Seoul - Day 4: Coex, Micro-Blading & KFC

Having never done k-beauty treatments before, we weren't really sure how much recovery time we would need -- happy to report that for the types of treatments we did, we were all feeling pretty good by the next day.  I had some more early morning work so H and Y hit up the downstairs MMC cafe for some caffeine and sugar. I'm told the basque cheesecake was delicious!

Ah, never too old for a milk mustache!

By mid-day, I'd cleared out some of my inbox and we were ready to explore more of Seoul...or at least more of Seoul's eating and shopping offerings! Today's destination was the Coex mall, home of the famous Starfield library.  And also, Sea Life -- an aquarium in the mall. Based on the crowd gathered outside, it seemed quite popular with the kids. 

Seoul seemed to have a thing for fresh fruit juices -- I had my first orange one in Myeongdong which was delicious and then a carrot apple at the Google cafe -- today I decided to go green.  Kale pineapple --to keep hydrated and immunity-strong. 

It was interesting doing a trip with only girlfriends -- there were no husbands complaining about every stop at a shop or no kids complaining that they were bored. It was a little dangerous feeding off of each others' shopping energy.  We stopped into a few boutiques and an Artbox (as the name implies, art supplies and little knickknacks -- I'm pretty sure my kids would have stayed for hours there) before deciding that it was time for lunch -- the much-recommended samgyetang: whole chicken ginseng herbal soup! We stopped into Gobong Samgyetang -- seated and ordered right away - time zone conversion meant we were always VERY hungry in the mornings! 

This meal involves a whole chicken that is stuffed with rice and other herbs cooked in different types of broths -- you break off some of the chicken and then sprinkle some salt on it (to taste). It also comes with some vinegar wine that you're supposed to sip along with the soup. I appreciated the menu with the labels and instructions because we would have been lost otherwise!

We tried two different varietals of the ginseng broths (top two entries): the "Sanghwang" (mulberry) and "Hanbang" (Chinese). I am not sure which is more traditional - but both were tasty!

This one -- the Chinese ginseng -- had a thicker, more seasoned broth. 

 

This was the Mulberry ginseng: more clear and herb-forward. 

We also got a chicken "pancake" -- at first I thought it tasted like a bbq meatloaf - not objectionable per se, but nothing I'd write home about. 

It slowly grew on me as the meal went on...but probably still won't order it again next time. Overall our impression was that the meal was very nourishing and healthy-feeling (so good for travel) and I'm glad I tried it so I know what it tastes like now...but it probably wasn't my favorite of the trip. I tend to prefer stronger flavors so delicate and elegant aren't the profiles I gravitate towards. 

After lunch we made the obligatory visit to the Coex library/bookstore. It was indeed quite impressive:

Panoramic shot to try and capture the grandioseness -- pictures can't quite do it justice though - definitely worth a visit to see it for yourself.

We didn't go here...but I'd consider it next trip for a special occasion! I'm told that it's about $200 per person, but all you can eat seafood at the top of the tower with amazing views of Seoul. 

What is a trip to a mall in Seoul without another visit to Olive Young? We were actually here for Korea's "Black Friday" (I guess at the end of October instead of November?) - there did seem to be a bunch of pretty good sales...or at least that's what all the salespeople claimed as they talked us into some "you can't NOT buy this - such a good deal" purchases. 

We also hit up some shoe shopping.  

Yes, I know we just went to Tokyo earlier this year...but the shopping experience at the Onitsuka Tiger store in Tokyo was so crazy that we lasted all of 5 minutes there I think...I acknowledge that these same shoes probably would have cost another 10% less in Tokyo...but hey, at least they're cheaper than the US!

H and Y had a micro-blading appointment this evening to get their brows done - I'm not a big make-up person, so I went back home to do a little bit more work. They don't have photos to share, but report that the price was VERY good and they're very happy with how it turned out. Here's a screenshot from their Instagram account of what they offer. 

