Day 8 -14th Dec- Seoul, South Korea

This morning, there was no obligation to wake up early and hence it was ten minutes passed eight before I got up on my butt. Mummy was loithering here and there, washing clothes when I said we were ready to go. As a result, it was almost five pass nine when we really took off.

View outside Khungnam Hotel.

Daddy + Breakfast.

Typical playing machine where you grab a toy in it. It is located outside every 24 hours convenient shop. Those who watch korean drama should be very aware of it. ^^

Passing by a fire station on our way to the subway. Trying to act like the fireman cartoon on the background.

Fire station and Daddy.

Gyeong Bok Gung 景福宫
景福宫是李朝（1392-1910年）时期首尔的五大宫之一，也是李氏王朝的正宫，建于1394年，具有600多年历史。拥有200幢以上的殿阁，其建筑酷似中国故宫，极尽富贵荣华的气派，它是首尔规模最大、最古老的宫殿之一，是韩国封建社会后期的政治中心。
Established in 1395, Gyeongbok Palace is also called “Northern Palace” because it is located more toward the north.It prides itself for having the largest magnitude and being the most beautiful among the 5 other palaces.

Mummy and Gyeong Bok Gung 景福宫.

This is "xi que" bird. (happy bird) This is the most common bird seen in Korea during Winter time. Beautiful?

Korean Soldiers. I think they are taking their time off touring around here. Sad to say, they only has a monthly salary of 80 Sing dollars.

We were so lucky. At the time of our arrival, we caught the royal gurad changing sessions.

Me and the guard!

A close-up.

Mum and the red guards.

Geun Jeong Jeon
This is the greatest building of the Josean architecture. It is the main building of Gyeong Bok Gung and the place where ceremonies of the state, such as new year's greetings to the king of civil and military officials were held, and where foreign envoys were received.

Notice where Daddy is standing, it is were the king used to stand, overlooking the officials on the parade ground. (where I am standing - see below)

Me being the "third class" official.

The royal seat. Notice that there is always a round sun and moon representing royality.

A study place.This is where Korean language was first thought of.

A signboard teaching Korean.

The front leading is "monkey sun", protecting the rest of the legendary characters behind. The dragon is meant to protect the palace from being burnt down.

A garden behind the queen's palace. Nice view.

Absolutely breath-taking scenery. The chipping birds flying around add on to the atmosphere. Wah.

Gyeong Hoeru 慶輝樓宴會廳
It is where the official banquets were held and foreign envoys were entertained. There was a small pavilion when Gyeongnokgung was built. King Taejong dug out the pond and built this pavilion to its grandeur in 1412. It was built down during the Japanese Invasion of 1952and restored inthe 4th year of King Gojong(1867). This is the best example of the Joseon dynasty's pavilion, which has 48 granite pillars.

View from the other side of the pond.

A beautiful landscape but I don't quite remember the name of the hill.

Hyangwonjeong 香遠亭
This pavilion was built by King Gojong for relxationby King Gojong. The name means far reaching fragrance pavilion. Unfortunately, a queen was murdered not long after it was built, from then on, the palace was believed to be unsafe and the royals never stayed here since.

By the time we finished touring the Hyangwonjeong, it was almost two. Dad and Mum was there complaining that they need food ad blamed me for not asking them to bring along some bread. So off we went searching for dining places and found this high-class coffee shop nearby. It was surely a place for relaxation. There were books stacked up for reading and we sat on sofa for lunch. The price is the food is not cheap. Daddy said it was worth it but Mummy was there nagging that I really am a big spender. ;P

These rice costs 10000W each (plus coffee and soup). They tasted delicious though. I like the spice in it.

After lunch, we went to the National Folk Museum of Korea located on the grounds of Gyeongbokgung. It has exhibits which illustrates the history of the Korean people, the traditonal lifestyle of a Korean people, and the lifecycle of a Korean from birth to death. Real interesting. ^^ I love Museum.

