My little souvenir from Seoul.

I’ve followed Banul for a few years now, and her delicate designs have made me fall more and more in love with her tattooing style over time. She is extremely busy, so when I noticed she’d opened bookings coinciding with a trip I’d already planned, I threw caution to the wind and hoped for the best.

Despite my tight schedule, I managed to get an appointment for the day I arrived in Seoul; so after heading practically straight from the airport, I was about to embark on my first tattoo adventure.

Upon entering her studio, I felt more like a treasured roommate than a customer in the best way. I arrived at 6pm and left at 10:45pm, with the tattoo taking just over two and a half hours. The rest of the time was dedicated to redrawing my design to get it perfect and feeding me instant tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).

Banul creates her floral designs using real photos of flowers, before photoshopping them into a design on her computer. As we’d discussed my idea beforehand, she had three designs waiting for me. After seeing my skin, we decided some pinks would be too light, and after giving my opinions she spent over an hour and a half creating a new design I was completely happy with. Banul is so talented, in the sense that even before I’d voiced my opinions, she was already drawing exactly what I wanted.

I couldn’t have asked for a more comfortable experience, and would totally recommend her to anyone interested. I almost fell asleep on the table, because the gospel music playing and her angelic singing throughout added to how relaxed I was.

It’s healing like a beaut, and I feel like it’s been part of me for much longer than it has. I think that’s why Banul is just so good. Not only can she create intricate pieces of art, but she understands you on a personal level and is fully devoted to taking her time and giving you exactly what you imagined. The pictures she put on her Instagram of my tattoo got over 7,000 likes, so many more people have been absorbed by the beauty of her tattoos too. Does that make me Instagram famous? Maybe not, maybe just my side boob.

Getting this tattoo has been a learning curve in more ways than one. The main one? Having to go braless for two weeks (I’m on day 6, will it never end?!), when I’ve barely done more than a cheeky Tesco run *Non-Brits, read ventured outside* without one in about 10 years.

School has been interesting… I’m wearing more layers of clothes to ensure I don’t smack a kid in the head, and I’ll admit I had to body swerve a special needs kid who came running up to me for a hug. That kind of contact I was not, and still aren’t quite ready for.

To those of you who go without a bra daily, I applaud you. For me, I’m counting down the days until this hell is over and I’ll celebrate with a large glass of wine.

Golden Week in Busan!

During Golden Week (a time in Japan were three public holidays are back to back, and everywhere in Japan is bedlam) Kohei and I decided to take a trip to Busan, a first for the both of us.

The evening we arrived was spent wandering around the Jagalchi and Nampo area, famous for its bustling markets and street food. BIFF Square and Gukje Market had such a similar feel to Myeongdong in Seoul that it was easy to forget where we were. 

I’ve been craving strawberry daifuku in Japan for weeks now, but the season has already past, so I was utterly delighted to see a stall selling the same red bean and strawberry filled mochi balls. We also tried something that can only be described as a soft, sweet, egg-y bread with bacon. So wrong, but so right. The next day we also ate “Quattro-cheese topokki” which was practically life changing.

Brown Hands Café

Somewhere I’d stumbled across while stalking cute locations on Instagram, this café is hidden in the back streets near Busan station amongst some random nightclubs.  It’s located inside an old converted hospital, providing one of the most hipster settings to a café I’ve ever been to. Coffee (and more importantly the banana smoothie I had) were good too.

Centum City

Deemed the largest department store in the world, we had to take a visit to Shinsegae in Centum City. The food court is an experience in itself, and the abundance of every type of Korean and some Western foods will have your head on a swivel. Nearby is Café the Box, another quirky little joint overlooking the river with cardboard leaves on the walls and a chocolate block ceiling.

Another café we visited was The Pancake Epidemic in Haeundae. Although the pancakes were magical judging by Instagram, they were sold out by the time we arrived. The store itself is pretty cool, overlooking the beach and is also connected to a pretty cool clothing store which is worth a visit. I even bought a hat.  