Per Y, our resident pain-wimp, it did not hurt much (or at least it didn't once she added the numbing cream). But the cream was wearing off halfway through and she started to complain so they paused and numbed her up a second time which helped get her through it. By comparison though, H apparently fell asleep during the treatment. 😆 They did also say it stung a little at night when they put on the healing cream (no numbing assistance there!) but not unmanageable. Here's the contact info if you want to try it:

After they finished, we all met up for another Korean must-do meal: KFC! (Korean fried chicken).  V protested that we weren't doing the meal properly because we were all not big beer drinkers but I would say the chicken is hella good even without the beer!

It's just so light and crispy but juicy and tender inside - and then the garlic soy coating sauce is also SO good. We were at Daily Beer (Seolleung Station location) but there is also a Kkanbu chain and a BHC chain - like literally in a one mile radius I think there were at least a dozen places -- Korean folks like their beer and fried chicken!

 

V and F also recommended the half dried squid - I really enjoyed the mayonnaise dipping sauce:

And then also some spicy-sweet "Army Stew" - budae jjigae - apparently this became popular as a stew that featured a lot of "American" items (like hot dogs) inside. It also had some instant ramen noodles and fish cakes.  I have no idea how a person could possibly eat all of this -- but maybe when you've had a lot of alcohol, you need something heavy like this in your stomach? 

Another great deal -- this area was actually walkable from our apartment so we tried to walk home - got some nice night-time street scenes: 

Unfortunately I navigated us in the wrong direction at a stoplight...but happened to stop right in front of yet another Olive Young, so we made what had to be our fifth trip into Olive Young and then taxi'd home instead. 

I received a "take more PTO" reminder email yesterday so I have decided to take tomorrow off - it will be our last full day in Seoul! Can't believe the trip is almost over already!

Seoul - Day 3: Costco & ID Dermatology Clinic

I woke up yet again at 3am...I think that's just going to be the norm for this trip. Gemini did tell me that trying to adjust to Seoul time was likely not a good idea given I'll be headed to Europe within a week of our return, so I guess I'm just heading that advice?

Sadly today is Monday back in the States, so I had work emails and pings waiting for me even at that early hour. Photo proof taken by H -- who also was working this trip -- she was very jealous of my foresight in bringing an external keyboard and mouse. :-D 

Thankfully not that many afternoon meetings, so by mid-morning local time, I could go back to being a k-beauty tourist. Not a bad time shift arrangement actually, which I guess makes sense since it's only 7 hours off from California if we count forward. 

First stop this morning -- visit to our local convenience store. 

I have to report that the stores in Korea are not as exciting/bountiful as the ones in Japan....but they still have the basics!

Today is our big dermatology clinic visit, so the only other item on our agenda was a lunchtime visit to...

That's right - Costco! Happy to report that our US membership cards worked seamlessly -- and even paying with our US Costco visa cards was easy. We had heard that the Costcos in Korea had some interesting food court items - still ridiculously cheap pricing - the exchange rate here is about $1: 1440 won, so the items below (generous serving sizes -- more than a single person could eat) are only $2.40 each. 

I devoured my bulgolgi pizza -- it was basically like a supreme (with olives, peppers, etc) but tastier because it had bulgolgi instead of pepperoni. 

It was really fun exploring each aisle and looking at what was different.  Interestingly, there was a pretty high amount of overlap from the US stores but still plenty that was unique. The top floor was mostly home things and fashion -- it had me worried that Korean Costcos didn't even have snacks -- I was very very relieved that there was an escalator down to a basement floor -- should have taken a photo, but it was reassuringly massive. It was so hard not to buy every pastry item.  We limited ourselves a bit based on suitcase space availability -- but still a pretty good haul!  

After lunch, it was time for our true destination of the day (and arguably of the trip): skincare treatments! We were introduced to ID Dermatology (which is the dermatology branch of ID Hospital) by a lawyer friend of mine who had come a year earlier and raved about the treatments. One of the founders also happens to also be a high school and college classmate of a new lawyer friend of ours -- so even if the prices weren't going to be the cheapest, I took comfort in the fact that we weren't going to be featured in any "medical travel disaster" horror stories. If you'd like the contact info for the ID Dermatology "VIP English" team -- feel free to shoot me an email. 

