Birthday!//Trip to Little Korea & Chinatown

Today is my birthday! Happy birthday to me. I love seeing all the 'happy birthday' messages on Facebook, even from people I don't talk to that much...ah, anyway. It was somewhat of a boring birthday, actually. I just stayed at home, played video games, watched some TV, nothing special. But I'll stop talking about my birthday now, and get into the highlight of my weekend; Saturday's trip to Little Korea and Chinatown in NYC.

I love taking long drives. I love listening to music with my headphones and imagining myself as a rockstar. We passed by this really nice area in the city, I believe it was around 42nd street? Though I could be wrong. I've never learned how to navigate around the city, I just let my parents do the driving. But it was so nice! Lots of shops and bright lights. I bet it looks even better at nighttime. 

There were even some people dressed in bad-looking costumes walking around! I saw Batman, Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Dora, Woody...but seriously, the costumes were pretty shitty looking. Moving on...the first place we went to was Little Korea. It literally is quite little; only a couple of blocks long. But there's a lot to do! These buildings are loaded with shops, restaurants, noraebangs, you name it. And when I saw a little store that said "The Face Shop", I was practically knocked off my feet. 

For those of you who don't know, The Face Shop is one of the most popular Korean cosmetic brands. They're right up there with Etude House and Skin79. I seriously only the thought the only place I'd see one of The Face Shop stores is in Korea. I was hoping that there would be one, but I wasn't really expecting it! It was pretty small, because it was shared with this large...gift shop? I don't know what to call it. They had DVDs, books, CDs, all sorts of little things like pens, stickers, Korean flags, etc. It was so nice! From that gift shop I only ended up buying the Action CD by Nu'est. From The Face Shop, I bought a rice foam facial cleanser. 

After that, my parents and I headed to this little restaurant I forgot the name of. It was small, but it was packed to the brim. We had to wait a few minutes to get a table. This was one of my first times trying Korean food, so I was a little nervous, but it actually turned out to be very good! I ordered fried dumplings (which I thought would be meat-stuffed, but was actually filled with vegetables along with very little meat cubes). Until the waiter started bringing out all these side dishes, I forgot that having a ton of side dishes is common when it comes to Korean cuisine. There were little plates of kimchi, seaweed, a few other things I forgot, and the crown jem; Steamed egg in an iron pot. It was absolutely delicious! 

After that, we headed off to Chinatown. Honestly, I was really disappointed. It was mostly a bunch of knock-off jewelry stores, doctors, and food markets. Very little shopping stores. Right next to Chinatown is Little Italy, so we went there for a while, too. From there I bought an adorable Hello Kitty phone case, and a bracelet. (I was browsing keychains at one of the stands outside, but then this lady comes up and starts yelling at me in Arabic! Did she think I was gonna steal one or something? Seriously, if they're so worried about that, they shouldn't have things sitting on stands outside.)

The loot. Plus the two free samples of some...cream or something TFS gave me.

While Chinatown and Little Italy were kind of disappointing, I would love to visit Little Korea again. I had such a blast and felt right at home.