The day started off bright and early. I naturally woke up at 6:00am from jet lag, a whole three hours before we had anything planned. I grabbed breakfast with some friends and got ready for the day. Today was a cultural day, so we visited many famous locations around Seoul. We started with Gyeongbokgong Palace. This was the largest of the five palaces in Seoul built by the Joseon Dynasty. We were able to witness the changing of the guards the moment we walked in, and Jeff and I got an illegal photo with them (we weren’t supposed to take pictures). We then toured the grounds of the palace and see where the kings of the past lived their lives.

              Our next stop was the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple. This was my favorite of the two because the area was still decorated from Buddha’s birthday being the night before. There were many colorful lanterns hung all over the temple grounds. Each lantern was bought by someone who wished to receive a prayer from a monk or give a prayer to a loved one. The white lanterns were also special, for the fact that they were made for prayers given to the deceased.

              Next, we went to Cheonggyecheon, a stream through the city that stretched over 10 kilometers. The river used to be very polluted, but in the early 2000’s the mayor of Seoul decided to renovate it and is now one of the nicest spots in the city. After that, we spent some time in a large market district. There must have been over a thousand small shops, all with unique goods to sell. I ended up buying a Korean shirt and a banana-kiwi smoothie that was amazing. We also got some street dumplings that were very good and got yelled at in Korean when we did not return the plates that the dumplings were served on. Minor mistake.