Oh - one very important note -- you MUST bring your passport with you to the clinics. V's husband F didn't have his passport on him when we got to the clinic and they would not allow him to even get a consult! I was really surprised that they were just turning away business like that. I had assumed there'd be some "you can send us a photo later" workaround but nope -- very adamant. So they ended up not getting any treatments today -- they'll be in Korea for another two weeks though and they both speak Korean so they'll just do their treatments later in the trip. 

Meanwhile, we sat down in our consultation room with our fancy Hermes tea cups -- look at the anticipation in our eyes! 

After some LONG consultations (maybe people who come often are in and out, but we were all newbies to this world of skincare treatments, so we all had very long conversations with multiple dermatologists/doctors), I decided on a session of Ultherapy (which is an ultrasound machine that shoots deep into your skin to promote more collagen creation).  Thanks to the color consult, I was really focused on fixing my under-eye darkness (which is partly due to poor sleep but is probably more caused by the lack of collagen from no longer being 25 years old) and giving me more neck definition (or as one of the doctors bluntly put it, "ah, the double chin" 😂).  I actually had come into the trip wanting to get some sun spots lasered off and some broken capillaries/scars hidden -- but the doctors told me that mine were not good candidates for laser! Apparently because my spots and scars are all not very dark (or rather, they were very close in color to my skin), you can't actually use very powerful lasers -- the lasers work best when the color of the spot/scar is highly contrasted against your skin. I was really sad about this -- but consoled myself with the reasoning that this probably meant they weren't too noticeable? V, as our local expert, suggested I visit a pharmacy and get some melatoning cream instead which targets pigmentation spots that are lighter.  A much cheaper option too!

But back to the Ultherapy (using an "Ulthera 2" machine, which I think is also known as Ulthera Prime) -- according to Gemini, the price I paid is on the higher end for Korea but still way way cheaper compared to the same treatment being done in the Bay Area. Here's me in the pre-treatment room waiting for the numbing cream they applied to my face to set in:  

 

They put eye patches on my face during the actual treatment so unfortunately I have no pictures to share of that -- but here's the immediate after-shot from the treatment chair! I admit the picture seems really good (no dark circles at all! face seems so glowing!) but I'm pretty sure it's the lighting -- Ulteraphy results aren't really supposed to be THAT noticeable until a month after treatment.

Y on the other hand was a good candidate for laser -- so she got several dozen bumps removed from her hairline/forehead/ear area. She was quoted about $7 for each one (which we think is a good deal compared to US, even if it was on the higher end for Seoul). Afterwards she got these pimple patch-looking things individually placed on each one -- you're supposed to keep them on for about two weeks until they fully heal...so she's considering how she's going to manage work calls and meetings.  She also decided to opt for a round of Thermage, which instead of ultrasound uses lasers and focuses more on tightening/reducing of fine lines/wrinkles. Like the Ultherapy, the results aren't really noticeable for another month or two. For immediate results, they recommended Botox, but that wasn't of interest to us -- my rules for treatments were that I didn't want to inject myself with any foreign things (which took Rejuran and some blood injection things off the table) or do anything that was so temporary that I'd have to return every six months. 

Were the treatments painful? Well, for my Ultherapy, I only got the numbing cream and I can report that outside of say, a 5 second segment in the middle where they were shooting deep around my chin that I probably couldn't have handled if it went longer, the rest wasn't too unbearable.  It did sting a little as the ultrasound rays were shooting in (so imagine like, 100 pin pricks, uncomfortable certainly, but not unbearable) and then afterwards my cheek and jaw bones felt a little sore (like if you hit yourself on something). Overall I think my pain tolerance is on the higher side though so perhaps I'm not a great reviewer on this point.

By comparison, Y kept vocalizing her wimpy pain tolerance levels so they decided that besides the numbing cream, they'd also give her shots of local anesthesia. She reports the shots weren't that painful (probably because her face was already numbed up from the cream) and as a result, she really didn't feel any of the treatments. For the Thermage she said it's basically electric currents of fire going deep into your skin. There were about 5 "shots" (not needle, just laser) of the 600 that must have hit in places where the anesthesia didn't take and she said those were pretty painful -- to the point where she will never consider not getting the local anesthesia in the future. If you are REALLY worried about pain, ID Dermatology actually offers a full anesthesia option (very rare and only possible because they are connected to ID Hospital)

By the time we were all done, the sun had gone down and we were pretty famished. We decided to order from the bossam take-out joint across the street from our apartment. What is bossam? It's basically thinly sliced boiled pork belly that you wrap in lettuce leaves or radish slices. 

