Korea Trip 2022: Another Hanok Village, Palace, Market, and More in Jongno-gu
As I’m nearing the end of my first week in Korea, I’m also nearing the end of my first “me time” period here. There were so many places I wanted to visit during my time here in Jung-gu, so I’m having to squeeze as many of the “priority” spots into my itinerary. I doubt I’ll get them all, but that’s traveling for you. That said, my day started much earlier than normal on Wednesday since I had a packed slate.
While I was heading over to Gyeongbokgung Station Line 3 for the second day in a row, I stopped at a vendor who was just outside of the station’s entrances. She was selling drinks, 김밥 (gimbap), and fish cakes. I bought a fish cake for ₩800 (~$0.58), and the lady was kind enough to give me another. She also asked if I wanted some of the fish cake broth as well, and I responded affirmatively. While the fish cakes were a bit on the firm side, they were piping hot, and the broth energized me. Afterward, I went into the station and got on the subway to go to 안국역 3호선 (Anguk Station Line 3).
북촌 한옥마을 (Bukchon Hanok Village) | Naver link
Bukchon Hanok Village is one of the most well known hanok villages in Korea, and I suspect its pedigree is partly due to the fact that it is located between two major palaces of the Joseon Period. After I exited the station, I began walking north on 북촌로 (Bukchon-ro). Less than 10 minutes later, I could see signage for the village, and I got excited because I couldn’t see any tourists. That excitement was dashed when I saw a sign listing some rules for the village, with one being that tourists should not enter the village until 10:00am; it was just a little past 8:00am. I decided to grab breakfast and then return just a little before 10:00am.
청진옥 (Cheongjinok) | Naver link
해장국 (hangover soup) is commonly eaten by Koreans in the morning, especially for those who drank alcohol the night before. While there’s no shortage of restaurants in Seoul that sell hangover soup, there was one in particular that I really wanted to go to - one that has been operating for 85 years. I had heard about it via a YouTube video, and from it, I found out it has gone through at least three generations of owners, all from the same family. I ordered one bowl of hangover soup for ₩11,000 ($8.06), and surprisingly, I waited nearly 10 minutes for it to come out - which I took to be a good sign of the dish’s preparation. It came out piping hot, and I was also given a bowl of rice as well as 깍두기 (diced radish kimchi). I spotted a container of sauce that wasn’t labeled, so I poured some out onto my rice bowl’s lid. Picking up a piece of intestine from the soup with my chopsticks, I dipped it into the sauce and ate it. I was expecting it to be soy sauce, but my nasal passages instantly cleared! I guessed that it contained horseradish or wasabi. I haven’t had hangover soup in years, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. While it does contain protein in the form of intestine, cartilege, and congealed blood, it’s also packed with vegetables, including cabbage and soybean sprouts. The soup also wasn’t as spicy as I had anticipated, so I had no issue finishing it. The acidity from the diced radish kimchi helped to cut through the soup, and I loved eating everything with the rice.
조계사 (Jogyesa) | Naver link
Despite my walk over to the restaurant and eating there, I still had quite a bit of time before the village would be “open” to visitors. However, while on the way to the restaurant, I had passed by the Jogyesa and decided to check it out when I was on my way back should I have time to kill. The temple serves as the headquarters for the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, which is the country’s largest Buddhist sect. The temple’s compound consists of multiple buildings, and as one can expect, the hall attracts the most attention, not just with its three large statues of the Buddha, but also with the dozens of incredibly colorful fish art elevated just in front of it. The temple also features two trees - a Lacebark Pine and a Chinese Scholar - that have been standing for over hundreds of years. In addition to a tour group that was making its way through the grounds, dozens of Koreans were coming to pray.
Bukchon Hanok Village (For Real, This Time)
I arrived at the village right on time, and I followed waypoint signage to start walking through it. Unlike Namsangol Hanok Village, the hanoks here are actually currently occupied by ordinary Koreans, hence why there are visiting hours and why visitors are urged to speak quietly, set their phones to at least vibrate mode, and respect the residents’ privacy by not taking photos inside the hanoks. As I trekked into the village, I was very impressed at how well maintained the hanoks here are. There wasn’t a lot of noise, giving the village a sense of serenity. The village offers plenty of great photoshoot locations, and while I had to constantly check for incoming cars, I had free rein to walk wherever I liked so long as it wasn’t into someone’s home.
The village features plenty of inclines, and I wanted not only a place to rest, but also something ice cold to drink. Luckily for me, I followed a sign promising an observatory, and it led me to 동양차문화관 (Dongyang Tea Museum) | Naver link, a cafe and - as the name suggests - a tea museum. The building is two stories tall, with a gift shop and seating areas on the first floor and a gallery, additional seating, and an observatory on the second. I ordered a 매실요구르트 (Asian apricot yoghurt), a glass of which came out on a neat wooden container, for ₩6,000 ($4.40). I took it to the observatory, chose a seat under shade, and drank. The drink was thicker than I had anticipated, but I wasn’t complaining because it was iced and I got the full force of that Asian apricot flavor I love. The view itself was quite nice, as I could see the curved rooftops of well over a dozen hanoks that the observatory overlooked. The museum’s grounds were really cool to look at too, with one long hanok just next to the museum and a peaceful-looking stone bridge as well as a small traditionally designed gate. I took the time to recharge, knowing that the day was only going to get hotter.
