South Korea-Seoul-Palace's Stable

The chinese characters above read from right to left meant golden horse door.

This is the palace stable where they used to keep the horses.

South Korea-Palace Study Rooms

These are the study rooms of the palace for the princes and princess.

Looked at how the doors could be hung up in the ceiling so that there were breeze in the room.

And if it is winter, they just put the doors down....so cute.

The study room faces west, so they have these blinds to block the sunlight out.

These are rest rooms for the princes and princess. Noticed the different colours of the floor. The rooms nearer to my camera is for the princess while the rooms further away from the camera are for the princes while the central room are for nannies in charge.

South Korea-Seoul-Inside the Palace

More of such buildings and rooms inside the palace.

Notice the small doors below the windows. They are used for heating the floors during winter.

This is a small room where the central heating stove was.

The palace is so big and I guess the royal families had a fun time playing hide and seek.

Look at the three entrances/exits. The side doors are for servants and low rank officials while the royal families and important officals walked through the central bigger doors.

South Korea-Seoul-Changdukgung Palace (Part 1)

Today we get to visit the Changdukgung Palace in South Korea.

It is one of the five grand palaces built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty. Changdeokgung is also referred to as the East Palace. For more information, see source from wikipedia.

The palace has many such beautiful buildings that looked like temples.

Take note of the roofs.

Most of the roofs have animal statues decorated on them. The animal statues are believed to get rid of evil spirits.

The top little window on every roof has different wordings.

This one has a different wordings as the above photo.

The palace tour guide told us to walk on the central of the path just like the royal family. Only servants or lowly ranks walked on the lower side of the path.

South Korea-Seoul-Learning to make Kimchi

We get to learn how to make kimchi from this korean teacher. It was very interesting. We were like kids laughing and giggling while making the kimchi.

South Korea-Seoul-Souvenirs

Souvenir Stall, this is the cheapest stall in south korea according to my korean tour guide. Seems true cause he is very friendly and give very good discount if you buy more.

And I can see huge grins on everyone's face when they bought these souvenirs and I am one of them....lol

South Korea - Nami Island

After a sumptous breakfast at the hotel in Jeju Island, we bid farewell to beautiful Jeju Island. Boarded a domestic plane to Seoul. The flight back was smooth and pleasant. On arrival, after collecting our suitcases, we boarded our coach and headed to Nami Island, a two hours ride from the airport. The coach ride seems short cause our wonderful korean guide was so talkative and entertaining.

Nami island was named after Korean General Nami. He passed the military service examination at the age of 17 and suppressed a riot led by Lee Shi-Ae in the 13th year of King Sejo' reign of Joseon Dynasty, and then was promoted to 'Byeongjopanseo (Minister of National Defense)' at the age of 27. But he died young at 28, denounced as a traitor after King Yejong's enthronement. (Source: http://www.auto.lifeinchina.com/Travel2/kangwon/365)

The ferry ride to Nami Island was only about less than ten minutes ride.

Looked at the ice on the bushes that are still not melted. You can imagine how cold I felt. It really was freezing in here. I am glad I had wore 3 layers of clothes(including my winter jacket)...lol. Did you spot the female statue in the sea? I wondered why she is there. I should have ask my korean guide.

Nami Island is the filming site of the popular Korean drama serial "Winter Sonata". This is where the two main characters fell in love. You can read about them in here.

These life-size bronze statues of the drama's hero and heroine, who are Kang Joon Sang and Jun Yu Jin. The statue really looked like them. You can see my mischievous korea tour guide standing in the centre and pretending to be a third party...lol.

The famous romantic tree paths with pine trees lined on two sides. The scenery was so beautiful and I had taken quite a number of beautiful photos here. The scenery would looked different in the four seasons.

In the central of the island, were some exhibits of korean traditional lifestyles. The burning of firewoods here really make a good place to keep ourselves warm in this freezing condition.

A traditional home of what the korean villagers used to live in.

The whole island is very relaxing and popular with young couples. They would ride on bicycles or tricycles or just having a relaxing time on the island.

Nami Island was so lovely, the animals were allowed to run wild here. Here I am chasing after some squirrels to take photos of them...lol

Hahaha.... I managed to snap this cute squirrel.

These ducks are not afraid of tourists and they are trying to look for food from the tourists.

South Korea-Jeju Island-Stone Sculpture Garden

Just near the mysterious road in Jeju Island, there is this small stone sculpture garden. I was fascinated by the cute stone sculptures here.

I like this best, making funny faces. :)

South Korea-Jeju Island-Mysterious Road

This is the magic road or mysterious road where we can experience the strange phenomenon of going uphill when our vehicle's engine is turned off.

Take note of the slope of the road. You can see vehicles switching off the engines and going uphill by themselves.

After much excitement, the vehicle finally reach the top of the slope and started the engine again.

It was very strange but I guess it was some kind of illusion.

South Korea-Jeju Island-Teddy Bear Museum Part 3 (Most Expensive Bear)

This is a very beautiful and expensive bear. It was dressed in a Louis Vuitton Suit and suitcase. Was told it was more than US$200,000. It was the world's most expensive bear.

South Korea-Jeju Island-Teddy Bear Museum-Part 2 (Different Cultures)

This is the section where the Teddy Bears were dressed in different costumes of the different countries and different cultures. They looked so pretty and cute. I love them all.



Teddy Bear in Dutch costumes.

I love these bears dressed in Indians (Native Americans) costumes and the wigwam is cute.

Teddy Bears in Japanese costumes.

Arabic Teddy Bears

Chinese Teddy Bears

Now these bears are cute. They are in a dressing room getting ready for a catwalk. There was a section where the bears were parading just like models.

These teddy bears are in official costumes. They looked so handsome and pretty.

Teddy Bears in Korean traditional costumes

Now the best part after visiting the museum, one can shop in the sovenir shop to purchase teddybears. They dont come cheap.