KPop has been one of guilty pleasures for the longest time and since moving to Thailand my passion for all things KPop seems to have been re-ignited because it's everywhere in fact I think KPop is more popular than actual Thai music! I decided on my recent trip to Seoul to stay in the Gangnam area and explore all the KPop hotspots, shops and cafes in the area, in fact the guesthouse where I stayed was decorated in all things KPop to so I was in fangirl heaven.
First stop in Seoul for any K-Pop fan is Hallyu K-Star Road which is a stretch of road between Apgujeong and Cheongdam where you can find "Gangnam Dolls" decorated to celebrate the various popular KPop groups and some are even signed by the artists themselves. It's a very cute Korean take on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and next to Apujeong Rodeo Station (exit 7) you can even find a little tourist information booth selling miniature versions and magnets of the dolls should you want to take one home, unfortunately they didn't have a mini VIXX one for me to buy though...
S.E.S. and BoA were probably my first encounters with KPop so SM Entertainment has a soft spot in my fangirl heart. SM has a couple places you can visit one in COEX where you can see all the awards and costumes from their artists as well as shop and they have a cafe where I had that rather delicious Girls' Generation cupcake you see pictured above the second place is about 10 minutes walk up the road and has a shop, cafe and restaurant which I would've eaten at had I not just devoured a burger at Shake Shack in Gangnam...
Shake Shack has become very popular in Korea and although I had previously tried them in London I had to visit the Gangnam branch and try their mushroom burger and I know you're wondering what this has to do with Kpop right? Well... my main reason for this visit was because I saw GOT7 visit here in and episode of Hard Carry TV and GOT7 are one of my loved KPop groups EVER!! Luckily though I didn't have to queue to get in like they did so my appetite was satisfied quite quickly.
Being a big fan of GOT7, 2PM, Wonder Girls and most recently Day6 I had to pay a visit to JYP which is a lot smaller than I thought but they are moving to bigger offices very soon. There were lot's of teenage girls hanging around outside all waiting for a glimpse of their favourite idols so I didn't stop there for long I decided to explore around and see what cafes and restaurants were in the area that the idols might frequent, also I felt a little bit out of place surrounded by teenage girls considering I'm almost twice their age! Another thing I noticed about Seoul was that they have birthday signs dedicated to idols at almost every bus and train stop, when I first got to Seoul there was a sign for my GOT7 bias Jackson which made me overly excited and pretty much put me in that fangirl mode for the rest of my trip. There's so many more KPop destinations to visit in Seoul (I actually visited Jellyfish to because VIXX) but I might save them for my next visit, I'd also love to go to a KPop concert in Korea one day to because I bet that would be a crazy experience!
Do you like KPop? What are some of your favourite artists?
Love & Kimchi Fries
Cate
xoxo
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