No Tricks, Only Treats at Trick Eye Museum

I love museums. But don't you just hate it when you see "Do not touch." signs all over the place? Trick Eye Museum changes all that. Here, you can experience art in the literal and figurative sense. And if you're into cam-whoring, you're definitely in for a treat!

Just like in any other museum, of course you have to get tickets before you could get in. But unlike in other museums, you are actually encouraged to touch the art. Or better yet, be part of it!

We freely opened random doors, drank fresh cups of wine straight from the barrel, accepted bribes from tax collectors, picked up dollar bills along the way, caught a falling apple right before it hit the ground, and even gave a naked lady a manicure.

We filled a priest's glass with more wine, stole a few bills from a lovely couple, pulled on a lady's beautiful necklace, and helped a stranger cheat his way to winning a card game. All without having to suffer the consequences. How fun is that?

We became as tall as a giant and as tiny as Tinkerbell in a matter of minutes! Oh it feels so good to be tall even for just a moment.

We washed our hands in mystical water, caught a Bungeoppang/Taiyaki (a fish-shaped Korean/Japanese pastry filled with sweet red bean paste), and played with an Old English couple's dog.

We went from being all lady-like smelling roses and pouring tea to going crazy splashing water at a random lady and almost staring at Medusa's eyes. Oh the horror!

We also had part-time jobs for a while. I got chased by a rhino in court while Jona smoked under a No Smoking sign. We kept feeding an obese Mona Lisa but tried to stop David from eating yet another cone lest he gets too fat. You see, you do get fat if you don't move.

We tried a few more things: breaking in by kicking a glass window, stealing a neighbor's pig, and playing billiards. Aaand almost got hurt in the process.

We sure gave "The Scream" man something to scream about. Haha

We even became ballerinas for a day!

Who cares if it's raining cats and dogs outside? It was sunny inside - perfect weather to ride our pink Vespas around the city!

Where the party at?? We've got cake, balloons, moving paintings, and uhh... a floating head for the main course? Yikes!

Who says you can't be rich in an instant? We obviously did! We were so filthy rich, the paparazzi couldn't help but take pictures of us. How flattering! Better grab a copy of this month's Forbes magazine before they run out! HAHAHA

So what do you do when you've got that much money? Go shopping, of course! See, we even brought our posh dog along.

And because we're rich, we can do anything we want! We tried our hand at weight-lifting, cutting other people's hair, and photography. We even tried to stop time! Or at least slow it down a bit. So what do you do if you have that much time in your hands? Just sit under a train stop? Go traveling, of course! First stop: Hawaii.

Then we stopped by Venice for a quick gondola ride, Japan to have a taste of their giant sushi, and Korea to have tea with the king.

Oh and China too, to hang out with these adorable pandas. *u*

We even explored some unknown territory. HAHAHA

And became sexy laaaadies. Op-op-op-op oppa Gangnam style!

Time is too short though. Eventually, the tour had to end. But not without going through a mirror maze before you can get back to reality. One should be careful enough not to bump into one of the mirrors but not too cautious that you end up holding hands with strangers and start screaming your head off like I did. Oops.

Jona and I had too much fun in the museum, we ran out of time! We weren't able to explore the rest of the installation art scattered around the floor like the rest of the girls did. Well, there is always next time.

Trick Eye Museum is located at Seoul-si Mapo-gu Seogyo-dong 357-1 Seogyo Plaza B02-01 and tickets cost ₩13,000/person. Don't forget to bring your cameras with you! And if you're in a large group like us, it's better to split up into groups of 3 (not 2!) for faster photo ops. But if there are only 2 of you, you can always ask the staff to help you take pictures.


Traveling party: Erin, Faye, Jona (organizer), Light (organizer), Rona, Sera (organizer), and Vanie
Travel date: 11 November 2012 [Day 6]
Photo credits: Faye, Light, Vanie

SK 2012: Itinerary? What itinerary?

The past few days have been nothing but amazing. However, a great vacation always comes with a price. We were all exhausted come Day 6. By this time, the minty smell of pain relievers no longer bothered us. Yep, not even me and that says a lot. Salonpas, Katinko, Korean menthol strips. Name it, we have it. So for our last day, we decided to drop everything off our itinerary and just do whatever we want.

For a change, we woke up late and went to the nearby Hollys Coffee to grab some breakfast. Yay, breakfast at 10AM instead of 6AM! It was raining pretty hard so we were drenched by the time we reached the cafe. It was all good though because the cafe was toasty. I had a blueberry bagel and a cup of their Real Belgian Cafe Mocha. The bagel was okay, nothing special. The coffee was a bit too sweet for my liking but you can really taste the Belgian chocolate in it. I just prefer my coffee/hot cocoa rich and creamy, not sugary sweet.

Starbucks South Korea merchandise

Due to the rainy weather, we decided to head to Trick Eye Museum first. We passed by a Starbucks on the way there and we couldn't help but check out their merch. I have a thing for limited edition tumblers so I had to buy a Seoul Day tumbler. Too bad, the Seoul Night design was out of stock. :(

At Trick Eye Museum

We thought it was a good idea to visit the museum on a rainy day. It turns out, most people thought so too. The place was packed! We split into groups of two to make the photo ops faster but yeah, it still took us a while to get through the entire exhibit thanks to our OC-ness. Our trip to the museum was so fun, it deserves it's own post. :)

Bring out the inner child in you!

After the museum, it's time for merienda (which ended up as lunch as well). Faye and Ate Light went to look for Charlie Brown Cafe (which has been closed down unfortunately) while the rest of us went to Hello Kitty Cafe. Jona asked for directions from a petite girl while the rest of us chatted away. Jona suddenly told us, "Oh, okay na. Ihahatid daw tayo." and we all went "Yay!" when the girl (I forgot her name OMG :c) suddenly got all excited and asked if we're from the Philippines. We wondered how she knew, but we said yes. It turns out, she understood what Jona said! What's even more amazing was that she studied high school in Colegio de San Agustin and her favorite subject was Hekasi. How awesome is that? She was on her way to meet some friends when Jona approached her so we waited for them to arrive. And when they did, she was so excited to tell them that she met people from the Philippines! I love how her friends reacted the same way. She obviously had a fun time in the Philippines and I'm glad she did. Makes me even more proud of our little country. :)

Kitty-chan, we meet again!

I've been to HK Cafe before but that didn't stop me from buying more merch. :"> After our super late lunch, we went along Hongdae road (which we thought was the Ewha strip haha) to shop. Jona and I bought matching bags from a cute little store whose owner was blasting a familiar song. As if thinking what I'm thinking, Jona asked me if I was listening to the song. We couldn't contain our excitement as we asked the shop owner if she knows who the singer is. She said with a smile that it's Juris, a Filipino artist. Antaray lang ni Juris! International levelsss!!! [FYI, it was an MYMP song/CD. :)]

Did I mention how much I love Market O?

After shopping in Hongdae, Jona and I were on our way to the subway when we passed by an Olive Young store. Olive Young = Market O goodies. So we had to stop for a little while and finally finish our Market O hoarding. Yes, hoarding! WE LOVE MARKET O! I still remember the first time I saw it's beautiful packaging and the first time I tasted it after starving for so long. It was love at first bite, I tell ya! And I just couldn't forget it from then on. I just have to bring home enough Market O goodies to last me a couple of days. Or weeks. Haha