Gamcheon Culture Village is a must-visit when in Busan. What is commonly referred to as “Korea’s Santorini” is a favela like area, given an update and is now one of the most quirky areas I’ve ever been to. Art installations are everywhere, hidden along tiny paths in backstreets, or brazenly painted on any surface in view. I didn’t truly appreciate the abundance of colours until looking at the pictures afterwards. I’d love to go back and explore when it’s less crowded and get a change to fully delve into hidden gems I’m sure exist. However, if you’re not a fan of creepy birds with human heads perched on buildings because it’s “artsy”, this place may not be for you.

That night we headed to Gwangalli Beach just after sunset and spent the evening wandering along the beach, drinking beer and soju, and watching the infamous lights adorning Gwangan Beach in the distance. Although we went to Haeundae Beach the next day, there’s something a little more special about Gwangalli as there are less tourists flooding the place. Even better, you can sit, watch the lights on the bridge, hear the waves and see people setting off fireworks.

 While I’ve been to Seoul three times and will inevitably always have a return trip planned, Busan was a completely different experience, but also so similar. I missed the famous lantern festival by a few days, and also never got to do some of the beautiful coastal walks because of the weather… Let’s be honest though, like I need more of an excuse to return; the Korean BBQ alone does it for me.

 I’m proud to say that Kohei and I didn’t want to kill each other either! It won’t be long Busan, and maybe I’ll squeeze in a trip to Jeju too. Although I do need a Korean skin care intervention, it’s getting out of hand.

6 airports in 5 days

Yes you read that right. As you can see, I had a mildly crazy week after the exchange programme finished! I made a pretty spontaneous decision to go back to Seoul for a few days, because hey, why not.

I'm so glad I got to go back to Seoul again, because it really is a wonderful city. I spent time with one of my friends and although I was only there a few days, if that, I managed to explore more places. I even got to go to Lotte World, a famous indoor/outdoor amusement park that is huge. I saw some interesting sights there, namely girls wearing plush toy tails, and couples walking matching animal ears. Not to mention, I made sure to get my fill of banana milk and Korean BBQ while I was there.

After leaving Korea and making a brief stop in Tokyo to see Haruka one last time, I headed to Australia!

I only had one day in Adelaide with Eleni until we flew to meet Chrissie in Melbourne for a girly weekend. It was sooooo good to have a reunion again, almost 8 months later, and it honestly felt like we hadn't spent any time apart. True to fashion, Chrissie had wine awaiting us upon our arrival at the hotel.

Melbourne is a such a cool city to walk around, and it kind of reminded me of a larger Lark Lane back home. Saturday was spent walking along the Yarra river and heading to Chinatown for dumplings. That night we had our official reunion in a place called the Croft Institute, a medical themed bar that gives you a syringe with your drinks. Even the girls bathroom had a hospital bed in, but that was the point in which the place got borderline creepy.

Although the weather wasn't the best, on Sunday we headed to St Kilda beach to see the markets. Officially my first Australian beach experience (well, that I remember)! It got pretty awful and stormy in the afternoon, so we packed up and headed home, not before getting a super yummy Thai curry to ease our still present hangovers. 

All in all, it was a super fun weekend in Melbourne, but also bittersweet since it will be the last time all three of us are together for a long while. Next year when Chrissie and Leni both come to England can't come quick enough!

Oppa Gangnam Style!

By the time we arrived in Seoul it was pretty late, so once we'd found where we were staying we went for a walk around Jongno. To say we fell in love with the place instantly is an understatement! It was so different to Hong Kong, and after getting some super duper not-made-for-foreigners spicy kimchi stew, we discovered how the back streets of Jongno were filled with food stalls with people of different age groups socialising. It was such a welcome change from the craziness of Hong Kong, so with a banana milk in hand (which is very famous over there) we headed back to come up with a plan for our time there.

The next day we headed to Chamdeongung Palace which was right by where we were staying. It was huge! We barely walked through a quarter of the entire place and the architecture was so intricate you could have taken photos all day. After leaving we roamed round a few random streets before realising that despite our early start, Seoul doesn't really open until 10:30am. This was explained on our last day when we left for the airport at 5am and the streets where still full of people at the street restaurants from the night before.

