Seoul: Day 2 - Palaces
March 28 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
On our first full day in Seoul we decided to explore the city's palaces. We started in Gyeongbokgung Palace and wandered around the palace exploring rooms that held major state ceremonies and official royal business. It was a huge site with buildings that were kept so well. Most of the buildings were made from wood and had beautiful painted roof designs.
While on our way to Changdeokgung Palace we walked through Bukchon Hanok village which had narrow streets and old Korean style homes.
When we arrived at Changdeokgung Palace we bought our ticket and were told that an English speaking walking tour was starting in ten minutes. Our guide told us that the Palace was built during the Joseon Dynasty in 1405 as the royal residence but was destroyed during the Japanese war in 1592. It was then rebuilt in 1610 and continued to be used until 1910. We learned that the signs on the top of the Temples are in the Chinese language. This is because Chinese was used as a universal language among asian countries for communication similar to the use of Latin in ancient times. It was a very interesting tour as it was great hearing the history and some stories about previous kings and queens from Korean history.
The Changdeokgung Palace has a secret garden but the tickets were sold out so our guide recommended walking around Changgyeonggung Palace instead as it has a garden which is a third of the secret garden. The grounds were lovely with a pond and plenty of cherry-blossom trees.
The final cultural moment we visited on our first day was Jogyesa Temple which had beautiful colourful lanterns hanging outside the temple and a giant Budda inside the temple. There was a ceremony taking place in the temple so we were not allowed to stay inside however the lanterns were very pretty to look at so we were happy to walk around outside. There was also a large drum that if you hit three times you could make a wish, of course we had to wait in the queue for our turn to make our wishes.
On the way back to our hostel we came across the Cheonggyecheon stream which is 10km long with a walkway alongside it. We sat down by the stream for a while before walking parts of it as the sun set. After a shower and rest back at the hostel, we went for a hotpot dinner in a local restaurant. This time we were able to sit opposite each other. This hot pot was like a rice dish with salmon and vegetables on top that you mixed together. I really enjoyed it and thought that it was very favoursome. As it was Saturday we said we'd go for a cocktail on a rooftop bar, thankfully there was an inside area as we realised the night had turned pretty chilly. We got some random Korean specialized cocktails but neither of us were convinced by their flavours.Read more
Seoul: Day 1 - Arrival
March 27 in South Korea ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Ciara briefly mentioned to me last year that she'd love to go to South Korea to see some K-pop. I thought about it and didn't need any excuse not to visit another country. Kevin and Caroline had both visited South Korea while on their way to Japan in 2019 and raved about it which was a good recommendation.
We flew to Munich first before an eleven hour flight to Seoul. It had been a while since I was on an overnight flight and it's strange when trying to manage when to eat but also to try and get as much sleep as possible. It was very foggy when we landed in Seoul. We could barely see the country until right at the end when the plane touched the ground. We were glad to be on solid ground and ready to move again after the long flight.
It took us a while to get through the airport and get our bearings in the new country. Once we got through security and collected our bags we tried to take some cash out from the ATM. In our tired state we couldn't figure out why our cards wouldn't work until we realised that we had to press "foreign card" as yes we were using a foreign bank card. With relief we took our money ready for our adventures.
I was warned before going on this trip that Koreans love to queue. I had pre-ordered a sim card to collect in Seoul airport on arrival. We had to take a ticket first with a number on it and then stand in another queue waiting to be called. Once our number was called then you could go up to the counter and speak to the worker. Anyway within seconds they had my sim card changed and updated so we can't fault their effectiveness even if it involves multiple queues.
We headed to the airport train and bought our T-cards, which is sort of like South Korea's Leap Card, from a vending machine. I couldn't figure out why mine was 1,000 wan (50c) more expensive than Ciara's until I opened the card and found stickers included. Worth every extra penny!!
The express train was fully booked so we got the All-Stop train into the city. We used Naver Maps instead of Google maps to figure out how to get around and it was very handy. Eventually we got to our hostel at 14:40. It felt like a long day of non-stop moving since departing Dublin airport so we were looking forward to lying down for a while. However when we arrived at the hostel check in wasn't until 3pm and they wouldn't let us check in until exactly 3pm.
We were wrecked tired and disappointed not to be able to relax just yet but we decided to wander around the area we were staying in. We found a huge Olive Young which is like Boots and is a famous pharmacy for Korean skincare. We wandered in but the shop was that big Ciara and myself lost each other as we wandered around the four levels of skincare products. Eventually we found each other and we're relieved to see it was after 3pm to be able to check in. We stayed in a private room in OYO Hostel, Myeongdong area and we're delighted to have a power nap and shower.
Once feeling slightly refreshed we went for dinner Not knowing what type of food we'd be eating we thought that it would be easiest to have Korean BBQ in a restaurant close-by.
The restaurant had single tables all facing the wall with a gas fire in front of us you. I chose the pork and beef combination and Ciara chose the chicken option. We ordered using individual ipads at each table and within minutes the food arrived On the tray of food there was raw meat that you placed on the fire to cook along with kimchi, cabbage, soya sauce and some broth. It was an interesting experience as you got to cook your meat to the level that you wanted but the fire got quite hot and smoky at times. Ciara ordered soju drink as she saw lots of people drinking it online. She thought it was a beer but the waiter arrived with two shot glasses. Instantly I knew it was a spirit. We had a sip and it instantly reminded us of college days drinking vodka. It was worth trying but the drink was well wasted on us.
After dinner we walked in a random direction exploring the city. We came across three small temples that we explored. After a bit of exploring our energy dropped so we stopped in a Starbucks to drink a hot chocolate to refuel us enough to be able to get back to our hostel. It was lovely sitting down looking out at the pedestrian crossing before heading back for a well needed deep sleep.Read more
