Category: Travel
SMTOWN
I know quite a few people who may have freaked out over this place if they got the chance to visit. Any K-pop fan has most likely heard of S.M. Entertainment/SMTOWN for they have raised many of the most successful K-pop artists including BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee and EXO. If you are a fan of any of these groups There’s more for you to read!
No more kamsamnida 감사합니다
I can still clearly hear my dad say: “You might get a cultural shock when you’ve landed in Korea.” I landed and set foot in Korea, but it didn’t happen. Life over there was pretty normal. The biggest change I had to make was perhaps remembering not to throw toilet paper in a toilet. (Shocker, I know.) I bowed my There’s more for you to read!
Love conquers hate
Ina did not feel like waking up on the 28th of June. She turned off her alarm clock and then minute after minute passed. Wake up please! I urged her in my mind. I looked up which subway line I’d have to take in order to get to the parade- only 3 stations away from here- if she didn’t want There’s more for you to read!
Enter the secret garden
Yes, this is a post about just another palace; Changdeokgung Palace to be precise but come on, can you really get tired of these beautiful palaces? Changdeokgung Palace is a lot smaller than Gyeongbokgung palace but if I could choose between living in the smaller one or the big one, I’d choose the former. Especially because Changdeokgung Palace is smaller, the palace There’s more for you to read!
Deoksung Palace
In Seoul, you can find five “grand palaces”. Most tourists are likely to visit only one or two, but if you wish to visit all, an “integrated-ticket-of-palaces” can save you some money. In general though, if you like to visit cultural sites you are at luck in Korea. The entry fees for these places are barely high whereas the entry fees There’s more for you to read!
A large palace with little doors
Finally! We visited the big palace in Seoul. We wanted to before, but it was closed when we arrived. Beware, everyone! Unlike all the other palaces, the Gyeongbokgung Palace is closed on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. The Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty and is located in northern Seoul. It There’s more for you to read!
Seoul in ‘one week’
There are only 7 days left of my trip in Korea. I realised this right before going to Busan and then also became aware that we had not yet done any sightseeing in Seoul. In the past month, we did make a list of worthwhile ‘attractions’ to visit. The only thing missing was a plan which has now been made There’s more for you to read!
Busan day two
After many, many hills and many, many wrong turns we finally found the right Buddhist temple after 2 hours of walking. We had assumed that… since everything that is located on a map in Seoul is within walking distance even though it looks far away on the map, it would be the same in Busan. Needless to say, we were There’s more for you to read!
Busan day one
It’s amazing how quiet Koreans are during a 4-hour bus journey. Maybe everyone wanted to try and sleep to get it over with or maybe it’s custom to be quiet in Korea. Wait- a 4-hour bus journey? A 4-hour bus journey to Busan, Korea’s seconds largest city. It has 3.6 million citizens compared to 25.6 million citizens in Seoul. We There’s more for you to read!
Surrounded by mist on Udo Island
On our last day on Jeju, we took a ferry to Udo Island. What is so special about Udo Island? I guess it has this rare quality of making you feel as if you’re in a movie. And with that, I mean a… ‘you’re surrounded by mist with monsters waiting for you’ movie. Do you know that one movie, The There’s more for you to read!
Yakcheonsa Buddhist Temple
Located about 10 to 15 minutes away from the pond of God is the Yakcheonsa Buddhist Temple. Its name means carries the meaning of the temple where medicine water flows. Looking at its recent completion in 1990 you’d expect to find a modern looking temple. However, it was built after the style of the Buddhist temples of the early Joseon There’s more for you to read!
Monkeys in our backyard
We just rolled out of bed after a text had come in earlier. Alya was coming to our neighbourhood; she asked if we were already awake. “She probably wants to meet up in the evening and is simply checking on beforehand,” Ina said. Turns out wishful thinking doesn’t always work, haha. Alya was already here, waiting for us in a There’s more for you to read!
The pond of God
Ina’s feet were still red once we woke up. The plan of visiting Udo Island was wiped off the table and instead we decided to take the more relaxed option; visiting waterfalls. When I think about waterfalls, I associate it with a lot of walking because that’s how I remember it from childhood vacations with my parents. It is not like There’s more for you to read!
To the summit of the Hallasan mountain!
As pointed out in my previous post, we woke up at 5:30. The alarm clock rang which was equal to a canon getting fired in my dream. Seconds ago, Jack sparrow had been walking in front of me. Aye. Even though we haven’t slept much that night, it wasn’t hard for me to get up. It took a walk, a There’s more for you to read!