So here’s the final story of my Korea trip last December which was made possible by KTO Manila and Philippine Airlines. 🙂 I wish I’m back in South Korea for the Winter Olympics though! Missing the cold weather and of course, Korean food. Must. Go. Back. Soon!
SULWHASOO SPA
18 Dosan-daero 45-gil, Gangnam, Seoul Korea
The flagship store os Sulwhasoo has three (or was it four?) floors where a bit of their history, limited edition products, latest products and best sellers are all displayed. On the basement is where you can find their spa.
Kitty, Ava, Sarah, Say & I were all smiles minutes before we had our treatment. 
There counters after counters where you can try and check out their products. They’ve got skin care, body care and makeup.
Ginseng is one of the main ingredient of the first few Sulwahsoo products. They pride in their delicate composition of skin care products that has been loved by women all over. 
Their products are beautifully packaged and each line has its unique design.
I swear an hour or two is really not enough to go around the flagship store and try out different Sulwashoo products. As much as I wanted to feature these products, our tour was cut short because we were about to get out Sulwashoo massage!
Foot bath to begin our treatment.
I am a sucker for a good massage. And back home I make sure I get a good one at least once a month to release knots and tension especially on sore areas of my body. So you can imagine how excited I was to know a massage is part of our itinerary!
Balance Touch treatment
Relaxes your body skin with ultimate comfort, delivers a sense of balance through gentle and delicate touches.
70 minutes/170,000 won 90 minutes/230,000 won
Bathroom peg!
I’ll know it’s a good massage when I was completely relaxed and have dozed off. Sulwashoo did not disappoint! Love also that they have everything you need to fix yourself after their amazing treatment. Their vanity has different Sulwashoo products, blower, curling iron and toiletries.
After treatment treats! See what I did there? Hehehe.
I love the simplicity yet stunning interior of the brand. Medyo peg ko sya if I had a house! 
This got me! Self love in different ways can help clear one’s mind. And one can be in the form of a good massage! 😉
Took advantage of the lovely roof top of Sulwashoo so ayan we all had our photo! Hahaha.
Sarah Tirona, Tricia Gosingtian, Ava Te Zabat, Kisty Mea, Say Tioco and yours truly.
If you love skin care and having a massage, check out Sulwashoo in Seoul.
BANGAPDA HADAEPO
No trip to Korea is complete without going for grilled samgyupsal (pork belly) meal! I’ve been seeing this kind of meal on K dramas and the actors seem to always enjoy the experience. 
Good meat is definitely one of my weaknesses. I kennaaaat resist! 
Love the small bowls of appetizers, rice (of course I had second serving), pork and beef we were able to grill. Downed everything with shots of sake because why not?!
Ready to attack!!! 😀
After a hearty meal (I was super stuffed!) we decided to check out Doota Mall for some late night shopping.
DOOTA MALL
75 Jangchungdan-ro, Gwanghui-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
It’s almost a t24-hout mall that opens at 10:30 AM and closes at 5:00 AM the next day! It’s a haven for shoppers!!!
Unfortunately my being too full had me window shopping instead! Hahahaha. I disliked it but at least it’s another reason to go back no? 😉
Never tried Shake Shack and if I wasn’t super full from dinner, I would’ve had another meal! Again, another reason to come back to Seoul.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)
Thank you Tricia for taking my photos! I love your camera and I love your photography skills! Hahahuhu.
Crissey Si, Ava Te Zabat, Sarah Tirona, yours truly, Tricia Gosingtian, Jeline Catt, Melissa Gatchalian, and Ida Anduyan
Ended our day a little late but it was worth it. We enjoyed walking around DDP & window shopping at Doota Mall.
AROMIND
South Korea, Seoul, Jongno-gu, 북촌로5길 19-7 아로마인드
Spent the morning of our last day learning how to make our own perfume at Aromind.
Thirty different scents ranging from fruity, floral, musky, fresh and we had to choose our top three favourites that would make up the base, middle and top notes of our perfume. OMG NKKLK! For someone who isn’t decisive this is a big deal. I really have a hard time when I’m given more than two options (they call this option paralysis hahahuhu) but luckily only a few scents stuck with me. 
Our instructor teaching us how to mix three different notes and how to layer them to create new and unique scents. 
With my seat mate Mel as we try to figure out the scent that we truly love!
Ava & Sarah 
In the end it was down to these three scents. 
Mixed it, made it!
Done! I made a floral musky scent. Totally a different take from what I’m used to wearing but I like it.
Here’s my Aromind scent! This is a unique fun activity you can do with your friends when you’re in Seoul.
Walked a bit around the area before we headed to our next stop to grab coffee because it was too cold ( at least for me) and stumbled upon this bike rental alongside a street. I love the idea and I wish there are bike stations (and bike lanes) here back home too!
How entertaining is this electronic queue device? I mean who can resist this cute cat?! I didn’t want to get my coffee because I didn’t want to give back this device. Hahaha!
