Seoul Searching // Day 2: A bird's eye view

 Day 2 of our exploration of the city was, again, packed with visiting many popular attractions that one can not miss when going to Seoul. First on the list was Changdeokgung Palace. This was the last of the few palaces we wanted to visit and this one held no exception in preserving its beauty. There weren't many people there that day, which gave it a more abandoned and eerie feel to it as we toured the nooks and crannies of the palace.

The next stop was Bukchon Hanok Village which was a vast area in Jongno which featured the old village houses preserved to be homes for people of today. During our walk through the village, we went up to a observatory deck which was more of a humble little look-out point inside an apartment - probably owned by the grandma who welcomed us upon arrival and gave us juice to drink.

Dressing up in Hanbok was something that we were looking forward to that day. The place we dressed up was hidden inside one of the village rooms at Namsangol Hanok Village. We were expecting to pay around $10-15 to dress up but it ended up being $3 (!!) - such a small price compared to the amount of fun we had dressing up and twirling around in our Hanbok. It was quite a special experience, especially in the village which was the perfect setting for it all.

 Featured in most tourist pamphlets, Namsam Tower (or Seoul Tower) is another must go whilst in Seoul. Mostly famous for all the love locks they have there (sidenote: wearing couple shirts and shoes are such a thing in Korea for all the couples), the observation deck seemed like a secondary attraction. Nonetheless, we made an effort to go up to the top to check out the view, which was quite incredible if only the sky was a bit less grey and smoggy. But, I was still happy that I was able to tick Namsan Tower off my list of places to visit.