Six (6) months before the pandemic started, I got to visit this huge and beautiful library, Starfield Library, in Seoul, South Korea. The said library is located in the middle of Asia's largest underground shopping mall, COEX Mall. It attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world taking a lot of pictures and selfies and of course, bibliophiles like me.
It's an enormous 2-story library and an open space where people can visit freely to sit, take a break, and read. There are more or less 50,000 books available, magazines, and an iPad if you prefer to read e-books. Once you feel hungry and craving something to drink, they a convenience store available on the second floor of the library to grab and a cafe if you want coffee and pastries. And yes, you can take with you any book or magazine you enjoy reading with these locations.
I and my high school best friend slash travel buddy, Aubrey, took a break from our photography sessions and to give chances to people who wanted to take photos on the escalator, riding up and down, where the perfect spot for Instagram-worthy photos. Since we already had our multiple sessions with the escalator, we took selfies instead in one of their rotating art centerpieces on display at the library.
Out of curiosity, I was checking the library if there's an English book available. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find one. Not many English books were found at the library. Well, there might be a few English books available but I guess you need to ask for assistance with it. I was wondering how long you can find a perfect English book all by yourself knowing the gigantic and towering shelves of books they have. I even wondered how they can get the book from the shelves above.
The Starfield Library is more of a tourist spot rather than a traditional library. Since it was just new when we visited the library ( it was built 2 years ago when we were there in 2019), people come there to meet friends and to take photos for memories and souvenirs. If you're expecting quiet moments with yourself and the book that you are reading, this place is definitely not the best choice for you.
After we finished at the library, we went to the Gangnam area (1 station away) to roam a little and look for a restaurant to have our lunch. We were craving beef sampgyupsal (I love beef sampgyusal though). We had our lunch in this restaurant (I forgot the restaurant name), and they served delicious and tender meat. Their sampyumsal set is different from ours here in Cebu. They didn't have unlimited choices. It's per dish and the side dishes were also limited. But their meat, it's way better and sumptuous than the one we have here in Cebu. A must-try!
That's all for today Hivers! I will be posting more blogs about my South Korea trip in the next weeks. Stay tuned and see you in my next blog. I hope you enjoy reading!
Ciao for now!