Seoul sightseeing

On Lisa's last weekend, we went into Seoul and stayed overnight at the Ibis in Myeongdong. It rained heavily on Saturday, which was a good excuse to look around the shops!

In the evening, we went to see a dance musical called Sachoom at the Nagwon Theatre in Insadong. The receptionist at the Ibis booked the tickets for us and we got them discounted from 50,000 won to 35,000 won! Sachoom is an abbreviation of the Korean phrase sarangha-myeon-chumeulchueora, which means “dance if you are in love.” The show was really fun and energetic mixing different contemporary dance styles and the glistening muscles of the male dancers didn't hurt either!

Me and Lisa at Gyeongbukgung Palace

Sunday was a much nicer day, so we went to Gyeongbukgung Palace and arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony (at least, I think that's what it was). It was the third time I've been to Gyeongbukgung, but the first time when the sun was out, so I took plenty of photos! Despite the hordes of people and fake facial hair (the guards, not me!), the ceremony was quite compelling, especially with the atmospheric music and it gave an inkling of the ornate rituals that existed during the Joseon era.

Changing of the Guard ceremonyAfter looking around the palace buildings, we strolled through Insadong then took the Seoul city bus tour (which managed to cram far too many people onto the bus and thus we could only see things which were on the right hand side of the bus due to all the people standing in the aisle, sigh).

Fan maker in Insadong