We headed to Insadong first and did some serious damage in Étude House, where I found the holy grail of liquid eyeliners. Yay for Korean makeup! I spotted a jipangyi stall which I was so happy about. It's soft serve ice cream in a corn-puff cone, the difference being its J-shaped and about a foot long. Tasty but the most awkward thing to eat when it's melting from both ends. Later we carried on towards Myeongdong which I loved. Every shop was blasting different kpop songs and it was the cheesy bright Korea I'd expected to begin with. Although I restrained my singing and dancing for Haruka's sake, I did treat myself to a SHINee album (or two) because you're only in Seoul once, right?! On that note, almost everyone under the age of 25 looked like they could be an idol, so Haruka and I were very happy "people watching", even if it was just cute guys.

We both wanted to make the most of the street food too, so when we were there we for some tteokbokki and a very random combination of a hot dog, wrapped in bread and chips that was deep fried. After that we got the cable car up to Namsam Tower, and the views of Seoul were stunning in both daylight and night. It's always shown in Korean dramas as a date place, but I swear Haruka and I were the only people there not on a date. The first of a few romantic locations we accidentally visited together during our travels!

The next day was all about the kpop! I managed to drag Haruka along to Gangnam to see the buildings of two of the biggest entertainment companies there, SM and JYP. Lots of picture taking ensued, we even chilled in a nearby Dunkin' Donuts for a bit in hope of seeing someone famous, but no luck. We ventured into SMTown Atrium which was literally heaven for me, with 5 floors of  SHINee, Girls Generation, f(x) and even a themed cafe.

Afterwards we met Haruka's friend Jay for dinner before he had to go back to the U.S. Military base. It was great having him with us because we could finally go places without English/pictures on their menus, getting to finally try Korean bbq, soju and bingsu. Since we were in Gangnam, I did have to embarrass Haruka when we got a picture at the dance stand, however I didn't dance too much...

Day 3 couldn't have been any more different to the day before. I've been wanting to visit the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) between North and South Korea for so long, and was super disappointed that the tours weren't running due to MERS. Even though we couldn't go to the Joint Security Area and technically step foot in North Korea, tours were still running to parts of the DMZ. We went to Imjingak which was so surreal, as the barbed wire fences and flags, accompanied with the bad weather made it seem very eerie. Bombs were also being detonated as part of a military exercise in the distance too which made it seem all the more real. Afterwards we went to the unification observatory and got a chance to be within 2km of North Korean land, even seeing some housing through binoculars.

Later that evening we decided to go to the Han River, since I wanted to see the rainbow fountain show at Banpo Bridge. Turns out we majorly misjudged the size of Seoul and the chill timetable of the trains, so totally missed the show. It wasn't all bad though, we fell in love with Seoul all over again when we walked along the river and just spent time watching the world go by, filled with lots of people hanging out and doing the same as us on a Friday night.

On our final day we met up with Dongho, a guy we met at Keele last year who's now doing his military service. That was a surreal experience for all of us since we never thought we'd see eachother again after he left! We went for hotpot and got to try jeon, before Haruka and I headed to Hongdae.

Since this is the university area, there were a lot more international students around, the only thing I didn't really like about it since they were very overpowering. However, I did love the fact as soon as we arrived a group of super cute college boys were dancing kpop group dances on the street, and also playing a song that reminds Haruka, Jane and I sooooo much of first year!

After a failed attempt at finding the Hello Kitty cafe there (I found its old location, but the directions to the new one were awful), we ended up walking the streets after a few drinks rather than going to the clubs like we expected. We stumbled across two buskers who were absolutely adorable, and after dedicating songs to us in broken Englih, we got a picture with them. Sadly forgot to get any of their information, but it was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

Even though I couldn't read any Korean, I've never felt more welcomed in a country. The people were unbelievable helpful, along with even being apologetic that they couldn't speak English, or for assuming I could speak Korean after using a few phrases. Five days wasn't nearly long enough, and I know I've only just scratched the surface. Haruka and I both said the night we arrived how we could move there tomorrow, and I think Seoul will definitely be our meeting point after uni is over, even though it's not exactly in the middle! So thank you South Korea, for being more than I ever expected you to be. Not being just part of my trip to "get it out of my system", but making me want to explore you more.