Trying to Get Tickets for MAMA

I want to go to MAMA (Mnet Asian Music Awards) next month. This is a yearly award show hosted by Mnet, a South Korean TV channel that broadcasts K-pop and K-pop-related content all day. They give out awards—the big ones (Song, Album, and Performer of the Year) are quite prestigious—but there are loads that don’t really make sense and feel like they were made up just so that attending K-pop groups could get an award.

Last year, for example, they had categories like “Favorite Rising Artist,” “Music Visionary of the Year,” and what felt like three different “Fan’s Favorite” awards in the same genre. Anyway, it’s not really about the awards, but about the special performances by the groups. Many different artists perform, and their sets are always unique—with special arrangements and choreography. It should be really cool!

The show is a two-day event, taking place on November 28 and 29 in Hong Kong (which is actually the main reason I’m going there). The tickets went on sale today at 11:00, so before the digital queue opened, I squeezed in a workout and got ready. Tickets were sold on different platforms, and I chose Trip.com because it had the best English interface. Big mistake—because who would’ve guessed that a hotel booking website would be terrible at selling concert tickets?

First of all, the tickets were sold per day and bundled with a 72-hour unlimited travel pass for an extra €100! You read that right. Oh, and they only sold them through their app, not the website.

So I sat there for 30 minutes, refreshing the app and trying to get tickets. I had decided to just go for one day—the travel pass might even come in handy—and getting any ticket directly would be a relief. But no luck. I kept running into the same error and slowly saw my chances dwindling. I was getting flashbacks to 2025-09-28, when I couldn’t get tickets for the second day in Macao. Eventually, I gave up because I had another deadline to hit.

Later in the day, I checked some resale sites, and of course, the prices had surged a lot. I might wait a week and see where things settle, but once again, I’m at the mercy of ticket scalpers to get into an event.

Putting in My Vote

My next deadline was voting in the Dutch elections. This time around, I’m voting again for Daniëlle Hirsch, number 23 on the GroenLinks–PvdA ballot. I had registered for the ‘Foreign Voters’ program, which meant that my ballot was sent to my hotel and I had to fill it in myself, along with some identification.

I could either send it by mail (and pay for postage myself) or hand it in at the Dutch embassy (for free!). I picked the second option—it sounded more fun, and I’m a stingy Dutchman after all!

The embassy is on the 10th floor of a large office building near Seoul City Hall. There are several embassies in the area; the Norwegian one is in the same building, actually. I got there just in time, right before they went on lunch break. The hallway was decorated with an orange bike (of course), an array of tulips (why not), and a big picture of the King and Queen (certainly!).

I pressed the intercom button, handed my orange envelope to the desk attendant, and was on my merry way—democracy saved!

TWICE Pop-Up Store

After that, I went to the Yongsan Mall—a giant mall, public transit hub, and sports complex all in one. It spans ten floors and has every amenity you can think of. I went there to see if I could get into TWICE’s 10th Anniversary Pop-Up Store. It’s a big booth where you can play games, win prizes, and of course, buy merch!

I missed out on the merch booth at the fan meeting, but here they sell most of the same items. Unfortunately, when I arrived, they were using the same digital queueing system, and all slots for today were already filled up. The booth seemed empty enough, but I wasn’t allowed to wait in line without a proper reservation (just take my money–meme).

So instead, I got on the escalator behind the booth to get a better view of the place and see what I was missing. I’ll try again later this week—hopefully, I can snag a slot and see what it’s all about.

After that, I grabbed some lunch and a ticket for the TWICE documentary movie, which wouldn’t start for another two hours. I spent the time wandering around the mall, browsing shops, and checking out some cool Gundam models.

TWICE Movie

For their 10th anniversary, TWICE released a documentary-style movie. Instead of focusing on their past decade and eras, the film is about the individual members themselves. It mostly consists of interviews where the members talk about their own experiences with TWICE and share kind words for each other. They also prepared some special performances for the movie.

It’s full of laughs, memories, and heartfelt moments. I couldn’t quite understand everything since it was in Korean without English subtitles, but I still had a blast. The goodies I got—a photocard set and a special ticket—are great collector’s items.

After dinner, I headed back to my hotel, worked on my blog posts a bit more, watched TWICE’s 10th Anniversary livestream, and went to bed a happy ONCE.

I’m so happy and lucky that I get to spend this special time here in Seoul.