Animal Cafes & Korea's Cafe Culture

Animal Cafes:
In Korea there are very interesting themed cafes ranging from a wide variety of things.  Today I will just focus on the animal cafes.  They're the coolest kind of cafe in my opinion and kind of like a petting zoo tea party in way lol.  There really isn't another way to describe it.  I recently went to a racoon cafe located in Hongdae (half hour from Chung Ang University by subway).  The entrance fee is 6,000W and the entrance fee is mandatory but buying drinks or food is not.  Racoon cafes are only one type of cafe here.  There are sheep cafes, cat cafes and dog cafes as well that I have heard of.  And yes, you eat in the same room as the animals.  Real animals that let you play with them.  In America racoons are seen as wild, untamable and rabid/disease infested for the most part.  However, in Korea the racoon cafe has only domesticated racoons that very well taken care of and up to date with the vet visits and health.

Outside an ABCMart is this sign.  It tells you that the racoon cafe is on the 4th floor above the ABCMart.  The entrance is to the right of ABCMart if you're facing the inside of it.  

When you enter you have to first take your shoes off, put your bags on the lockers (not pictured) and put on a pair of sandals that are randomly distributed throughout this shoe rack.  

One of 6 racoons (and 2 dogs) that were in the racoon cafe.  In one section of the cafe is this little play area for the racoons to climb.  They love to be in high places and will use you to get there.  

here is a fat racoon enjoying a full body massage.  None of the racoons are related.

...Eventually he got bored and joined his friend on my back and they both tried to work together to steal my hat.  BTW like skunks, the white variety are 100% domesticated and will not be seen anywhere in the wild.  

While one went down to the ground, this one tried to go for the window to escape

I think..I don't know but having two racoons crawl all over your head and back is the weirdest but funniest feeling ever.  

Cafe Culture:

In Korea the cafe culture is slightly different from America.  Unlike America, there are two types of cafes (themed as seen above, and regular).  However, in a regular you will never see anyone alone.  I went to a cafe alone once in Insadong (about 45 minutes away from the school by subway) just to wait for a friend to finish up a club event and i was stared at the whole time for just being alone.  The barista even wanted to give me my food as a take out order because I was alone.  Cafes in Korea are used for two purposes mainly: dates and studying.  In a bigger cafe like a Holly's or Tom n Tom's there is a high chance of seeing people just on their laptops, but even then they're accompanied by other friends who are studying.  You can see them in there for hours just buried in work.

Here is that cafe I went to in Insadong.  It was pretty small. I have noticed that in smaller cafes you mostly see couples and rarely are there students studying.  In bigger cafes there are more people studying, but still one or two couples sitting somewhere in a corner away from all the students.  If you plan to hang out at a cafe in Korea, just remember to bring a friend haha.