Dear Seoul: Love, Clur

Yeah I know I know!

Day 7 was not the most interesting day because we were too sad and depressed to even move our butts and make the most out of it. It’s like we easily surrendered to the fact that we’re going home, back to the arms of our day jobs, back once again to reality.

Bear with me as I slowly say goodbye to our epic 2011 trip.

I might be posting pictures during down times (aka my ‘missing Korea’ moments. Maybe not. But I’m pretty sure I will.

One thing’s for sure: WE’LL DEFINITELY GO BACK HERE. We’ll create more memories, take more pictures, see friends, meet new people, explore more places, eat a lot and fall in love all over again.

Secret trip or not, Korea is our home. <3

Escape to Seoul Day 7

Day 7.

The most dreadful day when we drove back to the airport and say good-bye to one of the most amazing countries I’ve been to. It is the day to buy last-minute pasalubongs to all our friends and family. It is also one of the most challenging moments in my life where I have to pack and re-pack my luggage to fit everything and keep it within the allowed check-in baggage weight!

We spent our last hours in Seoul in Insadong and Ssamziegil since they are closest (less than 2 minute walk) to the hotel.

We bought hair accessories, tried the huge quirky glasses:

and bought poop bread!

We went back to the hotel and waited for ride to the airport. We were expecting to see Mr. Yoon but someone else drove us to Incheon Airport. As we were leaving Hotel Sunbee, my heart was so heavy but I managed not to cry. Kizia managed to catch some sleep but I woke up several times (again with a heavy heart). I just shot every interesting bit with our Flip.

Incheon Airport is the greatest airport I’ve been to (so far). You can visit a loooooooot of stores inside – coffee shops, bookstores, fast food places, food courts and more. We even saw a group re-creating/performing a traditional Korean wedding – again, INSIDE Incheon Airport.

One of our must-do’s in Korea is try some of Dunkin’ Donuts’ donuts.

Ha! What actually made us want to do this is because of Simon and Martina’s video. To read more about their review, go here. We tried to create a video on our own but we can’t grab a table inside Dunkin Donuts, and the waiting area was crowded, we had to share a seat and make the video. I will edit this soon, I promise. But here are  photos from my iPod.

I can say half tasted great, and the other half’s just okay. But we enjoyed doing the video, that I can tell you.

So we boarded Korean Air and we were welcomed with a scrumptious on-board meal

with dessert!

I’m not familiar  with the types of planes but I sure know we were inside a big one. Each passenger has access to a screen and one can listen to music (Korean or not), watch music videos, and watch Korean movies! Amazing. I started Hello Ghost first but the first part was a little dragging so I changed to Cyrano Agency and apparently, Kizia was watching this one too! The movie was a bit long so we weren’t able to finish it. Don’t worry, when we got back, Kizia grabbed a copy of the movie and shared it to me. THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING.

…

Escape to Seoul Day 6 (Part 2 of 2)

Read day 6 Part 1 here

Next stop: Hongdae! Not the Night Hongdae. The Day Hongdae for the Trick Eye Museum in Santorini Seoul!

Just to give you a warning, finding the place is a bit tricky. I wish I took a video of how we got there. From what I remember, we got off at the right stop but we walked towards the wrong direction. We didn’t see signs  leading to the place. It’s one of those artsy and secluded area. Just the right atmosphere for such an awesome place.

We took the subway Line 2 and got off at Hongik University station exit 9. Then we got a bit lost. Haha! Don’t be deceived by the small streets around you. They’re actually the right ones. Check out their website at http://trickeye.co.kr/

Directions: From Exit #9 of Hongdae Station (Subway Line 2), walk straight for 200m towards the Starbucks coffee shop.

Address: Seoul-si Mapo-gu Seogyo-dong, 357-1 Seogyo Plaza B02-01

We were so lucky that day – we just stumbled upon it while we were getting lost. Trick Eye Museum’s location is like of Cafe Drama’s. You’ll find stairs leading down to the museum, like an underground world waiting for tourists/people and make them happy there.

Based on its name, Santorini Seoul is based on the real Santorini, a beautiful island in Greece. And if you look closely, the place is a mix of Greek and Korean art style. I don’t know if these artworks exist in the real Santorini but they are beautiful. The pictures aren’t even close enough to giving justice to how they really look like.

