The "REAL" exploration of SEOUL begins. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)ワクワク
Unhyeongung Palace
We walked from our guesthouse to the palace since it was on the way to Insadong. Unhyeongung Palace is free and opens early in the morning. The great thing about the palace is that there are not many tourists. It just felt a bit odd for the palace to be surrounded by tall business buildings. There's a place here for you to take pictures in hanboks, but you do need to dish out some $$$. The palace is big and there is a mini museum inside to give you a brief history of the prominent people in the palace and the roles they played as well as artifacts and tools used during that time period. Throughout the palace there are descriptions about the quarters and dolls showing you who reside in that quarter.
Feels like we have the whole palace to ourselves ...(´｡✪ω✪｡｀)
An example of the attire
And once you enter the museum, you are welcomed with LOADS of HISTORY.
And here's the kitchen area, I believe...
We completed the tour of the palace quite quickly, perhaps only 30 minutes or so as we strolled at our own pace. In order to get to Insadong, we followed by sister's google map on her phone. It was probably a 20 minutes walk or so, but at the same time it allowed us to walk through streets and enjoy a lot of beautiful artworks and crafts lined up along the streets. We also found some cheap bag shops selling 10000₩ bags, which by the way was bombarded by tourists and have no space for us to look around. ゜・（ｘ ω ｘ）・゜
Insadong
Insadong is a "MUST VISIT" area due to the abundance of unique art culture here. I call it the "Art hub of Korea." ｡ﾟ+.( °∀°)ﾟ+.ﾟ You can even take sticker pictures with hanboks here (though it is quite pricey). Everywhere you walk, every corner you take, it is filled with art. This place here is Ssamziegil which is in Insadong, if you don't visit this place, you are missing out! Ssamziegil is basically a square building with multiple floors; you can find clothes, dolls, artwork, bags, etc. The hour of operation is form 10AM - 8:30PM. In addition, you can find some computerized photo booths on the bottom floor which can take pictures of you for free and have it sent to your email!
Ssamziegil
The shops are so cute too!
My sister went to use the toilet so I bought a red bean poop for 1000₩. It was delicious and hot as they make it in front of you. But it is kind of small and not that filling.
Adjacent to the red bean poop stall was another snack stall which sold rice cake sticks/waffles and different flavours of tea. My sister wanted to try the Rice cake stick with honey so we bought one for 3000₩. I tried a bit of it but I don't really like it. It was sticky and tasteless (not sweet at all), but most of all, it taste like rice. The honey doesn't really add to the flavour too, so if I ever come back here, I would NOT buy it again.
Even the way down to the washroom is filled with art. There are also shops down there (mostly handmade crafts).
Encountered some artworks as we walked up the stairs. Different works by different artists. So AMAZING.
And this is the highest floor that is filled with "LOVE" notes.
There's too many couples in Korea.
My sister and I ordered a red bean shaved ice to share for 6000₩. The portion is quite large so two people can definitely feel somewhat full from sharing. They placed a generous amount of mochi here, but there's too much pineapple and brown powder. It was OKAY, I wouldn't get shaved ice from here again as the ice was too thick and chunky instead of soft and thin. Later on as we left Ssamziegil we found a coupon book on the bottom floor near the entrace/exit and there was a coupon for 2000₩? off for shaved ice here. SO sad, we could've saved some MONEY!!! AHHHHHHH!!! ｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡
Found this realistic drawing on the wall. Very nice.
Alphabet Tree
Once we finally left Ssamziegil, we explored the streets of Insadong as it was very lively and full of locals as well as tourists. There were a lot of souvenir and clothing shops. We spent a good amount of time window shopping and then we encountered "ALIVE MUSEUM." You have to buy an admission ticket so we didn't go in since it was one of those optical illusion museum.
From Insadong we walked over to Jogyesa Temple which is a Buddhist temple. The temple was such a eye-opener with an abundance of vibrant lanterns. It's so PRETTY. I bet it would look even more stunning at night! I am not sure if they have lanterns all year around or if it is because it was during the period of Buddha's birthday and so they were celebrating the Lotus Festival?
Jogyesa Temple
An elephant made of lantern paper.
It was quite hot that day so good thing the lantern saved us from the sun!
