Today was a short day, we were supposed to have a river cruise on the Han River, but it was postponed to tomorrow due to weather. In Korea, today is actually a very important holiday, Buddha’s birthday, so we went back to a temple we visited earlier in the trip to see some of the ceremony.

Before that, however, we visited Bukchon Hanok Village. This is a very popular place to visit as it is known for its traditional Korean houses called Hanoks. Kay explained on the bus ride that is it common for Koreans to put the phrase ‘Han’ at the beginning of words referring to something traditional. Hangul, for example, refers to traditional Korean writing. While the village is a popular tourist attraction, it is also just home for many people, so we were informed to stay quiet while exploring to not disturb the residents.

Next, as mentioned earlier, we revisited Jogyesa Temple, since it was Buddha’s birthday, to see the ceremony. The temple was much more crowded than the previous time we were there, so it was pretty difficult to see what was happening. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how many people gathered at the same place for the ceremony.

The last place we went today was the Starfield Coex Mall. This mall was huge, and we only explored one floor. At the mall, they have a very cool library with shelves that go up far beyond where anybody could reach. I also tried a couple American food chains that I never tried before which were Shake Shack and Krispy Kreme. They were both very good, and Krispy Kreme had Pokémon themed donuts which I was not expecting but thought was very cool.

We returned back to the hotel around 3:15 where we were given the rest of the day to do what we want. Our group spent time finishing our final presentation for the departure meeting tomorrow, which I cannot believe is already about to happen.