On My Way To Korea

It’s been interesting, every time I’ve taken the subway very far I’ve always seen something being sold on the subway.  I couldn’t help but laugh a little when I saw a sign on the subway specifically saying not to sell or buy anything on the train.

On my way to meet an old friend I haven’t seen for three years, I found myself with an extra hour to kill next to Insadong (인사동).  After looking at the local map I decided to head over to the Gyeongbok palace (which is actually closed on Tuesdays ><).  The only thing I really got to see due to time constraints on the palace being closed was the National Palace Museum of Korea.  It was FREEZING cold which probably contributed to very few people being there.  I guess that’s one positive side of the coldness, you don’t have to fight the crowds.  I only got to see about a third of just this museum (there’s another museum, the Folk Museum) so I’m definitely going to have to come back.  Here’s some pics I took inside:

This is a training manual for the guards I believe:

I bet the 아줌마들 (ladies) used these.  And the kids complain today …

I saw that it was getting close to 1PM so I headed back towards Insadong to meet my friend Raina.  We started walking through Insadong to get lunch and came to this place:

The food was pretty good, but expensive.  It was 15,000원 per person since we got a sampler meal (a little of everything).  We left and started walking through Insadong again.  At this point, we realized that it probably wasn’t the best day to be outside.  It was definitely the coldest it’s been since I’ve been here.  So, we took every opportunity to go into souvenir shops, a coffee shop, an exhibition, and the biggest 교보 bookstore:

It looks like I’m all caught up with my pics and posts through now!