After Beijing, it was off to south korea,

a country that left me speechless from their politeness alone.

We arrived in South Korea at noon & headed to our AirBNB, in a high rise just 3 blocks from the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Driving up to it in our taxi, it was interesting to observe a thriving, bustling city, surrounding such a beautifully preserved palace from 1395.

Just inside the primary gate & inside the courtyard, we found a boundless supply of portrait backdrops for every need, and for free! But for $12 USD, we were able to pass the inner gates & explore the rest of the palace. It wasn’t quite the Forbidden Palace (much smaller), but beautiful nonetheless & it was more than our money’s worth for $12 USD!

Outfit details: Express top, Alexander Wang boots, Michael Kors bag

HANBOK DRESSES

For my ladies, a fun thing you can do while you’re around the Gyeongbokgung Palace, is rent a Hanbok for the day. They’re traditional semi-formal Korean dresses. While Kristina & I were inside the courtyard of the palace, it seemed like the it thing to do was rent the dresses & take photos. It’s a fun experience because you learn how the dresses piece together & as a bonus, you get your hair done! All for a very reasonable price too. Most rental places (depending on how nice of a dress you pick) ranged from $10 USD up to $25 USD. Not bad at all! Makeup is up all on you though.

Hanok village

Jongno-gu, Gahoe-dong, 계동길 37

Outside of Gyeongbokgung Palace & just a 20 minute walk away (the longest part is finding it), you can find a lively Hanok Village. Hanoks are older, more traditional Korean homes. Their existence are only far & few between in South Korea now, but they do still exist. In fact, despite being surrounded by the stark contrast of extremely modern city buildings, they’re still lived in by regular people.

Good thing to note: Since people still live in all of the homes, with the growing popularity of tourism & Instagram seekers, you’ll find signs everywhere asking visitors to keep the noise level down. With that said, don’t forget to be respectful to their properties!

MEERKAT CAFE

364-3 서교동, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Another fun spot to visit while in Seoul, is their Meerkat Friends cafe near Hongik University, Despite the name, the cafe as a lot of other furry friends for you to pet & hang out with, including: cats, a friendly raccoon, a few foxes, a wallaby, and of course a family of meerkats.

The Love Museum

홍익로 3길 20 서교프라자 B1 러브뮤지엄,
B1 floor, Seogyo Plaza 20 Hongikro 3gil, Mapogu, Seoul

If have a good sense of humor & are up for a laugh, go check out the Love Museum, just a few roads over from the Meerkat Cafe. Although, I wouldn’t take your kids their though (depending on how old they are). It’s essentially a museum of sexual innuendos & more in your face structures. Kristina & I did have a lot of good laughs & I have my coworker Danielle to thank for this recommendation.

GRAND SEOUL PARK 서울대공원

If you’re in the mood to venture more outside of the city center, take the subway to Grand Seoul Park. The entire complex includes a beautiful garden, a children’s museum, a zoo, as well as plenty of hiking trails. When Kristina & I got there, we saw cutest elderly population I’ve laid eyes on, in their proper hiking gear. It seems like the elderly in South Korea are great at staying active & truly living.

SEOUL ZOO

From the base, you can take a ski lift across a beautiful lake & over the garden, that will take you to the entrance of the Seoul Zoo. Be warned though, this zoo is not for the faint of heart. Don’t get me wrong. This zoo literally had the happiest & well stimulated animals I’ve ever seen (with the exception of the monkey exhibit, don’t know why…), but it’s huge. Kristina & I were dead tired by the end of it & we never even finished the entire zoo! The only saving grace, was that at the end, you can take yet another ski lift down to the front entrance.

After a long day at the zoo though, what better way to end the day than with the great food that South Korea has to offer?

We were lucky enough to have my friend Daniel to show us where the good spots were. One of the spots Kristina & I ate at, was Mapo Jeong Daepo (below on right), a BBQ joint seen on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. I mean while in Korea, you must try their BBQ right?

There are also spots focused on like a tempura based menu (below). And if you’re feeling really adventurous (which I wasn’t), there’s beef tartare (keep scrolling).

It seemed that some places would specialize in certain types of meat though. On our first night we were at chicken BBQ spot, beef the next, and while Mapo did have beef, it was pork focused.

All in all, in the end, South Korea became one of my favorite places that I’ve ever visited. I would gladly come back again and again. I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on my photo journey of Seoul!