Keeping up with Korea (Part 2)

Day 2. Gyeongbokgung Palace and Myeongdong

As expected everyone woke up late. The best thing about DIY travels is that you don't always have to do things in a hurry. You can move at your own pace without a tour guide badgering you all the time, telling you to "hurry up" or "be here in 30 minutes."

Breakfast.

Grocery stores were nearby so we bought a week's supply of food for breakfast. Hence, lesser food expenses. Korean rice was excellent! This was the reason why I gained so much weight after the trip!

My brother-in-law had to work that day so we were on our own. We started out by changing our money from USD to Won (we changed our Php to USD back in Cebu). You cannot find money changers around contrary to other countries where you can see them everywhere along the streets. There was no problem changing our cash though since there were banks everywhere (1USD= approx 1,070 KRW). Next stop was at 7 eleven where we bought T-money cards to make easier and cheaper transfers from one place to the next. For me taking the bus is more convenient than the subway. The Korean subway system is way more confusing with all routes written in Korean (not a single one in English), plus you have to walk up and down a number of staircases at an interchange (unlike Singapore's railway system which is very organized).

  

The moment I stepped out of the building we were staying, first thing I noticed was how Koreans dressed themselves. They were so laid back but elegant looking. Everyone seemed so decent and in fashion. I never saw a single person on ugly clothes. Haha. Second, was how clean and organized my surroundings were. Everything was in order, pedestrian lanes and roads were so wide, no bad smelling food, no filthy sidewalks, everything looked impressive and high end.  

A nice place for a quick lunch. Average meal cost 5,000-10,00KRW.
Will try to make a different blog post for Korean food and costs.

After a quick lunch, we then headed to the bus station right across our building. That was when our relationship with Google maps started. It was our one and only source of helpful navigation. Haha. Communication was seriously difficult especially when asking for directions. Very few understood and spoke English, ALL signs were in Korean, even at bus stations. No translations whatsoever. The only familiar looking figures were the numbers, thank God they left those out.

With the help of Google maps we were able to know which buses (through bus numbers) to take, how many stops before our desired destination and how long the travel time approximately will be. Luckily we arrived at our first destination: Gyeongbokgung Palace. You have to really read beforehand about the places you plan to visit in Korea because some of them close on certain days and there are schedules for some events such as the changing of guards at the palace (every 10am, 1pm, 3pm). Luckily we were able to witness it as it was about to end and got to take photos with the guards. Note: they are very strict with the guards. NO SELFIES, no touching, no joking around. Just take photos of them or with them.

Guards of the palace standing like statues at the gates. I was amazed how tall they were.

The entrance to the palace. Admission fees: 3,000KRW for adults; 1000KRW for kids.

The palace from afar. It was scorching hot at this time.

Nothing is more fun than traveling with people who always see the funny side of things. Makes everything seem lighter and stress-free.

Family selfie. Haha. I always love traveling with this group. They are the best travel buddies! 

It was interesting to see where the king used to live. But my favorite part of this place was the wide landscape surrounding the palace, with a river alongside and the breathtaking mountains as backdrop. We stayed at a shaded area for hours just relaxing and enjoying the view.

The original plan was to visit the palace then go up the famous Seoul Tower. Turned out Korea was so difficult to navigate and so we got lost on our way to the tower. We asked around 5 to 6 people and all of them pointed at different directions. Not even Google maps could help us. After almost 2 hours of going back and forth, frustrated and starving, we gave up and decided to proceed to Myeongdong instead. Myeongdong is the busiest and most famous shopping destination located at the heart of Seoul--and it did not fail us. We had fun walking along the busy streets and trying out a variety of street foods.

The busy streets of Myeongdong. If you love shopping then this is the place to be! And If you love makeup then this will be your home! Cosmetics were the cheapest finds.

Exhausted, we all decided to call it a day but our adventure did not end there. We got lost AGAIN on our way home! We jumped on the wrong bus and ended up in the middle of nowhere. It was already 12 midnight and thankfully the bus driver got out of his way to help us. He drove us back to the bus stop and pointed the correct bus number for us. Take note, from the time we asked for assistance until he left us at the bus stop, he never spoke English. We communicated through hand gestures and pointing at things, and if I remembered it right the only English words he knew were yes/no. It was amazing how we understood each other. Haha. 

I always laugh every time I see this photo. I found getting lost really funny and exciting but the kids thought otherwise. Haha! I captured this moment while we were at the bus stop waiting for our ride home. It was almost 1am. Getting lost in a beautiful city with great people is never a bad thing! You will always find a way out, trust me. 

Thankfully we arrived home, and because of the stress brought by getting lost twice, we decided to binge on ice cream! Yey!

Yanna showing off her bubble gum flavored ice cream.

Baskin robbins was just outside our building. Now who wouldn't get fat with that?

Everyone then decided to spend the entire day  next day at Lotte World. A little reading and researching again (internet connection was fast as lightning. Haha) and we called it a night.