There's also white lanterns
After we took a bunch of lantern pictures which I realized looks almost exactly like a replica of every single lantern picture that I took, we headed off to search for Bukchon Hanok Village. We were guided by my sister's GPS on her phone, but once we got to the intersection it was nowhere to be seen. The map was going haywire, so we gave up and settled for Gyeongbokgung Palace instead. I need to go back to Seoul to visit the Bukchon Hanok Village one day.
I just love how Korea have all these ancient buildings surrounded by modern high-rise buildings. You're reminded that Korea have a history and that history still exist in the modern era. The Gyeongbokgung Palace was built during the Joseon Dynasty and is one of the largest as well as the initial palace to be built during this period.
Always somebody photobombing my photos...
I feel so sad for the guards. They have to wear so much clothes in this heat and only have a hat to cover their faces. All the more, they have to stand there for hours while tourists take pictures with them. SO so so sad. At least we were able to catch the changing of guards, I think that is the only time they are able to walk around or move their muscles. （ ＴｏＴ）‥
Gwanghwamun Square
Statue of King Sejong the Great
At the back of the statue of King Sejong you can find a door that leads to a room to learn about "the story of King Sejong."
The fountain area full of kids playing in the water. And also there was this creepy guy with a white mask (as you can see on the right) watching the kids play. He was there even after we left. ！Σ（￣口￣；；
But it was "ODD" that these young men gathered up the kids (many little girls) and took a photo with them... the girls shirts were wet and kinda transparent. The cop on the very left looks so much like Taeyang!!! It was a bunch of young good looking cops.
Afterwards we took the subway to City hall station and stumbled upon Jongmyo Shrine. The shirne is in front of Seoul plaza, but unfortunately they have an admission fee of 10,000₩, so we didn't go in. But we did take some pictures with the guards. heh heh heh. It's so creepy to have them stare directly at you when you take the picture.
Just outside of the temple there was a petition or rally regarding the sewol incident. The sewol incident happened like a week for two before we left for Asia and during that time the exchange rate was very bad. We thought it would rise back up but it seemed like it was going to continue to drop so we quickly exchanged it. Sucks. The sewol incident, for those that don't know, is a tragic accident where 400+ people died mainly students. It's heart-breaking.
After that we took the subway over to Hongik station to shop. We did a
lot of shopping and we also entered a MALL that we thought was open but
the shops were closed. It was so weird. We took the escalator up and
decided to use the toilet and then leave. If the mall isn't open why is
the door unlocked?? From Hongik we walked over to ewha station area to
shop. I thought the distance was short but it is not. It was almost an
45 minutes walk in the sun and in the heat! My mistake. The streets are
bustling with young people so it's nice. We did see a lot of neat
stores along the way and enjoy the modern downtown feel. I did spent
quite a lot on clothes that I would not wear. I suck. I hate how they do
not let you try on the clothing.
We went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. Dinner was only 12,000₩ which is great! NO tips, NO tax. AWESOME. My sister ate bibimbap while I ate cold noodles. It was pretty good, very satisfying.
A block or two away from our guesthouse there is a bubble tea place called Gong cha. Just before we headed back we went there for some bubble tea. I got a mango slush with aloe for 5900₩ which seemed quite pricey $6 CND. But it was really good on a hot day! ( ´艸｀)
We also went to Tous les Jours just before grabbing bubble tea. We needed some bread for breakfast the next day and I've heard that this place is a must visit too. I wanted to buy a whole cake to eat, one of my many dreams, but we have no fridge so a slice of cake must suffice. It was difficult choosing the slice of cake as their weren't much to choose from. In the end I choose cookies and cream and they boxed the slice of cake very nicely.
This small piece of cake cost 10,000₩ which is $10 CND. To be honest, the cake wasn't that good, it was mediocre. I expected it to be sweet, but it wasn't really and it didn't really taste like cookies and creme. Conclusion: would not buy this slice again.
And this is how our windows looks like after painstakingly covering it up with old maps and our itinerary. Bet our guesthouse manager didn't know why we asked for tape. └|°ε°|┐ LOL. If only he knew, if only. We only destroyed the wallpaper a little bit.
No more sun in my eye. EVER.
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