May 19, 20164 min read

#FELinSEOUL Day 7: Tosokchon, Gyeongbokgung (Palace), Savoureux

Decided to sleep in a little longer after waking up early for so many days. Went to Tosokchon for brunch. They are famous for their Samgyetang and they only sell Samgyetang and a few other chicken dishes like Roasted Chicken. Samgyetang, which literally means Ginseng (sam) Chicken (gye) Soup (tang), consists of a whole young chicken filled with garlic and rice, and cooked with scallions, spices and Korean ginseng. One of the places to get a good bowl of samgyetang is at Tosokchon. This restaurant was also frequented by late President Roh Moo Hyun.

TOSOKCHON

Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 2200hrs.

Address: 5 Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

Subway: Gyeongbokgung Station (line 3 exit 2).

http://tosokchon.com/index.php?lug=en

#1: Tosokchon.

#2: Tosokchon.

#3: Tosokchon.

#4: The right way to eat Samgyetang.

#5: Following the written instructions - Tosokchon Samgyetang, Tea, Ginseng Liqueur, Radish Kimchi, Bean Pasta, Garlic, Cabbage Kimchi, Salt and Pepper (mixed), Dish for Chicken.

#6: Tosokchon Samgyetang.

#7: Rice stuffed in chicken!

#8: Traditional Korean dining.

#9: Super long queue after I had my lunch!

Round the corner was Gyeongbokgung (palace). Gyeongbokgung Palace was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, built in 1395. It is the largest palace of the five built by the Joseon dynasty. Today, the palace is regarded as the most beautiful and grandest of all the five palaces, which houses the National Palace Museum of Korea and the National Folk Museum within its premises. This place is connected directly to the train station, so you will definitely be able to find this place. Managed to catch the Changing of Guards Parade happening right outside the Gwanghwamun Gate, the first entrance to Gyeongbokgung. It was really hot today so I decided not to take a walk around the place.

GYEONGBOKGUNG

Opening hrs: 0900hrs to 1800hrs (for the period of March to May).

Admission: KRW3,000.

English Guided Tours: 1100hrs, 1330hrs, 1530hrs.

Changing of Guards Parade: 1000hrs, 1300hrs, 1500hrs.

Address: 161 Sajik-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

Subway: Gyeongbokgung Station (line 3 exit 5).

http://www.royalpalace.go.kr/html/eng/main/main.jsp

#10: Lovely mountain view at Gyeongbokgung.

#11: Heungnyemun.

#12: Gwanghwamun.

#13: Gwanghwamun.

#14: Changing of Guards Parade.

#15: Gwanghwamun.

Headed down to look for Savoureux which serves pretty looking emerald shaved sorbet of blue soda flavour. Disappointed that it was sold out! And chose a less pretty looking pastel purple blueberry sorbet instead. It was so good! The sun is drying out both my lips and throat, no water how much water I drink, and it feels so good to be having this! It tastes really good and the ice flakes just melts in your mouth. It's somewhat similar to Taiwan's Snow Ice dessert. They also serve pretty looking soft serve ice cream and jumbo cream puffs. There was this glass cabinet display of the ice cream flavours that they used to have and the colours were so pretty and arranged in an ombre fashion.

SAVOUREUX

Opening hrs: 1030hrs to 2230hrs.

Address: 154 Sogyeok-dongJongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

Subway: Anguk Station (line 3 exit 2).

http://www.savoureux.co.kr/

#16: Savoureux.

#17: Savoureux.

#18: Savoureux.

#19: Savoureux.

#20: Blueberry Sharved Sorbet, Iced Latte.

#21: A photo taken from Google, just to show how pretty the Emerald Sorbet looks like.

Passed by a Redeye outlet along the way and they were having a shoe sale - KRW9,900 for each pair of slip-on shoes! The designs are all pretty trendy, in shades of black, grey, silver, gold, brass, brown and white. You know sometimes, where there is a sale, it's always the ugly looking ones, but these are not, though they are quite limited in sizes. Wanted to get a brass-studded black pair but they only have size 37. Redeye is a fashion accessory brand that has 88 stores in Korea as well as overseas markets in China, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore.

Bought a few pair of socks and a shoulder bag and they gave me a free envelope bag that cost KRW22,000, it's not even those cheapo kind.. One good thing about Korea is that whatever you buy, you get free gifts! And the more you buy, the more they give you, especially if they know you are a tourist!

Went to look for Bukchon Hanok Village, a Korean traditional village with a long history, that comprises of alleys, hanok (Korean traditional houses) and a well-preserved 600 year old urban environment. This area is now used as a traditional culture centre allowing visitors to experience the atmosphere of the Joseon dynasty. Oh my God, totally not worth my time going there. So much walking and up and down the slopes, it's just a small area with about 10-20 hanoks that most of them served as guesthouses for tourists to experience living in a Korean traditional house.

BUKCHON HANOK VILLAGE

Address: 37 Gyedong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

Subway: Anguk Station (line 3 exit 2).

http://bukchon.seoul.go.kr/eng/index.jsp

And then I ran out of data! Recharge my card online but wasn't able to transfer the balance into data and had to make my way down to Seoul Station.. Got it all done and went to shop for some Korean snacks and seaweed at Lotte Mart. Also got my hands on some LINE Brown cosmetics from Missha - Korea's popular magic cushion foundation and blusher, and a cleansing foam. Happy girl for now!