South Korea Day 4: Get Dolled Up at Moonshot, Walk along the Alleys of Hanok Village, Ride the Open-Air Tour Bus, Shop and Eat at Myeongdong and Wander at Dongdaemon

Travel to South Korea Bucket List Goals (Day 4)

On top of our must see places on our fourth day was to visit the flagship store of Moonshot in Samcheongdong. We thought that it will be easier to take off from Anguk Station with nothing but the address. We kept on seeing tourists holding maps. It was too late when we realized that they walked from the place we're supposed to be.

To go to Moonshot Flagship Store, you may take off from City Hall Station and go to Exit 4. In front of the Korea Press Center, you can see the small green signage for the bus stop of Jongno Bus No.11. Hop on the bus and wait until you see the Moonshot building right before the bus driver calls for the Samcheongdong Community Service Center bus stop. The shop is located in between Coffee Bean adn Starbucks. You can already see the unique architectural structure of Moonshot. As you go to the entrance, you can simply point your finger into the door sensor to enter the shop.

We immediately looked for Dara and GD cushion. The staff noticed that we are foreign tourists that's why she handed us GD's Highcut magazine as souvenir. Our eyes were glued on the products since we saw it for the first time. After several minutes, my sister and I were the only clients left.

Their personnel were kind enough to entertain us. One lady staff approached us with a big smile and demonstrated us the purpose of Dara and GD cushion. The GD cushion is actually the cushion that you must use to have the natural look and to cover all your blemishes. Trust us, it has a very good coverage. Throughout the demo, I was amazed how the cushion gave a flawless look to my sister. The Dara cushion is used to highlight some parts of the face. By then, we realized that GD cushion goes well with Dara cushion. We knew now why Dara kept on promoting GD cushion instead of hers. We eventually bought their products. These are for keeps like our love for Daragon. We promised to buy more upon our return to South Korea. When he handed our payment (56,000 Korean won) since both cushions amount to 28,000 Korean won each, the lady staff gave us complimentary souvenirs of GD and Dara post cards aside from those that you can get for free. They are really meant to be. Bonus package included free Moonshot cosmetic samples.

We were overjoyed by our sudden makeup transformation so we walked along the Samcheongdong road. And as we passed by some boutiques, there were free maps which soon enlightened our minds that we can actually walk from Anguk Station to reach Moonshot.

After careful study, we searched for Ogada store to have our way towards the Bukchon Hanok Village. We made it to the folk or cultural village after climbing stares and steep slopes of roads.

Compared to the Philippines, the Bukchon Hanok Village are like the Heritage Town of Taal here in Batangas. The village shows how the Korean culture is well preserved until now. The old houses remain as people's humble abode while others became lodges or tourist centers.

We finished walking through the old alleys of the Hanok Village until we reached the road towards the highway. We were exhausted by the heat and long walk. It was a relief that we saw the Gwanghwamun Gate where the Gyeongbokgung Palace is located. At that time, people hurried inside to watch the traditional changing of guards.

Next to the Gwanghwamun Gate is King Sejong's Statue. I can say that anyone's SK trip is incomplete without a photo with new kind of king. He's responsible for some of the most brilliant achievements in the history of Korea, including the creation of Hangeul (Korean alphabet) and great advancements in the areas of science, culture, art and politics.

Gwanghwamun Square is known to be the famous site of different exhibits and festivals. We're so lucky to witness some of them. My sister and I are sneaker lovers so we got attracted by showcasing this large semi-cut chucks which was designed uniquely. Beside it was heart-shaped collection of different sneakers which draw a lot of attention from passers-by.

While walking, my eyes were set on an open-air city tour bus with Song Joong Ki as the endorser. I ran away with my sister with the crazy idea of boarding the bus out of nowhere. We were easily convinced by the kind tour guide to board the bus for a whole day city tour amounting to 15,000 Korean Won each. Though costly, it was our first time to experience so it was alright to us. Little did we know that if the weather is cool and you have a lot of energy saved, you can walk around the whole Seoul City in one day. Thus, you can save a lot of money from public transportation.

At 3:00 pm, we arrived at Myeongdong which is very known to be the shopping center in Seoul. It was early for us to go shopping but we planned to go to other places after shopping. Time passed by and our pocket money was gone. And the same with our sanity, everything seemed to vanish at an instant. If you are shopaholic, this place is highly recommended but I advise that you must keep in mind your check-in baggage allowance before buying things. On our first day, we're relived not to bring the heavy things going back to the Philippines but in the end, we're doomed to bring heavier luggage due to Myeongdong incident.

We forgot the incident for a while when we saw this food stall. Everything costs 2,000 Korean Won. We bought sikhye (traditional drink), hotteok (pancake), eomuk (bbq over soupy dish) and spicy tteokbokki (rice cake).

Our stomach may be filled but not yet our memories for the day. We boarded the 5:30 city tour bus and went straight to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. DDP is the centerpiece of South Korea's fashion hub and popular tourist destination. It has distinctively neofuturistic design characterized by the "powerful, curving forms of elongated structures". As YG stans, we recall this place as the location of Style Icon Awards (SIA) 2015 where Winner performed.

We got a little bit curious why there were so many people across the street. And by careful observation, we saw Song Joong Ki's billboard on Doota's building. At first, we only wanted to have the pink balloons that people get from there.

When we arrived at the mall, we saw different promotional activities. One of these was to take a photo with Song Joong Ki's standee and upload it on your SNS to avail of freebies. It was an easy task so we immediately followed the instructions given by an english speaking staff there and then we got our gifts from them that included cosmetics and hair dye.

Another promo was this free Red Bull which gave us energy to forget our tiresome day.

At 7:30 pm, we made our way to DDP again by passing through an underpass. That's a secret passage going to Line 5 subway. We went home at around 8pm and took a rest until 9pm. It was too early for us to stay at home so we decided to go to Cheonho to shop at Daiso. Unfortunately, we failed to locate the place so by 11pm we're home again.

Our host family was too kind to treat us samgyeopsal for our last night. We're very grateful for their kind heart since they're so considerate of our 5-day-trip schedule.