Annyeonghi gyeseyo!

We took the bus to Namdaemun and walk back to our hotel for check out. The last 4 days in motherlandia went so fast especially when you're having such a good time, but hopefully we could come back next time during springtime. 

Hey smiler...

I thought I would stop gushing about an amazing time in Korea, but also our flight back home was also a breeze! 

Thanks to JinAir's Smart Bag Drop, queue no more!

Simply put your bag to weigh, check in with your flight details

Some reminders..

Take the tag and put in your bag and good to go!

Also they serve one of the cutest foods on board!

Yes, I thought it was chocolate

Hm, bawal judgemental. 

Thank you Jinair for the quick and hassle free travel! 

Love,

itsmelory (^.^)

For one more day

Good morning sunshine! Today's our last day, and so far Korea had given us only great experience,  from good food, weather, people, the vibe..we are even eager to go back. But before anything else, time to do some strolling within our area to get breakfast. First stop: Namdaemun Market

Namdaemun Market

Namdaemun Market is a old traditional market of various goods at a very affordable price. Almost everything is on sale! Imagine Divisoria or Baclaran level. We're lucky that we came here quite early so we could walk leisurely from one stall to another. If I had known better, I would shop here rather than in Myeongdong (Myeongdong is still my fave though). 

But first we needed some breakfast, most resto and coffee stalls are closed and not open until 10AM but we saw this ajumma who told us coffee goes best with what else but toasts! 

She flipped the bread and butter and in no time whipped us a perfect Grandma Toasts!

Kamsahamninda ajumma!

We chose the open al fresco  coffee stall, and enjoyed sipping our hot 

cup with  hot toasts. Ah, perfection.

Nearby is a bakery and dumping stall which I got so curious about

Hmm so I went in to check out

Oh some freshly baked hot mung buns and cheese buns.

So I got 1 or 2 buns to try! Nothing beats freshly baked finds!

By this time, most stalls are open, and we walked around to see interesting souvenirs, some are really cheap than Myeongdong, so I got more stuff! Sorry hubby. 

Yes they serve this any time!

 Namsan Seoul Tower

So by this time, Daryl's eyeing me like telling me enough is enough. We dropped our shopping bags at the hotel and unto our next stop to Namsan Tower,  Gu Jun Pyo- I'm coming for you!

We took the bus from Myeongdong area to get us to Namsan, we traveled for around 30 mins, and finally arrived at Yongsan-gu to one of Korea's famous landmarks, thanks to K-drama.

Onboard to N-Tower! Prepare to hike a bit from the drop off point to reach the tower, 

standing 480m ASL, you are walking to the highest part of Korea!  

And guess what was our first activity...

Lovelocks! Lakas mka-Kdrama besh, tbh.

Christmas tree lovelocks in the air..

We didn't do much here except enjoy the great view of the mountain top and around the Namsan Tower. Unfortunately, we didn't get much a decent photo either of the tower because it was a bit crowded but worth a breath of fresh air! 

  

I found my bliss.

Love,

itsmelory (^.^)

MOM (Myeongdong Once More)

After an afternoon filled of walking, enjoying the scenes of great palaces I've only seen on TV, food tripping,  and being able to breath in the cold breeze in this lovely country, what could be better than this?  We stopped at small convenience store to get our to-go coffee to decide where to next? Riza suggested we go to Gangnam to check out interesting stuff. We hopped on to the MRT to Gangnam but it was less exciting after few purchases, are we even in the right Gangnam? Anyway we decided to go back Myeongdong! 

Kuya doesn't look too happy with his BBQ

This one is too eager to dig into this BBQ

Veggie and some ughm- streaks of lippie. 

Yes another round of shopping done!

Can you spot us?

Tonight calls for you know what- Soju.  

And before we call it a night, we happen to meet Cong. Romulo and Ms. Shalani! 

Lovely couple, selfie time!

Happiness and love,


itsmelory (^.^)

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Also known as Gyeongbuk Palace which translates "greatly blessed by Heaven", this was the main royal palace and the largest of the Grand palaces which served as home for royals during the Joseon Dynasty. Due to its status as national sovereignty, it was heavily damaged during the Japanese invasion from 1592-1598. The Royal court was then moved to Changdeokgung Palace and the Gyeongbuk was left in ruins in the last 3 centuries until the regime of Heungseon Daewungon or Prince Gung of  19th century, where the iconic symbol of Korea was reconstructed of 330 buildings and 5792 rooms according to wikipedia. 

From Hanok Village, its easy to reach the palace by just walking. Another thing I could commend here is that they have English and other language speaking guides within every stop light whom you could easily approach to ask for directions.  The walk to the palace is a mere 5-10 min until we are almost approaching the palace but we found some food kiosks so we stopped by to try it. We decided to give up the hanbok because it was so freaking cold by mid day to be walking on it.  I can imagine how other tourist must be feeling wearing it to the palace. Free admission to the palace when your wearing hanbok. 

Pork Cutlet Shop 

We found this small eatery along the way, the place was kind of inviting so we dig in before our palace tour. 

Definitely one of my fave dishes. 

Pork cutlet was just ok though

and some hot tofu soup. Yummers! 

To the Palace

Know before you go that the palace is closed on Tuesdays, changing of guards happen every hour from 10-2PM. Admission is free for those wearing their hanbok. Unfortunately we could not walk that far in this cold, entrance fee for adult is KRW 3,000, 18 yrs and below KRW 1,500.

We were just in time for the changing of palace guards, it was impressive! It must be like this during the regime of Joseon dynasty, in how they handed down the tradition eventhough the rule of monarch does not exist anymore.Unfortunately there were too many people, and we were being polite so we just watched from afar appreciating whats currently taking place. I could practically say that this is one of main tourist attractions because the place is soooo so  crowded! Oh the difficulty to find a perfect spot to get a photo. Anyway, we make use of this time to walk around, and just feel the palace vibe. Every corner looks familiar from all the epic KDrama I watched.  Ok so I managed some snaps..

Promise to go back here on a springtime, ok yes? 

Meanwhile channeling my ganda ka ghorl?

Cheers,

marzylorie (^.^)