. once you've crossed the road, you'll see like a 2 storey building(there's a restaurant which has an orange and white signage).
6. keep going on and moving forward and you'll see a white apartment buiding (reckon more than 10 storeys). you're almost there
7. once you see the white apartment building, make a left turn and you'll slowly see YG building in a distance, which isnt very far away. 
8. finally, make your last left turn again and you will see YG building. well done, you've made it!! 
9. the address is - 397-5 YG building, Hapjeong-Dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul, South Korea, 121-886.


well ok, thats my story on how i achieved one of my objectives or should i say, on my to-do list. my next blog would probably be about my trip to teddy's twosome+ cafe and haroro's restaurant(a cast from a very popular not to mention hilarious korean variety show called running man) which is i think called phaljamakchang (팔자막창.) 


alright then, i shall be off now. hope you enjoyed my blog for today. stay tuned for more of my adventures in seoul. hehehe

ttfn

1.29pm

p/s -  i had a lot of "homework" to do before this trip. had to do some research and stuff plus i had to plan a rough itinerary for the weekend because my husband let me take "charge" as he doesnt have any clue whatsoever when he's in a foreign country and if im with him, he'll just follow me everywhere. thankfully we're usually on the same page most of the time! lets just say we wont waste our time going to museums or art galleries unless there's ample time. (which we didnt have much of anyways)


pp/s - 5/8/2015 - just a heads up. i heard that YG is planning to build another YG building. i cant confirm it yet but i think i read somewhere that thats the plan. when and where, i dont know. so if you are planning to pay a visit to this current YG building, please do so before they all move out. 

seoul, korea, what a beautiful city

1.02pm

i just finished plonking some photos on to my facebook album on my seoul trip. doing that, it brought back fond memories. i dont even know where or how to begin to tell you my story of the trip.

basically in a nutshell, the first 2 days there, my husband and i went around and the next 2 days i was on my own. it was an adventure! thankfully i didnt get lost whilst trying to figure out which subway line goes where. a couple of times i gotta admit that i was going the wrong direction but in the right line. so obviously i had to get off and backtrack and get myself to the opposite side of the platform. huff huff!

it was freezing, it was cold, it drizzled the entire day, it even snowed lightly and best part is, there was some sun and blue skies! simply magical to me. the weather didnt bother me so much or the temperature only when the wind blows, oh boy, its shiver me timbers! 

we tried the local food there as i told my hubby that i dont want to eat fast food or anything american or english (not if i can help it). let just GO KOREAN all the way.but you know somehow the taste there is slightly different, more authentic compared to when we eat korean food in our own country for example. 

anyways, it was a very good experience for me and i will definately make a trip back there again, this time a bit longer. it was good while it lasted. i achieved what i wanted so that was good. here let me share with you some photos. 

myeongdong shopping area

traditional costumes of korea called the hanbok

of course i had to take that picture of GD who is promoting BSX brand in korea

korean street snacks all around. yum-myyyy!!

the next time i go to korea again, it wont be in winter. i didnt shop much as i would have loved to coz they were mostly selling winter stuff and honestly i dont need winter clothings or shoes for that matter. hey, i live in a hot and humid country remember!

anyways, sorry to keep this short but i have to run. will plonk more photos soon! meantime stay healthy and keep calm!!

ttfn

1.27pm