경복궁

For the Chinese New Year I bought a Traditional Korean costume and had meant to wear it to go to a friend's place and spend Seol Nal (New Year) like Korean people do it, but in the end, my friend's family did not do anything special so I ended up staying home and resting.

I then planned, on Monday, to go to Gyeongbok Goong (Palace in Seoul) and have a friend take pictures of my in the Hanbok (traditional Korean costume). I brought my costume and was ready to change clothes over there, but the train was late and my friend got there half an hour after me, and the wind and cold (but sunny) weather had gotten the best intentions out of me: I had to face it, I was wayyyyy too cold to change clothes and take pictures outside. The ground was all muddy because of the melting snow in the sand and I was afraid I'd get the dress dirty so that did not help. Some people entered wearing their Hanbok and I was really jealous though. It was really pretty to go around the palace and we even found a couple of warm rooms with the traditional floor heated with hot coals and went there to warm up. 

I will go back to Gyeongbok Goong this coming Spring and then, I will definitely take pictures wearing my Hanbok. I can't wait~~ I really like the look of Hanboks, they look like flowers ^3^ 

Here are some pictures anyways, of the palace~~

Yes, yes, yes, I am in my bathroom. At the time I was still hesitating
whether I should go to the palace wearing the Hanbok or just bring
it in a bag with me. While I ended up choosing the latter, I still wonder
if I shouldn't have just gone wearing them anyways... I think a long silk
dress with underskit and pants might have been warmer than the clothes
I was wearing to go there.... I'll never know...

You can see the muddy water-sand groung well here

I really like the roof of the castle, It looks really nice

Isn't she a cutie-pie????? Her nose was all red from the cold...

My friend and I took pictures in the warm room :) one of the only
place I was not dying cold.... I still caught a bad cold from that visit
and am still not rid of it but the sight was worth going anyways...

In a Pasta restaurant after the palace visit~~

Sanbon Market and Café Tranae

On the way to Sanbon Market with Alyssa this Saturday afternoon, I saw a Coffee shop that looked nice: wooden walls and door and pictures hanging out in the windows. I suggested that we'd go have a coffee there on our way back. 

It was a great idea: the place not only looked amazing, the coffee was great too. The place itself looks like the type of coffee shop I would like to open if I ever own a Café one day. Wooden interior with coffee making tools on on nice shelves all over the interior walls and expensive English cups on display. They make drawings in the foam and aspect of the place has this nice feeling of calm and happiness one gets when relaxing without looking at the time going by. 

 If I had to find a flaw in this coffee shop, I'd go with the price of the items on the menu. They go from 6 to 8 dollars the cup. I suppose that is a decent price to have awesome coffee in a nice ambiance and use the free Internet do to homework or any type of work actually. 

We also went to the Sanbon market <3 (which was the original goal of our little trip) and I had an overview of the stuff they had there. I actually bought body cream (!?) at the market: the weather is much much drier than I expected and my skin is slowly dying... I am thinking of buying a humidifier for my room because my throat sorts of hurt every morning from the dryness... 

Theme Cafés 1

 Small Coffee places are like insects in Korea: you can walk up one street many times, and notice one that you never had seen before, and even if you think there are none in a sport, you just need to look a bit more, and you'll find one in a matter of seconds. I'll be uploading a few posts throughout the year about those, because I intend on trying many different ones. 

This small coffee place is on the main street I walk along to get to work. I found it mainly because I was looking for a place to get a quick coffee on my way back from the hospital (general test to get my Korean Alien Registration Card). What attracted my attention was the fact that they sold their coffee $1.50. Usually, coffee shops sell them $3-$6 so this was really cheap. I remember telling myself that I'd just try it, and if they'd good coffee I'd go again. Korean coffee shops are usually very small, and I have no idea how they can keep going because they mostly have space for 10-15 people only. They are rarely crowded (or I was just lucky) so either the rent is very cheap, or they have millions of take-outs. I liked the coffee there but oddly, I never got to try it again. I should just go :P

Another thing about coffe places, but also most of the restaurants and buildings in Korea is that they don't have their own bathrooms. They usually give you toilet paper and a key and if you are lucky, you go out in the corridor and get to a non-heated bathroom. If you are not lucky, you have to get out of the building completely and walk around a corner to get in the building through another entrance and use the toilet there. I suppose that might help with lowering the rent: having only one toilet per floor per building, but it's really inconvenient, especially since the toilet, in winter is freezing, and I suppose that in the summer it must be unbearably hot. There is also the happy moment when you realize you forgot to bring the toilet paper on your way and you are sitting with your pants down...

I went to a sort of theme café by the Sanbon metro station and when you get there, they place you in your own small room, with pink wallpapers and old- style frilly furniture. You order a drink, and between 1 and 6 pm, you get a free cake. The coffee is quite expensive but it's a fun place. It was a bit awkward to go there alone to be honest, but I suppose I'll be awkward often since I need to go around by myself, people I know not being that interested by random cute coffee places...