![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Beijing and Seoul, a how-to guide
Back from China and Korea! Dead tired from all that traveling, omg.
Final bits of the trip recorded @ my travel blog: http://chungguk.blogspot.com
Later I will write up a list of swag accrued in Asia (please know I now own 3 copies of SJM...um) as well as another not-entirely-fandom related list of things we accomplished. Did I mention I ate live octopus? OMG. :D
Later I will have, like, 500 pictures to share too. But most of them are with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thyme_hawthorne's iPod right now because I am not a forward-thinking person. 1GB of memory space for three weeks in China and Korea? NOT ENOUGH. I do have some but I'm to lazy to put those up without the others, haha. Here, have a tease:
From the BOBO fansigning. They are consistently gay together even if they fail at singing. But their songs are growing on me by the minute alkjdladk. I'm so ashamed.
Awkward picture of Awesome Chinese Boy who...was awesome and also awkward. ::dies::
Me &thyme_hawthorne touring the Ming Tombs! This is a picture with a kylin, some random mythical beast. :Dv
There were a lot more pictures of food...and Sukira, of course! I'll get that fancam up later.
For now, because I promised some people, directions to places in Beijing and Seoul:
DIRECTIONS TO:
Han Geng's Mom's Dumpling Shop
梅花饺子 (Plum Flower Dumplings)
Address:
在北京市西城区缸瓦市丰盛胡同，离西单很近，
Beijing's "Gang1 Wa3 Shi4" district, close to Xi1 Dan1
Take any of the following buses to "缸瓦市" stop:
坐105，102，109，47，22 626，826，726到缸瓦市下车就行了
You can ask the bus operator (not the driver, the one selling tickets) to let you know you need to get off at 缸瓦市 and they'll make sure you know when the bus is there.
When you get off, look for a tiny sidestreet called "丰盛胡同" (Feng1 Cheng2 Hu2 Tong2) and turn in. You'll see the shop to your right after about 200m (half the alley).
Outside looks like this!
You're, um, going to get prodded into buying the most expensive itmes on the menu if you're not careful. It happened to us. ;_; But I guess you're not paying for just the food, but also the privilege of being there and seeing Hannie's face stuck to the walls? Also, chance you won't see his mom. The people running the shop aren't her, though she may be in the kitchen. She served us our dumplings! :)
My inside pictures are not with me, so they will be up later. :(
Btw, the place has expanded. There's now a second, larger shop a few bus stops away, called 梅花家人 (Plum Flower Family). Bigger pics of Hannie here. I'm pretty sure only fangirls ever go to the first shop though. THEY WILL KNOW WHY YOU ARE THERE. Especially if you take pictures outside like we did. Gah. Give up your dignity now.
Shopping in Beijing
We got a lot of cheap clothes at the underground mall and various above-store malls in the Xi Zhi (西值) area, which was where we stayed (near the Beijing Engineering and Architecture College). Lots of cheap clothes and shoes! From 20yuan to 60yuan, all pretty amazing.
Never, never go to a department store in China unless you want to pay roughly the same thing you would pay in the U.S. It's not worth it.
If you're looking for non-clothes stuff, Tian Yi (天意) is a pretty decent mall .
My Chinese characters may be slightly off (a week in Seoul threw me off, I'm sorry!), but ask around. There are tons and tons of cheap shopping opportunities in Beijing. Just don't go to Wang Fu Jing Street (王府井) which is close to Tiananmen--you can visit, but you're probably not going to find anything cheap there. At least in my experience.
If you're looking for dramas, CDs, or photobooks, find a bookstore (书店). Media is usually basement, with photobooks upstairs with...foreign or art books. It takes some wandering around... There's a word for "photobooks" in Chinese too, but no one ever told me clearly. Tragic. Just explore!
KOREA:
Most of my Korea directions are thanks tojaded_skys who is wonderful and lovely and fun, and whom I'm so glad I met in Seoul. Thanks for making the trip even better! ♥
MOST IMPORTANTLY: Get a Seoul subway map, you will master it. Here's a Korean version, here's an English version. Korean ones are free everywhere in the station, but you have to go to the window to ask for an English version.
