Starbucks Korea held a limited edition collaboration with BTS from January 21, 2020, selling BTS themed drinks, food items, and merchandise. I was in Danyang the day of release so the following day I checked out various Starbucks stores around Seoul for a friend. I spent all morning on the 22nd in Myungdong. I visited about 5 stores in Myungdong, all of which already sold out all the BTS merchandise. All stores had a BTS design on their doors, signage boards displaying the BTS drinks and food items, and shelves with the BTS collab design.
At the last store I visited, I noticed that at the counter there were purple cup sleeves, so I ordered a Blooming Purple Vin Chaud which even came with a grape, a fruit slice, and a vine (like an herb) inside the drink and grabbed a cup sleeve for my drink.
While in Myungdong I went back to the Underground Shopping Mall and found the Woohyun Arbor Day 2 strap for 22,000원 and Infinite 2018 fanmeeting Infinite Forever lightstick for 25,000원 at one shop, both before tax. I also stumbled upon the music store Buruttrak that sold rare and used items; I found a used version of Infinite's Infinitize Showcase: The Mission DVD set for 53,000원.
For the afternoon I met my old college friend and she took me around Ikseondong (익선동) and Insadong (인사동), adjacent neighborhoods known for their traditional hanok style. We visited a traditional tea house where I had a delightful and refreshing tea along with a traditional snack that had a Styrofoam consistency and was just slightly sweet and paired well with my drink.
My friend also graciously walked around with me to find more Starbucks stores in these neighborhoods. The first one we found in the area had one of each glass left, however the workers couldn't find the box for the tall glass to my disappointment. When I made the purchase, I made a point to ask for the box, then instead they wrapped it in their generic burlap sack and then placed them in a BTS branded bag. The frustrating thing is the second store we went to had lots of the tall glass in stock, but I couldn't do a direct exchange to get the box, because they said I had to return the item from the original store I had purchased it, as long as I had this special return receipt. Unfortunately they had only handed me the receipt, but not the return receipt...(it could've also been placed inside the sack). I went to several more stores and they all had glasses in stock, and here I was with a glass without a box.
I went to a store in Insadong and they surprisingly only had several copies of the large pouch in stock.
In the end, I ended up with 1 short glass, 2 tall glasses (1 boxless), 1 large pouch, 2 cup sleeves, and 3 paper bags.
For dinner, I met my friend's friend and together we went to Woohyun's brother's restaurant 먹삼김치삼겹살 in Bomun! This is the new location after leaving 먹&삼 생고기집 in Suyu. Back at the location Boohyun seldom went to the restaurant, but now he's at this location often. We stepped in and the cashier station is right in the center, and Boohyun stood right behind it and greeted us.
We sat down and ordered, and Boohyun kept checking in on us and even said to my friend "long time no see". As I was using the tongs to place the kimchi on the grill, Boohyun came over and graciously took the tongs from my hold (he held onto my hand for soooo long, I'm going crazy just thinking about it!) and started cooking for us. The pork belly and grilled kimchi were great; I've never had grilled kimchi before so it was great to experience this at Boohyun's restaurant!
The walls are lined with Woohyun - official posters, fansite banners, what looked like fansite canvases, and fanmade creations. However majority of the clientele looked like locals and older generations; we were the only fangirls.
As we went to the cash register to pay, I knew it was now or never to talk to Boohyun. He asked my friend if I didn't speak English, and I said "no...우리 같이 사진 찍어도 돼요? (Can we take a picture together?)" which is the same exact phrase I said last time to Boohyun, and last time he said as long as I don't post it. This time he was all for taking photos!
Boohyun also gifted us with Woohyun goodies that international fans had passed onto him!
Afterwards my friend and I went to a nearby cafe and she helped me to complete my
Re-boot normal collection for both the photocard and special photo! And we talked awhile, reflecting on how old we are, being an international fangirl, and life after Korea.
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