A Friend from Home Visits!

I have official had my first visitor from home come stay with me in Korea. My friend Tom, from university, is travelling around Asia and his first stop was Korea. When he first got in, it was a Friday night, I took him to a local western bar in the area where they have ice beer. The beer is put in a plastic cup, that is then put in cup of ice. Then once you are finished drinking the beer, you throw the ice cup at a bulls-eye to try and get something free. Neither of us won anything but it was still fun catching up.

The next day, I took him to my favorite restaurant (so far) in Korea. I take all my friends there. It is a type of bulgogi but with pork. It was also his first experience with cooking the food at our own table. We cooked the rolled pork and then wrapped the meat with some vegetables in a lettuce leaf. We would then shove the lettuce ball into our mouths. It is sooo good. Who would have thought that meat wrapped in lettuce would be so good, the Korean's apparently.

After we had lunch, we proceeded to head into Seoul. Not only was I going to be a tour guide for my friend but I was also going to be a tourist. All the places that I took him to where places that I hadn't gone to yet. The first place we went to was Bukchon Hanok Village. It is located between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung. It is a Korean traditional village in the heart of Seoul.

A popular alleyway to take photos of

The rooftops of the village

When we were walking back to the subway, we bought a type of sweet that is sold by vendors on the street. It is called Bbopki. It is a traditional Korean sugar candy, in the shape of a CD. They are made with a design stamped in the middle. It taste like burnt marshmallow. It is really sweet but it is also really good. 

On out walk back, I also saw my first Starbucks were the sign was in Hangul. I have never seen a Starbucks in a foreign language, so that was fun. I, of course, had to take a picture of it.

Starbucks

We then headed to the 63 Building. The building is one of Seoul's most famous landmarks. It has an observation deck on the 60th floor. We got to the top of the building just as the sun was setting, so we were able to get a view of Seoul in the daylight as well as at night. Seoul is definitely more beautiful at night then in the day. The city becomes so bright with colorful lights, it becomes very beautiful. 

63 Building

Seoul at sunset

Night view of Seoul

It's me!

The next day, we first went to one of the palaces. We went to Deoksugung, which means Palace of Virtuous Longevity. It became a palace in 1593 when one of the kings moved in after all of Seoul's other palaces were destroyed during the Japanese invasion. The palace used to be three times as big as it is now. It was  definitely smaller than Gyeongbokgung; it was also less crowded.

We then proceeded to walk to the next palace that is located nearby, but we decided to make a detour and tour around Seoul Plaza first and the area nearby. During this time of year, Seoul Plaza has a huge ice skating rink for the winter. It was packed with people but if it wasn't I probably would've rented some skates and joined in. 

The Haechi Madang has been esablished as the symbol of Korea.
These are a cartoon version of them ice skating.

Walking around Seoul Plaza

We were also able to walk across the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The same place I went to during the lantern festival. It looked pretty during the day too. 

Chwonggyecheon Stream

We also walked past a building that had a statue in front of it that reminded me of home. Korea has it's own Hammering Man. At first when I saw it I though Korea was just being copy cats and taking the idea from Seattle, but after doing some research I found out it was done by the same artist. There are also several of them in various cities in the world. The one in Korea is the tallest at 72 ft tall while the one in Seattle is 48 ft tall. It is located near the Heungkuk Life Insurance building.

Hammering Man in Seoul

We also walked near the Seoul Museum of History. We didn't go inside but they had pieces of history in the small plaza in front of the museum. I will  definitely have to go inside next time the I am in the area.

In front of the Seoul Museum of History

We then finally made it to the second palace of the day. This one is Gyeonghuigung, which means Palace of Shining Celebration. It was built in 1617 and served as the secondary palace. At the height of its usage, it had more than 100 halls. Much of it was destroyed by Japan on two separate occasions and only a few of the buildings were restored. The palace is very small and quiet. There were hardly any tourist at this site.

Tom in front of the main audience hall

All of us with the palace behind us

Top part of the wall surrounding the palace.

After we left the palace we headed back to the subway station to head towards a market. I took Tom to Namdaemun Market. We mainly explored around the market but one of our main goals was to get some street food. We were able to enjoy some of the popular Korean street foods and enjoyed it was a bowl of rice wine. Yum!

Street food at Namdaemun Market

My friend was only in town for three full days, but on the third day I had to work, so he was able to explore the town that I lived in. It was fun to have a friend come visit me. I was also able to host him in a foreign country. It's strange being in a country were their native language is not my own and then having to be a tour guide. I have lived in Korea for six months now, so I was able to manage it very easily.