Korea Trip Day 2 (05/06/2014) - Seoul

Day 2 begins with the challenge of having the busiest schedule throughout the trip. Our plan was to visit Gyeongbokgung palace > Bukcheon Hanok Village > Changdeokgung > Insadong > Cheongyecheon Stream. It was a tall order knowing that all these attractions are so worth visiting.

We started off with Gyeongbokgung, the grandest of the five palaces in Seoul. It was built by the first King of the Joseon Dynasty. We witnessed the changing of guards ceremony at Gwanghwamun. We were allowed to take photos with the guards after the ceremony was over. However, some peculiar things happened. When Shi Keat wanted to take a selfie with one of the guards, the guard, with a huge flag on his right hand, moved the flag to cover his face without uttering a word. It was strange and we couldn't figure out why he did that. Then we proceeded to take the Chinese free tour around the palace. The tour guide was very detail in her explanation, although we needed some time to adjust to her accent. Many areas were touched on including the architecture of the palace buildings, superstitions, function of the building, feng shui and so on. I would not elaborate here, those who are interested in Korean culture and history, Gyeongbokgung is a "must go" and be sure to take the free tour as it is very informative. We also learned that the current Gyeongbokgung is not the original one but one which has been redeveloped. This was because of several reasons including the Japanese invasion and fire. The current Gyeongbokgung which was rebuilt is only approximately 30% of the original palace.

One of the Main Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace 

One of the palace buildings in Gyeongbokgung where festivals were held

Next we went to Bukcheon Hanok village. It is a traditional residential village with some guest houses and tea houses. The architecture of the houses were unique.

Bukcheon Hanok Village

we spent about 30 minutes walking about and decided to go to our next destination, Changdeokgung. It was recommended to purchase the entrance ticket plus another ticket to the Secret Garden. And fortunately we bought both tickets as the Secret Garden was beautiful. This time we took the English tour as it suit our timing. Changdeokgung is very much smaller than Gyeongbokgung. But the attraction was the Secret Garden, which took about 1.5 hours to walk about. You need to join a tour in order to enter the Secret Garden though. It was really beautiful with lots of trees and slopes. The pond could have been better maintained but nevertheless, the view was still breathtaking. After Changdeokgung, it was already about 5.30pm.

The Secret Garden at the Rear of Changdeokgung

We proceeded to Insadong, streets full of food, handicraft, clothes etc. It was crowded with so many things to look at. We arrived at one of Insadong's famous shopping centres, Ssamziegil. It has no stairs and the walkway are sloped at mild angles. So basically you will walk up the slope around the mall and after you have completed one round, you will be at the next level of the shopping centre. It also has a rooftop garden, a nice place to chill. There was also an alley on the rooftop garden full with little "lovey dovey" messages chained onto each other. I hope one day I can bring my love ones to leave our mark there =)

The unique Ssamziegil

After Ssamziegil we went to a traditional tea house in one of the back alley in Insadong, called Shin Old Tea House. I found about Shin Old Tea House from a blog and the blogger highly recommended this tea house. But we needed some assistance from the tourist information guide to find the tea house. As it was a bit secluded, there were no one besides us in the tea house. It was dim but relaxing. I ordered papaya tea and boy it was the best tea I have ever tried! The taste was amazing and it refreshed your mind. I will definitely try it again next time.

Shin Old Tea House at Insadong

After having tea it was already quite late, approaching 9pm. We wanted to go to the trick eye museum in Insadong. Along the way, there were many street performers showcasing their talents at the streets of Insadong. There was this guitar solo guy whom we passed by. At the back of my ear I heard a familiar opening of the song. It can't be true?! And when he sang the first line I immediately ran back to him to watch his performance. He was singing the late Kim Kwang Seok's "잊어야 한다는 마음으로 (With a Heart to Forget You)". It was my favourite Korean song. Everytime I listen to it it never fails to touch me. Such a coincidence. I donated 3000 won for his performance and then we proceeded to the trick eye museum. We knew exactly where it was on the map but just could find it. In the end we asked help from a couple of Korean girls. They were really helpful and searched the building for us. When we arrived it was already 9.15pm and the museum will be closing in 45 minutes. We quickly bought the tickets and explored the museum. Still we managed to take many funny photos and enjoyed ourselves. But we couldn't finish it. However, the owner was kind enough to extend their opening hours to 10.30pm just for us! (Yup there were only three of us in the museum LOL). We managed to finish the whole museum with the extra 30 minutes. 

Our final destination of the day, Cheongyecheon Stream. It was a natural stream at first but redeveloped into a highway later on in the early 1900s I think. Then recently it was converted back into a stream again which runs East to West below Insadong. The stream was famous for its beautiful landscape and is a hot spot for couples. Indeed there were many couples there. It was a romantic site, with cool air breezing past you. The stream is located below the highway level so from the top is a busy highway and when you take the stairs down you will see the stream laying in front of you. It was beautiful. We just sat there and chill and without us realizing it was already past mid night. The subway has closed and there were no more buses. Our only resort was to take a taxi back. However, past midnight, the taxis were super expensive as they didn't charge on meter. Some taxis even refused to send us to Itaewon. We were a bit worried and thought that maybe we should flag a taxi near the main road. On our way there we decided to ask a Korean couple (well they said they are friends) about taking taxi back to Itaewon during this hour. The guy said it is quite difficult. He then asked us to follow him. And at the traffic light, he spotted an empty taxi and went up to talk to the driver. I think he was negotiating with him and telling him that we are his friend and asked him for a favour. After about 30 seconds, the taxi driver agreed to give us a lift. It was on meter and the fare was cheap when we reached Itaewon. We were really thankful to the guy who helped us, not only to get a taxi but one with reasonable price. At the end of the day, we had good impression about Koreans =)

It was a tiring yet fulfilling day. We managed to achieve our targets in visiting all the destinations and we met some really wonderful locals. We slept quite late but was looking forward to day 3 in Seoul!