Categories: SeoulSouth Korea

South Korea 2011 Day 2 – Palace hopping, Seodaemun Prison and Shopping

Breakfast at Holly’s coffee just around the corner of our hotel before the day’s tour of Seoul.

Breakfast at Holly’s coffee.

Our breakfast.

Train to Anguk station and a walk to the UNESCO site of Changdeokgung Palace, huge and grand, fit for royalties.

Unesco Changdeokgung.

Map of the palace.

One of the many halls.

Inside the hall.

Pond inside the palace.

Like a scene from a Korean drama.

Tiny gate.

Another pond in the compounds.

Autumn colours.

Yet another pond.

Huge place, took a while to walk around the compound and before we exited the palace and have lunch in some random Korean store.

The place we had lunch.

Lunch at a Korean store.

Then another store to have a sweet fish pastry to desert.

Time for some dessert, shaped like a fish.

End product.

Another palace visit, by walking there. Gyeongbokgung palace, similar size but more modern architecture.

One of the gates to Gyeongbokgung.

Guards.

Huge square to the next building.

One of the halls.

Inside one of the halls.

Close view of the hall, such vibrant colours.

Map of the palace grounds.

Looks like the bedroom.

Pond with a building in the middle.

Another smaller pond.

Pagoda within the compounds.

Preservation jars for kimchi?

Palace that had a mountain behind it.

After we completed the exploration within the palace compounds, we returned to the entrance where the changing of guards took place.

Changing of guards, retro style.

The last attraction of the day was to visit a prison, Seodaemun Prison, taking a one stop from Anguk to Dongnimmun station, and a short walk to the entrance. A much smaller compound compared to the palaces and manageable to complete exploring within an hour.

Seodaemun Prison.

Map of the prison.

Some deadly contraption.

Within the prison compound.

Long corridor of cells.

Communication between cell and guards.

Reverence monument.

Corpse tunnel.

Then it was shopping at night, got off at Dongdaemun station, there was a majestic gate called Heunginjimun near the station.

Night view of a Heunginjimun Gate at Dongdaemun

A mixture of malls from trendy fashion at a costlier price at Doota mall and Maxtyle mall to the more affordable market like stores Pyoung Hwa clothing market.

Dongdaemun entrance.

Pyoung Hwa clothing market.

Doota shopping mall.

Doota entrance.

Maxtyle shopping mall.

Fountain within one of the mall (forgotten which)

Dinner for the day.

ziyi

A travel addict from the little red dot otherwise known as Singapore. Started blogging during travel to help the aging forgetful mind remember the experience of each destination.