Lakwatsera Fridays: Strange Moment at Gyeongbokgung Palace

2019 was a great year. I traveled a lot that year and Sweetie joined me in Seoul after my trip to Yeosu. Since it was his first time in Seoul we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. To make the visit complete we decided to dress up in hanbok. It was a great day to go around the palace and I was able to share info I picked up from my previous visit. 

We spent almost two hours going around the palace grounds. It's really huge, so we chose to explore the area of the Gyeonghoe-run Pavilion and spent a lot of time in the Geungjeong-jeon. It was fun going around at a snail's pace with Sweetie. Since our rental had a time limit we soon slowly walked back towards the entrance. 

We were taking photos in the courtyard when a guy approached us. He introduced himself and said he's from Vietnam. He was so interested in Sweetie and asked if he could take his photo. He set up his camera, took Sweetie's photo and then said he wanted a photo with him. He didn't even ask for my help and just put his cam on timer. He was gushing about meeting Sweetie the whole time and completely ignored me. 

It was really weird.

Well, that happened to me also back in 2017 when a Latino chased me to have a photo. He thought I was a local (I truly have a generic Asian face)! I was wearing a hanbok also at that time and maybe he liked the color of my dress. It felt like a random thing only and it didn't feel weird. He was also with a group of friends. The guy though who took Sweetie's photo was alone and didn't even acknowledge my presence. Weird.

Well, to this day we don't know who he is. Chalked it up to a random encounter. Nothing untoward happened after that and we never saw him again.  I still remember it because it was a strange experience haha. We just laugh at it now. Have you experienced something similar?

#BeKind #StaySafe 

My First Visit to Korea

Last February I shared the time Sweetie and I visited Korea. I also visited the beautiful city of Yeosu. I have so much blog backlog and I remembered I never got to share that first time I visited Korea. 

My first visit to Korea is truly memorable. I went with friends from work. We always joked that it was a test of friendship since we spent our first night in a traditional Korean home. It was Myra who wanted to try it and we gave in. We all decided even before we went to bed that we were going to move to a hotel the next day. It was an experience like no other, but the need for conveniences won. 

After transferring to a hotel we immediately visited two palaces: the Changdeokgung and Gyeongbukgung Palace. All I remember now is we walked a lot. I guess at that I was already starting to have issues with clotting and I got so tired easily. At Changdeokgung Palace I parked myself at the museum steps while waiting for the girls to come back and get me. 

That same day we met a Kpop star who taught cooking at our office! That was a memorable experience! I should have probably asked him if I'd pass to be a Kpop star since I was mistaken to be one in Pakistan! Hahaha. 

By evening we dined out and ate yummy Korean barbeque. What was memorable for me was trying soju for the first time! They mixed it with beer and I absolutely loved it. I found it really tasty since it matched the grilled pork perfectly. We conked out immediately when we got back to the hotel. 

The next day we went to Seoul Skytower and Namsan. We took the cable car going up to the Namsan Tower. We decided to dress up for the day just for fun. We spent most our time there just taking photos and I remember laughing and laughing. There was a Latino guy who even asked to take a photo with me! That was so funny. 

After Namsan we went to a market since I wanted to buy fabric. That was where we had our second funny incident for the day. We were so hungry we went inside one of the shops. We immediately found a seat and tried to observe what other diners were ordering. We belated realized that everything they offered were raw food! OMG! We weren't ready to have that so we apologized to the server and moved to another resto. 

For our final full day we went to Nami Island. We just commuted and took the train. It was so cold! It was the perfect timing to visit Nami Island because the leaves were all orange and yellow. We rented a bike-trike (I'm not sure what it's called). It was an exhilirating experience to see the whole island through biking. I had so much fun doing that. After visiting Nami Island we also went to Petite France. 

We spent evenings roaming around Myeongdong. I learned a lot about beauty products visiting the shops. It was useful for me since Sweetie and I spent time in the same area when we visited last year. I wish I could visit Korea many more times in the coming years. I'm also interested to see the different provinces. Hopefully when things start going back to normal, maybe next year or the year after. I'd really want to visit all the wonderful people I've been meeting from Korea. I shall be back!

#CB45  #WFH39 #StuckAtHomeDay76 #StayHome #BeKind #ThrowbackThursday #TravelThursday

Happy Tummies in South Korea

Here's a very short vlog of some of the yummy food we tried during our visit to Korea -

#CB32 #StayHome #BeKind

Beautiful Nami Island

Last year I finally brought Sweetie to one of the most beautiful places I've been to, Nami Island.

The first time I went to Nami Island was a few years ago with work friends. It was really fun since it's been some time I've traveled with friends. What we all didn't expect was the weather changed from autumn to winter the week we were there. It made roaming around Nami Island hard. Good thing we rented a "pedicab". That made it easier for us to get around the property.

Flat land...

Uphill...

During my trip with Sweetie the weather was perfect for walking around. We had limited time to go around the island so we tried the train. It brought us to the middle of the island faster and allowed us to explore the lake area. It was so relaxing to stroll around and appreciate nature. I super loved the clean, fresh air.

Photo by Sweetie <3

My Sweetie <3

Next time I have the opportunity to visit Nami Island I would like to try staying there. They have a hotel and villas available since it's also a popular wedding venue in South Korea. The first time I was there we saw several couples doing pre-nuptial shots. Some of the brides were even garbed in their tube top wedding dresses (at 2'C weather!)! 

DIY wedding photography.

And one thing I really enjoyed doing at Nami Island - drinking coffee to keep warm!

Love, love, love!