South Korea Day 1: See Sandara Park Up Close, Stalk at YG Building and Dine in Samgeori Butchers

Travel to South Korea Bucket List Goals (Day 1)

Going to South Korea is like everyone's dream especially for K-Pop fans. Luckily, it was my second time there and first time for my little sister.

Months of preparation became days then hours. And on the 17th day of May 2016, we boarded Jeju Air on our way to achieving our goals.

But wait, we were so fortunate that the most recent endorser of Jeju Air is Song Joong Ki, who is our latest crush among the pool of good and handsome Korean actors. He is the leading man of Descendants of the Sun which happened to be the faster Korean drama that made the whole world fall for the love story between a Korean Special Forces captain and a surgeon.

Though stressed due to rains in Metro Manila, we did not forget to strike a pose beside his standee before going to the boarding gate.

This photo is when we were waiting for our 11:55 flight.

And this one was when we safely arrived at the airport at 4:55 in the morning in Incheon. Four hour flight time made us look fresh in the morning.

We consulted AccuWeather application and we predicted that our five day stay in South Korea will be warm. And judging from our experience, our decision to make May 18-22 our dream vacation for 2016 is such a blessing to us. It is advisable to check first the weather of the country to visit before planning your outfits and adventures. We can attest to this.

We rode Bus 6200 from the airport and it took more than an hour to reach our friend's house in Sangil-dong. We were all smiles to finally settle our luggage from half an hour of searching the house by heart and by memory of the past vacation.

Going out straight from our flight was a challenge to me since I was in charge of being the tour guide. I studied the subway map and I even installed subway application for my phone and Ipad. If you are having your do-it-yourself trip, then this is a better idea.

At 9:00 a.m., we were accompanied to the Line 5 Sangil-dong subway station where all our adventures began. We were equipped with our five-day plan which in the end was not followed. We started our adventure by stalking our K-Pop Idol, Sandara Park. We are Filipinos so we are more than obsessed to find out how Dara works in South Korea as compared to the Philippines.

It was a struggle for me to get going with minimal Korean words memorized. I intended to easily locate the place where we can see her but failed to do so by inquiring to people. The subway and bus rides were alright but we seemed lost afterwards so we ended showing the taxi driver the address of the building. And after 5 minutes, we were in front of the Bitmaru building in Ilsan.

It was around 11pm when we arrived at the place. We had no idea if Dara was already inside the building for her Sugarman recording. My sister and I were already stalking Dara through fan accounts, Twitter updates and Instagram uploads. We concluded that her shooting is scheduled every Wednesday.

Hours of waiting like middle class beggars on the sidewalk turned out to be super fun. By the way, we did not see any beggars on the streets. Indeed, South Korea is a developed country with a very clean surrounding and awesome people. Our photos below are proof that even guards there are amicable that they conversed to us despite language barriers. We were afraid that they will ask us to leave the vicinity but then they even entertained us and made us feel comfortable during our waiting time. Another guard (who was not able to take a photo with us) is a fan of Dara. He even showed us a photo with Dara. Throughout our conversation, it was confirmed that she was inside at that time. We couldn't hide our excitement. At first, we almost lost hope but they made an assurance.

From 11 a.m., it was already 6 p.m. when a crowd of students went outside the building. Eventually, buses of JTBC were parked in front of the building. What made me believe that Dara was inside was a peek of bluebaybluebay, the stylist of Dara. Plus factor was the sighting of her new male and female managers. Their car parked right in front of our waiting area.

We almost had a mental and nervous break down. It was me who panicked when I saw Dara finally walking outside the building. My little sister who I believed is more fanatic than I am remained speechless. We ran towards her with my GoPro on my right hand and DSLR on the left.

We greeted her, "Hello Ate...Annyeong...Ang ganda mo Ate sa personal." All she flashed was a wide smile to us. I believe that she obviously recognized as her Filipino fans. I made a gesture to my sister for a selfie and she heard it and posed several times (I will post the video after editing). We also asked for her autograph, which is must for us fans.

We also followed her on her way to her car. Although her car is tinted black, we can see her smile as she held our gift to her.

She did not fail our hopes to see her wave to us before leaving. It seems like it is her cute and nice way to show her gratitude. I admire her more from then on.

We were on cloud nine that time that we decided to take a walk at the Ilsan Lake Park which is known for being home to beautiful scenery, flowers, plants and trees.

It was like in Korean dramas that foreign musician really perform with live audience at the park.

Another surprise is that this place was the filming set to various dramas and movies. To name a few are Dream High 1 and 2, Good Morning President, No Mercy and The Secret Reunion. Sadly, we did not know that K-Culture Center that serve as museum for Dream High fans is located there as well.

See how Ilsan Park mesmerized us at 7pm. Yes, the sun was still up at that time since summer is near.

It was a hilarious moment when we discovered that we can walk straight from the exit of Juyeop station towards Bitmaru. We should have rode the subway to reach the place but we learned our lessons then.

Next stop is the YG Building (from Line 3 Juyeop station => Line 6 Hapjeong station). Our eyes met this surprise as well. We are YG stans so we recognized this billboard of Winner's Nam Taehyun before we take exit 8.

Thanks to http://thinkofseoul.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-go-to-yg-entertainment.html for providing us detailed information how to go to YG Entertainment Building.

We stayed there for 15 minutes to take photos and stalk to other YG artists. Good vibes were there as we spotted some foreign and Korean fans. Minutes after we arrived, we saw Akdong Musician, IKON and some YG dancers.

We also watched Winner's Half Moon Friends and at that time, the recording is already finished. All we did was stare at the building and recall the fun moments of Winner with their Bandal Friends.

At 10 p.m., we arrived at Sangeori Butchers after half an hour of being lost and thinking that it was full but it was only the pub that was full of customers. We sighed but recovered eventually after finding out that there were few customers left in the restaurant.

The service is fast and the servers are really nice. The price is very affordable. We ordered Pork Belly at 14,000 won and two steamed rice for 3,000 won. Our tiresome day ended up being happy because of our dinner, freebies (inlcuding posters of T.O.P. and post cards of Song Joong Ki) and unlimited photo opportunities there.