I decided to hire a driver and a car for Day 3's itinerary as the locations were all a distance away from our hotel in Myeongdong. Of course, these attractions on the day's itinerary can all be reached via public transport, but I figured it would just be easier on my parents with a car.

I ended up on a private tour with KTourStory. I will probably write a short post about my experience with them later.

Day 3 in Seoul: Garden of Morning Calm --> Nami Island --> Petite France

We started Day 3 really early! Out driver-cum-guide, a young, strapping Korean fella named Seo, was prompt in picking us up at 7:30 am as agreed on. Haha, mom thought he was handsome enough to become an actor! But eye-candy or not, off we went with him on a chilly morning to out first destination of the day, the Garden of Morning Calm.

Mom and I love our flowers and hence I would often include a garden or a flower festival into the itinerary whenever I travel with her. I guess its no surprise then that the Garden of Morning Calm ranks as one of my favourites in this Seoul trip. Plus, I did say that I was chasing K-drama locations right?

Can you figure out which popular K-drama was shot in the location in the photo below?
Hint: It stars Park Bo-gum!

If you guessed "Love in the Moonlight", BINGO! 

In all honesty, I didn't recognise it at first. Seo, who found out about my love for K-drama (and hence how I picked up some really basic Korean phrases), was the one who pointed the Pond Garden location out to me. I think he was amused when I squealed Park Bo-gum's name out loud. Yeah, I know. Embarrassing 40-year old auntie moment.

The Garden of the Morning Calm is an arboretum designed by professor Han San-kyung and opened in 1996 as a private garden. Apparently its name originated from an Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore who declared Korea the "Land of Morning Calm". This private garden that's now opened to the public is pretty impressive, housing an estimated 5,000 species of plants, some of which are rare or endangered! Just like how scared this Millennium Juniper tree (pictured below) is! It is about 1,000 years old and is apparently the representative tree of the garden.

We were fortunate enough that there was a chrysanthemum exhibition going on during the time we visited. My colleagues often laugh at how much I love chrysanthemums which are often seen as prayer flowers here in Singapore. It’s just that chrysanthemums are so sturdy and hardy while looking pretty at the same time! Pretty much how I would like to be.

There are several sections to the garden and you should be able to allocate a good 2 to 3 hours for this attraction if walking at a healthy pace. I’ve included an iPhone shot of a map of the garden for your reference. Alternatively you may wish to check out the website. I’ve included the link below. My elderly parents ain’t the fastest walkers but we managed to cover most of the grounds in about 3 hours. And that included taking photos and exploring the herb and gift shops.



I highly recommend dropping into the shops, especially if you are into plant-based products. We bought quite a lot of things for ourselves and friends, including hand-crafted soaps, essential oils, hand creams, etc. Mom and I also got ourselves a bag of pine nuts each! Seriously love it! Pine nuts do not come cheap in Singapore and this packet I got was very yummy! I've been happily adding them to my salads.

The Garden of the Morning Calm is definitely one place in Seoul that I wouldn't mind returning to in future. Not just for a different festival, but also to pop into those stores to get my pine nuts and stuff!

Tourist Information

Garden of Morning Calm

Website: http://www.morningcalm.co.kr/_ENG/html/main.php
Address: 432 Sumogwon-ro, Sang-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Entrance fees:

	Adult	Youth *Japan’s middle to high school aged youths	Child *36 months to Japan’s elementary school aged children	Adult with discount *Aged 65 years and older	Child and Youth with discount *Those with disabilities
Individual	9,500	7,000	6,000	7,500	5,000
Group *Weekdays only	8,500	6,000	5,000	6,500	4,500

Prices reflected are in Korean Won.

For your reference, I've listed some of the exhibitions and festivals over the 4 seasons that the Garden of the Morning Calm hosts. Please check the opening hours for each season.

