Potato in Seoul - Seoul: A Cat Lovers' Dream?

Now, I am not technically a cat person. However, as much as I spout off that I prefer dogs to cats, I spent more time in cat cafes than any other type of cafe when I was in Korea. That's six months of cat cafe hopping.

What is a cat cafe, you ask? Well, let me introduce you to the one I most frequented. It's called 고양이다락방 or 'Cat Attic' (loosely translated).

It doesn't really look like your average cafe. Sure, there's some cute decor and an attic-kind of vibe, but the main difference is that there are about 25 cats freely walking/laying around, as you can see in the picture.

For those who are probably worried about the health hazards and the germs, the place is actually extremely well kept and cleaned regularly. The cats are well-kept and frequently checked for things like bugs, etc. The cafe even did a two-week interior renovation near the end of my trip. Thankfully, I still had another week to visit the cafe to see what was new.

How it Works:
-Walk in
-Buy a drink from their wide variety of beverages offered (8,000₩, roughly $7.00)
-Pet cats to your heart's delight

Tips:
-There's no time limit. (You literally can sit in there for hours playing with cats if you feel like it)
-Buy the cat food/treats. It's about $1.50. It's worth it. Cats love those who have food to offer

You can put your belongings into the seats, aka benches made up of wood trunks!

I think I took almost all of my friends to a cat cafe at some point or another. The cafe was about 25 minutes from the university I was studying at (by subway + walking), and then later a mere 45 minutes after I left the school dorm in favor of a more home-y guesthouse. Honestly, I should've gotten paid for the amount of word-of-mouth advertising I did for this place. I had so many of those 'get 6 stamps, get 1 entry free' cards that I was able to get in free several times, and I even gave a friend a fully-stamped card the day before I left. Even the staff knew me by sight after a while..aka, like, the third time. I did say I went quite often.

The blanket the kitten is on is actually one of many you can use to put over your lap a) for girls wearing short skirts/dresses to cover up or b) to keep some of the cat hair off or c) for people who get cold easily I guess

Now, here's some more photos so you can see more cats!

Bend over to pick up a blanket on the ground and this is what happens

 

 

I hope that anyone who goes to Korea gets to experience this fun place, assuming they're not allergic. It's something that has been pretty unique to Korea until recently. I know that LA and NYC have opened up their own version of cat or dog cafes recently, so who knows. Maybe I'll someday get one right near my house! Bye-bye money!

Directions:

-Subway:

      ~Take Line 2 (green line) to Gangnam Station

      ~Get off and exit through Exit 10

      ~After taking the exit stairs up, turn left immediately going into the brick-walk alley

      ~Straight ahead, you should see the building it's in (4th floor: look for the sign)
      ~Cross the street and enter into the building (door is left of the door into the 7/11)

      ~Take either elevator to the 4th floor

      ~Follow the signs to the cat cafe

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