한국어
Liam’s Life in Korea Part 2
Kids Cafés, Dookki Tteokbokki & Winter Snow Fun
As winter fully set in, the only places we could really go were indoor shopping centers and kids cafés.
Luckily, Korea has great indoor play facilities, so we’ve been visiting places like indoor zoos and aquariums, but of course, kids cafés are a must.
I think we’ve been to almost every one near our house. Before coming to Korea, I was super excited and had big plans to travel with Liam every weekend. But once we faced the real Korean winter, my body just didn’t want to move the way my heart wanted to. I think traveling on foot in this weather really took a toll.
And honestly, weekdays turned out to be busier than I expected. I work in the mornings, and by the time I finish, eat lunch, and grab a quick moment to myself, it’s already time for Liam to come home from kindergarten. Still, there are plenty of shopping centers within a 30-minute bus or subway ride from our place, so we’ve been able to explore quite a few places without getting bored.
Our Day Out – Dookki Tteokbokki & Kids Café (Indoor playground)
In Korea, there’s a tteokbokki restaurant called Dookki, where you can enjoy a buffet-style meal. You choose your own ingredients and make your own tteokbokki right at the table.
It’s not always easy to go around the buffet line with Liam, but since you can adjust the spice level, we end up going there quite often.
Prices:
Adults: 10,900 KRW
Students: 9,900 KRW
Children (ages 4 and up): 5,900 KRW
You pay a set price per person, and then you can take as much food as you want. The prices are really reasonable, so it felt like a guilt-free treat.
Thanks to Liam, who absolutely loves tteokbokki, I also got to enjoy one of my favorite foods to my heart’s content. After the meal, they even have ice cream for dessert, so it’s perfect for a full, satisfying meal.
On weekends, we saw lots of families dining there together—it’s definitely a popular spot for a casual family outing.
Kids Café – Tiger Lily at Hyundai Outlet, Gasan Branch
It’s not a huge space, but since it’s newly opened, everything was super clean. The trampoline area was especially spacious and really well set up.
They also had a flying fox and a mini train ride that ran at set times, which was a lot of fun. On top of that, there was a ball pit, a mini basketball area, and even ride-on toy horses.
It’s not a big place, but it’s packed with fun and thoughtfully designed—it really felt like a hidden gem.
The downside is that it’s quite small, so the space feels pretty cramped. When we went on the weekend, there wasn’t much seating for adults, and it was really crowded.
Using a photo booth for sticker pictures
In Korea, you can find sticker photo booths almost everywhere—shopping centers, subway stations, you name it. Every time Liam passes by one, he always wants to try it out, so we took a sticker photo together once.
It was fun, and the pictures came out great. But ever since that first time, he keeps asking to do it every time he sees a sticker photo booth, which has been a bit challenging to keep up with!
Dentist visit in Korea
One place we always make sure to visit when we come to Korea is the dentist!
Liam especially had some issues with his front teeth, so we went to get X-rays and a check-up.
I was really impressed by Korea’s advanced X-ray facilities — nothing like what I’ve ever seen back in Australia.
The check-up went smoothly, and Liam did great listening to the nurse’s instructions during the X-ray, so it was quick and easy.
Dental check-up complete!
Christmas Tree at Yeongdeungpo Times Square
In Korea, everywhere you go in November and December is filled with Christmas spirit.
I wanted to take Liam out at night to see Christmas trees and visit some Christmas markets, but it’s not easy to go out late with a kid who goes to bed early. Plus, I was a bit worried about crowded events.
So, we ended up at the easy choice — Yeongdeungpo Times Square!
I had seen it a lot on Instagram and thought it looked pretty, but honestly, the ads were a bit misleading.
You can actually go inside the tree, which is decorated simply with mirrors and string lights. Outside, the tree and lights were arranged like a maze and looked nice, but that was about it. Haha.
Still, to celebrate being in Korea and the Christmas season, Liam and I took a photo together to mark the occasion!
Liam wanted sushi, so we had sushi before heading back home.
By the time we were on the way back around 7 to 8 PM, it was clearly rush hour. The bus was packed—more crowded than I expected. Luckily, Liam was able to get a seat thanks to someone giving up theirs, but it was definitely an eye-opening experience dealing with rush hour traffic.
Exploring the local market
The local market is pretty big, so no matter how many times we visit, it never gets boring. Liam really loves exploring the market, and whenever we go, it takes over an hour just to look around!
Today, we even bought and ate some odeng (fish cake) ~
I’d love to buy him lots of snacks from the market, but since he usually eats right after kindergarten, that’s basically his dinner, so I can’t always spoil him.
Liam’s favorite spots at the market are the fish shop and the sashimi place. Haha!
In Korea, fish shops sell live octopus and shrimp, so every time we pass by one, Liam just stares in awe. And whenever we see the sashimi place, he gets excited and loudly explains what’s going on with the fish!
The market also has a shopping center. There was a shop there that sold fish and small animals. They had quite a lot of animals, so we were really busy just looking around.
