we FINALLY FINALLY did the hanbock dress up palace thingie today! It took so long to get everyone’s schedules to align (which is why being friendless is the most efficient path in life) but now we can go
it turned out to be a super cloudy day but who cares amirite
We met around 11:10am at a hanbok place and took around 30–45 minutes to get ready because we needed to look through every single hanbok and find the best matching top and skirt, and then there was a long line to get the hair done. I usually really enjoy fashion, but I feel like compared to the others I didn’t think it was as important because it would look good no matter what. I decided to get my hair done in a braid because I was already paying for the outfit, but the person did a terrible job and my braid was very right aligned. The braider spoke English, Korean, Mandarin, and Vietnamese though and she definitely didn’t like her job because I could understand snippets of her complaining. What that talent, girl should be in the UN solving world wars.
We then actually got to go to the palace and take pictures, which was fun, but it started to rain so we were only actually in the palace for less than an hour. It was kind of dissappointing, but I’m glad I got to cross that experience off the list because it was something I needed to do but wasn’t that excited to do, ya know?
Then, we walked around Bukchon Hanok Village nearby, which was not as nice as I remembered. When I first visited, the sky was a vibrant blue and I was freshly emotional from “When Breathe Becomes Air’ so I really enjoyed just being alive. However, my feet hurt and I was starving so much we quickly just left to get lunch/dinner.
We went to Seoul station to pick up some train tickets to Busan, which were around $80 round trip and far more than I thought, and then headed to a Japanese resteraunt for dinner. I really enjoyed what I got, and my friend only ate half of her bento box so I got 1.5 meals!
Then, we headed back because we were all feeling tired and I took a short nap for around 3 hours before heading out to get a little walk in. I just ended up buying some boiled eggs and finishing my book “The Vegetarian” before heading back to sleep.
I could barely sleep though because I kept hearing a mosquito or fly buzzing around and I kept waking up to try to swat it away because I hate getting bug bites on my face.
Highlights:
- Gyeongbokchung Palace
