Korea 2011 - Day 5 (Changdeokgung, Jongmyo Shrine, Insadong & Cheonggyecheon)

We woke up early in the morning as we had a lot of activities planned for today.

1. We would be moving to a new place ( Namsan 3 Guest House) which was cheaper and nearer to Myeongdong (one of Seoul's shopping and tourist district).
2. Changdeokgung
3. Secret Garden tour at 11.30am.
4. Jongmyo Shrine tour at 2pm.
5. Insadong
6. Cheonggyecheon

We had many activities planned for today that we knew we would probably have a late lunch, so before we checked out from LaNuit Hotel, we went to a street food stall to get our breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we checked out our room and started to make our way to Namsan 3 Guest House in Myeongdong.

 

Namsan 3 Guest House

However, we were unable to check in as our room was not ready. We left our luggage with the guest house and made our way to Changdeokgung, a beautiful royal Joseon palace. Changdeokgung was added to UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

Changdeokgung

After a tour of Changdeokgung, we went for the Secret Garden tour at Huwon (Rear garden) behind the palace. We could only visit the Huwon with a guided tour and we were glad that we were able to make it in time for the 11.30am English guided-tour. The tour lasted about 1.5 hours.

Huwon

After visiting Changdeokgung, we walked Jongmyo Shrine for our next tour at 2pm. Jongmyo Shrine is a Confucian shrine dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1995.

Jongmyo Shrine

After that, we went to Insadong for a walk. Insadong is a traditional street in Seoul and one interesting fact is that the signboards of the shops are all written in Hangeul. Even the signboard for Starbucks is written in Hangeul. At Insadong, we had a late lunch (Gaeseong dumpling cooked in casserole) at Gung. After lunch, we walked around Insadong.

Lunch at Gung

Insadong

We passed by a shop selling walnut cake. The walnut cake is a small cake with red bean and walnut as fillings. We bought some to try.

 

 

After that, we went for a drink at Starbucks. Wendy had Soy Strawberry Blended and I had Black Sesame Green Tea Blended.

After our visit to Insadong, it was already close to 7pm. We were not hungry because of our late lunch, so we decided to go to Cheonggyecheon before going for dinner. Cheonggyecheon is a stream flowing west to east through downtown Seoul and it is very beautiful at night.

In the evening, we went back to the guest house to check into our room. Our room is very small but we were fine with it.

 

 

After that, we went to Two Two Fried Chicken for dinner.