I just came back from Korea and did a Mangwon tour, and thought I should do a blog post to help everyone with searching for the special spots in Mangwon. (And I am really lazy to edit the images so pardon the colours). The nearest subway station to all these spots is Mangwon Station (Exit 2).

Here we go~~!

1. WM Entertainement

Every BANA would need to at least get to this place once. The building that was built with the albums and songs we bought, the boy's perspiration and hard work. 

Map/ 지도

2. Coffee Shop (커피집 숍)

The coffee shop that Sandeul frequent, that coffee shop that has his card pinned onto the wall. We didn't head in because our tummies were full of noodles and coffee at that time when we went passed.

Map/ 지도

3. Gwang Hap Seong Cafe (광합성 카페)

This cafe is one of the spot where Sandeul took his album pictures. The stairs with yellow line, as well as the interior can be easily recognised. Unfortunately, the spot Sandeul sat at was taken up. Sandeul also mentioned in one of that backstage videos that the sandwich here are really nice! (and no, we ended up with coffee only because we still had noodles swimming in our tummies)

Map/ 지도

4. Shanghai Spagetti and Ddasikki Galbi (상하이스파게티&따식이갈비)

We went to this place twice this trip, the owner was really nice to us. She told us that Gongchan & CNU likes eating spicy so they order the spicy galbi and Sandeul & Jinyoung couldn't eat spicy so they order the non-spicy galbi. We got the chance to try both at different times we went there, I have to say the non-spicy one really taste good! You could also see signatures of the boys and also signed album in the shop.

Map/ 지도

5. KINOKO CAFE (키노코 카페)

Tucked in a small alleyway of Mangwon, this cafe is pretty small and Sandeul did several shoots here. Unfortunately, on that day we went, the cafe was closed. We managed to take some photos of the interior thanks to the transparent doors.

Map/ 지도

6. Happy Burger (행벅식당)

This burger place is another place that Sandeul recommended. We didn't managed to eat it because it was their resting time when we reached there. T^T we ended up settling for another shop but that's besides the point.

Map/ 지도

7. Le glacier des etoiles, le clocher d'or (빙하의 별)

This ice cream shop is pretty prominent if you are walking on the other side of the streets. I'm not sure if the operating hours only applies to winter, or all year round, but when we got there, they have a sign saying they are only opened from 6pm onwards. There goes our ice cream T^T

Sandeul took his Stay as you are jacket here as well~ 

Map/ 지도

8. Colourful Wall in front of Cafe Tweed (카페트위드  앞에 벽)

This wall was featured in one of Sandeul's photocard and it was pretty hard to find since there was no exact location. Now that I have been there, I can easily say that this wall stands in front of Cafe Tweed, just right outside the underpass to get from Mangwon to Hangang River.

Map/ 지도

9. Hangang River Mangwon Section (한강시민공원 망원지구)

I think I didn't mention that it was a freezing and extremely windy day when we did this tour, and the river was my last straw. I couldn't even withstand 5 mins of phototaking. But the pictures turned out really pretty due to the pretty sky. This was also a spot that Sandeul took his album jacket.

Map/ 지도

Should anyone be in Seoul and wants to try something different, you could do this!! We started off with Mangwon Market at about 10am and left at about 4pm, our timing was just nice and on schedule but if it was a summer trip, it might be shorter because you would not end up wanting to hop into a cafe to hide from the freezing temperatures.

Also, a huge thank you to pink sugar chan's blog post which made searching for some of the places much easier! Check out her blog post of Mangwon here, it also included the churros shop that Jinyoung went to. ^^v

Finally came the day I could sit in a musical to watch Sandeul!! I'm still very regretful that I wasn't able to catch Cinderella earlier this year, because I totally would believe that it is worth it.

Met up with Kathy, Lynn and Eunju unnie before the musical~ and I wasn't feel the thing until I reached the theatre level. My seat was 7th row from the front, and as you can see, it is really close to the stage.

Sandeul came in on the second scene, from the side of the stage I was sitting close to. Literally almost jumped and squealed from my seat, because HE IS DAMN NEAR. The distance was so near I could see his perspiration beads rolling down his face. Moving on to the real thing, I must say, the experience hearing him sing in a musical is just so different from hearing him live in a concert.

He was bursting with so much energy it felt like he was leading the entire cast in the musical! This character suited him so well it feels like he was just being himself while doing the musical. Like what Sandeul himself mentioned in his interview, his character is someone who is so serious to a point he gets looked down upon by others, and sometimes because he is too serious, it is funny. The entire 2 hours-ish weren't boring because the laughing points were there, yet at the same time those people bringing you the laughters are serious in other scenes, giving the entire musical a good mix. 

Sandeul's character, D'Artagnan, has a love story with Constance, are a pair that met and fell in love with each other. That pure and innocent love could be felt and seen in the scenes they were together, it was a very lovey dovey and cute combination, despite the fact the actress was 3 years older than Sandeul. 

Even the chemistry with the Three Musketeers were good, probably because Sandeul is the youngest among the main cast, everyone takes good care of him well. But that being said, you could still see the leadership in Sandeul for leading the cast along with the emotion roller coaster he was riding on in the musical.

What I love about the musical is that, every single one of the character has a story and they make sure to give time to let the characters unfold their stories. And the cast are all really strong in their vocals, its so good to hear them all sing together, from the leads all the way to the ensemble, they really brought out that fighting for justice spirit for the performance.

When Sandeul sat on the table and sang Romantic Paris, I held in my tears. I couldn't actually believe that the song that I have been listening to for months through videos was being sang live by my favourite person right in front of me.

The musical had a scene whereby The Three Musketeers were testing D'Artagnan and he had to march all the way to the audiences. Sandeul stopped 2 rows before my row, and walked into the row to stop in front of a little girl. You know the entire theatre was pretty much BANAs when everyone went aww at that scene, half of my row were BANAs and we didn't even care whether is was us or not. The fact that Sandeul was standing so close to us, all of us could only stare in awe. Not to even mention, Sandeul was being really cute trying to figure out how he should kiss that child just cos she has bangs on her forehead.

Our hearts pretty much felt all the same after the musical ended, it goes dugun dugun dugun real fast, not just for a while, but the entire night, his voice was just ringing in our heads. I really had a hard time trying to fall asleep with all of his voice going on. Heh.

We also caught CNU's performance that very same day in the evening. We were chatting and mentioned that while Sandeul recently attracted a lot of ahjumah fans, CNU has a lot of noona fans and that was evident in the crowd that evening. All well dressed, prim and proper, just like CNU himself.

While Sandeul was a perfect fit for D'Artagnan, CNU doesn't lose out. He was like a the manlier version of D'Artagnan if I must say. Partly it might also be because of the seriousness he held. You could see that CNU tried really hard acting his charcter, because he really isn't like the CNU we are used to.

One thing that surprised me was how much this guy improved through the years. His voice doesn't lose out to anyone and to be able to sing that well, I was really impressed. This guy definitely needs more part in B1A4 songs in the future. Probably a ballad solo song for him? 

To be honest, I wasn't exactly concentrating a lot because my mind was still with Sandeul, but one particular scene where he rescued Constance and were in a boat, that scene literally made me want to call him an Oppa. 

& there was this scene the three musketeers were fooling around, D'Artagnan has to stay angry and frustrated at the situation but because the actors were all so funny CNU laughed. XD 

Hing, how cute can this guy get.

All in all, I would gladly catch this musical again in a heartbeat, and it was really a pity as a huge Sandeul fan, I could only catch his performance once. I would love to go to every single one of his shows and stare at him and listen to him.