Thursday, March 19, 2020

[Jan 2020] Day 10: Sky Park, Woohyun's Dad's Restaurant, Ichon Station, and Art Monster

My 10th day fell on the eve of Lunar New Year, January 25th. I spent the morning going to Sky Park since Jangjun and Jaehyun went here in late 2019 for an episode of Star Wars Season 2. I didn't realize what a trek it was to get here! About a 30 minute walk from the nearest subway station, then 292 steps up to the mountain top, and then another trail before actually reaching the park.
The park is really large and at this time of year, the grass is really tall and makes for really pretty photos. One section is filled with this tall grass with pathways in between, creating like a corn maze.
Other sections have various sculptures and art installations. My favorite was this bird nest like sculpture where you can climb up from the inside.

Next I went back to U-Plex in Sinchon to visit the Samsonite Red stall. I had wanted a Samsonite Red backpack for years; they always look so fashionable yet comfy. I found a cute lavender colored backpack that I have since been using to go to work.
I also walked through the basement of U-Plex to go to the subway station, and happily saw the same 2 Bomin ads for Dahlia. Then the beauty shop there caught my eye when they played Bomin's Dahlia commercial on their flat screen! I was too embarrassed to stay for long, so I only took this quick picture.
Afterwards I met my Inspirit friend of 6+ years and we headed to Woohyun's dad's restaurant 강촌숯불닭갈비 in the Sangbong neighborhood for a late lunch. Despite being Lunar New Year Eve, the restaurant still had normal operating hours. We went to the restaurant around when they opened at 3PM and were the only patrons throughout our stay.
Woohyun's dad and an ahjumma created us and sat us down. They later handed us large plastic bags. I thought they were rolled up posters of Woohyun so I acted super grateful and said thank you in a super high pitched voice; my friend then told me they're for our jackets so they won't smell from all the grilling...
The walls are all lined with Woohyun's official posters and fangoods.
This restaurant's specialty is their charcoal grilled chicken ribs. There are 3 different flavors, and each order comes with 3 ribs. We ordered the soy sauce one (pieces cut and on the side) and the seasoned one (entire order is centered). Wow the chicken was so moist and flavorful! This was definitely the best chicken I've ever had, and I can't wait to go back and have it again...sometime in the future...
We also ordered spicy mixed noodles to go with our chicken.
After we paid Woohyun's dad, he went outside with our dirty grills and started cleaning them. I knew this was my last chance, so I bravely asked him in Korean if we could take a picture together. He gladly cleaned his hands, gestured for us to stand in front of Woohyun's picture, and he posed with a finger heart, the pose that Woohyun had made famous!
Next my friend and I went to Ichon Station, the filming location of another scene from Sunggyu's "Kontrol" music video. Sunggyu filmed in front of this mosaic of N Seoul Tower.
Sunggyu also walked out from this exit of the station.
Afterwards, my friend and I went to brewery Art Monster in Gangnam, where Woohyun filmed many scenes from his "Hold On Me" music video and and held his photoshoot for the A New Journey album photobook. The alleyway leading up to Art Monster is featured in the music video; it looks similar to the trademark Hong Kong with its neon signs. As much as I wanted to go inside Art Monster since more of the music video and the photoshoot took place, I don't drink and would have felt so out of place.
Later on my friend and I wanted to have raw beef (육회). I love Korean raw beef; in the States, it'd always be an appetizer at more upscale Korean restaurants, but in Seoul, there are pubs that mainly serve raw beef to go along with alcohol. I definitely wanted to have an entire meal dedicated to raw beef! We walked all over Gangnam and unfortunately the first two locations we went to were closed due to the holiday, but finally the third place was open. We had the raw beef prepared two ways: the bottom is mashed and seasoned, and the top is straight up sliced raw beef with all the sauce on the side.
And lastly I visited my friend's place, where she showed me her signed copy of X1's debut album. She's an accountant and her coworker's account was for a company (either the company that manages X1 or another company within the entertainment industry) who gifted him with this.

No comments:

Post a Comment