Seoul, Day 2 - We Ate More Because It Was Raining...Sure

We slept in today, but got a good night's sleep and warded off jet lag for the rest of the trip. Lesson learned: when flying from L.A. to Seoul, leave in the morning, do not sleep on the plane, arrive in Seoul in the afternoon, do not nap, and go to bed after 9pm. You will be exhausted, but you will sleep well, and you won't have the slightest bit of jet lag the next day.

After taking the bus into Seoul, we went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace which has been destroyed and rebuilt a shocking number of times throughout history. So, in reality, it's only fifty years old, but they still carry out the ancient changing of the guard every hour.

It's an elaborate ceremony with colorful garb, neat weaponry, and loud instruments. Definitely worth checking out, so try to be near the front of the Palace at the top of the hour.

The Palace grounds are beautiful. Being there in a cold April, it wasn't the most picturesque time, as we were a couple weeks ahead of the cherry blossoms. But the grounds were still peaceful and lovely.

After the Palace, we walked to nearby Samcheong-dong, a quiet neighborhood filled with upscale boutiques, a good place to get some shopping on. But we weren't in the mood to shop, we wanted food. This is what we ended up with.

beef bimbap

rice rolls with spicy octopus and radishes

kimchi fried rice with cheese

The kimchi fried rice with cheese was my favorite. It's cold and rainy in L.A. as I'm writing this, and I would love a bowl of it right now to warm me up.

After lunch we walked up to Bukchon, a sleepy neighborhood of traditional houses with ornate wooden doors and tiled roofs.

Bukchon is absolutely gorgeous, and so quiet. The rain started to fall when we were up there, maybe that's why it was so quiet.

Every house should have a door like this.

Rain or not, it's the perfect place to roam around after your belly is full (though it was only in the 50's, so we got cold quickly).

When one is wet and cold, the best thing to do is stop inside somewhere warm and eat something delicious. In this case it was Eric Kayser and a chocolate orange loaf/pasty thingy (3900 W). Yum.

Warm and dry, we were ready to get wet again. We walked to Insa-dong, a cutesy area filled with shops and street food vendors.

Still raining in Insa-dong.

Since we were wet by the time we got there, it was time to dry and eat again. I had the most amazing jujube tea at a traditional tea house. It tasted like chocolate. Not hot chocolate from a packet, just rich, beany chocolate in liquid form. Yeah, I could use some of that on this dreary day, too. The tea came with a fried doughnut-type treat with sugar, cinnamon, and sesame. So good.

After that, we took the bus back to our apartment during rush hour. I stupidly forgot my Dramamine (this will, unfortunately, be a recurring error because I never learn my lessons the first time) and I don't do well with starting and stopping in rapid succession over a stretch of time. By the time we got home, I'd lost my appetite, so I skipped dinner and had some fruit tea my friend had picked up in China.

We watched a romantic comedy that had been recommended to my friend, "200 Pounds of Love" (I like this translation better than IMDB's, "200 Pounds Beauty").

200 Pounds of Love movie poster

I won't be using this one as inspiration any time soon. The theme was to change yourself with plastic surgery to make your life better. This was a broad, popular movie in Korea, so it was interesting to watch. It felt much like the girl who takes off her glasses and the guy suddenly loves her sort of thing. But decidedly darker since it involved completely rearranging your face and body with invasive surgery. Aw, comedy, you travel so poorly.