Winter in Korea Day 2: Changdeokgung Palace and Huwon, Goblin Filming Sites (Unhyeongung Royal Residence & Yanggwan and bbq Olive Chicken in Jongno), Garosu-gil Street and Riverside Spa Land

It's Seollal or Lunar New Year in South Korea and I was not aware when I was planning our winter trip. There were advantages and disadvantages but we leaned on the better side. Many Koreans celebrate this with the family and we really observe that many of them especially the kids enjoy this event.

Since we slept over to our kumare and kumpare's house, they made us feel that we were part of the celebration. They served us Tteokguk (ddukguk) which is the most representative of Seollal dishes. Eating a bowl of tteokguk symbolizes growing a year older, along with good health and a long life.

In Korea, I am 28 years of age being an 89 liner and when I ate tteok, I turned 29 suddenly.

After eating, we spent sometime with our half Pinoy and half Korean godchildren.

Jihyun

Jungwoo

We went back to the house of our friend to change our clothes and start our second day.

It will be the first time for my sister to have a palace tour so I recommended Changdeokgung Palace and Huwon.

Changdeokgung Palace was the second royal villa built following the construction of Gyeongbukgung Palace in 1405. It was the principal palace for many kings of the Joseon Dynasty, and is the most well-preserved of the five remaining royal Joseon palaces.

It was so cold that time though it's already past 1pm. We bought the palace ticket for 3,000 won and huwon for 5,000 won.

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.

The 2:30 pm garden tour is the last guided tour that we must join and it's a Korean tour. We were with a bunch of Koreans during the tour and we did not understand anything. We just relied on the brochures and signages.

The whole palace was decorated by snow and trees that looked like a painting.

This portion of the garden is commonly used as a filming site for historical dramas.

Jewel in the Palace was shot here.

The ice droplets that were left frozen were indication of the very cold weather at that time.

And when the tour was finished, our feet was almost frozen by merely walking on these stairs.

And when we went up, we saw this 300 year old tree still living inside the palace.

From one palace to another, we went on the Unhyeongung Royal Residence & Yanggwan.

One of the amazing things about Seoul is that some of the most interesting historical sites are right in the middle of the business districts. Located near the Jongno Police Station and the Japanese Cultural Center, Unhyeongung Royal Residence is one such site.

Unhyeongung Royal Residence was the home of young Gojong, who later became Emperor during the Joseon Dynasty. The admission is free.

When we went there, a tourism event was being held.

This is the Crown Prince & Crown Princess’ Residence in Goong [it is located in the Unhyeongung Royal Residence and serves as an office building for Deoksung Women’s University].

We were so thrilled when we saw it since this used to be the filming site of Goblin as his very own house.

We needed to enter the university to have a glimpse of the place, now used as building for graduate school.

From one Goblin site to another, we went to bbq Olive Chicken in Jongno just to see the new building where Sunny established her chicken business in the drama.

At first, it was hard to find. It's near the Exit 4 of Jonggak station. Just walk straight until you see the tourist information center then turn right until you see this building.

It was perfect timing that we were so hungry that we ordered right after we entered the place. We sat on a place with the view of the table used in Goblin.

We did not know that we ordered this much in their discounted set worth 26,900 won. We did not finish it but instead went home with lots of chicken.

For half an hour, we arrived at Apgugeong or the Garosu-gil street where almost all the Korean brands of clothing line and makeup stores can be located. You will have to walk straight from Exit 8 of Sinsa Station until you see It's Skin and then turn left.

When we went there, we targeted the newly opened compact store, El Cube by Lotte because of YG PLACE. It's a heaven for YG stans and many foreign tourists since there is immediate tax refund.

We bought some Bigbang merchandise there of course.

We went down on the basement for their funny place. We saw Moomin, the favorite doll of Park Bom, so we hugged it so tight since we really miss Bom.

We also tried the photo booth there.

And also these crane machines but pretended to catch one plushie in there.

The rooftop lounge is cute but smaller compared to the Hongdae one.

It has different designs which are so feminine.

We also passed by the YG Plus Building.

We also went inside the 8 seconds store because of GD. The store was on sale. My sister bought a sweater for 9,000 won only and the quality is so good.

We toured and took photos of the store since the decorations are dope.

Our day was not yet over since we needed to experience the Korean sauna. We chose Riverside Spa Land in Gangbyeon since it is the filming site of Legend of the Blue.

Before pushing our luck in here, I read blog articles that we needed to be naked in the women's area. Without hesitations, we needed to prove it.

We paid 11,000 won each to enter. We were given keys for the locker rooms where we kept our boots. And then, they handed us our shirts and shorts and keys for the locker rooms inside. As soon as we enter the women's area, we saw naked women strolling around. They did not mind what other people will say. Our faces turned red and we only focused on our lockers. We changed our clothes and pretended to be OK. We rushed upstairs. We did not try the public bath. We wanted to experience the sauna on the public area.

And here are our photos on the same spot where Cheong spent her night in Legend of the Blue Sea. It's also the same place where Secret Garden filmed years ago.

After more than an hour, we went out and rode the last trip going home. We ate olive chicken bought yesterday paired with Kim Bok Joo's sausages and lots of yogurt drinks.