Seoul - Cheonggyecheon Stream

Direction:
a. City Hall Station (Seoul Subway Line 1, 2), Exit 4
b. Againt the main road, you will saw Finance buildings on your right. Walk about 250m.

"Until it was restored in 2005, Cheonggyecheon Stream existed only as a neglected watercourse hidden by an overpass. Today, it has been transformed into a haven of natural beauty amidst the bustle of city life.

Narae Bridge, expressing a butterfly in flight, and Gwanggyo Bridge, symbolizing the harmony of the past and future, are just two of the more than twenty beautiful bridges that cross the stream. The ‘Rhythmic Wall Stream’, lined with fine marble, sculptures, and Korea’s 8th stone building, Palseokdam, adorn the Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Cheonggyecheon Stream passes close to Deoksugung Palace, Seoul Plaza, the Sejong Center, Insa-dong Street, Changdeokgung Palace, and Changgyeonggung Palace, allowing visitors to easily visit major tourist sites after a leisurely stroll along the stream." --- visitkorea.or.kr

On the way walking to the stream from City Hall station.

I think there having the 'teeth protection campaign'.

This is the 'landmark' of the stream. Every Sunday also will have a market here.

Fishes in the stream... they are working hard to static their position against the flow direction.

Many people come and 'picnic' here... which is forbidden actually.

This is the '2nd part' of the stream if you walked further 150 meter.

Direction plate.

Seoul - Deoksugung Palace Royal Guard-Changing Ceremony

Direction: City Hall Station (Seoul Subway Line 1, 2), Exit 2.Go straight 100m to arrive at Daehanmun Gate on the right.

"Located at the corner of Seoul's busiest downtown intersection, Deoksugung Palace is famous for its elegant stone-wall road. It is also the only palace that sits alongside a series of western style buildings that add to the uniqueness of the surrounding scenery. Deoksugung Palace originally belonged to Wolsandaegun (1454~1488), the older brother of King Seongjong (1469~1494) of the Joseon Dynasty. It became a proper palace when Gwanghaegun (1575~1641) ascended the throne and gave the palace the name Gyeongungung in 1611. Afterwards, the name was then changed back to its orginal title of Deoksugung." --- visitkorea.or.kr

Street view after exited City Hall Station - Exit 1. A minor disable people doing hard on his wood carving. The is the 'fence' of Deoksugung Palace.

Main entrance of the palace. Counter on right is selling admission ticket.

During the ceremony, person in charge will guide you when is the time to take photo with those Royal Guards. Do not need to rush to take photo with them. They allow plenty of time to let tourist to take picture. So, just enjoy it.

By the way, in front of the entrance, there has one 'kiosk' for renting Hanbok to let tourist to take photo. I did not check out the renting rate... paiseh.



Activity Information:



Changing of the Royal Guards Ceremony Schedule: 11:00, 14:00, 15:30 (Closed on Mondays)

South Korea Trip - Seoul - Day 3

Route: Busan > (bullet train, ~2.5 hours) >Seoul >Changing of the Royal Guards@Geoksugong > Cheonggyecheon stream > Insadong-market

KTX Busan Station building. We are going to Seoul from Busan.

Collect out train ticket which already purchased online.

These are our round trip tickets. Expensive! Bullet train what.

Train service crews at behind welcoming the guests (passenger). Their job is similar as stewardess.

Interior of the train. Looks like not much different with 'normal train'. A bit disappointed.

Let's take a pic :)

I thought this train is directed go to our destination. Oh, it is not.

Station 1: Ulsan

Station 2: Dongdae

Station 3: Gimcheon

Station 4: Gwangmyeong. The last 2 destination before Seoul. This is also 2nd most peoples drop off. Of cause, Seoul is the 1st most people's destination.

We stopped by to have a lunch while we on the way walk to the guesthouse. Opps, I wrote wrongly in the photo. This is just a normal fried rice which stated "like" in their menu. For me, taste is light and the rice is too watery.

