I often hear about Goryeo and Joseon dynasty whenever I watch Korean period dramas. These kingdoms exist before the modern-day Korea and were ruled by a King. Most of the Korean drama stories revolve on these dynasties especially King Taejo, the founder of Goryeo. Of course, kings and queens wore the most colorful hanboks and live on their grandiose palaces and I can't help but be curious on how and where the series were filmed with the old setting.

Now I understand why it's like easy for them to create bunch of period dramas because there's a lot of palaces in Korea that are well-preserved and huge. And not just as filming location, these palaces are now tourist attractions too. During our second day in Korea, we explored the two huge palaces in the middle of the modern-day Seoul, the Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces.

Before we enter Gyeongbokgung, we witnessed the Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at the entrance. The guards wore their costumes in bright blue and red. After the parade, we were allowed to roam inside the palace. The place was huge, too much walking caused painful muscles on my legs. We enjoyed taking pictures of the walls, roofs, arches, doors and all the corners. There was even a view of the mountain on the horizon.

The palace's back garden is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, with a large pond and a pavilion in the middle that reflects through the water. It was so beautiful and perfect that I've even made it my computer's wallpaper. On one of the exits near the pavilion, we went out to see the Presidential Blue House. It was well-guarded so we took the picture from afar.

We were already tired when we went to Changdeokgung that we were no longer that amazed with the palace because Gyeongbokgung is much more bigger. However, in Changdeokgung we were able to rest under the maple trees. The abundance of pink azaleas and few remaining cherry blossoms in its garden made the place even more beautiful.


Gyeongbokgung Palace









Changdeokgung Palace

South Korea is one of the countries I really wanted to visit. Honestly, my love for 2NE1 and BigBang brought me here. Their music and fashion statements are awesome! Sandara Park and G-Dragon are my personal favorites. I really wanted to experience how was it like to be in their country, like how's the weather, how's their food, how's their transportation, and many more. Seeing Dara and GD in person was not my goal actually, I'm willing to wait if ever they will have a comeback concert in Manila.

This trip abroad was also one of the most memorable for me and Rad. At that time, we didn't travel along with friends but rather with his entire family. It was such a great relief when all our tourist visas were approved by the Korean Embassy in the Philippines, all ten of us and a baby. We were all very excited!

There were two kids with us and we're all kids at heart, of course, we will not skip to visit Everland, the largest theme park in South Korea. It was spring season last April and the theme of the park is Tulip Festival. It was cool and sunny, a perfect day indeed. You won't imagine my face so amazed when I saw millions of tulips planted all over the theme park in different varieties and in different colors! And oh, they are real flowers! Tulip will always be my favorite flower, especially the red ones but they are a bit pricey in the Philippines.

The season of cherry blossoms was almost over on the week that we were in S. Korea. However, we still manage to see few trees with blooms. We took a lot of pictures on the trees, we were all excited to see and touch cherry blossoms for the very first time.

We spent the entire day in Everland. Every corner of the theme park was colorful and picture perfect. Radney and I, together with his sibs experienced some of the most thrilling rides. We survived the famous T-Express, the world's fourth steepest wooden roller coaster, well.. according to Wikipedia! Double Rock Spin was also intense, we kept spinning for 360° to the beat of rock 'n roll music. The Sky Cruise and Human Sky were the cable car rides available for everyone when going from one place to another (uphill or downhill).

We waited for the Moonlight Parade to cap off the night. The park showcased vibrant floats and street dancers with thousands of colorful lights. We were all smiles watching the amazing show and the street dancers were energetic and giving us a high five. We may have skipped a lot of attractions because of time limitations but that was fine because we still have a reason to come back.