South Korea- Seoul 9:30pm 12.12.13
Wednesday was both uneventful and generally unsuccessful. We got up late and headed out to Anguk. Ange posted some stuff out then we went to see a Hanok village. We walked through (it was cold) and then headed towards what we later realized was Gyeongbokgung Palace. Only… we weren’t quite sure where we were going, and ended up in the Museum. Then by the time we left the Museum… the palace was closed. So that sucked.
^^ Crepes filled with cold ice cream. Clearly a good choice to have on a freezing day. They were so cold, but so delicious...^^
^^Ange and Mankee went out to Korean BBQ but I felt a bit over it so stayed behind. ^^
Today, Thursday, was far more successful. We got up slightly earlier and headed to… well, I thought it was a palace but then realized it was a shrine. A kickass shrine, but not even an important one or a big one. From there we tried to find Jongmyo shrine, failed, but ended up at Changdeokgung Palace, which was pretty cool. So we wandered around there, and it started to snow! After some hilarious footage of Ange trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth (she’s a special, special individual), and a conversation with a really nice old man (Ange’s Korean is far, far better than I realized. That dude just kept on speaking and she knew what was going on. Unless she was pulling a Nelson Mandela Sign-language Scumbag Steve move…. OH I just went there.)
^^ Shrine near us that I originally thought was a small palace.^^
^^ Ange makes herself at home Changdoekgung Palace.^^
Anyhow from there we wandered off to Anguk again, went to Unhyeongung Palace where we rented some Hanbok. It was snowing- we thought at first we wouldn’t be allowed outside in the Hanbok but then we were. The lady selling them was nice enough to take a few photos for us in the snow, then we raced off crazily. It was cold…
^^ In other news... no one looks skinny in Hanbok. Ever.^^
I chose a really nice blue …skirt thing(?)… but because I was too big, the traditional pink overcoat wouldn’t fit. Instead I got a lime green top with longer…whatevers. This unfortunately led to Angela lacking choices. The old woman seemed insistent she take a red skirt thing, but Ange wanted pink. After much gentle gesturing to the pinks, the lady picked one out for her, but Ange was automatically given a yellow top. She was not enthused. Seriously, for all the times Angela says I over dramatise shit (which to be fair, I often do), she decided life was OVER. The yellow was totally hideous (it wasn’t that bad, as you can see) and that it was just horrible and a waste of money and time. (And blah blah blah bad as dying children blah blah something.) Clearly, not so. Mankee had no dramas to speak of.
Then we just hooned around crazily in the palace trying to take as many photos as we could, greatly amusing a group of Chinese tourists, who looked amazed to see Westerners roaming around the palace in Hanbok in the snow. After that we departed for Gyeonbokgung (take 2) and actually got to the palace this time. It was pretty cool but snowing like hell. The storm got worse- thunder and lightning flashed while we were there and the sky looked distinctly ominous so we got the hell out of there too.
^^ We threw snow on the pond to try and break the ice. It wasn't 100% frozen. We spent what I now consider to be an embarrassingly long time trying to make a hole in the ice with snowballs.^^
After that, we headed to the mythical Jongak Pizza Hut. This story is almost too painful for me to explain- we found it, we saw the menu, it was unusually classy, I asked for cheese, I was refused. Seriously, I could order blue cheese pizza but not cheese pizza. I was genuinely extremely distressed. Needless to say, we left, and went to Mr Pizza instead. I am no huge Mr Pizza fan but had to confess amusement at seeing Angela and Mankee order GIANT pizzas (and Ange ordered pasta as well). The staff were incredulous- but Ange and Mankee’s real reason was so they could eat leftovers tomorrow. From there, we wandered through an arcade (Ange brought some dresses) and headed back to Skype the parentals.
^^ Guess who had which?^^
REVELATION: Despite me commenting about my blog, AND sending a link… my parents did not even read it. It has been a night of immense disappointments, and don’t even get me started on every Heirs episode ever.
