Here, kitty kitty kitty!



My favorite cat at the cafe. He looked so sad!



I love the kitties. Jason hates the kitties. After a few failed attempts at trying to convince him to join me, I resigned to the idea of going solo. There was no way Jason was going to agree to my bright idea to go enjoy a couple of hours hanging out with a dozen cats in a coffee shop. As a result, my night out at the cat cafe would become my first real korean 'excursion' without my husband. I did manage to round up a couple of cat loving friends - Jen and Katie - and together we had a grand ol' time!



Kitties at play



A few separate things led up to this visit: first, I missed Pepper and Shadow dearly (my cats back home). Next, I'm a self-proclamed cat lover, but never get to play with them because Jason's allergic. Finally, on my way over to the football field to watch Jason's championship game a few weeks ago, I happened to see an advertisement for a cat cafe near the AK Plaza in Seohyun. Were all these signs simply a magnificent coincidence? I didn't think so either. It was fate: I was put on this Earth specifically for the purpose of going to a cat cafe. I also happened to scratch an item off of my bucket list. YAY :)

After grabbing some average-quality mexican food in the area, Katie, Jen and I made our way up to the cutely decorated cafe. Immediately upon entering we felt the coziness and warmth of the room. The place was immaculately clean and actually smelled good. We slipped on some cat slippers, paid the 8,000W entrance fee (which included a delicious hot chocolate and toast with whipped cream), and were given treats for the cats. Almost instantly we were surrounded by various breeds of felines looking to grab a piece of meat before it all disappeared.



Cat cafe entrance



The majority of the cats were awake and quite friendly. I had never seen so many different breeds in one place. Short/long haired cats, some were squishy-faced, droopy-eared, spotted, striped, lazy, active, old, young. We were especially drawn to the tiny gray kittens who were wide-awake and ready to play. They must have been 2 weeks old: simply adorable.



Kitties and me



Automatic feeders and water fountains were lined up across the room. Aside from this permanent all-you-can-eat-buffet, the animals enjoyed a very elaborate playground, clean litter boxes, tons of toys, and unlimited attention from their human friends. They looked healthy and happy, and the cafe has a strict protocol in place that includes common sense rules such as not disturbing sleeping cats, to reinforce this. Before leaving the cafe, as we were given souvenir photos of the residents, we decided that in our next life, we wanted to become cat cafe cats. Man, that's the life!



To get to the cat cafe: Take Exit 3, Gate 6 at Seohyun Station. Walk outside until you see a yellow sign with cats on it, on the top floor of one of the buildings on your right. Have fun!