The shop owner kept coming over and moving around since Liam was only looking and not buying anything, which made things a bit awkward.
Still, it was a great place to spend some time!
Brunch at Lede Tour and Kids Café (Cali Club)
There’s a shopping center not far from our home, which has a great coffee and bakery spot as well as a kids café. It’s a perfect place to visit when we don’t feel like going far.
We started the morning with chocolate snacks and juice that wasn’t sweet at all for breakfast, then headed down to the kids café downstairs.
The Cali Club is a new-concept kids café where you get a wristband when you enter. Kids wear the wristband and tag it at each play station to earn points. Because of that, all the kids run around trying to score as many points as possible. Even though they come with friends, everyone’s busy tagging around on their own.
For Liam, who doesn’t have friends here in Korea, it was a perfect place to play by himself.
Bus stops in Korea
The benches at some bus stops in Korea are actually heated, though not all of them have this feature.
On a cold winter day, Liam sat down on one of these benches while waiting for the bus.
At first, I didn’t believe him and thought he was joking, but he kept insisting it was warm. So I sat down too—and sure enough, it really was warm, making the cold much more bearable.
It was so amazing that ever since then, Liam has checked every new bus stop we visit to see if the benches have heaters.
It’s understandable—these benches look just like regular ones, but the warmth they give off is truly impressive.
Toy Street at Dongdaemun
Christmas was approaching, and I wanted to get Liam a Christmas gift. I heard that Dongdaemun has a toy street where you can find all kinds of toys, so we decided to check it out.
Liam was really into Octonauts and especially wanted the exploration ship, the Gup-X. So we went to Dongdaemun Toy Street just in case they had it.
The street had everything kids could need—toys, stationery, and more. They were even selling beautiful Christmas decorations, which looked really nice.
Dongdaemun Toy Street doesn’t have a huge number of toy shops, but a few of the stores are massive—so big that it felt like they had everything you could imagine.
However, they didn’t have the Octonauts exploration ship Liam wanted, so we couldn’t buy it. Since we didn’t want to leave empty-handed, we ended up getting a robot building set and headed home.
A place worth visiting at least once if you’re traveling to Seoul with kids!
Dodeoksan Park Playground
Finding a good playground to hang out at wasn’t easy. This one was close to home but still required taking a bus, so it wasn’t exactly nearby for a playground.
Interestingly, even though this neighborhood isn’t far from home, it felt really rural—like we were on a little trip. There was even a camping site right next to the playground, so it seemed like a great spot to come camping with kids.
Liam made a new friend there, an older girl, and they played well together. Sometimes, kids in Korea can be overly kind in a way that feels a bit much—not aggressive or negative, just different from what we’re used to. This girl was very friendly and a bit too enthusiastic with Liam, so I was a little cautious, but since Liam was having such a good time, I just watched them play.
There were three large outdoor trampolines, and the playground was spacious—perfect for running and playing around.
Our second time seeing snow
It snowed again. We had a heavy snowfall at the end of November, and then unexpectedly, more snow fell in December. According to my mom, it usually snows after January here, so we didn’t expect to see any snow. We were lucky to experience it twice!
This time, the snow turned into rain, so it got really hard and packed tight. It made perfect snowballs—but if you get hit, it actually hurts! Haha.
Grandma came with an umbrella, watched for a little while, and then headed home. I stayed and waited with Liam until he was done playing in the snow, whether it was rain or snow falling on us.
Since the snow packed well, Liam started rolling it on the ground, and it quickly turned into a big snowball. He used a lot of strength to make it that big, shaking his arms and legs as he kept making it bigger and bigger.
After finishing the giant snowball, he rolled it down into the nearby stream. Haha!
Liam is really curious and always wants to try out new things… ;;;
Kids Café – Monster Park at Sindorim
Since it was cold every day, we spent a lot of time looking for kids cafés to visit.
This one was really big and had facilities that were perfect for Liam’s age. Because of that, there weren’t many babies around—mostly kids his age, and even some older ones. Besides active play areas, they had fishing games and block play, so kids could run around or sit down and play quietly.
One great thing was that there was no time limit, so you could stay and play all day. The price was also a bit cheaper than other kids cafés. It seemed like it was even cheaper if you paid through their app, but since I have an Australian phone, I sometimes couldn’t download Korean apps. Most Korean kids café apps were like that.
So, we had no choice but to pay on-site!
Admission fees:
On-site | Child (weekdays, all day): 17,000 KRW
On-site | Child (weekends/holidays, all day): 23,000 KRW
Adult (all day, any day): 5,000 KRW
Fishing games are everywhere in Korean kids cafés!
Liam always gets hooked on fishing games and ends up spending quite a long time playing. It’s so cute to see him holding the fishing rod and fishing so seriously. ><
We went to a kids café almost every weekend, like it was the main reason for coming to Korea. After living in the wide-open nature in Australia, coming to Korea with smaller homes, crowded streets, cold weather, and not many places to go, kids cafés were basically the only option.
If we go to Korea again next year, I want to research more places to visit with Liam beforehand so we can have even more fun!
