Solo Korea Trip DAY 2 (part 2) – Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung Palace, Insadong

Welcome back and let's just begin ~

Continued from my previous post, I reached Bukchon Hanok Village after my visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace and have lunch at Tosokchon.

Here are some photos of the village that I took once I reached:

It was quite hard for me to take “clean” shots as so many tourists (including me lol) stopping here and there to take photos everywhere. However It was very fun to stroll around this area as it feels like you go back to the past. Just fyi that inside this houses there are actual citizen living inside, thus making loud noises are strictly prohibited.

Some of the tourist wore pretty traditional hanbok to match the village environment, but I wonder how they fight the blazing heat with their appearances.. 

Just a reminder again that I went there on August, which is mid summer and I’m sweating like mad all the time. Me myself not recommending people to go Korea in mid summer, as it was too hot. Even for me who rarely sweat (and always feel cold anytime), sweat a lot back then. No more Korea in summer! Just no.

Strolling Bukchon Village from side to side finally took me to another palace that I thought It’s alright if I do a light visit. The Palace itself were called Changdeokgung Palace; was the second royal villa built following the construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1405. 

It was not as crowded, but as beautiful as Changdeokgung Palace. There are areas called Secret Garden that I think worth the visit but since I arrived there after the last session of the tour for the garden, I couldn’t make it inside. There are schedules for the tour with several translated language course, and I recommend you to inquire the tour beforehand if you would like to enter the area.

Here are some of the other photos I managed to take:

Satisfied with the visit to the Palace, I continue my walk from that spot back to Samcheongdong area for more stroll and walked through them into Insadong area. I think it’s just below Samcheongdong area If I’m not mistaken.  

Shop a little bit too in some makeup stores (can’t stand anymore so I went to shop bit by bit) and buy some cute accessories around Samcheongdong area.

Insadong area itself is a little bit more of a traditional and lively shopping area with focus on selling stuff targeted on tourists, such as a package of 6 keychains with Korea tourist spot pictures, set of chopsticks, Korean themed fridge magnets, etc. Roughly this is what its like.

From there I managed to walk quite far (maybe around 1.5 hours?), reaching the and of the Insadong road and continue to follow the train line, until I reach Jongno area and found one small night market there. 

It looked interesting so I just went by and entered impulsively, until I found this stall of food and decided to have my dinner there! 

It was quite cheap and not to mention the portion is also huge! Even though I asked the auntie to give me small portions, but still they gave me like whoa, so much. Too bad I went alone there so I can’t try all of the things that I want to try.. The minus point for solo travel, is stomach capacity, I guess.

Ending my dinner at the market conclude my day 2, I walked back home very tired (I think I walk more than 15 km that day, not to mention with that amount of sweat) however very satisfied. After unpacked my shopping bag and do some research for my next day trip and itinerary, I went to sleep to prepare myself for a whole new journey tomorrow. 

So much fun this day and definietly can't wait for the next post, which is trip to Nami Island!

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!