Sophia Chong: SEOUL TRAVELOGUE : TOSOKCHON GINSENG CHICKEN & GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE

Hiiiiii,

I'm back to continue my seoul travelogue! Sorry for the lack of personal updates and spam of ads. Just be a lil patient k? Won't have so many ads in July and will blog about Bali when I'm back :D

I've always LOVED historical sites especially palaces since my visit to Forbidden City (Wu gong) in Beijing years ago! There's something so reminiscent, old-fashioned and melancholic yet appealing. I am intrigued whenever I visit a palace cos I get to step on the actual ground the kings and queens stepped on. Sometimes, possibly the execution ground where innocent lives were robbed. The golden throne where kings sat and cold palace where princesses were exiled. I remember going to the well in China where Empress Cixi committed suicide. It was eerie but gratifying that I'm at the crime scene backdated to centuries ago. So just imagine my excitement prior to visiting the palace in Seoul.

Before visiting the palace, Frans and I decided to have the SUPER FAMOUS Tosokchon Ginseng Chicken, or otherwise known as Samgyetang.

Exterior of Tosokchon.

Tosokchon serves authentic Ginseng chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and ginko nuts. The soup tastes light but the Ginseng chicken + rice have a richer taste, making the whole dish very pleasant and balanced. The dining experience was very unpretentious as well. We were seated on the floor with cushions/mats, just like those in Korean drama!

It's relatively easy to locate the restaurant especially with the help of google maps. If not, you can follow these directions.

1. Take exit 2 at Gyeongbokgung Palace station (Seoul subway line 3)
2. Walk on the main road for about 200m
3. Turn left into Jahamun-ro 5-gil road
4. Tosokchon is located 10m ahead on the left

Gyeongbokgung Palace is in the vicinity and we read online that it's the best palace in Seoul so we picked this!

Directions to Gyeongbokgung Palace :

1. Take exit 5 at Gyeongbokgung Palace station (Seoul subway line 3)
2. The palace is right ahead of you at the exit

If you're going from Tosokchon, you can just walk back to the subway station and take exit 5 (:

Entrance fee is 10,000 won and it entitles you to 4 palaces in Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo shrine.

You can rent hanbok to take pictures but as you can see it was all taken so we didn't get a chance too :(

Gyeongbokgung was first built in 1395 and it was commonly referred to as the "Northern Palace". It is the grandest and most beautiful palace of all 5 palaces. Personally, I thought it was too "covered up" to be interesting. We could only look at the thrones from outside the window. That, I understand since it has to be protected and preserved but I feel that were very limited things to see. All I saw were different thrones, pavilion, and buildings that all look the same. I didn't see any cold palace, the food they used to eat, their ancient toilets, or anything dramatic which was kinda sad. I thought the forbidden city was a lot more in detailed than this.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place to snap some ootds hahaha.

Doesn't this place reminds you of the long lane where eunuchs and palace maids scramble down when something bad happens to the princess? Hahahaha

Another throne

We explored the palace for an hour and escaped to Myeongdong for more shopping and eating after that! Ahhh how I miss the life heh. #citygirl

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SELLING MY CHLOE PARATY LARGE SIZE!