Gyeongbokgung Palace

Thanks to Rooftop Prince, I had an urge to go see Gyeongbokgung Palace while I was in Seoul. It wasn't until I was there that I found out that Rooftop Prince was actually shot at a different palace.

-____-

But oh well!

It was a fairly quick walk from Gyeongbokgung Station to the palace. 

Upon reaching the entrance, we saw a cute little "changing of the guard shift" parade going on.

There was a lot of hollering.

I thought their costumes looked cheap though. Nothing like the spectacular brocades that you'd see in high budget periodic films.

Maybe it's because they're just... guards.

I was really tempted to make funny faces at them, but then I thought to myself: "let's not make their job more unpleasant than it already is."

Saw the old guard shift marching away.

The ticket was really cheap, only 3,000 won or approximately 3 SGD. A stark difference to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing which is ten times the price.

Thankfully, Gyeongbokgung Palace was a lot less crowded than the Forbidden City in Beijing. 

I thought the architecture looked pretty similar.

Here's Hyoju and I just inside of the main entrance. Doesn't she look super cute in her light purple shirt?

The throne room also looked similar to the throne room in China, just perhaps, less complicated.

The painted walls and ceiling looked vibrant and well-preserved.

Here outside the throne room too, was a crowd of tourists vying for first position. It was altogether rather intense.

Hyoju mentioned that the last time she'd been to Gyeongbokgung Palace, she was a middle school student. Guess this is just one of the typical school outing locations. 

I was relieved to see that the back of the palace was less crowded than the front.

Like in the Namsangol Hanok Village, there are rooms where you can remove your shoes to go inside for a quick tour. Hyoju went in. I was too lazy so I stood outside as usual.

Although Rooftop Prince wasn't really filmed here, there were scenes in Da Jang Geum that were!!! However, I watched DJG such a long time ago that I couldn't recognise the spots where they did some filming.

I really liked the brick patterns along this back wall.

They look almost like a Middle Eastern type pattern. Wonder how it ended up on these walls.

I asked Hyoju to take a photo of me here, not only because I liked the background, but also so that I could sit down.

^^v

The first signs of spring.

The mirror lake, with Bugaksan mountain in the background.

We spent a long time in this area taking photos because it was so pretty.

Spotted my favourite of Korean birds: the black-billed magpie.

It's my favourite not only because it's so beautiful, but also because it is a highly intelligent bird. It seems almost as intelligent as a dog.

The drainage system looks defunct now. 

The mirror lake has a special ancient device which keeps the water entering the lake from disturbing its surface. This maintains the beautiful reflection at all times.

Man I would love to sleep on a little canoe out there.

Well well look what I found. Police patrol on rollerblades! My kinda folks!

In between Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bugaksan mountain is the Blue House, where the Korean president lives.

Security seems tight in the front.

Nice work clothes for these modern-day guards.

And, is this man from the South Korean Secret Service? Well, I pretended to myself that he was. What with the shades and everything. He looked like a Korean actor.

Turned back in to Gyeongbokgung Palace through the back gate to see this completely unpainted wooden house.

The grounds smelled heavenly. 

Thanks to the untainted wood.

I really wouldn't mind living in a wooden house like this because it smells so nice.

And I could sleep out here all afternoon.

Saw more spring blooms.

And another magpie.

Namsangol Hanok Village

Alright. Two more posts about Korea and I will start blogging about all the other backdated stuff! My goal is to finish all of them by today, so here's to... what, 4-5 hours of straight writing?

Yes. I'm kind of free today, but we'll talk about that later. 

One of the things that my mom had wanted to do in Seoul was to go to Namsangol Hanok Village. Being a fan of periodic dramas, my mom's wish was to see for herself what the Joseon era Korean life looked like.

So in the late afternoon, we left the boys in the hotel and made our way to this tourist attraction.

The entrance was practically swarming with Chinese tourists when we got there. 

My mom reluctantly got behind this poster after much prodding. I think she totally looks the part of a typical Joseon era woman.

A little exhibit of farming tools used back then.

Namsangol Hanok Village has really beautiful grounds. The whole place was constructed fairly recently, with traditional houses of high-ranking government officials being brought here for preservation. 

Here's a nice wooden pavilion by the entrance.

Too many tourists though... It was a little suffocating.

The insides of each house had been furnished to the best extent with real household items from the era.

You're permitted to walk into certain rooms if you take your shoes off. 

I was too lazy to do that, so I stayed outside and used my zoom function instead. Go camera!

Came upon the fermenting pots in the back. 

How many a drama scene have we watched where a court lady is checking up on her fermenting bean paste? How controversial. How lovely. 

My mom snapping away furiously.

Me being slightly bored.

Imagining that I'm a little kid playing hide and seek while my mom checks the fermenting bean paste.

I noticed scrolled straw mats outside some walls. Wonder if they were used as extra insulation during winter?

Out in the yard, some kids were playing a traditional top-spinning game. It involves whipping the top repeatedly with...... a whip. 

The shadows were beginning to lengthen as the day wore on.

As we moved further into the grounds, the crowds started dwindling.

We finally popped out some back door and found ourselves in a tranquil part of the Hanok village.

Beautiful place for photography, especially wedding photography, I'd imagine. Wish the flowers had already bloomed for spring.

During my time in Korea, I was trying my best to learn Korean. If I saw anything which caught my interest, I'd immediately look up the word for it in Korean, or ask my friend how to say it. 

Yeseul told me that pigeons are called 비둘기 (bidulgi). But since pigeons are viewed more as an urban pest than cute fat birds, a street name for them is 닭둘기 (dakdulgi) where 닭 (dak) means "chicken". 

So, I kid you not, each time I saw a pigeon on the street, I'd start muttering the words "비둘기" & "닭둘기" under my breath. It just felt fun to know what they're called.

What a contrast between the modern and the old. 

It made me sad to think that there was once a time when the traditional tiled roofs were the only roofs you could see before the blue sky.

Spotted the beginnings of spring among the straw.

Green life springing forth.

I miss pines. Just want to make a bed of pine leaves and sleep in it all day.

Spotted a cute old man from far away and sneaked a photo of him. 

Notice his shoes?

:D

Anxious tourist behaviour alert: 

When my mom and I spotted these first blooms from across the stream, we practically scrambled on over, well, okay, I practically scrambled across the bank and hopped the "Do Not Enter" line just to snap a few cheesy photos of the purples. 

They were a little disappointing up close. 

As we were leaving the Hanok village, I asked this Korean lady if I could take a photo of her dog. She said yes, then asked the dog to pose for me. To my surprise, the dog did just that. She stopped wagging, panting and moving until the photo was taken. 

The dog is a genius!