Once again, we’ve been on the move!  This time Dan had to go to Seoul, South Korea for a 2.5 week work project.  The first weekend he was in Seoul landed on the Easter holiday, and I had Friday and Monday off work so decided to join him for a long weekend.  It was quite a long flight (11 hours!), but being able to experience a new country with Dan was 100% worth it for the quick trip!

With the time difference, I landed in Seoul early Friday morning.  Dan had to work the day, so after he greeted me and had a quick lunch with me, I was off on my own to explore.  I spent the afternoon wandering around Myeong-Dong which is a popular shopping area.  The streets were filled with beauty shops, clothing stores and street food vendors.  I couldn’t believe how many beauty shops there were!  Skin care is taken so seriously there, you can’t go more than 5 steps without another shop selling their famous sheet masks.  I had heard a lot about them, and was quite sceptical at first…but after purchasing a handful and testing one at our hotel…I understand the hype!  I’m addicted and loved stocking up on different versions I would find throughout the remainder of my trip.

Dan met up with me for a Korean BBQ dinner.  I forgot how much I love Asian restaurant culture.  Everything is so organised, efficient and just DELICIOUS!  After dinner we went over to Seoul Tower to catch some of the night views over the city.

On Saturday, Dan had to work until mid-afternoon so I set out to do some sight seeing on my own in the morning.  I first visited the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple.  It had the coolest outdoor area surrounding the temple.  Thousands of colourful lanterns we strung in the sky creating the most beautiful rainbow canopy! I loved watching the locals come and go and perform their traditions/rituals.  It is especially cool to see the differences between all of the Asian cultures and religions from all of our travels.

From there I wandered over to Gwanhun-dong to check out some more shopping and culture.  There was an incredible shopping centre (Insadong ssamjigil) which was filled with local artist shops and retailers.  I even stumbled up on a poop themed cafe’ – I swear, some of things you find in Asia…you can’t even imagine!

After meeting up with Dan, we went to explore the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  The palace is the largest and most grand of the “Five Grand Palaces” built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty. Our timing was perfect as when we walked up the changing of the guards ceremony was just starting.  It was really cool to watch.

I quickly noticed that many of the visitors (and locals) at the palace were dressed in traditional Korean clothing.  It didn’t take me long to decide that this was the perfect opportunity to play dress up and engage in this fantastic tradition and rent a Hanbok for the day! I felt like such a princess.  I LOVED exploring and spending the afternoon in this stunning gown!  I couldn’t stop twirling around and of course I was wearing a huge grin the entire time.  Let’s be real though…the palace was lovely…but this dress…took the crown!

 

That evening after reluctantly returning my Hanbok…we made our way over to Hongdae Street.  This area is known for it’s urban culture, art and street performers.  The entire street is shut down and flooded with food stalls, retail shops, art stands and…screaming KPop fans for the street performers that are set up about every 20 meters.  It was bizarre.  Literally every 20 meters down the street was a mini stage or sectioned off area with a street dancer/singer/artist.  Each one had it’s own HUGE loyal crowd.  It was so much fun walking the street and seeing performer after performer and enjoying some tremendous street food!  We ended the evening with some delicious Korean fried chicken (the real KFC!).

On my last full day in the city, we visited the Changdeokgung Palace, which is another of the Five Grand Palaces within Korea.  We didn’t find this to be too dissimilar from Gyeongbokgung Palace, so our visit was short and sweet!  From there we quickly explored Bukchon Hanok Village then took a long walk along the Cheonggyecheon to get to our lunch spot.  The Cheonggyecheon is a 10k long urban park/stream that cuts through the middle of Seoul.  It has a big beautiful walking path on both sides – hard to believe that it used to be a big concrete expressway!

Lunch was incredible!  It was another version of Korean BBQ – however this time no one spoke any English so we had no idea what we were really doing or eating!  We love the traditional style restaurants where you sit on the ground and wear an apron and cook your own meal!  This meal was probably my favourite of the trip!

 

From there, we had one last area I had to check out before leaving – Gangnam!

 

That evening we went out for a last bowl of Bibimbap (YUM!) and I stocked up on some last minute sheet masks.

 

The next morning I flew back 11 hours to London and went to work the following day!  It was a whirlwind trip for me, but I’m SO glad I did it.  Dan stayed on for another 2 weeks before coming back for my birthday (and birthday trip!) then ended up going back to finish the project for another 10 days!