They are cool, hip, new (to me at least) but without showing too much. I’m no art critic but I see them somewhere between conservative and modern with a play of different medium.

On our way to the ticket booth, we saw this wall with a lot of post its with writings. But we can’t read them since most of them are in Korean. I read somewhere that this wall resembles a church or some building in the real Santorini but I don’t know why people stick post its to it. Help?

I also love this quirky map of the place. I like to have something like this on my future house’ wall.

Entrance to another exhibit inside Santorini:

We also saw this amazing miniature version of Santorini, Greece. I love the structured but quirky look of the piece.

Inside Santorini Seoul, you can also grab something to eat before or after your tour. Believe me, Trick Eye Museum alone can tire you.

Even the café place blends well with the rest of the place. Look at the effort on those pillars! I also love the warm colors painted on the walls.

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TRICK EYE MUSEUM

Don’t be confused, like we were, but basically, Trick Eye Museum is inside Santorini. It is a big gallery that is a part of the exhibit. You can check out the guide above for reference. Aside from Trick Eye, I remember seeing a door leading to a gallery full of cat illustrations, paintings etc. So again, Trick Eye Museum or Trompe L’oeil Museum is INSIDE Santorini Seoul.

And so we went inside and bought tickets for 10,000won each.

Heh! Hilarious. Obviously, I am enjoying this.

HAHAHA.

You won’t regret buying your 10,000won ticket. Because you will enjoy EVERYTHING. Like how I enjoyed this:

And how Kizia enjoyed this:

We love to pout, yeah we do.

My camera’s memory got full (I forgot to dump my files) and driventolive’s camera became a mobile phone (it vibrates when you take a picture) so I can’t take pictures aimlessly. But anyway, here are some:

GIANT SUSHI.

I don’t always shop but when I do, I make sure I buy a lot of bags…

with Kizia’s money.

And yeah, well, my money too.

TIP: It’s best to have a tripod with you when going to Santorini and Trick Eye Museum. So you and your friends/family can share the picture together. Although there are some staff around the place, they are not enough to accommodate everyone. They’re often near the most interesting portraits/pictures. And besides, you couldn’t just ask them to follow you around, right?

After Santorini, we walked around Hongdae and passed by the Coffee Prince café. Unfortunately, I haven’t watched this drama yet so I wasn’t that interested in getting inside. But I would love to go back there. The place seemed nice and cozy.

We also passed by Hello Kitty Cafe, again, by accident.

We didn’t bother getting inside because we heard it’s expensive. But the little pink café is a bit hard to resist, right?

That afternoon, we were looking for the Bau House, hoping to have a good time with the dogs for the sake of our friend, Jana, who super duper loves dogs. But instead, this is what we found:

Condomania is located near the main gates of Hongik University. It’s not allowed to take pictures but Kizia managed to get a few shots inside before the staff stopped us.

If only I have lots of money then, I would have bought some for my friends. The shop is teasing a lot of teenagers, I tell you.

After visiting this little shop, we realized we want to go back to Myeongdong for last-minute shopping! But we can’t go shopping with an empty stomach right?

We were at Taco bell when we noticed that people leave their bags freely at their tables to grab their food. We are so amazed with the fact that OUR BAGS OUR SAFE HERE. Fast foods are also CLAYGO (clean as you go). Self service. NICE.

It was also our last night in Seoul, so what else is there to do than spend it with Seoul’s happy night life?

We freshened up, and went back to.. guess where?

There were a loooooot of people in Club Cocoon. A LOT. And it was MONDAY, for crying out loud. It is unbelievable and amusing at the same time. Night life is really alive!

And who do you think we saw on our last night who made a very nice comeback pick up line?

.

.

.

(drum roll)

Oppa to me: I like you.

Yihee, he now knows how to say it properly in English. Biggest turnoff: his friend gave him a bottle of beer (although he offered it to me) but he didn’t even give me one or went to the bar and buy us drinks.

What’s more interesting is that HE WAS THERE THAT NIGHT when HE WAS ALSO THERE TWO NIGHTS AGO. Oh how playful faith was that night/week.

We danced. We danced all night. Without even a decent exchange of information about us. It was nice, the dancing part, because I haven’t danced that long in a long while.

When we were leaving, Oppa asked for my number again (and now that I think about it, it was kind of dumb because it’s either a: he doesn’t remember me or b: he didn’t understand my sorry-i-only-have-an-international-number line). So that wraps up Day 6 in Seoul!

