The first full day begins with brekfast — well more accurately at 1, 3, and 5am when I woke up in the night from jet lag. Downstairs in the hotel I get a plate of scrambeled eggs, toast, and dumplings. The scrambled eggs were a little difficult to eat with the chopsticks at first, but I got the hang of it. The dumplings, however… I was all over them and may have genuinely eaten around 20 before getting on the bus to the Gyeongbokgung palace.
Right at the end of the main road downtown is a large gate serving as the enterence to the palace. As we park and enter, I was immediately amazed by how such a modern downtown could preserve a historical landmark of this size. After watching the changing-of-the-guards ceremony, Jordan and I went over to (successfully) snag a picture with the guards, only for pictures with them to stop being allowed immediately after we took ours. Of the entire palace area, my favorite thing was the king’s throne(room), which had such detailed artwork on every single piece of wood making up the walls, ceiling, and exterior. Beautiful, vibrant, and consistent patterns were everywhere in addition to familiar symbols such as the dragon.
After the palace was a delicious lunch of Bulgogi (an iconic Korean beef-dish) where I learned of the “invisible noodles” as I like to call them. I was informed they were made of vegetables and exist in America but my hamburger/pizza/pasta-eating self had not seen them before, but I liked them nonetheless. It was then off to the _ market, where tens of stores line the streets flooded with pedestrians, street food, and tons of Supreme gear. I bought a nice cheap bag to carry assorted purchases throughout the trip, on it saying “Korea: The best kept secret in Asia.” To end our market visit, I split some giant street-dumplings with Jordan and Tyler after ordering with the classic ‘point and pay’ technique.
After the scheduled program ended, I headed out with a small group to wander on foot with a simple goal: find a tall view. We wandered the streets guessing which sky-scraper we might be able to go up and peek out a window from, and after a few failures we managed to go up to the top floor of the Dream Palace and snag a picture of downtown out the window. The day ended with a nice pork and potato stew cooked right at the table.