Winter in Korea: Day 2 (Part 1)

The last time I went to Korea with my bestfriend, Shai, we didn't prioritize visiting temples. We only visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. That's because we thought they all look similar so visiting one would be enough. 

However, when we visited several temples in this trip, I felt the need to correct myself and tell you that Palaces and Temples in Korea each has its own story to tell and their aesthetic structures are surprisingly diverse. I didn't want to discuss history to y'all. I just want to invite you to visit palaces and temples in Korea if you really want to have a greater perspective of their culture. 

It's our second day and our first stop was to visit Jongmyo Royal Shrine. It's very accessible to public transport (subway) and it's location is just a few minutes walk from the other tourist spots. The great thing about our second day was that we were admitted in the palaces for FREE! Yes you've read that right, Admission Fees for that day only was free. How lucky are we?! 

I know you'll ask why it was free for the day. The answer: UNESCO has conducted a survey for the temple visitors. Six temples/palaces were part of this survey which means all six temples have free entrance for the day. We were given a free tote bag after filling in the survey and of course, we can enter the palaces for free. 

It looks like it's Autumn, but trust me it's winter. It was 5°C freezing cold. I was still hoping it'll snow but it didn't. This is what will welcome you as you enter the gates of the Shrine. The colors are amazing!

Seoulid Adventures: Bukchon Hanok Village

I was not on hiatus. I just got a little busy with "review" for an upcoming board exam (which slowly kills me with anxiety). Since I have a few minutes to do stuff online, I decided why not update my little blog? The page views for the last month was good enough so I think people still check this blogspot. hihi.

Our second destination after the Gyeongbokgung Palace was the Bukchon Hanok Village. It was almost 4pm in the afternoon when we got there and I would probably recommend to visit that place at an earlier hour. Since we walked for a few hours at the Palace, our feet were throbbing in pain and walking up the village was a challenge so we only took very few photos (too lazy to take pictures, too busy looking for spots where we could sit and rest).

It was a great thing that Korea have established a lot of Tourist Information booths all over seoul, it was not difficult to navigate the places we wanted to visit because they provide maps and clear directions going to those places. They even have tourist info people who could give you help with directions or finding places you wanted to see. They love tourists!

Here are some of the pictures we took at Bukchon Hanok Village: