Things That Make You Go Oooooo (August 2016)

Another month has past and another year for me on this planet, this year has probably been the most eventful one for me in a while especially when it comes to travel, I started my year with an awesome trip to Palermo then finally achieved my dream of visiting Japan, I also visited Seoul and instantly fell in love with the place and now I'm living in Thailand something which I've been wanting to do for a very long time! I have no idea what the next year holds for me but I'm excited to see what it brings and what my next adventure will be...

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Love & Sushi

Cate

xoxo

Seoul Searching @ Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung Palace was the first place we visited in Seoul and it was amazing! The day was so perfect the sun was shining and we arrived there just in time to see the changing of the guard which is a heck of a lot different from London and a lot more vibrant I loved seeing all the colourful flags and uniforms.

After seeing the changing of the guard we bought our tickets and went inside, we noticed that they were offering free English guided tours around the palace so decided to join the tour as the palace was quite big and it's always nice to actually learn things about the places you visit.

Gyeongbokgung Palace reminded me a lot of the Forbidden City in China which I had visited back in 2010, it was very beautiful and vibrant and I loved seeing all the different houses the royal family resided in. The tour around the palace lasted about an hour and afterwards we were free to wander the palace on our own so we decided to go check out the museum next door (also free of charge) and have a quick refreshment break before exploring, also you should know the sweet potato latte I got as weird as it sounds was actually really good and perfect to warm you up on a cold day!

We ended up spending over 4 hours at the palace in total and the sun was starting to set as we left which made it look even more pretty, it was definitely the perfect introduction to Seoul then afterwards we went over to Insadong ate some awesome bibimbap and bought ALL the beauty products, the perfect day!

What places have you fallen in love with at first sight?

Love & Lattes

Cate

xoxo

Blind Alley: Raccoon Café in Seoul, South Korea

Cat cafés and dog cafés seem to be everywhere now so when I heard that there was a raccoon café in Seoul I just had to check it out. Blind Alley is near Sookmyung Women's University and kinda tucked away in a corner as we almost missed it until we noticed the raccoon sign outside.

Unlike some other animal cafés there's no entrance fee to you just order whatever food or drinks you want and you can stay as long as you like in fact most of the other customers that were there seemed to all be happily working on their laptops or building little Lego kits, the raccoons are in a separate room to the café as they can get quite boisterous so the actual café side is quite chilled out.

The food is also AMAZING there I ordered "honey cake" which I thought would just be like a slice of cake to go with my coffee but it ended up being one of those huge brick toast desserts which was completely overwhelming at first when I saw it but so yummy I somehow managed to devour the whole lot, YEY for carbs!

After devouring our food we went into the room where the raccoons where at first they were quite sleepy and just watched us from their perch near the roof but they soon woke up and started causing mayhem! There are two raccoons there a black one and a brown one the black one was quite shy and quiet happy to just view the customers going in and out but the brown one was crazy and starting ripping toys apart and checking everyone's pockets as soon as they entered the room.

One of the guys who worked there came in after a while to play with the raccoons and give them some treats, the raccoons reminded me so much of my dog Russ with the way they played and how they were searching in everyone's pockets for treats, Russ even kinda looks like a raccoon! I always worry a little about how the animals are treated in places like this but the raccoons seemed more than happy, looked very healthy and seemed quite amused by all the visitors there although they were quite boisterous and a girl did get bitten by one whilst we were there but they are animals and bites happen so I wouldn't let that put you off as they're just too cute and funny to watch.

What are your favourite animals?

Love & Toast

Cate

xoxo

Inspirational Quotes #77

"Everything you can imagine is real."
– Pablo Picaso

Love Locks & Potato Spirals @ N Seoul Tower

N Seoul Tower is the place to go for the best view of Seoul, it's quite a walk uphill to reach it but it's totally worth it. It was really cold that day despite the sunshine but the walk to the cable car station warmed us up and after being crammed like sardines into the thing for a few minutes we reached the top and our first stop was food and possibly one of my favourite snacks I had in Seoul, the spiral potato I also tried some Hoddeok which was one of the snacks I was most looking forward to after seeing it on Eat Your Kimchi and that was definitely my fave snack of the whole trip I think I ate them at least twice a day whilst I was there!

We didn't go to the top of the tower but the view from the observation platform was pretty good especially on the day we went as the skies were clear, I hear the view their is even better at night and it's a popular place for dates with all the love locks and love seats around there, I was tempted to leave a lock there to but seeing as I'm forever alone it just seemed kinda sad, oh well maybe when I get a KPop boyfriend I can go back there and leave one :p

Aside from the nice view and the yummy food in true Korean style there were some beauty shops and souvenir shops up there, in fact the Tower isn't to far from the main shopping district of Myeongdong so it makes a nice cultural break away from all the craziness. I'd love to go back there though maybe at night or when the weather is warmer and attempt the hike up the hill to the tower but we'll see I'm not sure my chubby legs could take it just yet...

What are your favourite "date spots" where you live?

Love & Potatoes

Cate

xoxo

Cute Cafés in Hongdae

We only spent a few days in Seoul but it was long enough for me to fall in love with South Korea and make plans to return, one of the things I loved most about Seoul especially Hongdae where we stayed was the café culture, although Japan had a lot of cute cafés I'd say Seoul had even more! We basically spent a whole day in Seoul just going from one cute café to another so today I'm going to share a few of the places we visited.

You Are Here Café

I'm a big fan of Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi so had to pay a visit to the café while we were there. I got myself a large coffee (not even kidding it was huge!) and treated myself to a slice of the Oreo cake which was super yummy and not too sweet or sickly. The café is a great place to chill out and in a nice quiet area, unfortunately it was raining when we were there but I'm sure the gardens are a nice place to hang out in the warmer weather.

Bau House

Dogs, dogs, dogs, I love dogs so I had to visit a dog café whilst in Seoul and I loved it it was complete madness, lots of barking and peeing and running about but it's exactly what I needed after being away from my pooch. There are dogs of all shapes and sizes there from Corgis to Labradors and you can buy treats to give them which gets them all excited. All you need to do is buy a drink each and then you can play with all the doggies for up to an hour, but there's no food there I guess because the dogs would steal it all so be sure to grab something to eat before you get there.

Afternoon Tea (Tianhua)

This place is actually in Edae which is not to far from Hongdae but definitely worth checking out I actually found it thanks to an old post on Cute in Korea (thanks Elle!). There are lots and lots of teas to chose from, I chose a fruit tea and it was so yummy and we got some coconut cookies which were freshly baked and smelled soooo goo, it's such an adorable place to very fancy and a great place to relax after all the shopping.

Hello Kitty Café

So I couldn't not visit the Hello Kitty Café when I was in town, we actually got here just after 10pm and there were quite a few people just sleeping there... I suppose it shows just how comfy it was! The place is super pink even the toilets are cute and there's also a gift shop, there were lots to chose from on the menu to but I wasn't really hungry so I just got a sundae and a drink and I didn't even finish that, there's quite a few branches around Seoul to so be sure to check it out if you're a kitty fan.

Have you ever been to Seoul & what are some of your favourite cafés?

Love & Coffee

Cate

xoxo