The Grape Grouser, Out.
Wednesday was both uneventful and generally unsuccessful. We got up late and headed out to Anguk. Ange posted some stuff out then we went to see a Hanok village. We walked through (it was cold) and then headed towards what we later realized was Gyeongbokgung Palace. Only… we weren’t quite sure where we were going, and ended up in the Museum. Then by the time we left the Museum… the palace was closed. So that sucked.
^^ Crepes filled with cold ice cream. Clearly a good choice to have on a freezing day. They were so cold, but so delicious...^^
^^Ange and Mankee went out to Korean BBQ but I felt a bit over it so stayed behind. ^^
Today, Thursday, was far more successful. We got up slightly earlier and headed to… well, I thought it was a palace but then realized it was a shrine. A kickass shrine, but not even an important one or a big one. From there we tried to find Jongmyo shrine, failed, but ended up at Changdeokgung Palace, which was pretty cool. So we wandered around there, and it started to snow! After some hilarious footage of Ange trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth (she’s a special, special individual), and a conversation with a really nice old man (Ange’s Korean is far, far better than I realized. That dude just kept on speaking and she knew what was going on. Unless she was pulling a Nelson Mandela Sign-language Scumbag Steve move…. OH I just went there.)
^^ Shrine near us that I originally thought was a small palace.^^
^^ Ange makes herself at home Changdoekgung Palace.^^
Anyhow from there we wandered off to Anguk again, went to Unhyeongung Palace where we rented some Hanbok. It was snowing- we thought at first we wouldn’t be allowed outside in the Hanbok but then we were. The lady selling them was nice enough to take a few photos for us in the snow, then we raced off crazily. It was cold…
^^ In other news... no one looks skinny in Hanbok. Ever.^^
I chose a really nice blue …skirt thing(?)… but because I was too big, the traditional pink overcoat wouldn’t fit. Instead I got a lime green top with longer…whatevers. This unfortunately led to Angela lacking choices. The old woman seemed insistent she take a red skirt thing, but Ange wanted pink. After much gentle gesturing to the pinks, the lady picked one out for her, but Ange was automatically given a yellow top. She was not enthused. Seriously, for all the times Angela says I over dramatise shit (which to be fair, I often do), she decided life was OVER. The yellow was totally hideous (it wasn’t that bad, as you can see) and that it was just horrible and a waste of money and time. (And blah blah blah bad as dying children blah blah something.) Clearly, not so. Mankee had no dramas to speak of.
Then we just hooned around crazily in the palace trying to take as many photos as we could, greatly amusing a group of Chinese tourists, who looked amazed to see Westerners roaming around the palace in Hanbok in the snow. After that we departed for Gyeonbokgung (take 2) and actually got to the palace this time. It was pretty cool but snowing like hell. The storm got worse- thunder and lightning flashed while we were there and the sky looked distinctly ominous so we got the hell out of there too.
^^ We threw snow on the pond to try and break the ice. It wasn't 100% frozen. We spent what I now consider to be an embarrassingly long time trying to make a hole in the ice with snowballs.^^
After that, we headed to the mythical Jongak Pizza Hut. This story is almost too painful for me to explain- we found it, we saw the menu, it was unusually classy, I asked for cheese, I was refused. Seriously, I could order blue cheese pizza but not cheese pizza. I was genuinely extremely distressed. Needless to say, we left, and went to Mr Pizza instead. I am no huge Mr Pizza fan but had to confess amusement at seeing Angela and Mankee order GIANT pizzas (and Ange ordered pasta as well). The staff were incredulous- but Ange and Mankee’s real reason was so they could eat leftovers tomorrow. From there, we wandered through an arcade (Ange brought some dresses) and headed back to Skype the parentals.
^^ Guess who had which?^^
REVELATION: Despite me commenting about my blog, AND sending a link… my parents did not even read it. It has been a night of immense disappointments, and don’t even get me started on every Heirs episode ever.
The Grape Grouser, Out.
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