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South Korea: Land of the Morning Calm

Growing up, I’ve always been fascinated about korean pop culture. I’m fond of watching korean dramas at home and have a long list of kpop boy groups that I’m a fan of. That being said, I don’t really expect anything in my trip in South Korea nor did I care about our itinerary. I just want to see the land of kdramas, buy a ton of skincare and kpop merchandise then go home. I didn’t expect that this country has a lot of things to offer, it completely give me whole new perspective. From its rich culture with it’s 12 UNESCO Heritage Sites including the royal palaces, tombs and korean traditional villages.

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As a girl living in a country with only 2 seasons, the thought of experiencing spring in South Korea and see cherry blossoms excites me. For our first itinerary we visited yeouiseo-ro street in Seoul located along the Han river. It has 1,600 cherry blossom trees planted and every early year in spring, there’s festival called Yeouido Spring Flower Festival that attracts scores of tourists and locals alike. Sadly, the festival is already finish when we arrive in Seoul so we just enjoy a long stroll in the street while surrounded with cherry blossomsand Han river

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For our 2nd itinerary, we visited Gyeongbokgung Palace located in 161 Sajik-ro, Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul. There’s a lot of hanbok (korean traditional clothing) rental shops outside the palace that you can go to if you want to wear hanbok inside. As I got into the gate of the palace, I notice that there’s 3  entrances at the gate but the middle one is close. Our tour guide told us that the middle entrance of the gate of the main palace back in the Joseon Dynasty is reserved for the king only, citizens are not allowed to go to the middle entrance.  Inside the palace, our tour guide told us to wait at the side near the palace gate. Apparently, there’s an event called “Changing of the Royal Guards” at 10 AM.  During the Joseon Dynasty, the royal guards, who were also known as "Wanggung Sumunjang"  had the very important duty of protecting the king by guarding the entrance gates of the primary royal palace where the king resided. They were divided into day and night shifts, and the Changing of the Guard ceremony took place whenever the shifts changed over.

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 After the ceremony was over, we got to explore the palace but one particular thing caught my eye, the Gyeonghoeru Pavillion. The name Gyeonhoeru is a reference to the king and how he can succeed and be a great leader when he is surrounded by the right people. It is surrounded with water and was built for feast for foreign envoys and for the king and his court officials. We got to the museum inside the palace too where traditional clothings worn by the king are in display. After the trip to the Gyeongbokgung palace, we ate in this traditionsl restaurant where they serve Beoseot-deulkkae-tang beef mushroom soup).

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For our third itinerary, we visited Mt.Sorak located at the Gangwon-do province in South Korea. It’s perfect for nature lovers who crave adventures. The entrance of the mountain is surrounded with trees. You can either go hiking to go to the actual mountain or take the cable car and enjoy the view. The cable car will not exactly take you to the peak of the mountain, you still have to take a 10 minute hike before you reach the top or you can just enjoy the view and buy coffee. I didn’t get to the actual peak of the mountain but my sister did. She said that the view is awesome and there’s still a little bit of snow left at the peak.

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For our fourth itinerary, we got to visit everland. Everland is South Korea’s largest theme park located at Yongin city in Gyeonggi-do. Everland is divided into 5 theme park zones, each with their own signature rides and attractions. My favorite one is the global fair near the entrance because it’s a picture perfect play with its fairy tale like theme. Everland is known for their Tulips festival and we are lucky enough that we got to witness the tulips that covered almost every place of the theme park. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to explore the whole theme park because we need to go back to Seoul immediately.

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For our fifth itinerary, we visited Nami island also known as “The Republic of Love”. It’s a crescent shape island surrounded with lots of trees. It is said to be the most perfect date place for couples because you can dine here, go ziplining or rent a couple bike. It’s also a must place to go to all nature lovers who love some quite time with nature.

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For our sixth itinerary, we visited the Namsan Seoul Tower who is famously known for thier love locks. It has a breathtaking view of Seoul. You can also dine within the highest floor of the tower or you can just go to the Seoul Tower Plaza where you can find a lot of restaurants and souvenir shops. You can also find a teddy bear museum in the plaza. 

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For our last and final itinerary before going to the airport, out tour guide took us to a famous shopping place in Seoul also known as Myeongdong. It is full of fashion brands both foreign and local, and also korean beauty products like Nature Republic, Etude and Innisfree. It is also full of korean street foods that you can go to if you got tired of shopping. There’s a lot of cheap korean beauty products that you can find here, I especially love how cheap their face mask is.

My South Korea trip is full of realizations and a lot of learning that I will take as I go back to the Philippines. The locals are nice and our tour guide is kind enough to teach us how to communicate with them with little korean phrases. Over all, I realize that South Korea is not just about kpop and korean dramas. It has a lot of things to offer, from their culture and history to their breathtaking nature and also nice locals.