Hanboks, Hanoks and Hunger Tamers

We had another exhausting day in Seoul today, even though we had planned for it to be a fairly chill one, but somehow while walking around Seoul we find more and more things to see and do and I do wonder how much we will not have explored by the end of our time here because we get side-tracked by other things.

We easily manged to reach our 10.000 steps (we doubled it and some) and we really didn't do a lot or see much more of the area of Seoul we had already seen but it is such a beautiful spot and there is so much to see here that we didn't repeat anything we have done before. Our objective today was for the girls to hire hanboks (traditional Korean dress) and wander through the Bukchon Hanok village which is where the traditional houses, (hanoks )which are still lived in, are located. Jenna and Sarah decided to hire the hanboks for five hours which cost W20,000/ $25 Aus, their hanboks

were pretty but I think if we had been visiting in warmer weather they might have chosen to pay extra for the more elaborate hanbok with all the beading but they knew they would be spending a lot of time with their winter coats over them so it didn't really matter.

Getting to the area was easy, jumping on the underground at Donmyo, changing at Jongno 3 and getting off at Anguk (the hanbok hire shop we went to was just one of many in the area and most of them have similar prices) and follow the signs (be aware that although this is a great tourist site and

there are hundreds of tourists here every day this is also a community where people live so be respectful to those people that are lucky enough to call this "village" their home)

Bukchon Hanok Village is a beautiful area and the houses are stunning and you could almost forget that you were in the middle

of a modern city and not back in 1500s Seoul. In the Joseon dynasty this was were the nobles and high ranking government officials lived and as the girls wandered around in the hanboks I had no difficulty imagining what it would have been like for the young noble ladies wandering with their maids to the market and the flirtations, intrigues and life in general

. You could easily spend all day just wandering around here because there is so much to see, with lots of small museums, an embroidery and owl museum to name but a few, tea houses, cafes

(one of which we ventured into to have that amazing honey bread and hot drinks again...and there is no guessing what I had!!!), craft workshops and stores selling those crafts. Next time I am in Seoul I think I will try and devote a full day to doing exactly that. From here we moved on to two palaces that are side by side Chandeokgung (Historical Site 122) and Changgyeonggung (Historical Site 123) which were both different but very beautiful and the first houses a 'secret garden' which was very special and you wonder what kind of secrets that the walls could spill if they could talk.

Chandeokgung was a palace that was the principal palace for many of the Joseon Kings, however the original buildings were burnt down in 1592 by angry citizens who were incensed that the royal family had fled after the Japanese invasion of Korea. It was rebuilt again in 1611 and Changdeokgung is the most well preserved of all the Seoul palaces.

The palace grounds also contain the Huwan (which is the secret garden which is an added extra in price if you pay for a single entry fee into the palace W3000/ $4 Aus for the palace and W8000/ $10 Aus for the garden, however our combination ticket covered both) You must take a guided tour through the Secret Garden which was good because our guide was able to explain about the buildings, ponds and pavilions and

in the cold weather you don't really want to linger, but I imagine when the autumn leaves are out the garden would be magnificent and I imagine I'd be wanting to take a little longer to enjoy this place. This is another place that is is not hard to use your imagination and picture the nobles taking a break from the political intrigue in the palace and just enjoy life.

Changgyeonggung was built by

King Sejong for his retiring father King Taejong and also served as residential quarters for queens and concubines. Like all the palaces in Seoul it has beautiful buildings and grounds but it is not as impressive as the other palaces in my opinion. Palaces done we raced back for the girls to return their hanbok (at the beginning of the day the girls had hired them thinking that they would return them early because we didn't realise we would be out as long but they only just made it back in time) and they were incredibly grateful to get back into their winter

woolies as it was a little cold today. And it must have been cold because today was the first day since we have been have been in Seoul that I have been wearing my coat instead of carrying it around with me, After the girls changed we realised that we hadn't eaten since our honey bread breakfast

and that we really needed food (and to get out of the chilly weather) so we found somewhere to eat and like every meal we have eaten in South Korea so far we haven't been disappointed by what we ate.

Seoul is a great city for walking and even though there are so many stairs which aren't so good on the knees it's quite easy to navigate and there is always so much to see that you don't mind being side tracked by another side street or alley, and because the public transport system is awesome you don't have to go far before you find a subway/train station or another bus stop. We wandered through Insadong for a bit more shopping

and we knew there was a 'poop cafe' somewhere in the vicinity that we had thought of popping into (I had seen it on a youtube video and thought it looked like fun and less confronting than the toilet restaurant in Taiwan because the 'poop' was cute and would have made for a great present for my friend Annette) however the google map on our phones and the street signs didn't quite match so we never found it, although we did come across a bakery selling "poop" pastries which were really good, hot and steaming chocolate filling which helps to keep the cold at bay.

We had planned to go to the Seoul N Tower

tonight but the travelator to the cable car was not running and none of us was up for the walk up the hill to get to it (as we were all completely knackered from our 'easy' day in the city so we made do with just wandering around the area back to the hotel to have a night in, watch Korean dramas and order in fried chicken, and YES got to knock yet another thing off the to-eat list, KFC, Korean Fried Chicken, which was as good as I had hoped it would be, spicy, crunchy and just seriously delicious and I think we'll be ordering in again sometime this holiday too!!!!

The great thing about having an extended stay somewhere means that you don't feel like you have to be constantly on the go (which seems kind of contradictory considering how much we do every day) but because we know we are going to be here awhile I know that if I want to have a couple of nights in watching Korean drama that is okay, whereas we had to pack so much into Taiwan because we were only there three days and didn't want to come away going "I wish I had..."

Another great day in South Korea and looking forward to tomorrow because we are venturing out of the city again.

#sEouL #sOutHkoRea #pAlaCes #fOod #tOeaTliSt #tOdoLisT