Cat cafe & trick art museum in Seoul

Trick art museum

For some reason, trick art museums haven’t really taken off in other countries, but in South-Korea, they seem to be pretty big. In fact, there are 2 of them (maybe even 3) in Seoul alone and I’m sure there was one on Jeju island too. Eventhough they house different artworks, the concept is pretty much the same so I only visited one of them in Seoul.

One of the most famous works in trick art museum

As the name explains it, the museum consist of paintings and artworks where there is “some trick” to it. More than often this means that the 2-D paintings seem to have a 3 dimensional effect by use of shadows and depending on your point of view. The most fun part about this is that you yourself can be part of the painting too, creating hilarious outcomes.

Eventhough I’m traveling by myself, it is HIGHLY recommended to visit a trick art museum in group or with your friends. I managed to find a couple of couchsurfers who were willing to join me this time. So try to find some people to go with you, at least to take pictures of you with the paintings, which makes up for most of the experience. For some of them you might need a couple of tries though since it might be difficult at times to find the right angle for the picture to work out.

Afro-asians in Trick art museum

Make it rain!

Cat cafe

My friend Sara who’s been in Seoul for a year already and who’s actually a vivid cat-lover dragged me to this place really. As I’ve missed my chance to check out one in Japan, I wasn’t going to pass up on this chance to visit a cat cafe this time! I didn’t regret it one bit actually, since we didn’t really have pets at home when growing up.

Interior of cat cafe

Tons of ramps and places for cats to hang out at

Tigress cat!

The cafe itself wasn’t all too big, but fairly big enough for about 40 cats to linger around. It’s located in a narrow alley, tucked away from the busy streets in Hongdae. Prior to entering the cafe you are asked to put away your shoes and clean your hands with desinfectant gel. Once inside you are given a drink (along with your entrance ticket) and a whole array of kitty toys to use to play with the cats. Not all cats are human-friendly, but most of them are friendly and comfortable enough to be around people. I’m not exactly a cat expert, but from what I’ve been told, cats are quite picky and have their personality.

Evil cat is evil… plotting plans to take over mankind!

Cross between cat and Dachshund apparently…(not really)

Jep, I got a cat to sit on my lap willingly!

I actually had one of the cats come and sit and purrrrrrrr on my lap for quite a long time. My friend Sara actually got all jealous since she was trying (pretty) hard to get one to sit on her lap. HA!

Tons of play time with the cats

Stare down contest? Bring it!

Loser walks the walk of shame…

All in all it was quite fun to see how they decorated the place for the cats to live in. They had high ledges up to the sealing and nice little steps on the wall for the cats to chill on. They also had a couple of cats/kittens in boxes where people could adopt one. There was this particular bald cat in a wooden box, which we dubbed sauna-cat since… well it was naked and it was in a wooden box kind of thing.