Outside the Museum is the 12 Zodiac Animals.

Mummy and her rooster.

Mummy and me representing Brother Goat for the rat.

Daddy, me and our Dragon.

Some selected pictures from the Folk Museum.


Exhibit 1- The old town.

Exhibit 2- An overview of the old Seoul.

Exhibit 3- Me and the iron casting man.

Exhibit 4- Dad and the farmer.

Exhibit 5- Diverse Headgear. Interesting.^^

Jar of fermented food as soybean sauce, soybean paste,thick soy paste mixed with red pepper, Kimchi, salted fish for Kimchi and powered red pepper all of which needed to prepare for one year are all prepared drying them on a platform, under the sunlight. The jars are placed in rows, with tallest ones in the rear and shortest one at the front, so that each may receive sufficient sunlight.

The making of Kimchi.

Chair for the Queen. So squash. Imagine the size of the queen. Tiny winnie.

Sedan Chair for high official. It is usually carried by five men. Look how small it is, I wonder whether they would fall off.

Acupunture Chart they used in the past. It is like a doll. I find it so cute.

A view outside the Folk Museum. Seoul Tower as the landscape. Mum and Dad. ^^

A view of the Korea Folk Museum.

Dad and streetcar.
A car running on railway lines, which was first introduced to Korea by American, Mr.Collbran in 1898 and put into service from Seodaemum to Cheongryangni. It became the important transportation facility due to the increasing passengers using it. After liberation in 1945,with the appearance of the bus, the streetcar was gradually replaced by the bus. In 1969, all the streetcars were removed from the road of obstructing traffic in running bus on the street.

Me and the scholar's statue. Wishing that I would become smarter.

Statue of generals. Giving the palace a sence of protection and security.

All the lamp posts outside Gyeong Bok Gung is specially designed, letting out a special Korean taste.

The street outside Gyeong Bok Gung. A nice clean street. Notice Mum behind.

Around 0600, we reached Dongdaemun Market.
Ever since its opening in 1905, it has been one of the major markets in Korea. Specializing in wholesale clothing, the market has grown large, having more than 20 shopping malls. A full range of fashion items that cover from head to toe, are found in Dongdaemun Market at inexpensive prices. Indeed, I even bought Simpson socks that come in a stack of ten. We even found skiing clothings that costs only 50 Sing dollars.

Roads intercross one another like a maze. No doubt, we got lost wandering and shopping at the basement.

We had dinner at Vitavia food court that day. Daddy got himself chilli soup without him knowing and I got myself shrimp when I wanted pork instead. This got to blame the menu, I can gurantee that it is wrongly translated. Even the English and Chinese explanation didn't match. How great!
The lady at the counter didn't even comprehend the word "twelve" and I had to expain to her that it was "one, two". No wonder she was push away by the manager after that.

Korean food court is somehow like that of Hong Kong. You will order your food using a number which represent a certain type of food. Next, you can find a seat while waiting your number to appear on a display board to collect your food. Hmm.

The street from our hotel to the subway station is famous for selling of second-hand car. Here is a pic taken by Dad.

Mummy sticking scotape all over her body in order to remove the duck feather that had been falling off the jacket Uncle Wong lend her. She was so frustrated with it everyday that she sweared not wearing it ever again. Actually, I got sick watching her taping herself everyday too.

Second day on our own. ^^

Random Pics

A view outside our hotel. It shows that there is a bowling allay at the basement of our hotel. Our hotel is popular for wedding too.

The government labelled bag. Citizens are only to dump rubbish in this kind of bag, if not, they would be severely fined.

DMB. This works somehow like a transmitter. Koreans are so advanced that they now possess mobile TV (actually is their hand phone) which they use to watch news or catch up with the latest Korean drama on the subway itself. It's quite a normal scene here in Korea. Daddy is really interested in it, always popping his head into people's mobile's screen.