One more day!

Escape to Seoul Day 5

Day 5 was short and simple. Kizia got in contact with Mo the night before (I think that was before we went to Hongdae) and they finally pinned down the time and location of the meet up. We woke up late (again) so we hurriedly

We met her at Itaewon and we grabbed a traditional Korean lunch nearby. Sorry I don’t have pictures, but what I have is this:

It’s a wet tissue/towel. If you read it, it says: CLEAN TOWEL (cu-lin to-wel)

After lunch, Mo brought us to this really great waffle place: The Waffle Factory.

The place got huge forks and knives!

Everything’s delicious.

Huge untensils = huge servings. Unbelievable. I never had waffles that big.

Until now, I couldn’t believe that we finished our waffles (we had separate orders) even though we were still full from our lunch.

After waffles, we went to a book store nearby. Sorry I wasn’t able to take pictures, I was too preoccupied with the wide range of books available. I was also hypnotized by the smell of a mixture of old and new books, with little dust on the wooden shelved tingling my nostrils. Even if we don’t know each other personally, you’ll know what to get me for my birthday or Christmas: books.

Then we grabbed something to drink at the Standing Coffee.

In here, you … stand and drink coffee. Haha! Mo said she usually buys her coffee here.

Sorry I don’t have a picture of the whole place but what I have is this:

The cute baristas who agreed to let us in their counter to have our picture taken with them. Nope, not our idea. It was Mo’s.

While we were walking we passed by an Italiani’s and I just find it amusing how it is called in Korea.

Mou brought us to her place and gave us a tour around the base.

We were still full so we skipped dinner and grabbed another cup of hot drinks while going around the mini-mall inside the compound.

We had such a great time around a different side of Korea, all thanks to Mou! Let’s see each other soon!

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So you know how we went to Club Cocoon the night before and we were actually hit on by people and how we were amused with the night life in Seoul? Well, we decided to hit another party place on our 5th day.

 

We went to Club NB that night. We were pretty scared because the place is darker than Club Cocoon. The place has that misty and eerie feeling maybe because there’s too much smoke. But then again, it was really dark, we couldn’t see anything clearly, so 20minutes into the club, we decided to spend the rest of the evening in… Club Cocoon. Hahaha!

Partying in Seoul is non-stop. How did I know that? Because that night was a SUNDAY. Unbelievable.

I don’t really recall that much about our 5th night in Seoul. The music that night was not really our thing so we just observed the people around us and had a blast just doing it. People watching FTW!

Escape to Seoul Day 4 (Part 2 of 2)

Disclaimer: The following accounts are true. I am not making up stories. And you should not blame me for what you’re about to read. These are purely observations and personal opinions. If you didn’t like it, or got offended by it, I apologize in advance, especially to the people close to the  ones we encountered that night. These accounts are based on pure amusement (in a good way) towards the party/parties involved. We are not to blame for the following accounts – we are merely tourists having fun in a foreign land, you can’t blame us for the actions of certain people around us. kei??

Ready Day 4 Part 1 here

So where was I? Oh yeah, the getting ready part:

After some dinner/junk food, we hailed a cab and went to Hongdae. We decided to go to Club Cocoon for the night.

When we got there, we realized we left out IDs back at the hotel (so foolish of us). So we had to go back again to grab our IDs. True and funny story.

BUT! The night was EPIC.

Club Cocoon is exactly what you see in photos. Check a full review here: http://www.seoulgrid.com/blog/club-cocoon-hongdae/ (this entry helped us a lot, especially finding its location)

(The photos above are from the seoulgrid.com)

At first, Kizia and I were really scared because:

1. we are technically foreigners/tourists,
2. we didn’t know what to do or how to do it (like get lockers, grab a drink etc), and
3. we want to party/dance but it was too crowded.

What we learned/observed:

• People on the dance floor face the DJ and dance, while the people near the DJ are on the stairs facing the people on the floor. So basically we (on the dance floor) looked at them (at the stairs) all night.
• Most guys are on the dance floor, and the women are at the bar
• It’s either: you’ll just feel something grinding your back and when you turn around there’s some guy looking/smiling at you;
• or you’ll just hear someone whispering (shouting actually) at your ear asking for your name.
• Koreans dance crazily. In a good and cute way!
• Koreans dance because they want to, and because they feel like it. They are not afraid or conscious with how they do it. And WE LOVE IT. (Fact: When we got back here in the Philippines, we attended this party and we danced awkwardly – like how we would dance in Korea. And it was fun! We didn’t care! But we didn’t know how to exactly dance ‘normally’ anymore)

So what do I mean by an EPIC NIGHT?