Where SuJu Lives
Take Line 2 (green) to Konkuk University (건대입구). When you exit the subway on the streets, you will see a giant bridge and some skyscapers. SuJu lives here:
It's behind gates, so you can't get to it, but you can take pictures of it like we did! :)
Here's a sketch of what you should be looking for.
Sukira
KBS Studios address:
18 Yoido-dong Youngdungpo-gu Seoul 150-790, Korea
Take Line 5 (purple) to Yeouido (여의도). Exit the subway from Way Out 5, then take a taxi to the KBS Main Building. There's really no easier way than to just take a taxi, I swear, though you could always take bus 5561. (Map: you want the building in the lower left corner.)
Taxi fare will be really cheap, though, maybe about $4. KBS Radio should be a white building with a bunch of white stairs leading up to the main entrance. Sukira is the last window to the left from the main entrance--there will more than likely be some middle schoolers crowded in front of the window. It broadcasts from 10PM - midnight, and if you can, stay until the end when the boys come out, because they'll wave at the fans in the window. :) The subways will have stopped by 10:30 or 11PM, so make sure you have money for a taxi to get back to wherever you're staying.
Shopping in Seoul
thyme_hawthorne had the most fun and success in Myeongdong and the underground mall at Gosok Bus Terminal.
To get to Myeongdong (명동), take Line 4 (blue). Exit from Way Out 7 or 8, if I remember correctly, and you'll see narrow streets between tall skyscrapers full of Western coffee/doughnut shops, and other things. There should be a giant TV screen before you enter the streets, often playing Big Bang's Baskin Robbins commercials, ooh.
Look carefully, you will find those shameless fan stands and shops. One in particular is underground, but the street entrance is plastered with posters of celebrities that you won't be able to miss (even if you don't recognize them; how often do you see shops with tons of giant faces covering the entrance anyway?).
To get to Gosok (고속터미널), take Line 3 (light orange) or Line 7 (olive green). Walk down to Way Out 7 and 8 but don't go up the stairs, instead look to the intersection to find the way to the underground shop.
Have fun!
Also polls! Because who doesn't love polls? I blame these on the fact that I'm not quite asleep or awake. Gahh, jet lag.
[Poll #1201955]
Final bits of the trip recorded @ my travel blog: http://chungguk.blogspot.com
Later I will write up a list of swag accrued in Asia (please know I now own 3 copies of SJM...um) as well as another not-entirely-fandom related list of things we accomplished. Did I mention I ate live octopus? OMG. :D
Later I will have, like, 500 pictures to share too. But most of them are with
thyme_hawthorne's iPod right now because I am not a forward-thinking person. 1GB of memory space for three weeks in China and Korea? NOT ENOUGH. I do have some but I'm to lazy to put those up without the others, haha. Here, have a tease:From the BOBO fansigning. They are consistently gay together even if they fail at singing. But their songs are growing on me by the minute alkjdladk. I'm so ashamed.
Awkward picture of Awesome Chinese Boy who...was awesome and also awkward. ::dies::
Me &
thyme_hawthorne touring the Ming Tombs! This is a picture with a kylin, some random mythical beast. :DvThere were a lot more pictures of food...and Sukira, of course! I'll get that fancam up later.
For now, because I promised some people, directions to places in Beijing and Seoul:
DIRECTIONS TO:
Han Geng's Mom's Dumpling Shop
梅花饺子 (Plum Flower Dumplings)
Address:
在北京市西城区缸瓦市丰盛胡同，离西单很近，
Beijing's "Gang1 Wa3 Shi4" district, close to Xi1 Dan1
Take any of the following buses to "缸瓦市" stop:
坐105，102，109，47，22 626，826，726到缸瓦市下车就行了
You can ask the bus operator (not the driver, the one selling tickets) to let you know you need to get off at 缸瓦市 and they'll make sure you know when the bus is there.
When you get off, look for a tiny sidestreet called "丰盛胡同" (Feng1 Cheng2 Hu2 Tong2) and turn in. You'll see the shop to your right after about 200m (half the alley).
Outside looks like this!
