South Korea Day 6: Gyeongbok Palace / Chilgabsan Restaurant, Insadong

Assalamualaikum. 안녕!

It's our last day in Seoul. Sepatutnya balik on the 2^nd Jan tapi sebab niat untuk visit Gyeongbuk Palace belum tertunai so aku tambah lagi sehari di Seoul. Unfortunately, kami ndak dapat sambung stay di Dongdaemun House sebab fully booked. Padanlah muka Bie, last minute decision lagi. 

Terpaksalah check-out awal pagi & check-in at a hostel somewhere in Hongdae. Yang hostel nanti aku buat entry asing. Bapa punya jauh kena menapak dalam station Hongik untuk sampai exit. Tu belum campur aktiviti walkertapaki from the exit to the hostel. Nasiblah beg ndak berbeban berat sangat. Kira balance berat backpacks depan & belakang yang aku hangkut. As we arrived early, kami just ambil kunci & bayar. Pastu first destination adalah Seoul Station. I have to exchanged our KTX e-ticket bound for Singyeongju to an actual ticket. Yang ni kalau lupa, confirm menggelupur awal pagi esoknya ndak dapat naik train. 

Ramai juga yang queued tapi macam biasa urusan cepat & berjalan lancar. Suka aku tengok cara diorang ni layan pelanggan. Senyum & suara semua lebih kurang. Macam aku bercakap sama skrin komputer, semua sudah set.

Settled with exchanging the e-ticket, we took the subway train to Gwanghwamun Station Line 5, Exit 2. 

In front of the King Sejong famous statue at Gwanghwamun Square. Considering I've been here & puluhan gambar sudah aku snapped during my last trip so aku kasi chance the cousin to be in the picture pula. 

Gwanghwamun Gate; the main entrance to Gyeongbokgung. First time mau masuk; dream unfulfilled due to lack of time. Second time; aku bijak bestari planned pigi on Tues; the day when this palace is close to public. Alhamdulillah I managed to enter the palace on the third attempt.  

Also accesibble via Gyeongbokgung Palace Station Line 3, Exit 5. One will enter the palace through Heungnyemun Gate; the Second Inner Gate to the left of Gwanghwamun Gate. 

Reenactment of Korean Royal Guard in front of the main gate. Hujan ka panas ka, tetap berdiri teguh sang guard. This one ada sense of humor sikit; siap pandang camera & kecilkan mata. Budget seksi ler tu.

View of Gwanghwamun Gate from inside the palace.

We paid 4,500₩ for the admission fee. And another 2,000₩ for the palace guide book. More info here. 

"Located in Northern Seoul, this palace is first constructed in 1395. It was later burned & left abandoned for three centuries before it was reconstructed in 1867. Gyeongbokgung is the grand palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by Joseon Dynasty. In the early 20^th century, much of the palace was destroyed by Imperial Japan." (source wiki)

Geunjeongmun Gate & Yeongjegyo Bridge. And Seosu; an imaginary creature.

Us before the Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall). Sudah hari keenam baru perasan the fish-eye lens that I borrowed from my cousin. Main clip² di handphone jak, senang. Macamana boleh lupa existence lens tu dalam bag ntah!

View inside the Throne Hall. Background gunung & 2 bulan tu tetap ada. Di mana raja berada, background tu tetap akan ada. Even dalam not kertas yang ada lukisan raja wujud background tu. 

To the right is the Sajeongjeon; used by the king as the main executive office. And to the left is Cheonchujeon. 

According to the guide book, there was a bridge connecting this two buildings but it was destroyed during the Japanese Invasion. Sigh. I lost count of how many were the historicals & precious treasures that the Japanese had destroyed back then. 

Hyangwonjeong Pavilion. One of the most photographed site in Korea. 

Artificial lake Hyangwonji was completely frozen at this time. Regardless the sunlight. The bridge that connects the pavilion to the palace ground is named Chwihyanggyo. Dulu kala before the Korean War, this bridge was the longest bridge constructed entirely of woods by the Joseon Dynasty. 

Shout out to my dearie bestie; Ms ErnieKhairina! I made it to the pavilion, babe! 

Pas posing buing² depan tasik ni, teruslah masuk IG & tagged her. A mission she indirectly gave me prior this trip. Yeah! Tercapai impian untuk tengok tasik tu beku juga. Only ndak da snow that covered the rooftop. Else it would've been perfect. Ok Bie, be grateful already!

This spot reminded me of some of the scenes in Queen In Hyun's Man as well. Hence paksa cousin aku posing sekali. Muntah kang kalau asyiklah muka aku depan pavilion ni.

We entered the Folk Museum after posing sakan in front of Hyangwonjeong. Entrance is free. Items in the picture adalah winter apparel. The Korean invented boots from leather in the early 18's while from straws since early 16's. 