Spring	March	Wild Flowers Exhibition
	April to May	Spring Flower Festival
Summer	June to July	Hydrangea Exhibition
	August	Rose of Sharon Exhibition
Autumn	September	Wild Chrysanthemum Exhibition
	October to November	Chrysanthemum Exhibition
Winter	December to March	The Starlight Garden Festival

Week in Seoul: Bukchon Hanok Village

My apologies for the hiatus. Yes, again. I know. I apologise. But with a change in jobs (again), CNY and an upcoming trip to plan for (amidst all this Covid-19!), I didn't have the time to sit down and write. Back now, and hopfully, I'd clear some more posts about Seoul before I fly off!

Day 2 in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace --> Tosokchon Samgyetang --> Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을)

Bukchon Hanok Village, the last touristy spot on my Day 2 Seoul itinerary. And haha! We cabbed here from our lunch place at Tosokchon Samgyetang. Like I said (in previous post) if you have at least 3 persons or have someone in your group who's less mobile, you may wish to consider taking the cabs in Seoul if the distance between destinations is short. My rides were mostly around the SGD$5 range. Well, technically it is really walkable from Tosokchon Samgyetang to Bukchon Hanok Village, but mom just wanted to hail that cab.

Anyway, Bukchon Hanok Village is another spot that's totally for the gram. Even my mom who doesn't always enjoy taking pictures, suddenly got so game to try all sorts of poses. All because she fell in love with the quaint estate. Those of you who intend to rent the traditional hanbok costume, should definitely make your way here in them! There were so many hanbok-wearing groups doing selfies, wefies, single or group shots!

In fact, if you can only choose your hanbok wearing time between Gyeongbokgung Palace or Bukchon Hanok Village, I'd suggest that you choose the latter. Sure, the palace may suit the ancient vibes of the costume more, but at Bukchon Hanok Village, even if it's crowded, you'd have much better chances of getting better pictures with less photo-bombers. 

The village itself is an actual residential neighbourhood. Hence, do be respectful when you visit. And I don’t mean just not being loud and rowdy. It includes being respectful of the properties and belongings of the residents there. Hell, don’t go knocking on doors for videos, pulling down branches or flowers for photos or clamber up and down their stairs! I saw a group who was being angrily shoo-ed away because they were resting their butts on the stairway and blocking the lady’s exit from her own house!

Instead, feel free to pop into any of the shops, tea houses, restaurants, etc. in the area! Many of these traditional houses, also known as hanoks, have been converted and commercialised to take advantage of the tourist trade. When we weren’t taking photos, my parents and I had a good time exploring the different shops. I definitely dropped some cash buying accessories and souvenirs. Thrifty mom approved too! Heck she even helped in choosing! We also popped into a teahouse for a quick break where mom was suddenly adventurous enough to try their traditional Korean coffee. She pronounced that it tasted somewhat like Milo! We spent a good 45 mins here at the teahouse just chatting and enjoying the quaint vibes.

I admit, I was initially a little worried that given her weak knees, mom wouldn’t be able to deal with the walking around, especially since the area was full of slopes. However, my fears were unfounded and my parents thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I think because we took enough breaks in-between exploring the shops and resting in the teahouse.

While doing my research, I found that there is an organised walking tour. If you think you're up for some walking, do consider that! I'd include the details below. However, if you have young children or elderly, please consider if they are able to walk for 3.5 hours. The walking tour is held in 4 languages, so choose your preference of English, Mandarin, Korean or Japanese. Online reservations need to be made at least 3 working days before the date of your intended tour.

Otherwise, just do what we did, just walk and duck into random alleys or shops!

By late afternoon we were done with the day's itinerary, so we headed back to the hotel for a short break before we hit the Lotte stores across the road for shopping. We hit the supermarket that night and honestly didn't leave until store closing time. I forgot to grab any pictures at all while shopping, so you'd just have to take my word for it that we bought quite a lot. And that ended our second day in Seoul!

Tourist Information

Bukchon Hanok Village

Website: https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=561382

Address: 37, Gyedong-gil, Jong-gu, Seoul

Local Address: 서울특별시 종로구 계동길 37 (계동)

Walking tour:

Online Reservation: http://english.visitseoul.net/walking-tour/BukchonHanokVillage_/622

Please book at least 3 days prior your intended date