As we are coming closer to the end of our time in Korea, we started our morning off by visiting Bukchon Hanok village. Although many tourists flock to this area to view the traditional architecture of the buildings, this is still a residential zone, so visitors were told to be respectful and quiet while walking through the neighborhood. My friends and I went to a spot that overlooks another neighborhood and the view really showed just how vast the differences between various neighborhoods in the Seoul area can be.
We later left the village to visit Jogyessa temple once again to see a ceremony celebrating Buddha’s birthday. There was a huge crowd around the temple and apparently the president of South Korea was also there. It was really crowded so a group of other people and I decided to walk around the street near the temple. There were many souvenir shops selling carved statues of Buddha, lanterns, and other items.
We then went to a street nearby called Insadong to explore. There were many shops selling traditional Korean items such as paintings, fans, and other crafts. That area also had many art galleries. Unfortunately, I did not have time to visit the galleries, but it was interesting to see a never-ending stream of art while browsing the shops.
We then went to the Starfield Coex mall. One of the main tourist attractions here is their Starfield library. It had many types of media, ranging from US Magazines to novels in Korean and other foreign languages. There was also an aquarium within the mall. Seeing this was surprising because many malls in the US do not have as many features within their mall. It was also fascinating to see that there were even a plethora of sit down restaurants within some of the floors. In the US, it is more common to have a food court style dining option, but in Coex, there were many sit down restaurants.
Overall, today was filled with new knowledge about different customs in Korea and how they compare to those in the US.