Seollal in Seoul, part 2

So I know I've been a bad blogger and haven't finished my blog of Seoul, but here is part two! I will try to fit all the high lights into one post this time rather than like 3 or 4 haha.

Our second day in Seoul we went to Gyeongbokgung palace which turned out to be crazy busy, strange since it was also Seollal day or not strange at all since the palace was free that day. Probably because they wanted to give at least some of the staff the day off.  I was not actually prepared for how large the palace grounds were. For some reason I'd always imagined it as just the huge main building and a few other smaller ones around, but no, it never seemed to end. It was huge and beautiful, full of the traditional Korean architecture I've seen at some of the other historical sites I've visited. See all those wonderful pictures I've been posting on facebook guys!

We wandered around the grounds for awhile, saw the palace and various peoples house and buildings. There was a beautiful little pond in front of Chuirojeong pavilion which is huge, according to me friend you can go in it in the summer but it was closed off while we were there. Being on the palace grounds also felt like an escape from the endless city because they were large enough that you could almost forget where you were. Also, the mountains towering around the palace in the background made it feel even less like it was in the city. 

After we wandered around and looked at some more buildings and gardens we went to the Korean Folk Museum which is pretty much just your standard museum. It had history of Korea, a contemporary exhibit about jeans and a bunch of celebratory stuff for Seollal. which we approached the museum there were tons of white tents set up for various things. You could buy traditional snacks, make crafts for the kids and get your fortune told, we by passed the tens because they were really busy. First, we found a cute little imitation town which I think was supposed to show Korea before the Korean war then we went to see the folk museum. On the way in we passed a bunch of giant drums set up outside the palace and a sign saying there was going to be an activity at 1. I think it was around 11:30 when we went in? Or 12? I'm not sure, but we definitely came out after the drum show started, but it was still really really amazing. 

The loved seeing how past people in korea led their lives, all the artifacts from their daily life and what they did for fun and so forth. I don't really know what to tell you about the museum it was pretty much your standard type. They did have a really cute exhibit of sheep for the year of the sheep, it was probably one of my favourite things it was so simple, but so interesting. It had different depictions of sheep and they talked about its signification in Korea society. 

I ended up spending way more time in the museum than I intended. And around the time the show outside started I was busy watching a video of traditional Korean weaving, which looked really cool and I happened to like weaving and textile arts. So finally after reminding me of the time Julianne and I headed out the see the drummers, luckily we barely missed anything. The drummers were amazing, I took some videos I'll have to post later. It was so intense and the drummed so fast. Everyone was really engaged with the performance (for the most part) and enjoying themselves so it made the atmosphere really great.

After the museum and palace we were both pretty hungry so we went to find some food and walk towards Cheonggyecheon river. Unfortunately because it was Seollal a lot of restaurants and businesses were closed so we ended up grabbing some food at a convenience store along the way. Next we headed down the river, which was a beautiful walk towards the subway station to go to another part of Seoul. the day before Julianne's friend had told us she had a bunch of old clothes sitting outside of her apartment she was trying to get rid of. Excited at the prospect of free clothing we both agreed to stop by and take some of the stuff off of her hands. It was a good decision. Not only did I briefly see Lotte World or at least the building its in, but I also got a cute dress and skirt.

After we hit up another grocery store for supplies for the evening. We decided to get a few snacks and drinks, luckily the day before we planned for the chance we might not be able to find a good place to eat by buying ramen cups and drinks so we were basically set for the evening.

The next day we went to the I'Park mall for the Studio Ghibli exhibit which was so so worth it in my opinion, despite the 15,000 Won entrance fee. They did a really creative and beautiful job of bringing the movies to life. It made me so happy to be there. After we found lots of open restaurants (thank god) and had some delicious tteokbokki which is really famous korean street food. We had it at a restaurant and with free fried rice, gosh that's a mouth full! It was delicious and cheap so that was awesome. After that we went to a market and I desperately tried to find some different shoes, without any luck. Julianne has size 10 feet (I believe) so finding shoes in Korea is basically impossible for her.

Since we'd had a little bit earlier start that day and I was feeling sluggish I suggested we go back to the hostel and rest for a little bit then go out for dinner and visit the Namsan tower. So fast forward through our resting we decide to try out this chinese restaurant in Myeongdong because I saw soup dumplings on their poster and I was desperate to try them (Julianne's version of events may differ slightly in that she may claim that I talked about dumplings the entire time, but really, I swear, it wasn't like that!)

Well unfortunately, as these things go, the dumplings turned out to taste pretty bad. i don't want to say they were the worst dumplings I'd ever had, but they were pretty high on the list of bad dumplings... they tasted like they'd been in the freezer for awhile, ie no flavour at all and the wrappers had tears in them, which if you know anything about soup dumpling this is the ultimate faux-pas. You cannot, I repeat, cannot have holes in the wraps. All the freaking soup pours out before you even get them to the edge of the steamer basket. So sad. The last problem was the soup itself. It was also pretty tasteless. I know I sound awful, but soup dumplings are special, like they are really special dumplings. They are like little meat-y, liquid-y jewels of flavour in your mouth. I have only had them one other time, in Vancouver, right before I left. I made Jon find a dumpling shop with me and it was amazing. So happy and delicious and omg. I just looked back and realized how much I just wrote about the dumplings... so this is awkward and I'll be moving on now.