Really hit the spot! Besides the normal bossam (center box, mostly white-colored meat), we also got the stewed kind that reminded me of Chinese pork knuckles (V informed me it's actually pork trotters - jokbal). Both versions equally tasty!

As you can see from the photo -- another benefit of either Thermage or Ultherapy is that the aftercare is basically nothing. You have no scars, no redness -- the only thing they said was to avoid alcohol for the rest of the day and to be more careful with sun exposure -- but we are literally in the land of sunscreen so that isn't going to be hard at all. 

Tomorrow is my "lots of meetings" workday, so I went to bed pretty early -- as a follow-up on the scalp cleanse, hair still feeling pretty bouncy and light today!

Seoul - Day 2: EcoJardin Spa & Korean BBQ

I woke up around 3am today...about on par with the previous Tokyo trip experience. But this time without the twins in the same room, I actually managed to fall back asleep at 5 for another two hours or so, making my overall sleep total for the night a full 7 hours! But according to my Fitbit, it wasn't great sleep and my resting heart rate is very elevated. Oh well -- at least it's not complete sleep deprivation. 

Today our plan was to begin the day with a visit to the Google Seoul office -- it was actually a really nice walk from the apartment to the office - cold but not unbearable, perfect for feeling more awake.

Visitors are only allowed on Mondays and Fridays so this was basically the only day we could come this trip. As with Tokyo, the view from the office was quite impressive:

Very clear skies too -- could see the mountains in the background really well. Someone told us today that Seoul actually has a lively hiking culture -- one day when we come back as a family I'll be sure to add some hiking to the itinerary.

The cafe spread was not outrageously elaborate but it was still cool to see how different it was from a US cafe breakfast spread. I was told many of the things weren't very traditionally Korean though -- like the fried cheese stick in the middle of the right plate and the Caesar salad. But hey -- still tasty!

The highlight was definitely the juicer though. There were fresh whole apples, kiwis, carrots, and pomegranates that you could cut up and personally press into juice. Everyone had multiple glasses -- gotta keep up the vitamin C immunity when you're traveling!

The Google office was helpfully on the same subway line as our Eco Jardin scalp treatment location so off we went to experience the subway system in Seoul: 

Learnings here: like in Tokyo, cash is helpful for using the subway. So...perhaps unlike China, having at least a little cash in Korea is still necessary. We were very glad that V was able to spot us - having a "local" friend is so helpful!

Eco Jardin is a chain with a bunch of different locations in Seoul. I think they're known as the ones who first introduced this 18-step scalp cleanse concept so lots of people recommend them. I'm sure there are lots of other spa places who do very similar things but hey, in the name of travel research, we figured we would go with the originals.  We made our appointments for the Eco Jardin Jamsil mall location -- which is the same mall that has the Seoul Sky observation tower and the Studio Ghibli store (important info to store away for future trips with family!). 

I started off with a color consult -- I knew it would be a little gimmicky/questionable in value but I was so curious I couldn't help myself. Y and H both got haircuts -- they report that the cuts were very simple -- felt like they were a little rushed and didn't feel like the folks were really that precisely getting it perfect (compared to haircut places in Taiwan). Probably took 10 minutes, but they reported that they did do a good job styling it. To be fair the haircut was also pretty cheap -- so good deal if you need a haircut anyhow but otherwise not worth adding.  

So - back to the color consult! Here's the first step -- confirming what numbers you are based on your lip, cheek, skin, and hair colors. I was basically all warm. My hair was a slightly browner tint than I expected, same with my eyes, my skin was actually more peach than brown and my cheeks were pinker than I expected.

Then we started comparing my face against various swatches. First we did comparisons of cold vs. warm swatches to confirm that I was warm. This part I found interesting because it really was quite noticeable that the cold ones made my cheek redness stand out and the dark circles under my eyes more prominent whereas the warm colors just made my face more generally one single color. We did this for all the major colors - blue, green, yellow, red, and pink. 

