Korea Trip Day 6 - Palace, Myeongdong, Hongdae

After the long wait, finally I have the time to reminisce my days in Seoul. After the nice dessert at the coffee shop (please refer to Korea Trip Day 5 post) we head back and ready to hit the sack. Hyekyung warned us that her room (she was so kind to let us use her room) is very cold at night. Still in the "polite-guest" mode, I replied "Oh.. Don't worry. We're used to the cold by now." Boy.. was I WRONG! Traditional Korean houses use heat from the floor (ondol) to warm the house. Unless u are lying on the floor, the temperature is pretty much the same. Imagine sitting on the heated floor, so ur butt would be warm and cosy but you can't feel your cheeks because it's frozen. That very night, the wind was blowing like there was no tomorrow. I was woken up at the middle of the night from the sound of the wind rattling the window. Oh, and a few times I was shocked out of my slumber because I shivered in my sleep. I felt like I was on the 2 Days 1 Night show and had to sleep outside because I lost bokbulbok game. Hahahaha! It was memorable, nevertheless.

Feeling like crap the next day, we immediately jumped on the sight-seeing wagon. We thought Minjae (Hyekyung's nephew) didn't want to tag along. He changed his mind overnight. Kids... :) We picked him up at his house which is not that far away from Hyekyung's place.

He was busy showing off his cards to us. Cute kid.

It was my first snow and it was snowing pretty heavy that morning. I remember hopping outside of Hyekyung's gate when the first snow landed on my palm. ahh.. the good ol' days. :)

We had our breakfast at one clean restaurant. The food was good. This is kimchi jjigae and some little prawns inside. Minjae's pork cutlet reminds me of Prosperity Burger Patty. hahaha!

First stop, the Palace. We don't mind going to any of the many palaces in Seoul. Hyekyung brought us to Deoksugung Palace.

The admission tix.

They're supposed to have changing of guards ceremony. We missed the ceremony. The guards in the above picture are already heading back to the entrance of the palace.

Hyekyung, Minjae and their bodyguard.

The throne. (nak bg lagi description tp ni la masalah ngn procrastination. I forgot everything. haha!)

It has stopped snowing by the time we got there but still windy. We went to the toilet and smarty Hyekyung showed us a great way to stay warm. Right on top of the heater in the toilet. :)

I remember something about when the bell is rung, something happens in hell. (mane ade vague. hahahahaha! sorry readers.)

Colourful leaves along the pathway on the palace ground.

The place where they burn the logs to keep the palace warm.

Our pet. Minjae the Monkey.

Admiring King Sejong. He's the face on 10,000won bill. He invented Hangeul (the Korean alphabets)

We took another break at the coffee house inside the palace.

You guys might think "Is something wrong with Hyekyung's ears?" or "Was Nurul shouting while snapping the pic and made Hyekyung protect her ears from the noise pollution?". Animida! Actually My Ear's Candy - Baek Ji Young feat. Taecyeon 2PM was playing in the background. Hyekyung thought she was Baek Ji Young. :P

Lucky us, by the time we're about to leave the place there was another change of guard ceremony. The guards were getting ready to rumble.

It was like a mini parade. Loud and colorful. I like.

After running around the palace ground, we decided to explore Myeongdong, the glorious shopping district. While we were going through the subway station, there was a demonstration on a Korean wedding(?). We wrote our well-wishes for the newlyweds on pieces of paper and pasted them on the pillars.

Khusyuk menulih.

The groom. Kot.

The plan was to jalan2 kat Myeongdong and then head to Hongdae to meet fellow Couchsurfers to hang out with them. Minjae was exhausted so Hyekyung had to send him back and we stayed in Myeongdong on our own and promised to meet her in Hongdae.

We finally met our new friends in Hongdae. We planned to have dinner together and while we were searching for a decent restaurant, we stumbled upon this art gallery.

Interesting art display. (I don't get art.)

One of our food for dinner. It's ddeokbokki + seafood. Sedap!

There are 4 nationalities in this pic (Malaysian, Canadian, American and French) + 1 korean taking the pic. hehe. Had good time chit-chatting about our cultures. I highly recommend Couchsurfing.org to have rich travelling experience.

They invited us to hang out at a bar/club but we declined. Was not up for loud music and crowd. We were in Hongdae so we naturally head to one of the pretty coffee shops. It was cold so a warm cuppa would do wonders. I can't imagine winter without coffee shops.

Our loot from Myeongdong. We bought a few cheap stuffs from Nature Republic (Rain's cosmetic shop) but the freebies were more than what we bought. Generous Koreans. :)

Cosying up on the couch in the coffee shop. Planning our next day. (nmpk sgt berlakon. theheheh.)

I'll say thing one more time, I heart Korean coffee shops! They are cosy, the deco is pretty and the coffee is good. The table was actually made out of a STOP sign. :)

Our dessert.

At home, we quickly put on the free masks we got from Nature Republic. We were exhausted but insisted on wearing them. We woke up with dried papers on our faces the next day.

More to come.