The modern remake.

…Yesterday we climbed a mountain up to the Seoul Tower
…and ate dinner at the bustling Gwangjang Market

Myeong-dong

It’s a new day.

I thought this was a movie poster but it’s an ad for the army.

⛔ MIND
the gap ⛔

I’ve noticed nobody wears any colours in current Korean fashion. I could always tell when a clothing store in Hong Kong was a Korean brand just based on how they only stocked neutral colours.

Jongno-gu

BUT FIRST, breakfast.

Every sign has a history.

Tosokchon Samgyetang

At a famous samgyetang restaurant. A previous Korean president liked eating here apparently.

Samgyetang meaning chicken and ginseng soup.
It’s bitter but Koreans believe it’s good for you. My parents make the Chinese version occasionally.

[Photo by Benjamint444]
A black chicken, AKA silkie fowl, specifically. A breed of chicken from Asian.
Despite the colour, it tasted the same as a normal chicken but LOOK HOW FLUFFY IT IS.

We also got a not-ginseng rotisserie chicken. It tasted like chicken.
As usual, everything came with free unlimited kimchi.

Also this seafood and spring onion “pancake” (omelette).

Glad we showed up early. A huge queue had formed by the time we left at noon.

#Selfie🍋

It’s like I’m in Japan again.

Hanbok rental shops start showing up as you get closer to the castle. Pretty~

Tourist guides (CUTE uniforms)

Lunch break.

It’s the thing from Squid Game.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

All these people, this must be the place.

Gwanghwamun - The Main Gate

Wow, big.

Most of the palace was destroyed during the Japanese rule so they’ve been rebuilding it over the past few decades. This entire front yard was only recently finished, there used to be a road running through here. They actually discovered tram tracks buried underneath too that dated back to that Japanese era.

So this is what it’s like when tourists visit Buckingham Palace.

Only the guard in the middle had a queue for those wanting a photo.

I would not be able to survive this job. Just standing there, staring into space for hours.

Heungnyemun - The Second Inner Gate

Through the gates… is another gate!

Time for a shift change.

You need a ticket to continue on from here, which is only like a couple of £.

And through those gates…

Geunjeongmun - The Third Inner Gate

…IS ANOTHER GATE!

Back in ze day, only the King was allowed to walk through the middle doors.

The Chinese characters on the name plate is Hanja, Korea’s previous writing system. Their modern alphabet is much cuter and more logical, Japan should’ve done the same and gotten rid of kanji.

You can actually enter the palace for free if you’re wearing a hanbok.

There were statues of Korean mythical creatures sitting along this canal but apparently none of them showed up in any of my photos.

Geunjeongjeon - The Throne Hall

We’re in, finally.

Ooh, what’s everyone looking at?

This is where the King would be sitting.

Everything was re-built using only native pinewood.

It’s Winter but it was also really sunny that day. We kept taking our coats on and off as we moved between the Sun and shade.

Sajeongjeon - The Executive Office

It’s like we’re in some historical TV drama.
I can imagine a tomboy princess running around with her handsome ikemen bodyguard chasing after her yelling about her duties.

A few of the buildings had artifacts on display.

Most of them were just big empty boxes though.

This is where an emotional scene in the rain would take place.

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion - The Royal Banquet Hall

Important dinners were held up there.
Apparently there used to be dragons sculpted into those stone pillars in the original building but they weren’t re-created when they rebuilt the palace.

[Photo by Frank Schulenburg]
We completely missed the East section of the palace, otherwise we would have been able to look at this lake surrounding the pavilion.

Damn, there’s still an entire park in these walls.

Imagining more scenes of tomboy princesses

🍂

Just like my K-dramas.

Hyangwonjeong Pavilion

The second lake within the palace grounds.

Comf

The Autumn colours 😍

Don’t tell the Japanese I said this but hanboks are prettier than kimonos. I like the floof.

Slowly getting closer to this thing.

We probably should have picked up a map because we ended up only seeing half the palace.

Turns out that pagoda I kept taking photos of was the National Folk Museum.

O_O

^{oppa oppa oppa oppa oppa}

🍁

Rare sighting of dogs walking on their own 4 feet in Asian.

On our way to our next stop.

A R T

Ooh this is a cool cafe, too bad we already wasted our break time on a bench outside the palace.

Ye olde gacha

Bukchon Hanok Village

Near the palace is a network of neighbourhoods of hanoks, restored traditional houses.

All the hanoks led to tourists flooding in but it’s still a residential area where people live.

Oh hey, it’s the Seoul Tower.
Someone was trying to get into their house and everybody started taking photos through their door.

You can even stay in a few of these for a few hundred $ a night.
Nothing’s too sacred to be sold off to Airbnbs.

GOYANGI

The tourist route seems to indicate going this way.

This doesn’t seem right.

We went a different way instead.

Along the road were all these tiny shops hanging over the cliff edge.

The contrast between this old house…

…and this modern one.

Every single tourist area in Korea had a stall selling novelty socks.

They make beer here.

This feels like a liminal space.

Back to the city life.

Day 3 continued ➡ ➡ ➡