Myeongdong was our first destination of the day. Myeong-dong, also known as the Fashion Street, consist of hundreds of fashion malls, shoe shop, sporting goods and so on. They even have an underground shopping area. One can expect stamp shops there 😀
However, we didn’t do many things there. We had breakfast, great stuff.
We walked to the city hall after that. There were couple of Falun Gong members strutting their shit on the gardens. With them were few flyers protesting the crackdown of Falun Gong in China. We took couple of pictures and left. While on the way, we saw few police officers trying to expel the poor Falun Gong members.
Since Gyeokbukgong Palace is closed every Tuesday, we went to Deoksugong palace, which is just next to the city hall. We have to pay a small entrance fee into the palace, students get discount.
The view of red leaves and arches were beautiful. However, we were not allowed to enter into the buildings. The only building admissible was the museum which is located next to the palace. The museum was boring though. The signboards were not translated into English hence we had no idea what the fark they were saying.
However, there is a little souvenir shop in the museum with great selection of gifts. Price is reasonable as well.
After Deoksugong Palace, we went to Nandaemun market, which is within walking distance from the palace. Nandaemun market is another huge market area with counterfeit clothes, food and many other accessories. Sights of beggars were common as well. They were pretty hardcore. I saw 2 dudes crawling on the floor pushing a music player with his head!
According to Jane, many Japanese get their glasses done in Korea. So many till opticians had to learn Japanese to cater the huge market! Jane had hers done for 4000won and it only took 20 minutes!
To be continued….