국립민속박물관 (National Folk Museum of Korea) | Naver link
While I was on my way over to Gyeongbokgung Palace, I came through the west entrance when I saw that it immediately led to not the palace, but the National Folk Museum of Korea. It wasn’t even noon, and since I figured I had plenty of time to kill, I decided to check out what the museum had to offer.
There’s plenty to look at in the museum’s grounds, in particular an exhibition called “추억의 거리” (“A Walk Down Memory Lane”). This displays replicas of an olden-day street dating back to the ‘60s and ‘70s in Korea, which was around the time my parents were growing up. The replicas include a comic book store, a barber shop, dress shop, and tea house. I very much enjoyed walking through it and peering into the buildings, as it gave me a very good idea of what life was like for my parents in their adolescent and teenage years.
I also went inside the museum’s main building to see what they had for the exhibitions, and I was very glad I did. Exhibition 1 is a presentation of “a day in the life of…” for Koreans over time, and it includes what Koreans ate and wore as well as where they lived and their various occupations. Exhibition 2 looks like the aspects of daily life in Korea through the lens of four seasons, and it covers seasonal customs, work, meals, clothing, and shelter. Exhibition 3 covers Korean life passages, from birth to after death, and it covers a wide period, from the Joseon Dynasty to the modern era. Exhibition 4 is an immersive digital one that covers various deities in old folk tales. Finally, Exhibition 5 - my personal favorite - covers the 고려사람 (Koryeo people), a Korean diaspora in Uzbekistan and Kazahkstan. I had heard about the diaspora before, but this exhibition explored the history and daily life of the Koryeo people. It was actually the very first day of this exhibition, so I felt very lucky to have caught it.
Gyeongbokgung Palace | Naver link
If you’re visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace for the first time and want to experience it in full, I recommend setting aside at least two hours. The palace is just sprawling, accommodating the hundreds of people walking around, and there’s just so much to soak in if you’re very interested in traditional Korean architecture. Admission was ₩3,000 ($2.20). There are vendors who rent out 한복 (hanbok - traditional Korean clothing), and I saw plenty of families and individuals dressed in it while touring the grounds. There are multiple halls and two pavilions to check out, and while I did feel that looking at the smaller halls became repetitive because of how similar they are to each other, they’re all worth checking out. If you’re pressed for time and can only check out parts of the palace, I would recommend 근정전 (Geunjeongjeon Hall), 향원정 (Hyangwonjeong Pavilion), and 경회루(Gyeonghoeru Pavilion), as those were the highlights during my visit.
통인시장 (Tongin Market) | Naver link
It was nearly 2:00pm when I left Gyeongbokgung Palace, and I was exhausted and hungry. I headed over to Tongin Market, a traditional market that’s a short walk away. While the market itself isn’t as large as Gwangjang Market and Namdaemun Market, it does have something unique going for it: the 도시락카페 (coin lunchbox cafe). How it works is that you head to the second floor of the market’s 고객만족센터 (customer satisfaction center). There’s a small cafe there, and you’ll find staff members who run the coin lunchbox cafe. You exchange ₩10,000 (estimated $7.30) for two rolls of 10 엽전 (Korean traditional coins) apiece as well as a plastic lunch tray. You go back down to the market level and look for stalls with signs stating “도시락 cafe 가맹점”. You can then pay for food at that stall using the coins! It’s a fun way to interact with the stalls here at the market.
While I did arrive on time to catch the tail end of the coin lunchbox cafe (it closes at 3:00pm - whew), a couple of stalls were clearly slowing down for service. With the coins I had plus an extra ₩500 (estimated $0.37), I was able to purchase: a mozzarella cheese chicken skewer from 효자동닭꼬치 (Hyojadong Chicken Skewer) | Naver link; soondae at 불란집 (Bulanjip) | Naver link; 쇠고기전 (beef pancake) at 세종식당 (Sejong Restaurant) | Naver link; and 새우튀김 (fried shrimp) and 닭강정 (sweet-soy fried chicken) at 정금이네김밥 (Jeonggeum’s Gimbap) | Naver link. Back at the Customer Satisfaction Center, I went up to the third floor to tuck into my food. The skewer was nice and tender, the soondae a little lacking in flavor, the shrimp and chicken both great, and the beef pancake fried well. I thought the experience was fun, though my enthusiasm drooped just a little when I passed by a dumpling stall that had the sign which I had missed when passing by earlier. D’oh!
스쿠퍼젤라또 (Scooper) | Naver link
While I was on my way to Gyeongbokgung Station, I poked my head into a gelato shop that was in between Tongin Market and the station. They had 18 intriguing flavors available, you can get three scoops of gelato - two regular scoops and one small scoop - for ₩5,500 ($4.03). For my regular scoops, I opted for 무화과크림치즈 (cream cheese gelato with fig jam) and 화채 (watermelon, peach, Milkis). For the small scoop, I asked for 잔두야 (hazelnut & chocolate gelato). Taste-wide, the cream cheese gelato with fig jam and the hazelnut & chocolate gelato were the purest in terms of flavor, with both also being very rich. While I liked the watermelon, peach, and Milkis, I wasn’t sure what to make of it; I couldn’t really taste Milkis, and I tasted more watermelon than I did peach. With the gelato cooling me down some, I continued my way toward the station to close out my sixth day in Korea.
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