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I love tea. I grew up having tea parties with the ladies in my family, and whether at home, in the backyard, or at high teas at hotels, I love the experience. Of course, tea is an integral part of Korean culture, so I was eager to try the “Traditional Korean Tea Experience” when I visited Expo Park in Gyeongju.

How much was the tea?
5 000 won per person.

What was the Korean Traditional Tea Service like?
The tea room was on the upper floor of the Culture Centre. While it is very open and has a rather cold-contemporary-gallery-feel to it, I quite enjoyed the table settings and the traditional Korean house backdrop, as well as the display of all the teas/pots/dishes. The girl behind the cashier served the tea. She was wearing a sweatshirt. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from a “traditional” tea experience, but a young girl serving tea in sweats didn’t seem to match. But, I did enjoy the green tea nonetheless, and it was a lovely part of my trip to Gyeongju.

Link to photo 1

Link to photo 2

Link to photo 3

How to get to Lotte World
Jermil and I love skating in the winter, and Seoul Travel and Culture magazine mentioned Lotte World Amusement Park houses, in addition to all of the typical thrill rides, a skating rink as well. Although it’s a bit of a trek to Jamsil from where I live (the North Western part of Seoul), we hopped on the Seoul Subway Line 2 and braved the 40 minute subway ride.

Buy the “Special Pass”!
Lotte World was worth the journey, we ended up not skating at all, but instead, we purchased the “Special Pass” and got some sort of foreigner discount that ended up costing each of us about 31 000 won.

Lotte World Amusement Park was an idyllic getaway from humdrum Seoul living. The music, the smells, and the happiness in the air had Jermil and I smiling the whole time we were there. We rode roller coasters, dropped from the sky on the “Gyro Drop”, and got a little wet on the log flume ride. We were just steps away from performers in sporadic parades that happened throughout the day (see the parade pictures below), and we watched several shows that included acrobatics, dance, and live music.

Is Lotte World really like Disneyland??
Lotte World cannot really be compared to Disneyland in terms of size and impressiveness, but it really was lovely, and we had a great day. Both of us remarked that we had forgotten we were even in Korea. We were also really surprised that the park was open in the winter, but a large portion is indoors, so that worked out for us, since it was -12 degrees celcius the day we were there.

We’ve heard Everland is also a fun amusement park, but we haven’t been yet, have you? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments!

Enjoy our pictures from the parade at Lotte World Amusement Park.

We embarked on an expedition to Cheongju only because it’s really close to Daejeon. It’s 30 minutes away on the Mugunghwa, the slowest train in South Korea.

We hadn’t made a plan on where to go once we got there, but that isn’t any different from 90% of the places we go.

When we hopped off the train, I looked in my Lonely Planet Korea and figured we should go check out an old fortress wall called Sangdang Sanseong. We took a taxi from the Cheongju train station and got there in about 20 minutes.

We walked along the fortress wall for about an hour and took tons of pictures in the steamy hot Korean sun. Then we found a bus stop and took the next bus back towards civilization.

During the taxi ride out to Sangdang Sanseong, we saw an area full of museums and decided to get of the bus at a stop near those and check them out.

The museums consisted of dinosaurs, old gems and stones, the solar system, a greenhouse, old tribal masks, and halloween masks.

I found Cheongju to be a great way to spend a lazy summer Saturday. I know of a few more sites that we missed out on like the Cheongju Zoo, the Korean Craft Museum, Heungdeok Seongdang, Yongusaji Iron Flagpole, and Jungang Park. (Read about them here and here and here.) If any of you have checked out these places, let us know what you thought about them in the comments!

What makes Insa-dong unique?
According to Seoul’s Best 100 guide, ‘in 1998 Insa-dong was designated a traditional culture district in order to preserve its look of a traditional Korean market place’. On Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, it is a car-free zone. Many Sundays, festivals are held here.

How to get to Insa-dong
Take Seoul Subway line 3, and get off at Anguk Station. Head out Exit 6 and walk straight for about a minute, and you’ll pass a tourist information booth. You’ll see the main courtyard-style street of Insa-dong almost immediately after on your left.

What to do Insa-dong

Rub the frog statues for good luck as you enter the area.

Shop: most people come to this area to peruse the copious amounts of souvenirs. A lot of the merchandise looks mass-produced to me, but there are some stores with some good finds. Look for traditional Korean paper dolls there; they are quite beautiful and tastefully constructed. I also found chopsticks, chopstick rests, fancy tissue box covers, placemats, and tea strainers to bring home for my friends and family. The prices were reasonable, you can bargain a bit and the gifts were a big hit back home.









Drink tea: you can find many traditional Korean tea houses where you can sip on tea, relax and take a break from shopping.

They have tried to maintain an old-world feel in Insa-dong and a lot of the signs are in Korean only…even Starbucks.

Have you ever been to Insa-dong? Did you find or do anything special while you were there?

Changdeokgung Palace is THE PALACE TO VISIT if you’re only checking out one palace in Seoul. That’s according to “Dokkaebi Maps & Guides” that Candice found.

If you ask me, I’d suggest going to whichever palace is closest to you. “Why?” you ask???

BECAUSE THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!!!

But the unnecessary difference that Changdeokgung Palace offers is a mandatory guided tour!!! English tours are given only 3 times a day. But it doesn’t matter. Take a tour in Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. Preferably if you don’t speak any of those languages!

They can be way more fun than the English tour if you do what I did while Candice and I wandered around the palace during the Korean tour.

I would make up stories about space aliens and old torture chambers and the Americans attacking way back in 1621 (of course there was no America back then but that’s the point).

To get to Changdeokgung Palace, take the Seoul subway to Anguk Station and go out exit 3. Follow the main road and you’ll find the palace on your left after about a 5 minute walk. Or go to this link for a map.

Check out my pictures below from the last time we went to good old Changdeokgung Palace!

Have you ever been to Changdeokgung Palace? What did you think of it??? Let me know in the comments!

Have you ever been to Changdeokgung Palace? What did you think of it??? Let me know in the comments!