We got hit on three times that night. It was a memorable and fun experience. Let me tell you what happened:

1. Mr. Hoodie and Mr. Nice

Mr. Hoodie was wearing dark grey hoodie jacket with very dark sunglasses. He’s taller than me, I’m assuming he’s around 5’7″? (sorry I’m bad with measurements) His hoodie up, which is weird because dude, come on, you’re in a club. Is the darkness of it not enough to hide your face? Anyway, I know he’s drunk because he smells terrible. With him was Mr. Nice, a bit taller and slimmer than him. He was either wearing a white polo shirt or a white jacket (can’t really remember because he was hitting on Kizia)

We were both dancing and enjoying the new environment when all of a sudden Mr. Hoodie and Mr. Nice started dancing with us, looking at us and smiling. Here’s what happened:

Hoodie: Hi!

Me: Hi!

Hoodie: Where are you from?

Me: From the Philippines!

Hoodie: Nice!

(dance dance dance dance and cutting to the KABOOM moment in 3… 2… 1…)

Hoodie: Do you want to have sex?

Me: What??

Hoodie: Do you want to have sex?

Me: (with my semi-”you disgust me” and “I find this conversation really amusing” face) NO! DO YOU??

Hoodie: Yeah! Don’t you want to have sex?

Me: UHH. NO! (laughs and turns to Kizia)

Me to Kizia: He wants to have sex.

Kizia: WHAT??

Me: Hahahahaha!

She pulls me away from the freaky dude and went to the back of the club. She left Mr. Nice without saying a word. Oh, Mr. Nice was called Mr. Nice because well.. He was nice to her. I forgot bits and pieces of this first encounter please forgive me, it’s been almost a year.

2. Mr. Red

He was wearing red varsity jacket and red cap. And as far as I could remember, he was also wearing black wayfarer. He’s a bit taller than me, almost the same height as Kizia. He’s kind of cute, but not cute cute. I remember him as the guy who looked like Kev Nish of Far East Movement (Just because Kev Nish wears dark eyeglasses every time)

only chubby-er/chubbier and with a bit of pimples.

The conversation we had was longer than Mr. Hoodie but I don’t recall the exact words. Based on what I remember, he speaks really good English. Here’s bit and pieces of our conversation:

Red: (?????)

Me: Sorry?

Red: Oh sorry! I said what’s your name?

Me: Clur!

Red: What?

Me: Clur!

Red: (??? says some name – I guess he was confirming mine)

Me: Uhm yeah sure!

(resumes dancing)

Red: Could you type that out for me? (gives me his phone)

Me: (typing, gives him back his phone) 

Red: Oh right!

Me: And you are…?

Red: (says his Korean name)

Me: What?

(we both laugh)

Red: You can call me by my English name. (Let’s just say he said..) Red.

(resumes dancing; he was trying to dance BEHIND me, but I keep on stepping back so that he will always stay at my right side, Kizia’s at my left)

Red: So where are you from?

Me: From Philippines!

Red: I want to go to the Philippines!

Me: You should!

Red: And you’re staying here…

Me: For vacation.

Red: Until when?

Me: We’re leaving in three days.

Red: Why so soon?

Me: We don’t have any more money! Don opseoyo!

Red: (laughs, he looked cute and sincere when he laughs) You should stay longer!

Me: Give me and my friend money, and then we’ll stay!

Red: Haha! I’ll give you money, so stay!

Me: We need money now! (I laughed at what I said. It’s funny, right?)

Red: Well, I don’t have money NOW…

Me: Well… (shrugs)

(we both laugh at this again)

(resumes dancing)

Red: I may not have money now but… Can I at least buy you and your friend a drink?

Hold it right there, stranger. I was caught off guard. Back here in the Philippines, I don’t get a “can I buy you a drink” offer. I never got a “can I buy you a drink” offer (maybe one big reason is that I don’t party, AT ALL).

