Korea Day 5: History Lessons, Cultural Traditions, New and Old Art

Day 5: I couldn't seem to come up with a better title, something interesting since my entry today is well mostly about history. History...sounds boring but I love history. :) Korea's history is very rich even going back as far as the 15th century, from what I remember from our tours.

I allotted one day to visit the main palaces. First, we visited Jongmyo Shrine. It is not a palace it is a shrine. This is the place where they enshrined the ashes (I think) of the royal family. It is also the place where they celebrate a good harvest back in the old days. This is where the kings are prepared before they pass on to the next life.

7:30 AM	Wake up and Freshen Up
8:30 AM	Breakfast @ Suitcasers (4th Flr)
9:00 AM	Go to Jongmyo Shrine
	City Hall Station Line 1 to Jongno 3(sam)-ga Station Line 1, Exit 11 10-min walk from station
	Buy integrated ticket KRW 10,000 (entrance to palaces, secret garden and Jongmyo shrine)
10:00 AM	English Guided tour of Jongmyo Shrine

Before I forget, please check the schedule for the tours at Jongmyo Shrine. Click on this link to get the schedule for the English Tour.You cannot go inside Jongmyo Shrine without a guided tour except on Saturdays or some special occasions. All guided tours like in Jongmyo Shrine are free. :) Only need to pay for the entrance fee.

Middle path is reserved for royalty/spirits

more than a hundred year old tree

Main Royal Shrine

Our Tour Guide

Family Picture at the Main Royal Shrine

Next up is Changdeokgung Palace. We didn't visit or tour the palace. We toured the Secret Garden or Biwon/Huwon Tour. It is a really, really big garden behind the palace. It covers 2/3 of the whole Changdeokgung Palace. Jongmyo Shrine is about 15-20mins walk to Changdeokgung Palace. Use google maps to get around. :)

11:00 AM	End of Tour, walk to Changdeokgung Palace
11:15 AM	ETA Changdeokgung Palace
	Present online reservation for Secret Garden tour and present Integrated Ticket
11:30 AM	Changdeokgung Secret Garden English tour

According to the blogs I've read, prior reservation is a must since they only allow limited number of people to go inside the garden. Tour for the Secret Garden is also by schedule, you may click on this link for details. However, we didn't need to show our online reservation. Also, before the start of the tour, our guide said we can go inside the garden and walk around or listen to the tour of the garden. I guess it was that time of the year or season where people can go and walk around the garden grounds.

Here are some of the pictures I took inside the garden.

Bulromun Gate, says you will

have a long life if you pass under it

Lovely Autumn Colors

Red Autumn Colors

The Juniper Tree, I think 800 yrs old? 

Main entrance of Changdeokgung Palace

For more info about the different pavilions do check out this link. :)

1:00 PM	End of Secret Garden Tour
	Go to Tosokchon for late lunch

You could take the subway from Anguk Station line 3 to Gyeongbokgung Station line 3. But, subways are quite tricky in Korea since there are lots of stairs and some exits may be far from where you're going. Depends really...so we just walked, walked some more before finally reaching Gyeongbokgung Palace. :)

Before going inside, it was time for lunch, a ver very late lunch?

1:30 PM	Arrive at Tosokchon
2:00 PM	Were seated at our table

Tosokchon is one of the popular restaurants in Seoul. Their specialty is the Samgyetang, Ginseng Chicken Soup. Wait time was around 25-30mins. If we arrived here during lunch time the lines would be so long and we would have to wait for more than an hour!

How to get here: From Gyeongbokgung Station Line 3, Exit 2, walk straight then you'll see a yellow building. It's just past that yellow building. Basically if you see a line, then that's Tosokchon

Not convinced? Check out the reviews from Tripadvisor right here. 

Outside of Tosokchon

Samgyetang/Chicken Ginseng Soup

The Chicken Ginseng Soup was so good. It may taste bland for people who love flavorful dishes. BTW, they serve the dish with a shot of Ginseng. You pour the shot into your dish if you feel like there's not enough ginseng flavor. The chicken is like the size of a spring chicken, with rice stuffing and of course ginseng.

2:45 PM	End of lunch
	Go to Gyeongbokgung Palace
3:00 PM	Watch Changing of the Guards

We went back to Gyeongbokgung Palace to catch the Changing of the Guards Ceremony. Click on this link to view the schedule of the performances.

Changing of the Guards

The performance is about 20 mins. There's a 3:30 PM English Guided Tour of the palace.

3:30 PM	English Guided tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace
5:00 PM	End of Tour

Gyeongbokgung Palace is like the most popular and must-visit palace in Seoul. If you don't have time and just need to visit one palace then go for Gyeongbokgung. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the stories about the palace was entertaining.

Here are some of the pictures inside Gyeongbokgung Palace:

The English Tour begins right at this spot

Interior of the rooms, lower left picture: part of the roof

The tour is free, you just need to pay the entrance. Click on this link for the tour schedules.

For my itinerary, I checked out the schedules of the English tours and the Changing of the Guard Ceremony. The schedules were the basis for my "history lessons" itinerary.

We visited Insadong after the palace tour. Insadong is about 15 mins. walk from Gyeongbokgung. By subway it's Exit 6 of Anguk Station Line 3. 

PAINTBRUSH, main entrance of Insadong

Insadong is the artsy-touristy place to be if you like to look at modern or traditional art. There are lots of tea houses and traditional restaurants. You can also buy souvenirs here at Ssamziegil, a spiral type of building, well since you can walk up to the highest floor. The paths are inclined but you don't notice it that you're walking up to top floor.

Ssamziegil bulding

After walking around Insadong we had our traditional Korean dinner at Insadong Chon.

7:00 PM

Dinner at Insadong Chon

Hanjeongsik

Hanjeongsik is like a royal feast. They bring out all the dishes, side-dishes and more. Back in the day, royals used to have Hanjeongsik. Based from my research, Insadong Chon is a good restaurant to experience this traditional feast.

Insadong Chon

From the main entrance, turn left on the first alley from the main road. It's located along other restaurants like Jirisan, also a restaurant that serves Hanjeongsik.

8:30 PM

Visit Cheonggye Plaza (City Hall Station (Seoul Subway Line 1, 2), Exit 4.)

After dinner, we decided to go back to Suitcasers. But I needed to see Cheonggyecheon Plaza so I went there alone. My parents went back to our hotel to rest up.

Cheonggyecheon Spiral :)

Cheonggyecheon Plaza

From Cheonggyecheon Plaza, I walked all the way to Gwanghwamun Square..

And then ended up walking to Gyeongbokgung Palace...The Palace looks so beautiful at night. Great lighting. :) 

I think it was about 15mins walk from Cheonggyecheon Plaza to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Walking in the city at night was very safe. Then after visiting the palace, well just the outside of it, I walked all the way back to Suitcasers.

9:30 PM

Walk back to Suitcasers