Korea Trip Day 5 (Part 1): Gangnam- K-Star Road, SM Town Coex Artium, Line Friends Store & Cafe
29 December 2015 (Tuesday)
After travelling to distant places the day before, we decided to have a less hectic day and just stay within Seoul. We woke up slightly later and went over to Gangnam district after breakfast. I've seen this K-Star Road on some websites but didn't look into further details because it was a last minute decision to go there. It is a special project of Gangnam-gu for foreign tourists who love Korean culture and hallyu stars. Our apartment was at Chungmuro station, therefore we just took the subway to Apgujeong which is on the same line.
We wandered on the streets but there was nothing much to see, too early perhaps, and after looking at the maps for direction, we came over to K-Star road. Not a really nice decision to wander around the streets with such a chilly weather but it was indeed adventurous. K-Star Road is located at Apgujeong Rodeo station, which I just found out the night before that they are both different places /coughs/
Directions: Take the subway to Apgujeong Rodeo Station (Bundang Line in yellow), proceed to exit 2 and the whole street down is the K-Star Road.
The Galleria is also located there, a huge departmental store with lots of luxury brands.
The Gangnamdol Haus serves as a mini tourist information center and they sell bear souvenirs with your kpop oppa name on it.
The map of the area, including the gangnamdols' location and entertainment companies.
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| 01 4 Minute |
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| 02 Super Junior |
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| 03 2PM |
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| 04 FT Island |
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| 05 Shinee |
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| 06 Miss A |
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| 07 CN Blue |
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| 08 TVXQ |
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| 09 Girl's Generation |
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| 10 EXO |
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| 11 AOA |
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| 12 BTS |
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| 13 B1A4 |
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| 14 VIXX |
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| 16 KARA |
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| 17 Block B |
And not to forget, 15- INFINITE. It was at the near end odg around 400m from the very first gangnamdol. My parents went indoors because it was too cold and there's me and my sis running down the streets lol Apparently we passed by SM Entertainment but it was under renovation.. and sadly we did not meet any oppas on the streets.
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| Literally cheek-kissed the bear lol *hardcore inspirit here* |
After that, we headed to COEX Mall & Artium.
Directions: Take a metro to Samseong Station (Line 2) and proceed to exit 5 or 6.
Directions: Take a metro to Samseong Station (Line 2) and proceed to exit 5 or 6.
I didn't take a photo of the front view of the dolls except for these 2.................
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| *posting this bcs i like the colours* |
This is a heaven for fans of SM but too bad I'm not one lol. The 2nd floor has loads of albums and other merchandise and we didn't go further up to the floors above. We walked over to COEX Mall after that and it is full of designer brands again so we left to Sinsa-dong.
We were hungry by then and we decided to have lunch at McDonald's lololol perhaps the cheapest option in Gangnam. Had bulgogi and also their bacon burger and they were goooodddd. After lunch, we walked around the streets (bought nothing because most of them are designer brands) and headed to Line Friends Store & Cafe.
At first I thought this was the place they filmed 'Kill Me, Heal Me' but sadly no. They have lots of branches in Korea, I've seen Mango Six, Angel-in-us Coffee, Ediya Coffee, A Twosome Place and Paris Baguette more often than Starbucks lol (until I can remember all the names)
Whereas this coffee shop, not this actually but the one in Hongdae was where 'My Lovely Girl' was filmed.
I really wanted to visit Ms. Gong Tteokbokki (the main filming place of High School Love On) too actually but due to time constraints and the long walking distance we ended up not going there :( It's okay I'll be back next time!!!!
While doing my research before coming to Korea, I've came across this Line Friends Store & Cafe on this blog (and also this) and decided that it's a must visit (because everything inside is just so cute!!)
Directions: Take a subway to Sinsa Station (Line 3), walk straight from exit 8, turn left when you see this It's Skin shop and walked further down for about 8 minutes.
The left side of the entrance is a direct entry to the shop whereas the right side is for the queue to take photos with the gigantic Brown.
It's a huge 3 stories shop, the first floor has most of the merchandises from plushies to stationery to headbands to more plushies.
The second floor are mainly on apparels.
Whereas on the basement, there are more merchandise, a huge Sally and the Line Friends Cafe.
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| soft serve for ₩3800 |
The pricing there is actually not cheap but it's just a lil' bit higher compared to the other cafes in Seoul. Plus it's a themed cafe so yea.. It is a must-visit for Line fans! And even if you're not, it's nice looking around all the cute merchandises, trust me!
Anyways, part 2 will be filled with beautiful lights again so stay tunedddd!
10 comments
Thanks for this helpful blog! I just want to know how did you go to COEX right after K-Star road? I'm thinking "metro" is same as subway. Does it mean I have to switch trains? Because Apgujeongrodeo is Bundang Line and Samseong is Line 2. Please enlighten me. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYeap I did. You will need to switch trains. I took the metro from Apgujeong Rodeo to Seolleung (3 stations on Bundang Line), and then transit to Samseong which is just one station away from Seolleung (Line 2). Hope this helps!
DeleteHi Wan, your blog is very helpful. Can you tell me how much time did it take you to get to SMTOWN COEX from Apgujeong Rodeo Station?
ReplyDeleteHi I'm sorry I don't really remember but it should be around 15-30 minutes :)
DeleteThe place is The tour is very interesting article that is very useful, thank you Sis ..
ReplyDeletehi may I know the recommended duration to tour around this road?
ReplyDeleteHi sorry for the late reply! I think 30mins- 1 hour? Depends if you wanna take pictures with all the bears etc :)
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