Day 69: Jin Cafes

Today consisted of lots of tea and lots of walking. Ella and I were originally supposed to meet at a cafe called Jade Mug at 11 and then work our way back towards Hongdae. Unfortunately, I didn't check the cafe hours. I arrived a little early and found out that they didn't open until noon. We had to change up our plans a little but it worked out fine. Ella got off a few stops early and I bussed over to what was supposed to be cafe number two.

One of my favourite things about finding the birthday cafe events (aside from the amazing photo cards and cup sleeves) was discovering all sorts of different cafes. The cafes in Korea are so much more interesting than ones in Canada. The details and decorations are much better and each cafe is very different. We saw so many cafes so I'm just going to list them and add photos.

#1. Wadiz (noon)

We stopped by a convenience store around the corner for lunch and I had gimbap.

#2. Shoop (1:30 pm)

Since I am super behind on blog posts and the Jin cafe events have finshed, I can say that this cafe had some of the best decorations and it was one of my favourites.

#3. Wadi (2:00 pm)

#4. Jade Mug (3:30 pm)

The fan account who ran the Jade Mug event was giving out stickers and buttons for the event so we had to visit this cafe even if it meant a long trek in the opposite direction. It started pouring rain on the way to the cafe. Ella bought an umbrella at a convenience store and we both tried to huddle under it while walking as fast as we could. Eventually I gave up trying to walk under it and just accepted that my hair was going to be soaked and crazy for the rest of the afternoon. The cafe was so pretty and definitely place I would want to go back to to study at. The guy was super nice and gave us each the goodie packs even though we only bought one food item (we really didn't think we could drink anymore tea at this point).

Our final cafe for the day was back in Gangnam. We passed a market on the way to the station and bought some rice cakes and gimbap to eat while we waited for the subway.

One of the convenience stores in the Sinsa subway station had drinks BTS on them. The artwork was really pretty!

#5. Amy's Coffee (6:00 pm)

This cafe guy was super nice too and he gave us each a cup sleeve and the photo card set even though Ella was the only one who bought a drink. Many of the cafes only gave the cup sleeves and gifts for each drink purchased (which makes sense). I didn't want to drink anymore tea so I bought a cookie and the guy still gave me the gifts so I was super happy. Ella and I relaxed at this cafe for awhile before we walked around the corner to Yoojung Sikdang.

Yoojung Sikdang is a popular restaurant for BTS fans to go to. When BTS were younger they used to train in the basement of the restaurant and they often ate there. Now it has become one of the go-to places for fans that come to. It has basically turned into a BTS shrine. The walls are covered in posters and items that fans have brought to and then left at the cafe. Every inch of the wall is covered and it's amazing! I don't remember what the food we ordered was called but it was unbelievably yummy. The meat was so good and the soybean paste soup was by far the best I have had so far. It was really neat to see the items fans had brought to the cafe and to read the messages they had written.

The cafe even had cup sleeves because it was almost Jin's birthday. One fan site was saying Jin's brother organized it and another was saying someone else organized it so who knows who actually did, but it was nice to get a cup sleeve without having to drink more tea.

#6. Minos (8:15 pm)

We decided to go to one more cafe after dinner because the cup sleeves had hand-drawn designs on them. The guy at the cafe was super rude when we ordered and it was a crappy way to end a fun day, but at least we got our cool cup sleeve. We just won't be going back to the cafe in the future.

We sat at the cafe until 10:30 and then it was time to go home. Ella had to take the subway all the way back to Sinchon, which can take an hour. I enjoyed the walk home because it was the interesting weather and air that happens after rain. I listened to Namjoon's playlist, Mono, and it seemed to fit the night well.

It was fun to see all sorts of different cafes today, very tiring but still fun. I wish we had events like this in Canada, maybe I could organize one in the future. I'm so thankful that I have found a friend who will go to all these cafes with me, drink way too much tea, and collect cup sleeves that we have absolutely no use for. Thanks Ella <3

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these cup holders, but at least we got some decent walking in.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(December 3, 2018)

Distance walked: 11.6 km