You're, um, going to get prodded into buying the most expensive itmes on the menu if you're not careful. It happened to us. ;_; But I guess you're not paying for just the food, but also the privilege of being there and seeing Hannie's face stuck to the walls? Also, chance you won't see his mom. The people running the shop aren't her, though she may be in the kitchen. She served us our dumplings! :)
My inside pictures are not with me, so they will be up later. :(
Btw, the place has expanded. There's now a second, larger shop a few bus stops away, called 梅花家人 (Plum Flower Family). Bigger pics of Hannie here. I'm pretty sure only fangirls ever go to the first shop though. THEY WILL KNOW WHY YOU ARE THERE. Especially if you take pictures outside like we did. Gah. Give up your dignity now.
Shopping in Beijing
We got a lot of cheap clothes at the underground mall and various above-store malls in the Xi Zhi (西值) area, which was where we stayed (near the Beijing Engineering and Architecture College). Lots of cheap clothes and shoes! From 20yuan to 60yuan, all pretty amazing.
Never, never go to a department store in China unless you want to pay roughly the same thing you would pay in the U.S. It's not worth it.
If you're looking for non-clothes stuff, Tian Yi (天意) is a pretty decent mall .
My Chinese characters may be slightly off (a week in Seoul threw me off, I'm sorry!), but ask around. There are tons and tons of cheap shopping opportunities in Beijing. Just don't go to Wang Fu Jing Street (王府井) which is close to Tiananmen--you can visit, but you're probably not going to find anything cheap there. At least in my experience.
If you're looking for dramas, CDs, or photobooks, find a bookstore (书店). Media is usually basement, with photobooks upstairs with...foreign or art books. It takes some wandering around... There's a word for "photobooks" in Chinese too, but no one ever told me clearly. Tragic. Just explore!
KOREA:
Most of my Korea directions are thanks to
jaded_skys who is wonderful and lovely and fun, and whom I'm so glad I met in Seoul. Thanks for making the trip even better! ♥MOST IMPORTANTLY: Get a Seoul subway map, you will master it. Here's a Korean version, here's an English version. Korean ones are free everywhere in the station, but you have to go to the window to ask for an English version.
Where SuJu Lives
Take Line 2 (green) to Konkuk University (건대입구). When you exit the subway on the streets, you will see a giant bridge and some skyscapers. SuJu lives here:
It's behind gates, so you can't get to it, but you can take pictures of it like we did! :)
Here's a sketch of what you should be looking for.
Sukira
KBS Studios address:
18 Yoido-dong Youngdungpo-gu Seoul 150-790, Korea
Take Line 5 (purple) to Yeouido (여의도). Exit the subway from Way Out 5, then take a taxi to the KBS Main Building. There's really no easier way than to just take a taxi, I swear, though you could always take bus 5561. (Map: you want the building in the lower left corner.)
Taxi fare will be really cheap, though, maybe about $4. KBS Radio should be a white building with a bunch of white stairs leading up to the main entrance. Sukira is the last window to the left from the main entrance--there will more than likely be some middle schoolers crowded in front of the window. It broadcasts from 10PM - midnight, and if you can, stay until the end when the boys come out, because they'll wave at the fans in the window. :) The subways will have stopped by 10:30 or 11PM, so make sure you have money for a taxi to get back to wherever you're staying.
Shopping in Seoul
thyme_hawthorne had the most fun and success in Myeongdong and the underground mall at Gosok Bus Terminal.To get to Myeongdong (명동), take Line 4 (blue). Exit from Way Out 7 or 8, if I remember correctly, and you'll see narrow streets between tall skyscrapers full of Western coffee/doughnut shops, and other things. There should be a giant TV screen before you enter the streets, often playing Big Bang's Baskin Robbins commercials, ooh.
Look carefully, you will find those shameless fan stands and shops. One in particular is underground, but the street entrance is plastered with posters of celebrities that you won't be able to miss (even if you don't recognize them; how often do you see shops with tons of giant faces covering the entrance anyway?).
To get to Gosok (고속터미널), take Line 3 (light orange) or Line 7 (olive green). Walk down to Way Out 7 and 8 but don't go up the stairs, instead look to the intersection to find the way to the underground shop.
Have fun!
Also polls! Because who doesn't love polls? I blame these on the fact that I'm not quite asleep or awake. Gahh, jet lag.
[Poll #1201955]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Page 1 of 2