Seoul Day 3 - Experiencing the Seoul Lantern Festival 2012 at Cheonggyecheon

Earlier that day, I heard from my walking tour guide about the Seoul Lantern Festival. She said that it would be a nice experience for me to drop by the Cheonggyecheon area for this event.

I welcomed this suggestion and went there after having a hearty dinner. Since this was near Insadong, I simply walked over to the place. While on my way, I imagined the festival installations to be purely made of traditional themed lanterns. However, once I got there, I was pleasantly surprised. There were so many larger than life lantern installations – most of them depicting cultural or historical themes of Korea.  

Seoul Lantern Festival 2012

Seoul Day 3 - Finding hidden treasures at Insadong

Continuing the day with another cultural site, I went to visit Insadong in the afternoon. As I am staying at the Samcheongdong area, I reached my destination in only 15 minutes – simply by walking. No sweat to it!

map of Insadong
courtesy of http://english.visitkorea.or.kr

Seoul Day 3 – Discovering history at Changdeokgung Palace

The morning of my third day here at Seoul was reserved for a tour of the Changdeokgung Palace. As I wanted to get to know more about Korea’s history and culture, I signed-up for a walking tour of the place.  The registration was done online through this site: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr prior to my visit. Just fill out a form and you will get a confirmation e-mail afterwards. The best thing about this service is that it is absolutely free!

a close encounter with the throne hall

Seoul Day 2 – Viewing Seoul from N Seoul Tower

After completing my traditional hanok village experience, I was set on going to my next destination, the N Seoul Tower. Awhile back, I was actually thinking whether or not to proceed to the tower as it was raining that day. Fortunately, the skies cleared up late that afternoon which made for an easy decision to go on with the initial plan.

N Seoul Tower

Outback Steakhouse at Libis, Quezon City

Lately, we kept on eating at restaurants serving Asian cuisine. So, for a much needed change in taste, the family decided to eat at Outback Steakhouse for a more Western feel. We went to their branch at Libis – located along C5. It’s just within the proximity of the famed Eastwood district.

Seoul Day 2 – Exploring Namsangol Hanok Village

My second day at Seoul started out great! The sun was shining bright in the sky – a perfect day for walking and going around the city. After finishing my breakfast, I immediately set out to maximize the hours of this day.

I planned to explore the Namsan area on this day – starting from the cultural Namsangol Hanok Village.

Namsangol Hanok Village - Plaza