Second day in South Korea-Old Palaces

• I'm just going to start talking about South Korean food because it makes me so happy just thinking about it
• For lunch I had Bulgogi which is beef marinated in soy sauce, honey, green onions, garlic, sesame seed salt, and black pepper, and then grilled to absolute perfection and put into a stew

• Then there's Samgyeopsal which goes to prove how great it is to befriend random people at the hostel you stay at
• I befriended a Korean college student who accompanied me on all of my travels today and he was super funny and helpful
• Then he took me to a Samgyeopsal specialty place, paid for my meal, and life was really grand

Then you make a little sandwich out of it

Then with what's left you make a rice mix out of it

• Early Morning Exploring
• I woke up at 6:30 AM and I promised my new friend I'd meet him in front of an ancestral shrine at 9:00 AM, so in the mean time I went exploring looking at the old City Hall, an Anglican Cathedral, and the old Seoul train station

• Gyongmo Shrine
• This is the ancestral shrine in which all of the Korean kings and queens were honored in for the past 500 years
• The thing is, that all of the shrines and temples in Seoul don't have stones in the main courtyard, so it's basically all mud. 
• So if it's 40 degrees fahrenheit outside. raining, and you don't have an umbrella because you're an idiot like me, you will be shaking from how big these places are and from hypothermia
• And with this shrine, you have to take a tour or they won't let you in, but the first tour they had was at 9 AM and it was in Japanese, and I didn't feel like waiting until 10:00 AM for the English tour so I took the Japanese tour, it was fun
• Just laugh when they laugh and go when they go

• Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung Palace along with the Secret Garden
• My new Korean friend accompanied me on this one and they were pretty good

This is supposed to be the symbol of the emperor

This is an ugly dog

 

• Gyeongbokgung Palace
• This is the granddaddy of them all, this is what Korean middle school students go to first when they come to Korea (as I was told by my new friend)

• South Korea Folk Museum

These were used as signposts to signify that a town was nearby. This apparently was the town of the double-chin braided beard tribe.

He's just so happy

Pickled eggplant which looks absolutely amazing

THis represents the rat in the Chinese Zodiac

This was a rope with chili peppers put into the rope put over a door when you were expecting a baby

Your mom

This was an exorcism ceremony

Congratulations you made it to 60 years old!

National Folklore Museum

 

•  Tteok Museum
• A museum entirely devoted to Tteok-rice cakes, pure brilliance