Winter in Korea: Day 4

I've always wanted to visit a place where I can actually see rows of trees all lined up on the sides of a long pathway where I can take my time to walk and enjoy how those trees were perfectly planted. Isn't that pretty? On our fourth day in Korea, we finally visited one! It's NAMI ISLAND!

This day's itinerary is a Tour Package we got from onedaykorea.com. The tour included two tourist locations namely Naminara Republic/Nami Island and an afternoon Ski at Vivaldi Ski Park (gears included on the package). 

We met with the tour guide early in the morning at Hongdae so we can all travel together to the locations mentioned. Here goes our photo diary:

As we went on to the port to ride the ferry to Nami Island, a big banner welcomed us.

The view of the port from the ferry on our way to Nami Island.

The tree lane behind us really amazes me. 

More photos because...why not?

My favorite photo of myself in Nami Island! Thanks Ryan for this!

Winter in Korea: Day 2 (Part 2)

Browsing our Korea travel photos, I only realized it now that we visited the most number of places on the second day of our trip. We went to five different places (Jongmyo Royal Shrine, Changdeokgung Temple, National Museum, Namsan Seoul Tower & Myeongdong Shopping District). This probably explains why we woke up late on our third day and missed eating our breakfast. 

Going back to the other half of our second day itinerary, we went to meet my bestfriend and momshie Rob so we can finally see more places as a complete group. Since we all haven't taken our lunch, we went on a Barbecue Place called "MEAT-ing" in Hongdae. For a $13 lunch buffet, it was a pretty good price. However, when we told out Korean Landlord about the place, he was insistent that the place was not the best barbecue place. He suggested other better places that serves good meat. 

(Sorry, we forgot to take a photo! We're starving so no one thought of taking a photo. Hahahaha)

Now that we have our energies back, we decided to visit the most popular tower in Seoul--Namsan Seoul Tower. I knew the tower because of the Korean Drama "Boys Over Flowers". It was the place were Geum Jandi and Goo Jun Pyo were supposed to meet but Gun Pyo got stood up and waited in vain at the tower on that cold winter night. I'll never forget that scene! (I swore to myself that I have to visit this place every time I come to Korea, I'm glad I still do. It's my second time!).

It's a sin to not have any photo taken with this love locks around the tower if you visit this place. 

Meet my bestest friend forevs Shai! Read my previous blog posts (click here) about our friendship and you'll know why she's my bff! Ooopsies the benches in Namsan Tower look bent but trust me it's just the "style" we didn't break it.

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: The War Memorial of Korea

I am the kind of person who would prefer museums over theme parks (not because I'm not the adventurous type but) because I love finding out for myself how some things in the past, actually happened. I find it amusing to know interesting facts from the past that have impacted today's generation.

So, my Korea trip with my bestfriend will not be complete without visiting museums! I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because I was so engrossed with the museum's beauty. And before I forget, this museum do not have any entrance fees!!! (that's a good reason for you to visit!). You can definitely give donations if you want to, but they don't charge for entrance fees.

The part that I love the most was the 3D short film of F-15. It was an exchange of bombs and bullets on air between flight jets of Korea and Japan. You have to see it!

 You will know that you are already within the vicinity of the war memorial if you see this. Walk a few meters from the subway station and you'll see this monument with a gallery inside.

A vessel that was used decades ago by the Koreans to guard the coast. 

  Some of the armored vehicles and planes were located outside the museum. They don't function anymore.