Day 2 (14 Feb 08) Pictures of Gyeongbok Palace and Jeju Island

After Nami Island, we went back to Seoul (lucky it was not as cold as Nami Island although still cold) and had lunch (BBQ Chicken) first. We can top up everything from meat, vegetable to Kimchi if not enough. Our tour guide was very helpful and constantly helps us to check whether the meat was cooked. You can eat the BBQ meat with rice or another way of eating is using lettuce to wrap some meat, kimchi, bean sauce, seaweed and rice. I prefer using the lettuce wrap as it was very fresh and tastes even more delicious :>




After lunch we proceeded to Gyeongbok Palace which was built in 1395 during the Chosun Dynasty. Gyeongbok Palace is also called “Northern Palace” because it is located more toward the north compared to Changdeok Palace (Eastern Palace) and Gyeonghee Palace (Western Palace). Gyeongbok Palace (No.117 Historical Number) prides itself for having the largest magnitude and being the most beautiful among the 5 other palaces.




In the Gyeongbok Palace, the most representative edifices of the Joseon Dynasty, Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion and Hyangwonjeong Pond still remain. Woldae and sculptures of Geunjeongjeon (The Royal Audience Chamber) represent the past sculpture art which was the trend back then. The National Palace Museum of Korea is located south of Heungnyemum Gate and we had some time to explore the place.












The National Palace Museum of Korea opened in 1992 with relics from the Joseon Dynasty [1392~1910] on display. Over 20,000 royal relics from Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace and Jongmyo Shrine are on display.
It is located south of Heungnyemun Gate and the National Folk Museum is located east within Hyangwonjeong.





After Gyeongbok palace, we proceeded to Gimpo Airport (for domestic flights) for our 4.40pm flight to Jeju Island.




It takes about an hour to reach Jeju and we reached about 6pm. We then proceeded to have dinner at a Chinese Restaurant which was also quite delicious.






After dinner, we checked in to the Jeju Namseoul Hotel where we would spend 2 nights. We ended the day early as most of us were tired after the night flight to Seoul. The hotel room was nicely furnished and cozy. Morning call for day 3 was 6am and we had to gather at the lobby at 7am.