Star Wars Coffee in Hongdae

What do you get when Starbucks, George Lucas and a plagiarist walk in to a bar… Star Wars Coffee!

Our contract in Seoul was coming to an end, so during our last two weeks we were purchasing items we wanted to take back home and seeing places we had not yet seen. I was searching online blogs and come across a blurb about Star Wars Coffee in Seoul. I love Star Wars and I love coffee so I figured this would be another fun weekend adventure.

The next Sunday Krista and took a trip to Hongdae 홍대 (Seoul) with our friends Ben and Sel. I had no idea where exactly this coffee shop was but I figured it couldn’t be too hard to find it. For those of you who have never been there, there are hundreds of small shops lining the main streets and hundreds more tucked inside alley ways, it was not going to be easy trying to find this place.

But.. GOOD NEWS! We stopped in at the Tourist Information Centre and asked about the coffee shop. The girl working there knew exactly where to go and pointed us in the right direction. Up the street, take a left, keep left down the alley instead of the main street and you’ll see it on your left. Lo and behold.. there it was!

We were first greeted by a menu sign with a cut-out of Darth Vader holding a stack of cups and C-3PO holding a paper cup of coffee. First up on the menu was Darth Vader’s Espresso for 2000 won (1000won=$0.87USD). R2-D2 Espresso Macchiato W3000. Chewbacca Cappuccino W2500. C-3PO Americano W2000. Yoda Café Mocha W3000. Yoda Caramel Mocha W3000 and a Darth Maul Espresso Con Panna for W3000. See any spelling errors on the board?

At the front of shop was a small counter with a coffee grinder and espresso machines. On the one side sat a 24 inch flat panel monitor and a Darth Vader helmet on the corner. The rest of the shop was filled with collectibles of all kinds. There were Nintendo figurines like Mario and Luigi. There were Spiderman, Batman, GI Joe and of course Star Wars too. At the back of the shop there was a rack misc clothing.

If Krista said no, I’d let Darth Maul iron my clothing for sure.

Some of the more interesting items were the paintings near the front of the shop. There were spoofs of the Simpsons, Guinness Beer and even Van Gough.

I asked about getting a Star Wars Coffee t-shirt but they said they were all out for the year. I showed my dismay and mentioned that we wanted to purchase 4 t-shirts. He thought about it for a minute and decided to bring a few more in for us and we could pick them up next week.

Earlier I mentioned the Darth Vader helmet on the corner of the front counter.. well what fan could resist trying on the helmet and having a light sabre dual? So that’s exactly what Ben and I did.

Oooh right the coffee..! Yeah the it was pretty good too. The table, chairs and umbrella across the alley was what made it most enjoyable. All in all, it was a fun afternoon exploring Hongdae with Ben and Sel.

If you’re in the Hongdae area, stop by and enjoy Darth Vader’s Espresso or Storm Trooper’s Official Latte. And remember.. May the froth be with you!

We’re in Canada!

Ok so we’ve been in Canada for quite sometime now, this post has been a long time coming. We departed from Seoul on September 3rd for Chicago to attend a friend’s wedding, it was an awesome wedding too! On the 6th I flew home to Regina to start a new job. Krista flew to Minnesota to spend time with family and friends for a month and a half.

Before we left Korea, Krista’s immigration paperwork was approved to land in Canada and become a permanent resident. On October 12th she crossed the border and received the final stamp of approval! Congratulations to Canada’s newest Permanent Resident! (also a shout out to Josh, Matt and Pete, we’ve all imported an American girl )

Things have been great in Canada so far, we’ve got a little bit of snow but the temperature has been decent. We have only been home a little while but we greatly miss our friends and students in Seoul. There are plenty of blog posts I need to catch up on, I think the stories and photos will be a wonderful reminder of the amazing year we had overseas.

Stay tuned!

East Coast – Jeong Dong Jin 정동진

Krista and I have been wanting to get out of the big city for awhile and see the sunrise in Korea.  Our friend Phil told us about a place called Jeong Dong Jin which is on the east coast of South Korea in Gangwon province.  He wanted to see this place for himself so he offered us a chance to go with him and his daughter. 

We left on Friday night at 1130pm, we stopped at a few rest stops and arrived at the beach at 4am.  Sunrise was set for 5:10am so we had a chance to get some rest in the car.   When we awoke we found a nice spot in the sand to put down our mats and set up our cameras.

Jeong-Dong-Jin Station is the world’s closest station to sea shore. Once you leave the station you can see the ocean.  After some scenes of a famous TV drama were shot there, it became famous and is visited by a lot of tourists. Everyday a large number of people get out of the train at dawn to see its famous sunrise.

Although it was too cloudy to see the full sunrise, we did catch glimpses of the sun as it rose higher on the horizon.  Either way, it was great to get out of Seoul.

A view from the beach of the  Sun Cruise Resort

 

Can you see the people?

Phil setting up his camera

 

Krista and NaHyun

NaHyun picking shells

Other people also waiting for the sunrise

soon, very soon is the big day, duh duh da da

Here comes the sun!

Here comes the sun!

And Phil said its okay!

Nothing like watching the sun rise where ever you may be.

 

The train tracks also make a great photo opp!

 

Jeongdongjin station

Couple shot!

 

Good morning Phil!

 

Millennium Hourglass, aka sand clock. The Hourglass is made of stainless steel. Sand began trickling through it on the first of January, 2000, marking the time to the beginning of the new millennium on the first of January, 2001. The symbols around the clock are the Chinese zodiac signs.

A view from the Sun Cruise Resort looking back on the beach

He’s got the whole world in his hands! 

Krista and NaHyun at Sun Cruise Resort

The Statue Park at Sun Cruise Resort

 

I promise, the Korean symbol for promise

Its so fun to take a picture with a nude statue

Sun Cruise Resort

More statues

 

 

We enjoyed our cruise!

 

We had a great weekend with Phil and NaHyun.  Our weekend didn’t stop there, we visited a Korean warship, a North Korean submarine and a beautiful temple set in the mountains that may be the site for the 2018 Olympics, well if Korea wins the bid that is.

We are very blessed to have such good friends here, and many thanks to Phil for taking us on such a great trip!

More pictures to come…..