Masuk dalam ni aku ndak ambil gambar banyak sebab aku bila masuk muzium memang akan menghayati isi dalam. Poyo! I only snapped few photos & most of the time aku spent baca 'cerita' displayed dalam tu. I could spent a whole day in a museum. Explained kenapa aku suka baca & menghafal. 

Various types of kimchi! It's Korean sort-of staple food. 

Aku memang suka makan kimchi ni. And when I found out about its benefit, teruslah jadi makanan harus ada everytime turun Korea. Pernah beli yang jual di market dekat rumah, tapi rasa adalah jauh ke laut. Everyday while I was in Korea, memang aku beli kimchi from the convenient store. Menu tetap setiap hari. I really wish one day dapat makan homemade kimchi. My Korean friend told me the taste is soooo much different than the ones sold at the mart. Sob. Matilah telan liur berkali².

Mak Temah, Mak Jemah & Mak Joyah sibuk gosip whilst making kimchi. Kau tengok ah sikap suka buruk sangka kau Bie! Ntah² diorang tengah busy discuss pasal siapakah the hottest idol in town at this time. Sila bersangka baik please.

Outside the museum. One of the many smart ways the Korea government does to educate the young people to recycle! Sangat kreatif! 

We spent almost a good one hour plus in there. Ada few tempat mau dijelajahi lagi petang tu so ndak boleh spend masa lama sangat dalam tu.

Pameran few types of rumah zaman dulu kala near the museum vicinity. Kami round lebih kurang as the cousin started complaining about her grumpy tummy. Lapar gila sebab pagi tadi cuma sempat breakfast maggi. 

On our way out, we managed to watched the changing of guard ceremony. Lucky us! We missed the morning session but we made it on time for the evening session. Tapi yang ni memang ndak plan untuk tengok pun as I didn't know the exact time for the changing ceremony in the evening.

Annyeonghigyeseyo Gyeongbok. Sampai ketemu lagi. Kalau datang sendiri memang aku ndak masuk dalam ni lagi but who knows nanti kena membawa ahli jemaah dari KK ni kan. 

Made our way to Ssamziegil. We wanted to go up & have a look but seriously lapar gila sudah time tu. So aku pusing area ground tu jak. And baru dapat tau juga, ada Trick Eye Museum di sini. Newly opened.

Ingat mau cancel jak untuk pigi Trick Eye di Hongdae tu. I was queueing to purchase the ticket when I suddenly remembered the discount voucher I've printed. Voucher tu cuma valid for the branch in Hongdae. Berjimat adalah perlu so we decided to just go to the one in Hongdae. Lagipun dekat sama hostel, lewat macam mana pun ndak payah risau tinggal train. Superwalkertapaki harus!

Some of the artworks at Ssamziegil. Tempat ni memang best. Macam² hasil kreativiti displayed here. See picture above. Itu entrance untuk washroom! See how they transformed the wall into something yang boleh kasi jadi picture background. Vandalism of art at its best.

Update as of 20 Feb 2015: I went to Chilgabsan during my trip last month (Jan, 2015). Just to share this information, in the menu they serves pork now. 

Lunch at Chilgabsan Restaurant. It is situated just opposite the street from the vegan restaurant we went last summer (here). Ndak susah cari restoran ni as aku sudah tau jalan & arah area tu.

Green tea & plain water is free of charge at any restaurant in Seoul. Coffee shops yang fancy excluded lah tapi. Self service jadi sila buat macam rumah sendiri.

As usual, banchans akan sampai dulu. Belum sampai main dishes, aku sudah start mencekik. Perut sudah berdangdut buat konsert ntah apa, nampak ni jak haruslah aku terus membaham. 

Seaweed has become one of my favourite as of now! Gila wei sebab selama ni aku langsung ndak reti makan seaweed. Fyi, banchan tu kami tambah sampai 3x. Free kan, jadi mari tambah selagi mampu.

Ntahlah perut jenis apa kami haritu. Banchan sudah bertambah tapi bila sampai order; kami terus lapar balik. Membaham makanan as if kami belum sentuh anything since pagi! Mentekedarah ndak hengat!

Saeongseon gu-i (mackerel bakar) + sundubu jjigae (Korean tofu, mushroom & seafood stew) cost us only 13,000₩ pi! Totally worth it! Sedap sangat sangat!

Kami makan dengan penuh selera. Licin semua pinggan! Ohmy, diet ke laut sungguh! Time sejuk makan benda panas² gitu, tipulah kalau ndak tambah nasi bermangkuk². 

After lunch, kami tour Insadong kejap. Before making our way to a cafe that recently became famous because of someone named Kim Tan. 

But till here for now, annyeong. Nanti aku update lagi.

eryantierdabdulkarim