Korea is so much fun!

It was really awesome today! In the morning, we went to Gyeongbok-gung (景福宮) because we couldn't really see it the other day, and we bought the ticket for 4 palaces and 1 shrine that is good for 3 months so we can visit ALL of them while we're in Korea.

It was really cool to be there again... this time with a tour guide. She was soooo informative!! I can actually understand her English, as opposed to the Matsumoto castle tour guide we had in Japan where I had to ask Joyce to translate her Japanese-English to English -_-

The Korean culture is really similar to Chinese culture. I mean..... ALL the names in the palace buildings are pretty much the same pronunciation as Chinese (not to mention that all the buildings are in Hanja). A lot of the thoughts behind why things are placed the way they are were the same as Chinese culture, probably with a few exceptions though. For example, Chinese culture is very big in using dragon to represent the emperor... which I think Korean culture is similar, with the exception that they use the sun to represent the king as well (which I don't believe the Chinese culture does?).

This tapestry that they said is the only "portrait" the civilians can see of the king shows the sun (the king), the moon (queen), and the five mountains of Korea (3 in North Korea and 2 in South Korea), as well as the pine trees and some other tree that I forgot.... means that the king is ruling over everything.

It makes a lot of sense now that the tour guide explained the sun and moon thing. I remembered that drama called "The sun that embraces the moon", at the beginning they said there are 2 suns and 2 moons, which means that there are potentially two kings and two queens, and that is the problem in the drama (cannot have two sets of royalty!). I didn't know that the sun and moon analogy was that important in the Korean culture... but now it make sense!

Do you see the little creatures on the tip of the rooftop? 

They are 잡상 (雜像) to fend off the evil spirits. And guess what they are the character of? Journey to the West! 西遊記! What....???? I really thought that was just a folk tale that we learn as kids... I didn't know anyone, much less a country, would use any of that story for anything other than fairy tale! Very surprised.

Here are the characters in closer look....

唐三藏：

孫悟空：

豬八戒：

沙悟淨：

Isn't that interesting? I thought it was so cool!

Did you notice the amount of people wearing hanbok? Apparently if you rent hanbok, you can get into all the palaces for free. But I heard they're not cheap.... about 75,000 won for rental. And I think it's quite hot. They really add nicely to the scenery, making all my pictures look even more realistic as if I'm actually in Joseon dynasty! Haha..

Here's something I think is cool. So it's quite cold in Korea in the winter, so they have been using heated floor ever since the Joseon dynasty. They do that by putting coals in the bottom of the floor, which heats up the floor, but the smoke escape from the chimney that is in another building next door, through underground ducts. And guess what the writings are on the chimney?

They're obviously hanja... but can you guess what they say? The first one says 萬壽無疆 and the second one says 長壽萬歲. Seriously.... all the parallel between the two cultures is amazing!

We went into the National Palace Museum after this and looked at all the different exhibits in there. Here's something quite interesting...

I think this is for chuseok, the day that they offer food to the ancestors. I was just amazed at 1) how realistic the food looks in the museum, and 2) the abundance of the food! Wow!!!! A classmate said he's hungry from just looking at it....

After this, we went to the National Folk Museum of Korea, which was pretty cool, but pretty small. So after the royalty life in palace, we came to the civilian location. Haha. 

I'm not quite sure why there is a big radish just out of nowhere... but it's cute.

Huge shrine... but no enter.

Me looking like I'm in the middle of the village..

Sitting in a train that is around the 1920's?

After all that stuff and learning about the history of Korea (it's really sad...... just a lot of invasion by Japan and trying to rebuild the palaces over time), we went to Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an area where they had preserved a lot of the original buildings, but converted into shops and cafe/restaurants. My classmates found this cafe and I must say.... it was CRAZY expensive!!!!!

Everyone pretty much just ordered omicha and bingsu...... guess how much those tea cost? Each one was 9,000 won!!!!! What the heck?! And the binsu was the same price. o_O

It was really small. :( That was a really really expensive cafe. 

After eating there, the classmates wanted to do some more sightseeing, but I wanted to shop around the area since I saw some really cool shops here and there, so we went our separate ways. I was glad that I had some time to myself to explore the area.... and I had an awesome time!! I have to say, this was the best part of my trip so far!

It rained a little bit today, which made the air really nice (overcast, but cool and chill). The scenery was just soooooo awesome and pretty. I just can't describe how awesome it was to be there.

There were just shops hidden here and there..... and a lot of people just walking on the street shopping. Aw man, I would totally go there again!!

Did I mention that Lee Min Ho is like the official mascot of Korea? -_- He's everywhere.

At Nature Republic, the sales spoke Mandarin and really helped me choose the beauty supplies.... I was super thankful since I really didn't know what make up to buy at all. Thanks to her, I bought a whole bunch of stuff!

And guess how much it cost? Around 52,000 won. I don't think this would ever happen if I were in U.S. My air cushion alone in U.S. cost $42. 

There were soooooooo many clothing and cute stuff shops. I got some clothes (gotta love the 1 + 1), for 20,000 total. Seriously. 

Koreans love the 1 + 1 or the 2 + 1. It's exactly the same as BOGO in U.S., but it's so much more intuitive. hahaha...

By the time I got back to the dorm, it was around 9pm. I went to the market to buy some TP and saw the price of watermelon. WOW....

WOW!!!!! That's a super expensive watermelon!!!! 

Lastly, there was a GS25 (like a 7-eleven, think Taiwan style) right next to the dorm. I didn't get to eat dinner so I went there to get some ramen and strawberry milk (I thought about trying the banana milk... but some people said it tastes really bad, like medicine.... so I think I'll just live vicariously). 

I've never eaten at a convenient store before..... and it was fun! haha. I'm sure it won't be fun for people who do this regularly.. hahaha.

Last thought: I'm SUPER thankful for coming to Korea. I really don't mind traveling alone at all (I actually didn't like it so much when I had a group of people touring today... since we move a lot slower as a group and we were too indecisive). It's been awesome meeting new people all the time, and just being SUPER mobile in the city life. 

I'm so glad that being a teacher gives me the option to travel months at a time. I've never thought that I would be able to experience student and dorm life again! At an asian country! Walking back from the train station to the dorm is like 15 minutes..... and it's quite bad when you have to lug all the stuff you bought from shopping back, while holding an umbrella because it's raining. But I was still thankful that it reminded me so much of living in Westwood and lugging a lot of things back to the apartment, or even Hedrick hall. 

And being in an asian country like Taiwan and Korea is soooooo awesome! First of all, there are TONS of things to do, right outside your living quarters! Second, you are super mobile with the subway and bus system. And since I got a SIM card, I really cannot get lost at all. Third, everything is super connected... you just use your T-money card for everything.... super convenient. Fourth, everything is so much cheaper (with the exception of binsu..... why!!!!!!!! I was planning to eat that everyday! :( ). 

I feel like I'm on a very experience filled vacation. Not only do I gain experience from the travel, I am also learning a lot of Korean. And I think it really makes a big difference that I'm doing this when I'm a lot older. If I were as young as these students are, I wouldn't have the life experience I have now to be prepared for a lot of things. For example, most of them don't even have a SIM card to have a working phone because they didn't know to check that option out beforehand. Most of them are more self-conscious (you lose that as you get older, hahahahahaha... no shame). Most of them are afraid to travel by themselves (I LOVE traveling by myself. No fear when your phone is working. :p). Most of them are afraid to speak Korean (seriously, the no shame really is a gift of old age). Most of them don't plan things out as well.... just not as good as older people in finding resources. 

Anyways, this learning vacation has been AWESOME so far!!