[KOREA JOA 2016] Day 2: K-Culture, K-Fashion and K-Food

Posted on October 27, 2016 by kueditorinchief in KOREA JOA 2016 // 0 Comments

Day 2: Gyeongbokgung, Samcheongdong, Hanbok Fashion Show, Cheongwadae Sarangchae, and NSeoul Tower

Our Day 2 starts with a walking tour throughout Gyeongbokgung Palace, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Seoul, a must-visit place. Built in 1395, Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest and the most beautiful palace of all five palaces in Korea.The premises were once destroyed by fire during the Imjin War (Japanese Invasions, 1592-1598). However, all of the palace buildings were later restored under the leadership of Heungseondaewongun during the reign of King Gojong (1852-1919).

We start from Gwanghwamun Gate, the main entrance to the gate to see Changing of Guards ceremony. And the moving on to explore more about Gyeongbokgung Palace, as I already been to Gyeongbokgung Palace, but I never come with a guide before, so it was a great experience for me to know more about this magnificent palace ground.

Then because of time constrain we have to leave the palace at noon for our lunch, we went to a very famous kalguksu restaurant near Gyeongbokgung Palace

After lunch we have a walk towards Samcheongdong Street, you can find cafe, clothing stores and the famous Buckchon Hanok, it is steep climb and very hard for a fat dugong like me to climb up, but the view is worth the climb. It was very pretty, but please keep your voice down because it is a residential area.

After exploring Samcheongdong area, we are moved to Insadong for Modern Hanbok Fashion Show by LeeSle. As I have an opportunity to interview here, and I asked her “How did you fall in love with Hanbok?”

She answered: “About 10 years ago, when I was 20, I went to a cosplay festival, and I wear Hanbok. It was the first time I wore Hanbok, and people praised me like ‘you looked pretty in Hanbok’ or ‘it is fascinating’.”

She then continued: “I made the hanbok by myself, and I get so many questions like ‘Where can I buy that Hanbok, I want to buy that too!’, ‘How did you made it’, ‘Where did you made it’, and so on, it was the moment in my life where I got the most praises”

“After that experience, I want to introduce Hanbok to other people, and I want to take Hanbok seriously. Similarly, as other people who wear hanbok also received the praises. Since than I started to fall in love with Hanbok”

You can go to leesle.kr if you want to know more about her design and you can also purchase the everyday wear hanbok on her website, they shipped worldwide! And thank you leesle for the clothes you gave us!

After that we moved to Cheongwade Sarang-chae, or Blue House Museum to learn about Blue House, President of Korea, Korean Food Culture. We are also given the opportunity to see how to make Bulgogi and Bibimbap while eating them. It was so nice and delicious!. After eating our dinner we are divided into 2 teams to experience the making of Korean pancake, Pajeon. The chef told my supporter that I have a good skill (well, I am a chef myself).

Then we moved again to iconic Namsan NSeoul Tower, where you can find lots of lovers locking their love locks. It is the icon of Seoul, I went here everytime I visited Seoul. But I never come here at night, except the one time I visited during the new year eve, where I got stuck there. We went up to the top of the observation tower. It was crowed with people, but the Seoul city light is amazingly beautiful!