So THAT’S HOW IT FEELS LIKE. It’s flattering and crazy at the same time. My mind zoomed past future possibilities of a:

• YES, SURE (Do I want to talk to him for the rest of the night? Will he take us back to the hotel? Will he take advantage of us?) and a
• NO, THANKS (Will he continue talking to me? Is he going to leave us alone? Is he going to ask for my number instead?)

I said “No, thank you. I think we’re good.” And hurriedly faced Kizia to give updates.

I know. I know. “What were you thinking?? You turned down free drinks??” Yeah I know. But with an earlier “Do you want to have sex” question from a stranger, I thought how is this different from a “Can I buy you a drink”? I don’t know Seoul’s nightlife yet. And I am the stranger here. So I guess my ‘NO’ could be spared right?

3. Oppa

So where do I start? Right, how he looks like.

He’s more of Seungri (Big Bang), but his eyes and the sparkles in them are more of Daniel Henney’s. Basta he’s somehow kind of like you know… both.

He comes right behind me and we danced. All night. Just danced.

Oppa: Hi! Do you speak Korean?

Me: No. Aniyo.

Oppa: Where are you from?

Me: From the Philippines.

I really don’t remember what else we talked (because I think we didn’t talk at all) about but we danced. I semi-introduced Kizia but because he really can’t understand that much from all the noise, we just danced. Just danced. Even did a three-way dance (me, Kizia and him).

Dear Kizia, when are we going to do the video about the dance steps??

Oh. And this:

Oppa: You’re my style!

I know what he meant by this (very flattering) but, admit it. This is ridiculously funny and cute at the same time. Oppa is already cute and this made him even cuter. He even asked us if we want to join him and his friends for a soju. But I politely declined. That’s twice in one night.

I think it’s been an hour of dancing already, because my throat became dry and I was thirsty. I asked Kizia if we could go home (and I think she’s already bored haha). I politely turned to Oppa and told him that we’re leaving. He flashed a sad smile and said okay. He shook my hand, bowed and thanked me. ISN’T HE CUTE?????

We were walking up the stairs when suddenly someone grabbed my hand and I almost fell down because of it. I turned and saw Oppa smiling apologetically (so cute).

Oppa: Number?

I swear he looks like this when he asked me:

Me: Oh! I’m so sorry (I really was)! I don’t have a number here! I only have an international number.

Oppa: Okay okay. (smiles sadly… and gave me a bow again)

So that’s about it (for now).

CONCLUSION: EPIC PARTIES in Korea.

Address

서울특별시 마포구 서교통364-26번지

Directions

Starting at Hongik University, cross the street and head left toward the playground (green on the map). Continue down the street on the right side of the playground. Shortly after passing the playground you will see Cocoon on your left hand side.

On our way home, I saw a motel called Good Time Motel. And I remembered Mr. Hoodie. Funny.

Seoul Day 3 – Deoksugung Palace

Changing of the guards

Photos by Clur and Kizia

Seoul Day 3 – Changdeokgung palace

(Photos taken by me and Kizia. Photo editing by me)

To show you how much I love this Palace, here are amazing photos for your consumption (so formal!)

Thank God for the awesome weather during our Day 3. Everything’s so picturesque!

(Dear Kizia, I am not a fan of slanted photos but I LOVE what you did here ^)

You can sense that the place has a very dramatic feel about it. I was so affected with the story shared to us by our guide Nana the day before. Maybe that is why I felt so sad and emotional when we returned here.

Escape to Seoul Day 3 (Part 3 of 3)

(Read Day 3 Part 2 here)

After Deoskugung Palace, it’s time for shopping! Day 3 is scheduled for a get-lost-in-Myeongdong trip. It’s Kizia’s turn to educate me in what stores to go to in Myeongdong. We immediately looked for our most researched ones: Every Sing and SPAO.

I love SPAO because Super Junior’s endorsing them. Haha! Look at how cute Heechul is here:

Don’t you just want to find a similar jacket because of that?????

Which I did eventually. I found a dark gray hoodie jacket. Too bad they only have it in Men’s size. But that didn’t stop me from buying one (for BF) and a light gray for me! Close enough! Yay!

After that, we went up to the third floor for Every Sing to look for Kpop merch. (SPAO and Every Sing are in the same building. They’re not hard to find.) We almost jumped and screamed out loud when we found the place.

But we’re on a budgeted shopping spree. Well, I am. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything that made us go gaga over it.

