On day 7, we started early by going to Bukchon Hanok Village, a tiny village in Seoul that has been maintained. It is still used as a residential district today, as people and hotels live there. It looks like an old Korean village. We were given time to walk around the town for a bit, as there were many people there, and people who lived in the houses, so we had to make sure that we were quiet. We also stopped by a tiny cafe that was in someones house and a shop near the entrance to get some souvenirs.
After we went to the village, we walked to a Buddhist temple and looked around for a little while. It was a different temple from the one that I visited last week. This temple was more centrally located in Seoul, and it’s interesting to see that even in downtown or other areas of the city, there are temples or religious structures built into the city’s modernity. When we got to the temple, there was also a service, so we got to sit in and watch some of it.
After the Buddhist temple, we went to Cheonggyecheon Square, which is located in downtown Seoul. This is a stream about 7 miles long, where people can come down and get a break from the busyness of downtown Seoul. They can walk along the stream all the way down to the end. It has become an extremely popular spot for tourists and locals to hang out on nice days.