Winter in South Korea – Day 2: Cat Café in Myeongdong

*extremely picture-heavy post

On our first day walking around Myeongdong,  the sight of the Cat Café made our hearts skip a beat because of the potential cuteness inside.

Before going to Seoul, we had Gio Cat Café in mind but has scrapped the idea because it was too far off from the place where we stayed. It was in Mapo-gu and since we did not want to visit Trickeye Museum, nor it was futile to visit YG Entertainment’s bulding again, so we scrapped the idea.

So on our second day, after eating our late dinner in Myeongdong, we headed straight away to the building of the Cat Café. We had a momentary boo-boo, though. We entered the building, took the elevator and got off at the fourth floor. We were surprised that the prices listed by the reception area was way higher than what we had originally anticipated. We took the elevator down and we were questioning each other over what has just happened when Mon saw the correct floor of the café. It was beyond me how we forgot which floor to take, so we took the elevator up again.

So upon entering the place, we were greeted by a pretty and friendly staff who gave us two pairs of slippers immediately. We did not beat around the bush, though, and asked how much do we have to pay to get inside. LOL So, for KRW 8,000, we get to enter the café and pick a drink of our choice: cofffee or tea, hot or cold. I picked macchiato, while Mon chose mocha. We also ordered one blueberry muffin for KRW 2,500. Fair enough. Also, she explained the “coding” of the kitties. Yellow scarf meant “babies” or the younger ones. Blue scarf to signify that the kitty was not feeling very well, so both of them should be handled with care. I did not see a cat wearing a blue scarf, though. Maybe it was sleeping in a secluded corner. As for the un-coded ones, they were the adult cats with no problem at all. Also, we were told not to use flash when taking photos, so as not to startle them.

We were seated at the far left corner table of the room, and we had a fluffy kitty sleeping next to us. I think he ws just being lazy because when we pat and tickled him, he was responding to our touch. For the rest of our stay, he just laid there and did not budge when other kitties where already jumping over him. I went to the bathroom and when I was about to go back to our table, I was shocked to see a cat convention (above photo) in front of us. I’ve never seen that much cat in a single two-square meter area. They also have lots of toys to play and tempt the kitties with. Most important of all, there was a big box of lint removers.

My most favorite cat of the bunch was this black kitty. She was so well-behaved that she’d quietly pose for us whenever we had our camera pointed at her. Unlike the other kitty trying to ambush our plate of blueberry muffin, she just sat on the table next to us and curiously looked at us.

The place was beyond awesome because of the amount of adorable cats in one place. I was really happy to see the Sphynx cat below, in a knitted Christmas outfit, as it was my first time see one in real life. In the play place near the comfort room also snoozed the fattest and biggest cat I’ve seen in my entire life! I was trying to take a picture of me with him but he got on his feet and moved to the rug in front of us, as if wishing not to be bothered. LOL

At the far end of the room was the wall where visitors  can leave and post messages about the café. There were also art materials, sketch pads, colored pencils, etc., where people left cat sketches on every. We did not have a spare paper with us so we just took off one of the barely written pages and wrote dedication on it.

The cats were extremely playful and I was really trying to take nice photos of them. The kitty below, however, had other things in mind and he started pulling the strap of my camera. I just took a video instead because two more joined (babies!) and they were having a lot of fun with playing.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/MpyFNszQYlY]

We were having so much fun that we did not realize the time. At almost 11:30 PM, we were told that they were about to close. They normally close at 11:00 PM but as there were still lots of customers, they have extended for 30 minutes more just to accommodate us. As we were rushing to put our shoes back again by the entrance, I took two panorama shots of the café. It was indeed one of the best places we’ve visited in Seoul. (Click to zoom in)

So, how to reach this amazing place? Honestly, I had a hard time remembering the blur that was Myeongdong because I was overwhelmed by street and store signs. It took me several minutes to recall how to get there and checked tourist and Google maps to be sure. So here’s a detailed direction on how to get there.

1) Get off at Exit 6 of Myeongdong station and immediately take the road to your left.

2) Walk the length of that street until you see BSX.

3) Then, turn to the right if BSX! to the street where Banila Co. was located.

3) From BSX, turn right.

I’ve read somewhere that their cat mascot is only in the area during weekends, but on all occasions (weekdays) that we were in Myeongdong at night, we saw it on corner of the street right before the café.

I highly recommend the Cat Café in Myeongdong. We had a very stressful day running around the city and it was the most perfect way to end our day. I uploaded a special album on my Facebook dedicated to Cat Café and they got more comments and adulation from my friends more than our around-in-Seoul photos. All cat lovers visiting Seoul should drop by this place, especially if they end up being in Myeongdong, which was pretty much in every person’s itinerary.

*See related posts in this “Winter in Seoul 2012” series.