So we explored Myeongdong instead. We got hungry…

ate corn dogs covered with fries…

and went shopping in Kosney! We were kind of ‘ended our friendship’ back here when we went separate ways and savored the cute stuff in Kosney. I swear. Get ready for an hour or so of cuteness overload!

They have accessories, clothes, shoes, art materials, stationaries, DVDs, magazines, CDs and a lot of stuff. Was tempted to buy a magazine (in Korean) with Jang Geun Suk as the cover and buy a set of You’re Beautiful Drama Series. I thought about them really hard, but I thought 1. I can’t read Hangul yet, and 2. I haven’t seen You’re Beautiful so I wouldn’t know if buying the set would be worth it. I also saw Kim Sam Soon and My Girl sets. Eeeep!

If you’ve got lots of money, and you happen to pass by Kosney, I say GO AND BUY THEM ALL, MY FRIEND.

Of course, I won’t let this wonderful opportunity pass with Jang Geun Suk:

… and because Kizia pushed me to do it. (Blaming it to others eh?)

Well, as you can see, I have a Uniqlo paper bag with me in the above photo. So this is to certify that we also went to Uniqlo that day.

We also passed by Forever 21, and believe it or not, it was Kizia’s first time to go inside one. Early last year (2011), a Forever 21 store opened in Megamall and Kizia hasn’t been in it before we went to Seoul. So to remember the moment:

When we were finally finished roaming around Myeongdong, we grabbed hot drinks and let our feet and legs rest at Cafe Benne (near the entrance to the train station).

It was our first time to see the vibrating thingy that will light up once your order is ready. No more shouting barista!

When we got back home and tried the new Holly’s Coffee near DLSU – Taft, they were also using this disk. And then Coffee Bean started using it. And then Coffee Prince, another café near DLSU is also using a disk. Oh, Seattle’s best in Greenbelt is also using them. Who knows, maybe Starbucks will start using them too.

Going back…

We were supposed to board the train after we had our hot drinks when we learned that there are underground shops in the area that sells clothes, shoes accessories etc. And there is one shop in between the clothing stores that sells DVDs, albums, posters, stickers, stationaries, stuffed toys and OMYGOODNESS KPOP AND KDRAMA MERCH. An underground store that serves semi-fan girls like us.

Aaaand another hour passed by while we searched for goodies and DVDs to take home. We have no proof that the shop existed BUT I am hoping it’s still there since the price is cheaper there compared to other shops “above.” And besides, our hands are already full of shopping bags and our mind’s very much overwhelmed with the rows and stacks of Kdramas and albums.

We were too tired to look for a place to eat dinner and besides, we already splurged a bit that day so we decided to just buy street food! We bought Mandu (again, and they’re still huuuuuge) and grabbed a cup of ramyun/bokki, some bread and chips from the nearby convenience store.

I got the cheese bboki while Kizia got Ramyun. And in Seoul, you can survive by just eating these. Or just buy street food. Or eat along the sidewalks (with the tents and all) – like a carinderia here in the Philippines. I was already full when I reached half of my bread, with my chips untouched.

Happy happy day 3! <3

Escape to Seoul Day 3 (Part 2 of 3)

(Read Day 3 Part 1 here)

We left Changdeokgung and went to our next destination, Jongmyo Ancestral shrine. It was supposedly ‘near’ Changdeokgung because all our research and maps told us that it was right in front of Changdeokgung. So we walked… and walked… and I think we walked towards the wrong side of the palace. We were walking AROUND it. I was thinking the whole time that when we cross the street, we could easily enter the palace. But I think (please correct me if I’m wrong) there is only one entrance available. Boo.

The entrance fee comes with a free tour. But you have to check the schedule first. It’s better to go inside with a guide to learn about the place, than going on your own. Unfortunately we missed the last available tour for the day (by 10-15 minutes). Boo.

Lesson: take into consideration the scale of the map. OR: get a taxi, spare the walk, you’ll get plenty of that inside the palaces.

Or you can walk, and take photos of the neighboring houses around Jongmyo. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the walk. I love the walls of the palace! But I was too preoccupied looking for the entrance I didn’t get to enjoy it that much. Too few photos..

Photo by Kizia

We saw a lot of ajusshi there playing chess, smoking or just sitting down, looking around. It’s a bit scary though because they look like a mob at first glance. Haha!

