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DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA AND DONGDAEMUN SHOPPING DISTRICT

After our mini visit to the Chungbu Market and the beautiful stream somewhere in Changgyeonggung-ro, we then headed to the train station to go to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Dongdaemun Shopping District. We got there via train ride through the Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 2 (Green line).

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DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA

Dongdaemun Design Plaza, according to the Seoul Tourism Organization, is actually a venue where different shows, exhibitions, conferences and other events are held. I also found out from their site that it actually served as filming sites for some of the famous Korean dramas we know such as "My Love from the Star." Apart from this, DDP is actually famous for its very modern architectural design. According to STO, DDP is actually the "world's largest atypical architecture" and it was designed by Zaha Hadid, who is a world renowned architect.

The train station is just right in front of the DDP so it wasn't hard to miss. We just roamed around the grounds to admire the building and the sculptures surrounding it. It was a bit gloomy when we arrived here and it started getting colder. I saw pictures online of this building at night and it is stunning! We arrived around mid-afternoon that day so we didn't get to see this structure at night. 

 Also saw different human figure sculptures placed in different locations within the grounds of DDP. The white human figure sculpture in the picture below was just outside one of the entrances, near the stairs, and it was huge!

We even saw someone playing piano just outside DDP. So cool!

Took some OOTD shots after exploring DDP.

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DONGDAEMUN SHOPPING DISTRICT

If you're into shopping then you'd enjoy visiting the Dongdaemun Shopping District. There are actually a lot of shopping malls in Dongdaemun. These malls aren't too hard to miss from DDP but you'd have to walk a bit and cross streets from the Design Plaza. You can find some of the malls right next to each other in a single street but I think there are some malls, which we didn't get to visit anymore, that are located farther from the DDP.

I think the only ones we visited were the hello apM and Migliore shopping malls. These malls actually reminded me of the Platinum Shopping Mall in Bangkok and our very own shopping malls in Divisoria. I didn't buy anything though because I found the items pretty expensive lol. I'm so used to Divi prices, sorry, haha!

Saw this stall of Korean Kiss socks outside one of the malls! I bought a lot of socks for myself and some for my cousins during this trip! I forgot how much exactly these were but I remember them being really cheap, like half the price of how much I buy them here in Manila. So I think it was around P40 when converted. 

There were actually a lot of small stalls just outside the malls so you can shop for cute items like these. Some of the designs I picked up from this stall were the ones with Snow White, Ariel, Korean character in Hanbok, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus. I still have these socks until now haha! 

We also saw this shop selling fresh strawberries! You can get them in packs or in a cup with whip cream! We got the ones in the pack hehe. Their strawberries are so huge and taste really good!

We also saw this peanut waffle kiosk! This is one of my fave street snacks in Korea. These waffles were really shaped like peanuts haha.  There were also two options: a plain version and a cream-filled one. I remember eating similar ones in Japan that were shaped like Doraemon and Hello Kitty, which you can check out here.

We also stopped by this chicken place to eat because we were so hungry from all the walking.

These are the foods that we tried. There was even free soup that you can put in paper cups just like the ones you see in Kdramas! So perfect for the cold weather and as hand warmers too haha! I'm always excited about food when we travel and I really love trying what the locals eat (except for exotic ones lol). 

Look at that platter of chicken and tteokbokki! This was so good although I remember it being spicy haha! I'm drooling as I'm writing this post.

We also tried this famous fish cake! Reminds me of our very own kikiam hehe.

After exploring some of the malls and eating, we then headed to the streets at the back to checkout the stores there. There were a lot of makeup shops here from Aritaum, Innisfree and The Face Shop. This is where I actually bought some of my The Face Shop goodies because there were some sale items. 

One of the things I got was the The Face Shop x Disney Monsters Inc. Mike CC Long Lasting Cushion which I purchased for only 16,000 KRW. I was actually shocked since it was so affordable compared to how much they sell it in Manila. I also bought some nail polish, BB cream and eyebrow pencil for a friend. 

After all this and having dinner, we then called it a night and headed back to our hotel. We still needed to catch some z's as we've just arrived in Seoul that morning. We were also planning on visiting Nami Island the next day so we really had to get some sleep because a loooong day was up ahead!

Stay tuned for my next travelogue which will be all about our trip to Nami Island! 

If you want to check out the part one of this Korea Travelogue Day 1 then head over HERE!

Happy Weekend! 😊