Grace had been here previously on a group tour, so she wasn't all that excited about the visit. Neither was I really, but we HAD to see it since Ms Rebecca (my Korean tutee's mum) recommended it and it was indeed a national icon. We had a pleasant surprise when we reached the palace gates, as the changing of guards ceremony was about to start then. Some of the "guards" looked really tired/sleepy, and we happened to spot one of them half-dozing in the midst of the ceremony. Overall, it was a rather interesting ceremony, though a tad repetitive at times with all the turning and shifting positions of guards.
We quickly grabbed tickets and rushed into the palace. There was a English tour guide bringing a foreign tourist group around, we tried eavesdropping but soon lost interest (none of us was very excited about rituals or standing positions of officials at court). We followed the recommended walking trail from the Korean guidebook, and chanced upon a little hut which offered *drumroll* FREE Korean costume changing service!! Yes we were amazed that such services would be free - we had spent, on average, 5000Y per person to change into Kimonos/Yukatas in Japan (of course, we got to walk around in those all day, and they WERE expensive afterall). After about 10 minutes' waiting, it was our turn. Grace had her eyes on a blue costume, much akin to the familiar ones from Da Chang Jin; I didn't have much preference so the male staff recommended a supposedly matching male costume - seemed that the costumes' colors were dependent on one's rank in the court. Alas, I ended up in a...er, orange outfit which could probably fit two mes inside; and along with an orange hat, I look everybit like a ridiculous scarecrow. Oh well. At least it was free :D Grace's outfit made her look like a maid, but after removing the white apron she looked much better. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, and we took a group photo together.
After visiting a couple of buildings, we ended up at the National Folk Museum, which was open to the public FOC in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The exhibits were rather unique, but hardly exciting (how "exciting" can folk museums get anyway -______-"), and the most memorable thing was that a crazy Korean uncle went berserk at the entrance and started shouting really angrily at the staff. He was eventually persuaded and escorted away from the main hall, still muttering loudly along the way. We wondered what made him so furious, but since we couldn't understand Korean, there was no way of finding out.
On the way to Insadong, we ran into a group of korean children in traditional Korean costumes, seemingly on a school trip. Grace was smitten all over by the cute little ones instantly, and snapped plenty of pictures of them.
And then it was lunch at GuGoong at Insadong, a restaurant recommended by the nice lady at Tourist information center. The food was traditional Korean, and the restaurant had a nice setting too. We ordered a Bibimba and a seafood pancake; and before the maindishes arrived, the side dishes filled the table - all kinds of pickled/preserved veg and kimchis. While not all of them were tasty, they were certainly nothing like what we've eaten in sg. The maindishes were satisfactory, though hardly delightful. I've had really nice bibimba at Rebecca's place, and while GuGoong's was smoother in texture and more refined in taste, the ingredients were quite similar. As for the seafood pancake, it resembled our Oyster omelet, albeit with more squid, no oyster and some veg mixed in. Nice taste, hardly worth the 14000 won though. Total damage: 25000 won.
Rebecca had strongly recommended Insadong, for all the art galleries in the vicinity which offer free admission. It's an amazing place oozing with artistic air, but we were just too uncultured and unrefined for that (we left Insadong after viewing just one gallery). Instead, we went to Ehwa Women's University area, famous for the myriad of shops featuring cosmetic stuff, shoes and apparel. Along the way, Grace spotted the Cold Stone - our favorite ice cream parlor in Japan! We decided on the Strawberry banana rendezvous, which contained strawberry, banana, white choc chips and something else which we couldn't recall. As expected, it was heavenly, and less expensive than in Japan (6500 won for large VS ~700 yen for medium).
More shopping along the way, and we ended up at the inconspicuous little restaurant beside Mr Wow's stall, hoping to try the delicious looking dumplings that we saw while walking past two days earlier. The dumplings were HUGE! Like baos with gyoza skin, filled to the brim with meat+veg+tofu+spices, and the combination was so wonderful that we immediately ordered a second plate.
The cold noodle that we ordered was refreshing too - simple, hardly any meat, but with a great sauce and goes well with the dumplings. Besides, the restaurant provides peppered pork rib soup as DRINKS. Grace initially mistook that for water/tea (since it was contained in a teapot), and freaked out after spotting oil in the cup. The soup tasted like our Bakuteh, albeit a little less spicy. Our stomachs were bursting by the end of the meal, with the total bill coming up to just 16,500 (5,000 per plate of 6 for dumpling, 6500 for noodle). Great way to end a day :)
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