Jongmyo is a 5-minute walk away from Exit 11 of Jongno 3-ga station subway line 1 or Exit 8 of Jongno 3-ga station subway line 3.

Since we don’t have anything else to there (anymore), we  headed to Deoksugung Palace.

We were walking towards the entrance when we saw this man carving wood at the side walk. His work looks absolutely beautiful.

We arrived at Deoksugung the exact moment of changing of the guards. It takes place three times a day (11 AM, 2 PM, 3:30 PM for about 20 minutes) in front of Daehanmun or the main gate. There were a lot of people watching outside as well. The Royal Guards Changing Ceremony is one of the things tourists look forward to in this side of the city. This experience feels like you traveled back in time and you’re seeing the actual changing of guards several decades ago.

Had to sit down (after that looooong walk) and re-think about our next destination.

Like a scene from a K-drama, waiting for oppa:

I saw this old couple walking around the area, holding hands. And I remembered my parents (not that they’re this old now). Love love <3

If you visit the palace during fall, you can see spring cherry blossoms and yellow ginko leaves. Great place for couples to have a romantic and historical walk.

And of course:

Deoksugung is closed on Mondays. You can reach it through Exit 2 of City Hall Station on Line 1 or Exit 12 of Jongno 3-ga Station on Line 2. The Palace is a good 5 minutes walk from both exits.

 

Escape to Seoul Day 3 (Part 1 of 3)

Day 3 Itinerary:

• Brunch/Lunch
• Chandeokgung Palace
• Jongmyu Ancestral Shrine
• Deoksugung Palace
• Myeongdong!

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As usual, we woke up late (because it was really hard to get up – our room was nice and cold and the blankets are so soft and warm) and decided to eat brunch/lunch before going around the city and palaces. We decided to go back to the palaces to take decent pictures and follow our own pace.

We stopped by Mr. Pizza (61 Jong-ro, Insadong) but line’s too long so we decided to try another pizza place.

Pizza More is still in Insadong (if you found Mr. Pizza, you have to get across the street and get lost. You’ll find it sitting quietly between bars, norea-bang and restaurants)

Located in a quiet corner, this place offers the best cheese and corn pizza and sweet corn soup I have ever tasted.  The place is cozy and the food is delicious!

We also ordered pasta, marinara was it? The surprise here is it was a bit spicy. But delicious. But the corn pizza was something new to us, we gobbled it down until it’s finished. Love it.

We decided to walk to our first destination, Changdeokgung Palace, which is nearest to our place. We passed by Insadong to see what we can buy and explore around there when we get back. We saw a couple of young adults doing a street show and there were a lot of people around them. There was even a camera crew filming them – maybe from a broadcasting network?

We passed by the famous Ssamssigil, looked around for a while, grabbed a cup of hot choco for the road and bought a ‘poop’ bread or ‘dung bread.

And headed to our first Palace: Changdeok-gung or Changdeok Palace.

Changdeok-gung or Chandeok-gung Palace literally means “The Palace of Prospering Virtue.” It is often referred to as the East Palace as it is located East of the Grand Palace, Gyeongbuk-gung. It was the second royal villa built after Gyeongbuk-gung Palace.

Yes, we walked from Insadong to here. It’s a bit far, but manageable. We’re avoiding taxis. Haha!

“One such notable difference is the fact that the architecture of Changdeokgung harmonizes beautifully with the surrounding nature without appearing intrusive or destructive in the process.” 

GETTING THERE: Take subway Line 3 to Anguk Station and get out at Exit 3. Changdeokgung Palace is open from 09:15~17:45 (April ~ October) and 09:15~15:45 (November ~ February). In March, visiting hours are from 09:15~16:45. Entry is permitted every 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. The palace is closed Mondays. Entry to the palace is only permitted with a guided tour. Visitors do not have to join the tour on Thursdays. Admission is 3,000 won.

- From Visit Korea

I love this palace because of the way it was built. The buildings and the garden goes well together. Although we didn’t go to the Secret Garden, you can sense that the plants around the area are well-maintained. For me, this is my favorite. It’s very feminine.

We saw a monk (?) on vacation, maybe, going around the palace just like us.

It’s really nice.

I will post a lot of pictures of Changdeokgung after this!

And oh!!! When we’re leaving, we saw some snow at the side of the road. <3

<3 love love!