Hey Hive!
Happy New Year!! Sorry for the unintentional long break between posts but we went on a short getaway over New Years' and I wanted to take Christmas week off to work on other stuff before then. But now we're back to our regular postings!
So if you missed the last few posts, I've been sharing about our first trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022! We were waiting post-covid for everyone to go on their holidays before taking a big one and we finally decided to go on our honeymoon! It's also our first time experiencing Fall so we were double excited!
Last time, we started our second day in Seoul by having a nice big breakfast at this cafe called A Twosome Place just across from our hotel.
We had an exciting day ahead of us since we were gonna be renting Hanboks (traditional Korean wear) and visiting Changdeokgung palace! So we headed to the hanbok rental place where we were assisted by the very lovely lady boss and got all dolled up before walking down the street to the palace!
If you rent hanbok you can actually enter the palaces for free, so it's quite a good deal since they're perfect for taking photos too! Personally I felt so out of place walking on the street and I didn't feel comfortable until we arrived at the palace.
Anyway, we barely started going through the palace so last time so here we go!
10 Nov 2022. Thursday.
Just some background info here; Changdeokgung palace was the second royal villa and the principal palace for many kings of the Joseon dynasty, and is the most well-preserved of the five remaining royal Joseon palaces. The palace grounds are comprised of a public palace area, a royal family residence building, and the rear garden. Known as a place of rest for the kings, the rear garden boasts a gigantic tree that is over 300 years old, a small pond and a pavilion. (Source: english.visitkorea)
We didn't really have a map going into the palace so we were just walking wherever there wasn't much people around so we could take some nice photos.
This details Seongjeonggak which was originally the crown prince's study room and was used as a royal hospital during the Japanese occupation. Apparently the residence of the crown prince, known as Donggung of East Palace is the largest building here.
Even the trees were well maintained here and looked really nice. I'm not sure if it was the morning autumn air but it felt tranquil and refreshing.
I guess we had yet to really enter the palace grounds since there was a split path here to the Secret Garden which is probably the highlight of the palace (and exactly why they charge extra for it).
The garden served as a rest area for the royal family members, and was kept as natural as possible and was touched by human hands only when absolutely necessary. There are a number of pavilions, ponds and gates serving as attractions in the garden. But since we didn't want to pay extra for it and I was in some uncomfortable heels we decided to go check out the main palace first.
I think we did try to get tickets but most of them were already sold out by the time we got there and the only timeslots available would be much later in the day so we'd have to come back after our hanbok rental. They also limit the number of people who can enter at a time to preserve the nature in the garden so it was pretty difficult to get slots. You'd probably have to book it days in advance to ensure you get the timeslot you wanted. We didn't know this at the time or we'd have booked it sooner.
It does look quite nice from photos I found online, and I read the fall is the best time to visit when autumn foliage is at its peak and the leaves have just started to fall.
Source: koreatravelpost
But it's alright since there was a lot to the palace itself anyway. The architecture really looked like it was from olden times but so well maintained that it looked like you could still live here.
It felt like we were in one of the Korean period dramas that I used to watch. I could practically hear the Dae Jang Geum theme song as we were walking through the palace.
I think this was the main plaza of the palace in front of this huge building which I guessed served as the main building here probably for royal meetings and hosting guests.
This was a pretty good open place for some nice shots so we set up our selfie stick in preparation before the big tour groups came. This was my POV while Seany set up his camera:
And here's one of the shots we got! There was quite a crowd upstairs looking into the building so thankfully we managed to get some decent ones.
The stone bricks looked so huge we wondered how they were built back then since this palace was originally built in 1405 and then restored in 1611 after it was burned down by angry citizens.
There was a tour route so we roughly followed it taking detours here and there for some nice shots. Although there were some other people in hanbok around we did get a few glances here and there but we didn't mind.
Some of the gates were really low and thankfully there are warnings so you don't bump your head going through them.
Even I had to bend them for some of them and I'm quite short so we were wondering what purpose these gates actually served being so low.
Unfortunately there wasn't much information on these smaller buildings within the palace grounds, so I can't offer much information but curiously the characters on the buildings resemble Mandarin more than Korean. Like this one says Men Fu Wan in Chinese, but I think it's just the name of the gate.
I was actually quite surprised there weren't more information plaques around detailing the history of this place. I bet if the walls could talk they would have plenty of stories to tell!
So we just ended up taking lots of photos and appreciating the architecture as we walked throughout the palace. We were lucky that there weren't too many tourists around so we got lots of nice shots without people photo bombing us.
We did get some compliments on our outfits from other people though, which was very lovely!
This whole area was called Seonwonjeon and is where portraits of former kings are enshrined and ancestral rites performed. A new Seonwonjeon was built in 1921 during the Japanese occupation deep in the garden of the palace.
I couldn't get over how the roofs looked! The undersides had such nicely painted patterns on them.
We found a nice pathway with these beams that looked like a perfect spot for photos and we spent quite a bit of time here.
We did some goofy/romantic shots but we're not models by any stretch so it was just us doing funny poses on the spot. I think we managed to get a few good shots though!
Thankfully there weren't any people around to see us so we could do whatever without making people feel weird.
There were some information plaques here but most of them were in Korean, sadly. But there was one English paragraph detailing that this was Seonwonjeon Hall which was the place where portraits of deceased Joseon kings were enshrined and memorial rites were held.
It really felt like we traveled back in time, if not for our smartphones and the CCTVs around to ground us in the 21st century.
Unfortunately despite it being fall, there weren't that many red leaves around as we went about the palace. Most of them were yellow, which is still pretty though and I thought complimented the red and green of the buildings.
There were so many leaves on the ground here I couldn't help recreate one of my gifs from when we were in Finland and I threw snow up in the air!
This was another nice secluded corner where we could take lots of photos especially with a huge pile of yellow leaves on the ground.
I think this bridge was supposed to be over a moat of some sort but it was empty at the time. I'm pretty sure you can't actually walk down there though.
This feels like it could be an album cover or sorts.
Eventually we slowly started making our way back to the main entrance since my feet and back were killing me from the heels. I knew I wouldn't be able to walk very long because of them so we tried to make the most of it.
This collection of buildings were known as Gwolnaegaksa which are government offices closely related to the royal family's affairs. These were all destroyed during the Japanese occupation and rebuilt in 2005.
It seemed like only the main entrance had trees with red leaves, which was tricky since there were a lot more people here. I guess the rest of the red trees were in the Secret Garden.
But it was still very beautiful indeed.
We took some last few shots with the reddest trees we could find.
And Seany took some goofy shots as well of course.
After that we took a leisurely stroll back to the hanbok rental place because my feet were so sore from walking in heels. Tbh I was kinda salty that the lady boss pushed me to wear them when I saw other people in hanbok wearing their regular shoes. I would've been a lot more comfortable and able to walk more had it not been for those darn heels.
But it was still a very unique and enjoyable experience nonetheless and I would highly recommend it for anyone visiting Seoul! I wouldn't mind doing it again tbh but with different colours so we would match this time too. Initially I wanted us both to be in blue but there was a mix-up or something when trying it on.
For anyone interested do check out this rental shop which you can find from Klook! Just don't opt for the heels and you're good.
But that's gonna be it for today! Sorry again for the delay on updating and hope everyone had a very happy Christmas and New Year! Cheers to a better 2024!
Stay tuned for more of our adventures in Seoul next week! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #230 (Seoul): Enjoying a Morning Twosome before Hanbok Fitting! 💕