Potato in Seoul - Zapangi Tin and Bottle Cafe (Seoul)

Seoul is known for having dozens upon dozens of unique cafes, many of them created based on a specific theme. There's dog/cat/raccoon/meerkat/sheep cafes, color-themed cafes, Hello Kitty, comic or board-game themed cafes...literally everything. As someone who likes exploring places that offer good drinks and good food, it's the perfect city for me. There's always a different cafe to go to. (The repercussions of having so many cafes in Seoul is a different story.)

With my 베프, I headed out to a rather new cafe not too far from Hongdae called Zapangi: Tin and Bottle. It's a cafe that focuses on its milk tea and small cakes that come in little tin canisters. The milk tea and cake were both delicious!

Menu:
They offer a few different flavors of cakes. Melon, cherry, peach, and blueberry were the offerings the day I went. My friend and I decided on a blueberry cake to split between the two of us and then a drink each. I'm a big milk tea fan, so I went with the Original milk tea, while my friend went with a coffee.

Special summer drinks came in floaty stands!

Potato in Seoul - Gyeongbokgung/경복궁 (Again!)

If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram (@lilea_ishere), you've probably seen all of these photos already, however, you're about to see them again! Yay! I decided to make a post using some of my favorite shots from this trip to the Palace.

Last month, I went to one of the palaces that I went to last summer, but this time, I was dressed in traditional regalia. I went with two friends, and we made a quick stop to a hanbok rental place that was right next to the palace where we got all dressed up before heading to the palace. Though palace entry isn't expensive to begin with, if you go to the palace dressed in traditional Korean clothing (hanbok), you get free entry! The hanbok place that we went to was small, and I didn't get any photos of the inside. The staff spoke a variety of languages, and everything was very quick and efficient.

Although hanboks traditionally come in bright colors, I opted for one that's more modern-looking made with darker colors. Those who know me, know that I'm always wearing dark colors. I haven't worn brights in...a long time.T and you get to try on two different options, but if you're still not satisfied with the first two tries, you can pay extra to try on more. I got lucky and ended up going with the first hanbok I tried on.

Potato in Seoul - Hanbok Studio / 한복 스투디오

As South Korea becomes an ever-more popular tourist destination, the country is more than willing to share its history and traditional culture with its visitors while also creating an atmosphere not unlike the busyness of other modern cities. Skyscrapers and large shopping malls are starting to take over Seoul's mom-and-pop shops while restaurants are starting to cater to a broader range of tastes. Certain areas of Seoul are known to cater to western tastes in food and music while other areas draw large crowds of Southeast Asians.

One thing that is popular among tourists from everywhere is trying on Korea's traditional hanbok/한복. The outfits are made out of colorful fabrics with more variations in patterns than you could ever look through in a day. There are now even photo studios that dedicate themselves entirely to letting people wear hanboks and have their photos taken professionally against dramatic backdrops for a fun souvenir. So, of course, my family and I had to go.

My two sisters and I were plopped into makeup chairs immediately after being called in, and the ladies working there set about making up our faces. Foundation that was too light, false eyelashes, eyebrow shaping and filling/coloring, and even styling our hair and adding false hair pieces (in black to cover up my purple/green/blonde hair) was all part of the included package. After we got made up, we were taken over to the long row of hanboks. We all got to choose the one we liked, and the ladies helped us put them on.

The hanboks were divided by size (and also length) ranging from XS-L. You could choose whichever one you wanted, but the key was finding one that touched the ground, not the top of your feet. This meant that the hanbok I fell in love with (at first sight) was not meant to be since it would have been too short (not that I'm even tall).

Potato in Seoul - Jeju Island: Day 4

Our final day on Jeju Island was better than we could have hoped for

DAY 4

Day 4 of our Jeju trip went exactly not as planned. It was way better than we had planned. We had another late starts, knowing it was our last day, but despite the cloudy skies, we wanted to go somewhere. Marley told us about Sewha Beach/세화해변, which is a popular beach spot, so we decided to go for it. We hopped back on that city bus and took the trip to the beach.

To get to the beach, you have to first walk through a super movie-set-like small town. There were little, old people all over the place: selling fish, vegetables, chattering away with each other as they sold and bought food and other things. Run-down, abandoned buildings mixed in with older apartment complexes, and small houses that looked no bigger than the standard American bedroom abounded.

What I loved about that little town though was that you could smell the ocean from wherever you were walking in that town. The ocean breeze followed us around as we made our way through the town heading towards the beach.

Potato in Seoul - Jeju Island: Day 3

More rain, more fun

DAY 3

Day three of our Jeju Island trip was predominantly spent hiking. Gedas was the rise-and-shine-let's-get-going-at-6AM guy who stirred up a ruckus getting ready while trying to convince us it was a great idea to get up before the sun to go hiking. Needless to say, it didn't work. Convinced he had to leave no later than 8AM to be able to hike all the way to the top of the mountain, Gedas ended up going by himself to hike. The other four of us decided to take a more leisurely hike up the same mountain but not go all the way up.

We took a bus from the Jeju City bus terminal to Mt. Hallasan National Park/한라산국립공원. This mountain is a popular hike because of the giant lake at the top of the mountain. The main mountain is also surrounded by small, parasitic volcanoes, which is a fun fact. The park is situated in almost the exact middle of the island, and it took us around one hour by bus to get there. The park had two entrances, and we didn't know which bus stop to get off of. Of course, we picked the wrong one and ended up walking for about 35 minutes just to get to the actual park entrance.

Potato in Seoul - Jeju Island: Day 2

After a successful first evening in Jeju, we went to bed ready to welcome our first full day on the island. The weather, however, wasn't as happy as we were.

DAY 2

Our first full day in Jeju, we went to a beach that Gedas had found. Gedas was our travel guide that week. He was the one who did all the research of places to go and things to do. He would get up early every morning, ready for whatever he had planned for the day, laying out his big map and looking over it like a treasured possession every evening before bed. The rest of us were more content just going around doing whatever was easy to get to and just relaxing.

The weather when we woke up that day, though, was not extremely pleasant. We knew we were going during rainy season, but you can always hope that the weather will go against the norm and not be what you expect. However, it was exactly as predicted: rainy. There was a light drizzle almost all day that was a bit disheartening. The sky was cloudy and gray and the temperature wasn't very warm. So, we decided to take a bus ride that took you all the way around the city, mostly outside of it so you could see the sea and other pretty places.