Although the dumplings weren't great the rest of the food was pretty yummy. After eating we headed to the Namsan tower. It was really cool. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the line, going on the gondola was pretty fun. It is definitely worth going up Namsan at night because seeing the city lights and just how far Seoul stretched out was pretty amazing. I loved it up there and despite all the people it still felt really peaceful and happy. I wanted to go up the actual tower too, until Julianne told me it was 25,000 won (about $22 can) so never mind on that. We just went up the hill that the tower is on, not the actual tower. I do plan to go again next time I'm in Seoul and if I can afford it I'll probably go up the tower and I will also probably walk up the hill rather than the gondola, but neither of us could handle it after being on our feet for three days straight and walking everywhere. After that we called it a night because it was already getting pretty late we almost bought ice cream up there too, until we realized how expensive it would be then decided to get ice cream at the GS25 (popular Korean convenience store) which we never ended up getting.

The next day would be our last full day in Seoul and we were going to Hongdae! A popular university district. But that, I'll save for a new post because I just realized how long this one is... why do I need to describe everything, I don't know? I guess since I went on this trip almost a month ago my recall is getting a little foggy and I feel like adding in all the details. Anyway, last post about Seoul is on it's way, I swear! Then I'll have some posts about the graduation for the grade 6 students, and the first day for the grade 1 students and some other stuff, when I remember what it is.... I swear some other cool stuff did happen. I'm just tired now and blanking. 

Seollal in Seoul part 1

First, I want to comment that it has been six months since I came to Korea (in October!) Wow! Can you believe it? I can't. At the beginning it felt like I had eternity in Korea, the whole year stretching out before me and now it kinda feels like wtf I still want to do/see so many things! Where did all that time go I had 6 months ago?! Where is it? So yeah, I am stoked that I only have 6 months till I get to be at home on the wonderful island with my family and friends, but I'm also super sad that in 6 months I'll be leaving this awesome country and all the wonderful people I've met here, that will be really difficult.

Okay, so moving on to Seollal and Seoul! First, I guess you're wondering what Seollal is. It is Korean new year. It happens at the start of the Lunar calendar much like the Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese new years do. It is a time when Korean's go home to spend time with there families and eat yummy Korean foods. They also wear hanbok which is the traditional Korean clothing. They are really pretty looking. So for new years because everyone needs to travel home and it's an important holiday. The day before and the day after Seollal are also national holidays (at least I think that's why? Correct me if I'm wrong about this guys!) This year Seollal was on a Thursday which meant I got the Wednesday and the Friday off as well, which leads perfectly into the weekend giving me five days off! 

So, I did almost go to Japan for this holiday with some different friends, but I decide for the sake of the bank account that Seoul would be the better trip. I was very happy with my choice. I went with my Canadian friend Julianne. We booked a hostel near the Seoul station (so it would be easy to get around) and decided the KTX (railway) would be the fastest and most comfortable way to travel and to us North American's it is fast, I think it took around 3hrs, maybe just under? I wasn't sure. It was super easy to book too. You just go online and book everything for the train you want and then take the information in with your passport to the ticket office on the day of your departure and they give you the tickets. So easy! 

The train also had clean washrooms, comfortable seating, wifi (but only if you downloaded the app which I couldn't get on my phone for some reason) and snacks if you wanted to eat something. The only mistake I made the first day was forgetting to bring water so I was really thirsty by the time I got to Seoul. Seoul was pretty empty when we arrived because everyone was busy heading home for the holidays. The train station was crazy though, in both Changwon and Seoul station. So many people traveling that day. 

Our hostel was really cute and had kind of a school theme. I liked the hostel immediately, it had a really home-y, comfortable feeling and the staff was really helpful and friendly. In order to save money we got one room with a double bed which was perfect for us. The only thing I would've changed for next time was getting the bathroom attached to the room because the bathrooms in the hostel were down the hall and really really small so you had to either hang your clothes on the door and risk getting them wet or leave them outside and risk someone seeing you. And no, you couldn't walk down the hall in a towel because in Korea they just use hand towels, not the giant ones we're used to. 

The first day we were there we quickly dumped our stuff at the hostel and went in search of food. We decided to try a popular Japanese fast food chain called Lotteria it is owned by a huge company that has pretty much everything, it's huge in Asia. The burgers were tasty as fast food usually is and after we took a rest at the hostel and then went to meet Julianne's friend. We ended up eating again then going to Myeongdong which is a really popular shopping area. It is insanely crowded with stores, mostly clothing, beauty and shoes stores, but some other things thrown in for good measure. It is a shoppers dream. Also, when I say beauty stores I mean there was one every other store... it was actually insane. There were beauty stores for one brand (usually more than one in that area) then there were also beauty stores for multiple brands...but they were usually the same brands as the other beauty stores that were for brands... so you basically had the same beauty products everywhere. 

Plus every time you walked by the beauty store there was a girl trying to get you to come in. Lots of them had free samples, but you only got them if you went inside. I managed pretty good self control and only went in one (which happened to be having a 1+1 sale on my favourite hand cream!) After the craziness of Myeongdong we were exhausted so we went back to our hostel via subway and got some snacks then holed up with some television and food to prepare ourselves for Gyeongbokgung the royal palace in Seoul!