And then after that was confirmed, we compared the two warm color versions between spring and fall to see those differences. For these, it was more that springs made my face look brighter (second picture) while autumn made my face darker (first picture). 

I do think a lot of this is just being under a bright light and lighter colors making you look lighter because of the light reflecting on your face. Nonetheless, it was interesting enough that I think it was worth the cost to do once. The woman also said I should look to navy and browns instead of black and ivories or creams instead of bright white. If nothing else, this really highlighted how much of an issue dark circles are for me! Will keep that in mind for Olive Young visit...

If some of you folks reading are also Asian and thinking of doing this, I'll say that my consultant admitted that almost all Asians are warm colors, though some are more autumn instead of spring. To summarize my personal results: Pink: aim more for a darker peach -- otherwise it accents my red splotches on my cheeks. Red: aim more for orange-red. Blue: aim for turquoise for darker and seafoam for lighter. Yellow: marigold more than light or bright yellows. Green: pastel or backup olive, not forest or green-blue. 

And now into the scalp portion! Here are all the steps. I took a video of the first 15 min or so with all the red light and blue light and serum cleansers and such. They're pretty good at upselling -- we all came in planning to do the 15 step and we all ended up upgrading to the 18. 

Why you ask? Well they use this camera to show you scary photos of your scalp and how yellow and gunky it looks:

So then it's like -- oof, I better add some conditioning after all! Here's me in the steaming portion. I don't look so amused. But after this there were some massage steps too which were VERY enjoyable. 

They then put a bunch of other stuff and such on my scalp and massaged it in. And then I moved to the washing room which was VERY soothing. These steps now focused on the hair instead of the scalp -- basically involved striping your hair of the environmental elements and then adding moisture back in.  You're also in a massage chair the whole time so you just end up not wanting to move at all. I started feeling very very sleepy...

But after 20 min or so, they made me get up for the final steps: blow-drying, adding hair growth serum and then finally styling. 

They also take you back to the camera room to show you how clean each strand now looks.

Here's a before shot:

And the after! (Yes I look a little dazed -- try to overlook that -- the washing portion was just very sleep inducing!!)

So was it worth it? I'm actually blogging this a day later and can report that my hair is much cleaner and lighter and bouncier even today compared to normal. I do have my suspicions on whether the 18 step was really necessary or how long the cleanness really lasts (my person said she does it once a month) but it certainly was an enjoyable "pamper" experience.  If you are headed to Seoul and want to visit this specific Eco Jardin, I took down the manager's Whatsapp and she promised that I can offer friends (or friends of friends) a 10% discount -- feel free to reach out! (zoubavacations@gmail.com).

After this, we walked around the mall a bit - including popping outside for an obligatory snap of the Seoul Sky/Lotte Tower.

After this we decided Lotte malls were not quite our thing (too many high end brands for our budgets 😆) -- so we decided to go hit up some vintage places instead over in Garosu-gil. We all had a few finds, which we modeled for each other back at the apartment:

By now it was time for dinner -- Michelin starred Korean BBQ at Samwon Garden.

The garden was truly beautiful, especially at night with the lights. Gets us into the Christmas spirit!

The private room was also beautifully set up - I have never been to a Korean BBQ where the chef literally prepares every course right behind you. 

There were so many courses that I have to choose just a few of my favorites to showcase here. This is the nine treasure pancake, apparently very traditional for Korean holidays but very time consuming to make all the treasures:

Here's the spread of kimchis and side dishes that accompanied all the meats:

We had five different meat courses - here's all of them being shown to us (it's like bringing the live fish to the table).

And here's just one of them in cooked form -- the plating was so artful too.

For the LAP crew -- there was crab!! The famous Korean raw crab -- you squeeze out the meat or scoop up the innards and then mix it with rice in the shell to eat. 

We even had a sashimi course. This is when we realized we were going to stuffed...because this was practically a meal sized chirashi bowl.

This was truly a meal for the memory books. Here's the menu for those who are into that sort of thing:

After all that...we were definitely ready for bed again. They even sent us off with some digestive powder (tasted horrible, but we all still took it because we all could tell we were going to need help digesting 😆). 

Tomorrow...skincare treatment day!