Alfonso order spicy beef soup with rice. He likes it but the taste is not strong enough if compare to Penang's Daore Korean restaurant :p

I think we will come and visit this restaurant again due to fast and reasonable price :)

Walk future more ~80 meter, our guesthouse is there! New Sun Guesthouse. About this guesthouse, I think their facility is good: common lounge, shared kitchen, laundry (self-service), and desktop with internet provided. The drawback is the room condition that we got is suck! 
1. Room at ground floor, no window ( good thing is we do not need to carry our luggage to up stair since there is no lift available.
2. Wet mud smell since the air circulation is not good.
3. Condition of the toilet looks old but clean.
4. The floor under one of the bed's leg is broken.
Will I come again? Definitely NO!

OK... don't keep complain again. Let continue my journey :)

Destination 1: 
Changing of the Royal Guards@Geoksugong. To read more, click here.

This is the street view in front of the Geoksugong.

Destination 2: 

Cheonggyecheon stream. To read more, click here.

After visited Cheonggyecheon stream. We decided to walk to the Insadong instead of taking metro train since it is just 1 station away. We passed by 1 building which look like temple but inside is nothing, seems like a common hall.

Further more, we saw this unique building. Base on the design, can see that it is not easy to build such kind of shape. A lot of calculation needed.

Opps, my uploaded photo not in proper rotation. This is the map can be found at metro train station. After saw this, we only decided to walk from the stream to insadong.

We just heading to the place which most people is walking to. Luckily, we follow correctly :) This is the 'landmark' of Insa-dong market. To read more, please click here.

This is the only 1 snack that we tried from Insa-dong market. Grilled cutter fish or squid? Hmm... not sure. Taste is good... chew chew chew... exercise your mouth and face. 3000 won each.

Our early dinner in Insa-dong (~5-6pm). A lot of people... this is why we choose this restaurant :p

Bibimbap with small octupus... ordered by Alfonso. 7000 won. The taste is not that impressive.

Bean curd soup with rice. 6000 won.  Small portion. The taste is more attracting than Alfonso's bibimbap :p

After dinner, what we do? Hmm... going back to guesthouse and take rest.

There have few fried chicken restaurants around our guesthouse. On the first day that we have arrived, we walked by one of the restaurant and felt like want to have a try after watched the Korean drama - My love from the star - fried chicken + beer. :) We ordered original crispy fried chicken.

Are you ready??? He so happy.

Let's yam seng first :p

Very crispy... you even can't see the fat under the skin. Surprisingly, the chicken is very very very NICE! Thumb up uP UP!!!

This restaurant quite full occupied by people.

This restaurant is just closed to Hoehyeon Station - Exit 1. Sure I will come visit again!

End with our Day 3 :)

Day 1 - KL - Busan (Taejongdae-Seomyeom)

Day 2 - Busan (Jalgachi Fish Market - Gamcheon Culture Village - BIFF/Yongdusan Park/LOTTE)

Day 3 - Busan - Seoul (Geosugong - Cheonggyecheon Stream - Insadong Market)

Day 4 - Seoul (Gyeongbokgung - Bukchon Hanok Village - LOTTE Mart - Namdaemun Market)

Day 5 - Seoul (War Memorial Museum - Myeongdong/LOTTE Duty Free)

Day 6 - Seoul - Busan (Ewha Womans University - Changdeokgung - Dongdaemun)

Day 7 - Busan - KL (Haeundae Beach - Gwanglli-bridge)
My South Korea Itinerary 

Busan - LOTTE Department Store @ Nampo-dong (Gwangbok Branch)

Direction:
Nampo-dong Station then go out of Exit 10

What special in this building is their Sky Garden which at the roof top (floor 11).

"The world’s largest indoor musical water fountain, which was registered in the Guiness World Book of Records, can be seen inside. Additionally, the rooftop park, which is the largest in Korea, offers a great view of the entire city of Busan.  The rooftop alone can be a popular tourist attraction." --- by visitkorea.or.kr

Worth to go? Yes. Take your time and enjoy the night view here.

Previous: Yongdusan-park
Next: Day 3 - Seoul

My Itinerary