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 (^.^)

Bukchon Hanok Village

Good morning, annyheong! Barely slept last night because of what happened trying to do what Tay-tay advised, just shake it off. We manage to drag ourselves to get coffee, and get ready  for today's activity- one major throwback day to the charming Hanok village. Yey!

Bukchon Hanok Village is a historic village dating back to Joseon dynasty featuring Hanok or traditional houses, and representing the old Goryeo. In here you'll find alleys of alleys of beautiful hanok, traditional craft items, beautiful flowers decorated on their rooftops well preserved and in fact this is a residential village. Many old rich or ancient wealthy as well as influential family reside in this area.

Of course I wouldn't miss it for the world, since this is on top of my list talaga! I love and has always been a fan of "old vibe", traditional homes, beautiful and colorful hanbok, matching accessories imagining myself strolling the historic street. I lived to watch Jewel in the Palace, Han Hyo Joo of Dong Yi, and most recently Love in the Moonlight with my oppa Park Bo Gum, OMG I'm so so excited! 

Take 1 from the shop. 

The owner asked us to pick a color, everything looked so beautiful so I just mix and match. and they also did our hair with some soft cloth hair accessory. 

Take 2 by our Japanese friend.  Arigatou tomodachi!

Kamsahamnida!

My first thought when we stepped outside was, my gosh I'm gonna froze in the cold. 

Hanbok is made of fine silk of 2 parts, the jacket (jeogori) and the skirt (chima) 

I preferred the upper part jacket (jeogori)  to be longer so I could hide my hands inside.

My real life oppa on fleek, and was game that day...good start!

I'm pretty sure he was telling me here "enough na"

And there you go, complaining already he wanted coffee na...

This time, I'm feeling exhausted na din, the place is just soo crowded! 

So we found a nice spot to sit down a bit..

Just laughing and brushing off the cold. Joke. 

Trying to get a good angle in this side of the road.

Another lovely day in Korea, we keep falling in love with the places and culture! 

Meanwhile, that's me and otw to the market to buy some pang-gisa. Kamsahamnida!

Love,

marzylorie (^.^)

Midnight in Goryeo

Beautiful day today, and lucky for me my eyes doesn't show how terribly I slept last night, here's a short story to the night that was. 

We had a lovely time in Everland, Myeongdong of course the night shouldn't go without  samgyup and soju, we headed back satisfied,ready to reboot for next day's activity. 

But we made a quick stop at nearby 7/11 to buy some loads, in short more Soju. Ah, this feels exactly some Kdrama blahblah. Nightcapping some soju.

Daryl and I continued our soju in the room while Riza prepared to go to bed. It was almost midnight when we settled in for the night or is it a day? We were almost asleep when I heard some weird sound at first I thought it was coming from the window, so I went up a bit half asleep and checked, nothing. So I went back to bed- then the sound keeps coming until my heart was literally beating so fast- like a someone is trying to get inside. I grabbed my bag from my top pillow side and hide in blanket (like duh, priorities di ba?) 

Turns out Riza heard the same thing and she stood up and announced, someone is trying to break in! We jumped out of bed and then we hear the doorknob and the beeping outside. We were so freaked out, and the soju did not help at all to calm me down!  We tried to look for emergency numbers in our booking- nothing! So Daryl suggested we call the police. Korea indeed has the fastest internet, in a matter of minute with all the doorknob being forced open and beeping, we called the police and we told what was happening, we gave the hotel address and the waiting begins. Daryl managed to turned on the TV, and tried talking to the person outside asking "Who's there?"while Riza grabbed the hair dryer- her idea of self defense. Minute later, we heard a car parked outside, and then some conversation outside. Someone knocked and a muffled sound of " Police here". Wow, that was sooo fast!  

Daryl opened the door and 2 policemen said their curtsies. He explained that the hotel manager made a mistake. Turns out, the person who's trying to get inside is a group of Thai's who's supposed to check in the same hotel , same room number just different building. They apologized and led the Thais outside, they will call the hotel manager to settle the matter.   

When the adrenaline has died down, I think I needed more soju, I thought hey how come the police managed to get inside when the receptionist's only until 11PM? I did not slept well enough, and its almost 2AM. 

Next day, we investigated and found out something interesting. The hotel is equipped with KT short for Korea Telecop.  A CCTV access, surveillance camera linked to the police station where they could - yes..peeked in for any possible emergency, also police has a special access codes in case they needed to go inside the building. Quite cool!  So that explains why the police were in the hotel so quickly and managed to get inside!

In the end, we were satisfied how they handled the matter, efficient and yes- FAST! We never felt safer, and yes, they're more than just Kpopolice face, oppa! Sarangheee.

Cheers,

marzylorie (^.^)

The Night in Myeongdong

Myeongdong is a common place especially that its one of the primary shopping district in Korea, from K-beauty products, to K Pop stuff, posters, bling2x, K foods, yes practically you'll find everything here!  Quite a busy, lively and action packed street with all the great deals. Ok but first, we looked around to find a place to have our samgyup. Finally, settled in a modest, quiet place in Arirang Daepae.

Soju night in Myeongdong! Tick off from our list. Aigoo..

Panda looking happy..

But of course we are!

After a satisfying authentic samgyup and soju, we walked around to find more exciting stuff and tried more treats while basking in the lively cold air streets of Myeongdong.

That is one large squid...

So we tried it of course!  Not so bad.

Great food, great vibe. We definitely enjoyed this night in Myeongdong! 

Saranghae 사랑해 !

Cheers,

marzylorie (^.^)