I got Seoul.:.Part Deux.

Monday was most definitely more productive. We checked out of our motel and had donuts 'n' coffee for breakfast. After yet another subway ride we ended up at Gyeongbokgung Palace, where we left our bags in the subway lockers and headed into the Palace. There was a ton of people there, and lots going on. Gyeongbokgung served as the main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty, with Mount Bugaksan to its rear and a city of skyscrapers facing it. It was built in 1395 by King Taejo and was a densely arranged labyrinth complex of 330 buildings. Now... there's some history for ya!!! It was beautiful and in such a crazy location, right on the outskirts of Seoul.

There was a ton of guys/guards in their Korean warrior outfits, we thought they didn't move like the guards at Buckingham Palace but we were sorely mistaken as one of them picked his nose.

[Shanes warrior face]

[Inside the Palace, the Korean throne, Ashley stuck her arm in too far to take a picture and set the alarm off... mwah ha ha ha!!]

[The view of the City from the front of the Palace]

[Two cute Koreans dressed in the warrior gear]

[Two cute foreigners guards! haha! We had a stick fight!]

The water that surrounded sections of the Palace was frozen over and the Koreans were all over it playing random little games. This was a spinning top (that Matt is playing with), you hit it with this stick n string combo to make it spin. The little kids were going crazy for them. Also, there were tiny sledges on ropes floating around the ice, the kids parents were dragging them around. We waited around to get our hands on one but they were like golddust.

[Mwah ha ha. Caught this kid Mid-Fall!]

[There was also a circle of animal statues which represented the year you were born, mine was the year of the Ox but I prefered the horse statue]

Then we headed into Insa-dong market, which was really sweet. I bought lots of little trinkets!! The boys headed somewhere to find a bathroom, so Ashley and Myself checked out some little shops and stalls. Then we witnessed a "bum fight"! There was one of those preacher guys with a huge Religious sign on his back, carrying a microphone and speaker. Out of nowhere this homeless guy comes up and starts kicking him and slapping him in the face. After about 30 seconds of abuse from the homeless guy, a random Korean guy intervened and pushed the bum away. Then this American bloke walking down the street minding his own business got a kick and slap from the bum, although he retaliated by kicking him back and then walked off. Ashley and Myself were in complete shock, it was pretty hilarious. The boys were real pissed they missed all the action! haha!

So one of my favourite parts of my trip to Seoul was this really cute 'Old Bird Tea Shop' which was down a tiny alley off Insa-dong Market. The tea was expensive enough, 6,000Won for a large cup. Although it was totally worth it as you were paying for the atmosphere and the tea was spot on. I had a sweet dew tea and our table came with little sweet treats which I can only describe as sweet spiderweb inside a crunchy sweet coating. Very random. Anyways why this place was so special is that when inside there are all these little song-birds that fly around and sing (no they don't poo on you, they have a special tree they poo on). They are pretty quiet too, so it's not a bunch of horrible noise. At first I was a little nervous like I was in a Hitchcock movie but after I relaxed and drank my tea it was such a nice atmosphere in there. We were up near the roof-tops so the Song Birds were flying by the window teasing the roof-top cats.