Octie Appetie: Day 10 - Gyeongbok Palace

22 August 2011

Day 10 - Gyeongbok Palace

Gyeongbok-Gung is a royal palace located in the northern part of Seoul. Being the main palace, the compound was the largest of the 'Five Grand Places' built by the Joseon Dynasty. Gyeongbok-Gung Palace means "Palace of Shining Happiness".

Another a must-visit palace in Seoul that also built by kings of the Joseon Dynasty is Changdeok-Gung Palace which is located in the east of Gyeongbok Palace. The literal meaning of Changdeokgung is "Palace of Prospering Virtue". My suggestion is to visit the Gyeongbok Palace in the morning then heading to Changdeokgung Palace through the narrow hidden alleyway (Gahoe-Dong) that full of these old ancient-style houses (Hanok), quirly cafes and restaurants, also contains a number of museums and galleries. Afterall, end your journey with the full-course royal banquets while enjoying the beautiful landscape and ambiance of traditional hanok. Most of the restaurants are located around Angguk.

These are some of the Gyeongbok-Gung palace photos that I took.

Brrrr... It was the coldest day ever while we're there. Apparently, they were snowing in some part of Korea. We thought April its suppose to be spring already. Eventhough before we went, we did check the weather and it said that the weather would be around 3 to 15 degrees. Stubborn me, I just believe in myself and thought it would be like spring in Australia so I didn't bring any thick coats at all.

Early morning today, we caught this free shuttle bus from Ibis hotel (booked in advance) and they drop us at Gyeongbok Palace. Once we got off from the shuttle bus, we knew straight away that its definitely freezing cold here. But we still keep going, bared the chilly weather and sightseeing the palace. After awhile we completely could not stand it anymore, so we decided to change our plan that previously wanna go to ChangdeokGung palace and Angguk to our lovely warm hotel. We just about to put on more cloth and head back out again but our laziness struck us and we just went out for lunch around Myeong Dong instead.. Big mistake !!!! That made me miss the Korean Royal-style meal (Hanjeongsik) that I've been planning for.

Pho' Bay
Around Myeong Dong

Vietnamese Mixed Noodle KRW 10,000 (AU$ 9.10)

We also had the Beef Noodle Soup (Pho' Beef) but the picture doesn't turn out nice. Generally, the food was nice but compare to the one we have in OZ, this one is I think they put too much Korean touch to suit the local taste buds.