Seoul Enriching

On our first official day in Seoul, we were scheduled for a city tour. Our guide picked us up at 9am and then brought us to the National Museum. I think we spent almost two hours going around there, knowing more about the history of Korea. Did you know that Korea once had three kingdoms and one of the kingdoms is named Goryea but most people can't pronounce it properly thus Korea was born.

Here I am in front of what's supposed to be a tomb way back then in Korea.

Joema and I looking at a map.



This artifact was taken from Korea (forgot if it was China or Japan who took it) but was later on returned to them and was placed here in their museum (I hope I got that right)



From all the bits of history in the museum, I found this water cooler (which isn't really part of their history) really amusing. Well, mostly it's the "paper cup" it uses that I found amusing. Forgive my ignorance if this is common in your part of the world, but it's the first time I saw this. The cup isn't really a cup but more of a small envelope without the closing flap. And you can drink water from it!




Next stop was the Gyeongbok Palace. If you've been watching a lot of Korean shows and movies, I'm sure you've seen a palace like this on TV. I'm not really a fan of Korean pop culture so I don't know much about them which was ironic because I get to visit the country without realizing how fortunate it was for me since there are thousand of Pinoy fans out there who are dreaming of going to Korea just to get a glimpse of their idols or the places in those shows/movies. Anyways, this is outside one of the entrances of the Palace.



We were part of a guided tour. Our tour guide speaks very good English. The Palace grounds is massive. We went to different buildings. This one is the Geunjeongjeon Hall. Remember this photo? At the side, there are markers where the cabinet members stand as the king and queen walks towards the hall. The center is slightly elevated because only the king and queen walks there.



A little trivia about the structure. Can you see those nets on the roof? The guide said they were put there so that birds won't build their nests under the roof.



I think this is the king's living quarters and then behind it is the queen's living quarters.



This was the retirement home of one of the royalties. It's a very relaxing place, very laid back compared to the other buildings in the compound.



This is the building inside the "secret garden". See those two small gates? Again those are for the cabinet members and other dignitaries while the big gate is for the king and queen.



The secret garden is actually more of a min-forest. It's called secret because this is where the king and queen rendezvous hehehe.



This is the oldest tree in the palace. It looks like a big bonsai.



Next stop after the palace is lunch. Our guide took us to this restaurant that served us ginseng chicken soup. When I first read this in our itinerary I was like "just soup for lunch???" Me and my big mouth! It was soup alright with one whole chicken and rice. Kind of like arroz caldo but more watery and not bits of chicken was included but as I've said a whole chicken for each serving! Our guide ate with us and we were so pressured to eat quickly because he ate fast. The soup was piping hot but it's like it didn't even bother him. He was dumping chicken bones in the little pail on our table like there's no tomorrow while we're blowing our spoons before even taking a mouthful.



We then bought a few pasalubong outside the restaurant.



The husband was very happy with our next stop.



He is such a fan, I don't know why he wanted a photo with this clock.



We were there in time for the 6th Asia Song Festival and a group was there rehearsing. If I only knew who they were, I would have teased my friends about it and let them die of envy.



In the museum they have this interactive game where you get to play the goalie. My husband was happy to oblige.



After this was shopping time. First stop was the amethyst store. Bought a little something something for myself hehe. We have no photos there though. And then we were dropped off at Namdaenum market. I think our guide left us there for about an hour and a half. Bought more pasalubong from here. By the time we got to the hotel, the boys were tired. But my mother and I still went out and went to Myeongdong. We rode the subway from our side of the town to Myeongdong. Their subway is as efficient as that of Hong Kong. No worries! The subway cards can be bought from a vending machine, then you can replenish the amount and after you're done you can return it and get your deposit back. Although we only figured out we can replenish it on our last day, on our last subway ride ahaha. So everytime we rode the subway, we immediately return the ticket and get our deposit back. So every ride, we have to get new cards ahahaha!



If in HK you get to see Giordano in every corner, in Seoul you get to see The Face Shop in every corner.



I tell you Koreans are shoppingeras! We were in Myeongdong on a weeknight and that's around 8pm but the Koreans are shopping like there's no tomorrow. We'll go into a store expecting there was a sale ongoing because of the throng of people but we were mightily wrong. We were only able to buy stuff at Uniqlo because that's the only place with the sale items ahahaha!

When we got back to the hotel, the boys have rested and were both hungry. We decided not to experiment this time so we went to a chicken place. Every restaurant in Korea serves kimchi as side dish and they give a lot, they replenish the plates after you've finished it. Aside from kimchi they serve other side dishes. If you want to scrimp you can just order one entrée and then just eat kimchi ehehe.



One setback of tourists in Seoul is that not many people speak English. When we order we only point to the menu and gesture how many we wanted. In this particularly restaurant they have regular rice and sticky rice. We ordered the regular one but they came back saying they don't have it anymore. We asked what's the difference but we shouldn't have asked anyway because they couldn't understand us. So we just ordered the sticky one. Good thing not much of a difference in taste, it's just that the sticky one is well sticky.

Oh one more thing about the restaurants there, they don't get your payment from your table. After they served you the food, they will give you your bill. And then after you've eaten you have to bring your bill at the cashier, which is usually located at the area just before you exit, and make your payment there. We had to observe this system before making the payment on our first night there.