Croffle (Photo by Erin Henderson)
It was a coveted day off for my husband, and both kids were in school so we did what we usually do on those rare days, adventure to a new place. Always a good sport and up to go anywhere with me, my husband hopped in the car with me for a two-hour ride to Yangpyeong to check out Dreamy Camera Café.
When we stepped inside the warmth of the café, we were greeted with a welcoming smile by owner Kwak Myung-hee and offered a choice of menus in Korean or English. As my husband perused the menu and I took a look around the first floor of the café, she explained Dream List tablet on the table. Though the café is in the form of a camera, created after her husband’s hobby of collecting old cameras, the real theme of the place is dreams, more specifically, naming and pursuing them. The tablet is there for you to list your dreams or bucket-list items, and if you are visiting with a friend or significant other, spend some time chatting about them together.
Dreamy Camera Café started as Kwak Myung-hee and husband Park Sung-hwan’s dream in 2008. In 2011 they sketched an image of what that dream would look like and by 2013, made that dream a reality. Their goal with the café is to inspire visitors to use that visualization technique to achieve their own dreams.
My husband and I filled out our dream/bucket-list and laughed when we realized that we had the same thing written for number four on the list. While we finished our lists and chatted, we enjoyed the fantastic honey bread, croffle and coffee in the quaint little café.
When you are finished writing down your dream list items, they will take a polaroid of it to give to you so you always have it on hand. What struck me most was that Kwak Myung-hee took the time to chat with us and ask questions about our lists. She was genuinely interested to hear what we had to share. They keep your original list in an album at the café and encourage anyone to reach out and share with them if any of the dreams on your list come true in the future.
The scenic drive was worth it for the lovely morning we spent at the café together. Going at the beginning of the year was the perfect time for meditating on future dreams and goals. I typically don’t share my big dreams and goals out loud, so chatting with Kwak Myung-hee about them was quite refreshing. We ventured out thinking we were just visiting a cool café, but we got so much more.
Honey bread (Photo by Erin Henderson)
(Photo by Erin Henderson)
Outside of Dreamy Camera Café (Photo by Erin Henderson)
Dreamy Camera Café’s owner Kwak Myung-hee (Photo by Erin Henderson)
(Photo by Erin Henderson)
(Photo by Erin Henderson)
Dreamy Camera Café
Address: 341-13 Jung-won-ri, Yongmun-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Check their Facebook page for holiday updates/closings
Parking: Small lot on site
About author
Erin Henderson is a professional freelance photographer and writer whose work has been featured in a variety of publications. She is also a mother of two and a Marine Corps spouse living in Stuttgart, Germany (previously South Korea). You can find more of her work at erinhendersonmedia.com or follow her travels on Instagram @erinhendrsn.
