After leaving Jogyesa, we bought some roasted chestnuts because I'd never tried them. They taste like a meaty walnut, which I would have liked, but I think the vendor gave us a bunch of burned ones because she thought we wouldn't know any better. We ended up throwing most of them away.
We headed north to an area of Seoul known as 북촌 (Bokchon, lit. North Village). Bokchon is basically all the area north of Cheonggyecheon, and bordered by a park on the East side, Gyeongbokgung on the West, and a mountain to the North. It's full of the old type of houses known as 한옥 (hanok). These are the traditional houses, made of brick and wood, topped with ceramic tiles. This are is protected by the government, which means thankfully, these houses won't be torn down to make way for apartment buildings. Many of these building are still lived in, but many have been turned into guesthouse, cafes, or museums. To get to Gahoe, exit 2 out of Anguk station, head straight and turn left when you start seeing hanok,
가회 (Gahoe, pronounced Ga hway) is a smaller in the northwest corner of Bukchon. It's especially known for it's concentration of Hanok and also the spectacular views at the top of the hill of Seoul.
Apparently on the way to Gahoe, you can get your picture taken with a chicken.
The alley ways were so narrow, and yet people drove cars through them. If you see one, duck out of the way, because there is not room for the two of you.
At the top of the hill, the view was amazing. You can see 경복궁 (Gyeongbokgung) on the left, and the blue roof of 청와대 (Cheongwadae), the residence of the President, the equivalent of the White House.
경복궁 Gyeongbokgung
청와대 Cheongwadae
북한산 (Bukhansan), the mountain to the north.
I'd never noticed how many of the roofs in Seoul are green. Probably somewhere along the line, green paint was cheap.
After walking through most of Gahoe, we were starving, We headed back towards Anguk station when we passed by a cafe. Unfortunately for us, they had more in the way of coffee and less in the pastry. I ended up eating a "pizza" pastry that lacked tomato sauce, but made up for it in corn. Koreans eat corn and potatoes on their pizza, and it's often served with pickles. Don't ask.
We headed to the east side of Bukchon where there were three museum I wanted to see. The first was the Dong-Lim knot museum. While being interesting, it was only one room that had a bunch of reproductions of famous norigaes and other accessories. They mostly do business in teaching classes and souvenirs.
The next museum we headed to was the Gahoe museum. This is a do-not miss one. There's some fantastic paintings and cultural items in there. They were teaching a class on ceramic painting while we milled around, looking. The other thing you can do is to print your own 부적 (bujeok), the closest translation I can think of is a talisman. They are special prints to ward off bad luck and bless the bearer in shamanistic beliefs. They might have been brought to Korea during the Mongolian invasion.
These are the two types we did. I did the one of the left and Justin did the one of the right.
The last museum we went to was the embroidery museum. There's a small fee to enter this one, but it ended up being my favourite one. The embroidery was so exquisite, that Justin thought they were painted for a minute. They don't like photography, so I took a quick couple of pictures of the one in the front. They also offer hanbok to dress up in, but the man in charge was complaining to a guide/translator that he was sick of fat foreigners coming in, as he helped some what looked like southeast Asians. Rude.
I took such an interest in the embroidery, I was inspired to try my hand at it. I bought a tablecloth and some napkins and I'll let your know how I get on.
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