4 Days in South Korea..the land of the morning calm II
As usual we had breakfast, bread, coffee and noodles…
Then we went off to bukchon hanok village, anguk station (line 3).
It’s hard to tour in other country if there’s a language barrier. Since we don’t have GPS or the like, we always asked for direction. But still, some can’t understand us, and we just do hand gestures or point to something.
So what happened, was we got lost. LOL
We spent time looking for the bukchon village (of course we asked). We saw an Ahjumma, and she said just go straight from starbucks (she recognized the picture we want to go).
But no luck, we can’t still find the Bukchon village. We wanted to just leave and go to another spot.
Good thing, we found an information center. And finally, she gives us a map and directions, she even encircle the photo spots in Bukchon village.
And off we go. The walk is no joke, becuase it is uphill. And this doesn’t help the fact that we’re tired.
Then we saw a group of tourists, walking to the same direction and we just follow them.
Finally, the Bukchon Village. Apparently, we just saw 3 out of 7 photo spots. The remaining are too far, for us to walk.
It’s already 2:00 pm and we did not see the Sangojae. We need to go back to catch the changing of guards in the palace. On our way, we saw some tourist heading to somewhere, and we got curious so we follow them. Then we saw a sign with Winter Sonata and says 100m. And there it is, the school used in Winter Sonata ?
We went back to the subway to Changdeokgung palace
Changdeokgung Palace, is just across the subway.
We asked what time is the changing of guards, and someone told us that it’s no in this palace. It’s in Gyeongbokgung palace. And it’s already quarter to 3:00 pm.
And because we’re hungry, we just bought waffles besides the palace. Yummy! And it’s just ₩1,000, but it’s really good, waffle plus whip cream (sweet beans are optional)
So yeah, We weren’t able to see the changing of guards.
We just took a photo of them ?
The entrance fee is ₩3,000 to view the whole palace.
It’s getting chilly again, and our hands were numb from the cold. We decided to go to the National Museum, well… to get warm. ?
After we got our normal body temperature. We went to Gwangahwamun square.
Gwangahwamun Square.
We wanted to see the fountain and the Cheongyecheon river. unfortunately, there’s no water at the fountain. This place is usually used in K-drama tv series.
And of course, it’s getting cold again, we decided to buy hot chocolate in Dunkin Donuts. Before going to the Cheongyecheon river. And well, we know there’s a lantern festival in this area, but we didn’t expect that there will be lots of people in this event (of course, what else do I expect, LOL).
Even if we wanted to see the lanterns in the stream, but we didn’t, ’cause the queue is way too long.
Dongdaemun Shopping
We went to Dongdaemun, to shop (for chocolates, actually).
Of course, we ride the wrong subway, and went to the opposite side. Stores closes around 9:00 pm in Dongdaemun. At least Doota mall was still open. We just found a souvenir shop inside, and decided to buy here. And they gave us free taste of each product, at least we know what to buy before going back to the hostel.
Love your post! Seeing my home country from other person is wonderful! Korea has beautiful autumn and it has 4 distinct season that you get to enjoy!
I can’t even imagine visiting somewhere with a language barrier the thought scares me. You did see a lot of things and it looks like it was a great visit. I’m glad you saw what you were looking for.
I wish i could travel south Korea some day , I love traveling and i mostly get to travel just for my work destination in the past few years, it sound like amazing vacation journey and your photos are beautiful
I would love to travel to Korea, I am totally Jealous! The Gyeongbokgung palace looks incredible and breathtaking x
What a great trip, even with getting lost. The Gyeongbokgung palace looks amazing!
I love traveling and Looks like amazing trip!
Place looks amazing from the pictures and sounds like you had a great trip x
Korea has always been on my bucketlist and your post has absolutely strengthened my need to go there. The culture, food and the shopping, all looks amazing!
It is always an adventure when travelling in a country where you don’t speak the language, but it makes travelling that much more fun and challenging.Looks like you still managed to do lots even though you lost your way.
I LOVE South Korea. It looks like you hit all the major spots around central Seoul. Next time you visit you’ll have to try out some other cool cities. Perhaps Busan or Jeju Island, or some of the smaller towns and villages as well!
I wish I can visit Seoul as soon as possibile: east countries are all new things for me to learn and Korea is one of those I know the less.
I would love to visit Seoul one day. Your visit looks very fun. The waffles and sweet creme sound divine.
It does look amazing there. I love all the great pictures. My in-laws are from South Korea and I really do need to make it out there one day. I am sure it would be amazing.
This has made me wanna research and head there. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! it’s amazing that despite all the language problem you managed to do your site-seeing. Korea looks beautiful through your photography.
I so want to visit a place where English is not the first language! Looks like you had a great time and you managed yourself well even with a language barrier! Your pictures speak for itself how beautiful your trip was!
I loved it! I’m kinda jealous right now, I loved the photos and the description !!!! Expecting one day to visit there !!!
What an interesting place to visit, I love how colourful everything is, even the guards!
Glad you guys survived the long walk, because by the look of the pictures it looks absolutely glorious.
looks lie you has lots of fun here. Now I want to visit.
Looking forward to visiting this city someday.