K Style Hub
40 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Da-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Our last stop but definitely not the least is our visit at Korea Tourism Organisation. During our visit last December Korea was preparing for the Winter Olympics 2018 which is happening this week at Pyeongchang!
K Style Hub has five floors and each floor has different exhibits.
K-Style Hub has the information to meet all tourists’ needs, from a tourist information center to a hallyu experince, hansik exhibition and experience hall, medical tourism information and more. Expounding upon the center of just providing information, K-Style Hub also aims to provide various chances to learn about Korean culture and food, as well as easily participate in traditional experiences.
The second floor is where you can find the tourism information center. 
A wall dedicated to providing information to South Korea’s different provinces/islands.
There’s also a K Pop interactive area where you can have your photos taken with them or be part of their music video!
Our first activity is to create a nacre Korean character magnet!
The third and fourth floor is dedicated to Korean food!
They have exhibits about their food culture. WHAAAAT? YEEEES!
Chicken Bamboo Shoots
Healthy Meal Set
Jeonju-style Bibimbap
Gamasot Kimchi Fried Rice
Suban (water bowl)
Onggi suban (earthenware water bowl) made of clay with plenty of grains of sands has a flat bottom and a shallow dish, mainly made for users to see flower or viewing stones, it has the simplest form to harmonise with water.
Korea boasts of so many grains! I think there was two or three display panels of it!
They also have different spices. Most of them I haven’t encountered before. I think these make Korean food more flavourful no?
Traditional Jangdokdae
Jangjokdae, a low platform in a sunny place and where jangdok (earthen jars) are put, is an essential part in traditional Korean houses. This is used to store crops or fermented food as the basic ingredients of Korean food. Jangdok made of clay is effective for food maturing, they also keep food fresh and prevent them from going bad.
Aaaah I wanted to get myself a set of Bansang to bring home!
Bansang refers to the table setting for everyday meals. It is composed of staple, and side dishes served together with rice. It is different from a Western course meal, in which different items are served the passage of time. Bangsang has a configuration or face, soup, kimchi, soy sauce, with varying types of side dishes. Depending on the number of dishes served (called cheop) they are classified into 3-cheop, 5-cheop,7-cheop, 9-cheop. and 12-cheop, the last of which is a table setting for kings.
An interactive spin-a-wheel of Korean dishes. YUM!
Keeping this in mind whenever I feel like eating junk food, fast food and unhealthy food more often than I should. 🙂
Another fun thing to do when you visit K Style Hub is that you get to play dress up and wear your choice of Hanbok! YAS!!!
One of the most highly sought-after activities among international visitors to Korea is none other than trying on hanbok! Currently, a free hanbok fitting experience is available on the fifth floor of the K-Style Hub. Whether it is traditional hanbok like those worn by the royal, or the recent trendy fusion-style hanbok, a diverse selection designs is available for you to choose from. Not only are there pretty hanbok for the ladies, plenty of hanbok for men are also available. Each hanbok is available for one hour after rental, unless visiting after 17:45, at which point the rental time is limited to fifteen minutes. The experience is available on a first-come, first-served basis, but groups of ten people or more can call (+82-2-729-9433 / English, Chinese) to make a reservation in advance.
We look like we’re cast of a K drama! Hahaha. I learned that you can actually wear the handbook outside K Style Hub so you can have your photos taken on the street or elsewhere but you’d have to leave your passport/identification card for deposit in order to rent it.
Partial to black so I chose this style. I would’ve gone with a more colourful one but maybe next time? 🙂
Korea also is boosting their health and beauty industry which is why there’s a Medical Tourism Information Centre located at K Style Hub.
Yes there’s also skin analysis so you can easily shop for skin care products in Korea that would best suit your skin type! LOVE!
And because Winter Olympics is happening this week, K Style Hub dedicated an area so that tourists and guests can experience some Winter Sports, VR style that is!
I got to experience how to luge, virtually that is! It was fun obviously as you can see me all smiles! Hahaha.
INSADONG CHON
84-17 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
I learned that Chon offers Korean Traditional meal called Hanjeongsik. I honestly wasn’t able to catch what our tour guide was saying because I was so focused on trying all the dishes. Hahahaha. I’m sorry, too many food can really cancel out other thoughts or sounds around me.
Our lunch was a feast!
The mix of cold & hot appetizers, variety of dishes from pork, beef, chicken, seafood to the way they were cooked was something I was fascinated with. The meal was literally a buffet of dishes that I couldn’t help but try all!
THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I LOVE SEOUL KOREA. Yes all caps para intense. Heehee.
Thank you Tricia for capturing some of my best photos during our trip! I am really sepanx from you girls! Hoping we can do another trip soon! 🙂
Kamsahamnida Seoul! Special thanks to KTO Manila and Fly PAL for making this trip possible! 🙂 I will definitely be back! 😀
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