Today, we're going to take things easy and have a leisurely sightseeing day. We decided to visit one of the palaces, Deoksugung (德壽宮). Its easily accessible at City Hall Station and do note that its closed every Monday. There is also a daily changing of guard at 11am, 2pm and 3.30pm.
On first arrival at the entrance of the palace, you'll see Daehanmun Gate.
As its located right smack in the city, I felt so surreal. Its like stepping into a time capsule and going back in time, to a different world as it is so peaceful, green and traditional in the palace grounds.
What I enjoyed most was seeing modern skyscrapers in the background while admiring the beautiful traditional Korean architecture. Seems like a contradiction between old and new, but this just shows how tradition and culture can be preserved in the face of modernisation, pop culture and economic growth.
Although one of the most technological advanced and wired country in the world, tradition is still very much entrenched in the people. We saw a group of youths dressed in traditional costumes and I thought we stumbled onto the set of a K-drama, but they were actually there taking pictures and having a good time at the historic grounds.
Of course no palace is without a throne, and we got the obligatory tourist shot of the great hall where the King conducted his official affairs and met foreign envoys.
Upon leaving the palace grounds, we saw guards dressed in traditional uniforms take their place at the gates. They were so smart and imposing.
After the palace, we walked to Namdaemun Market. To get there, you can take Line 4 and alight at Hoehyeon Station.
Namdaemun Market is the biggest traditional market in Korea selling a wide array of products ranging from clothings to food and imported goods. It has more than 10,000 shops all located around the main southern gate of the old city wall, hence its name (南大門).
Of course being typical Singaporeans, what attracted us more was the street food.
After walking around it was time for lunch. And of course in Korea, we must try their Jajangmyeon (雜醬麵), the Korean version of the Chinese black bean sauce noodles. We had to ask around and learnt that its not available everywhere, only at Chinese restaurants. We found a restaurant and the waiter could speak Chinese and ordered it. Sadly, it wasn't delicious.
After lunch, we went to Hongdae to walk and look around.
After a short while, we stopped for none other than... afternoon tea & coffee.
One thing good is that in Korea, there is free wifi everywhere, especially at food establishments. That's the time when everyone of us would check our Whatsapp, emails and Facebook.
On our way back to the apartment, we saw a group of students perform. They were good and there people were around listening to them. The atmosphere of the whole place was really nice. Highly recommended to send a leisurely day there.
After returning to the hotel we rested for a while before heading out for more food... again.
We walked over to the restaurant street for dinner and had Korean BBQ... again.
We had a table out in the open and the feeling was so nice. The weather was very cold, but the heat from the BBQ warmed us and of course the aroma of the food... ooh... nice experience.
We had so much food. We had to walk it off. And then, the inevitable and unthinkable happened... again... we saw our new favourite street food, something like our "hum cheem peng" (咸煎餅) and of course we bought it for "supper".
Gosh, we definitely went to bed with a full stomach... good night yummy food... for now.
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