Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)

Nov 24, 2015
Day 3

Taken from the pamphlet

After visiting Changdeokgung Palace, we went to Seoul Museum of Art. We got confused with the directions and kinda walked around in circles for like 30 minutes until we decided to use google maps and GPS. It was fun! We're like treasure hunting, walking around and trying to find the dot in the map. Hahaha! Good thing the weather was nice and it was such a pleasure walking around this area. We saw a couple of nice and cute cafes and lots of cool looking restaurants.

and we were at the right direction. yay!

art display on the street

Finally! Welcome to Seoul Museum of Art. Admission was free so we let ourselves in. There was an exhibit diplay in the gallery at the third floor. The exhibition, entitled Eternal Narcissist, featured the works of Chun Kyung-ja, one of Korea's most renowned painters of the 20th century.

The exhibition is designed to approach Chun's autobiographical paintings from the self-respective viewpoint and thus divides the exhibition into four sections: The Story of My Sorrowful Legend, A Fantasy Drama, Drawings, and A Woman of Freedom.

That's what was written in the pamphlet. So we climbed the stairs to the third floor. Understandably, taking photos inside the exhibition wasn't allowed. I liked a lot of her paintings, drawings and essays. It was very interesting, indeed!

Anyway, let me tell you a little secret, when we got here, I realized that what I really wanted to visit was Seoul Museum of History. Still, no regrets. It was a lot of fun!

PS. I just had to tell you about the Korean KFC chicken we ate after our visit in SeMA! But before that, let me tell you something first. The side of my tongue got a tear from my braces and it was really painful and was such a big bother coz I can't talk properly and worse, I can't enjoy the food! Huhu. Anyway, so like what I was saying, we dropped by KFC for our dinner and thought I can just order the regular chicken and eat it slowly. I wasn't expecting it to be soooooooooo delicious. My goodness! I wanted to cry because a) my tongue hurts and b) I can't enjoy my delicious food! Waaah! I was just so pissed about the whole situation with my tongue. Bottomline is TRY KFC CHICKEN IN KOREA! Ugh. Ranting and free advertising ends here. Hehe. That is all.

PPS. I didn't take a picture of the chicken coz well..it was KFC and I wasn't really expecting too much from it. Also, I wasn't in the mood to take pictures due to the agony I was in. Hehehe.

Chasing Autumn. Changdeokgung Palace and Huwon, the Secret Garden Tour

November 24, 2015
Day 3

Changdeokgung palace is one of the five remaining palaces used by kings of the Joseon dynasty and is the most-preserved. I don't know much about Korean history and I thought this would be a good place to start. We checked out the throne hall, king's council hall, king and queen's residence and the crown prince's study.

For international visitors, the admission fee is as follows:

Adults (ages 19-64): Regular 3,000 won / Huwon 5,000 won 

Children and Teenagers (ages 18 and under): Regular 1,500 won / Huwon 2,500 won 

Group (over 10): 20% discount offered for regular tickets only.

If I remember right, the admission to the Huwon tour was for at least 2 people only. There was a guy on the other line who was trying to buy a ticket for the tour group but was refused because he was alone (atleast that's how I understood the situation). He was the guy who offered to take our photo in front of the palace earlier and we were about to offer him to buy tickets with us for the tour so he can join, but he worked something out with the staff already. 

The palace grounds was huge. I can only imagine how many guards were in duty during those days. I haven't watched a lot of Korean dramas. Most of what I saw were only snippets of the drama Jewel in the Palace and other short trailers during commercials while changing channels, and some from facebook that my kdrama-gaga fb friends posted. Being in there made me curious what happened in those grounds, what kind of festivities and activities were held in it and wondered how the royalties lived.