Revisit to the Bukchon Hanok Village and Samcheongdong

9 November 2014

 

The Bukchon Hanok Village is located in between the Changdeokgung and Gyeongbukgung. By the time we finished our visit to the Changdeokgung and its Secret Garden, it was nearly 3 PM. We walked to the restaurant where we had our lunch and started our exploration of the Bukchon Hanok Village from there. We had been to Bukchon Hanok VIllage before in our previous trip, where we visited several K-drama filming locations located within. But that was in spring and this place was worth a revisit in autumn as we may get to see something new and interesting.

 

This map, posted on the outside of the restaurant, shows our starting point. I also took a map from the restaurant earlier that shows the 8 recommended scenic photo spots within the village.
The first one was just round the corner and it was the one offering visitors a view of Changdeokgung. After spending almost the whole day at Changdeokgung, this view was not so exciting after all.

View of the Changdeokgung from Bukchon Photo Stop No 1.

Heading west down the street, we came to Dalsuda shop serving shaved ice desserts or patbingsu. It was just what we needed after spending almost 2 hours on our feet touring Changdeokgung’s Secret Garden.
The shop is located at the street corner and we chose to sit outside.  Perfect location for people watching while we enjoyed the shaved ice with nuts (almonds, crushed Oreo cookie, walnuts, vanilla favoured syrup).

Our dessert came with a small side dish of sweeten boiled red beans which we added to the shaved ice. This Dalsuda patbingsu is akin to the “ice kachang” commonly found in Singapore, but much, much tastier.

People watching at the outdoor seating area at the Dalsuda dessert cafe.  This street leads uphill to a school and is the same street where we came before to find the two hanoks used in the filming of the K-drama “Heartstrings” featuring Park Shin Hye and Jung Yong Hwa.

After our hot coffee and cold dessert, we continued up the street to browse at the shops. Compared to our previous visit, more shops were opened this time of day.

Interesting piece of artwork that blended well with the natural vegetation. The sloth is painted while the plants are real.

There are shops selling interesting curios along this street.

We bought a fashion accessory from this MIK shop. The owner is a young man who actually designs the accessories himself. He showed us a catalogue and also photos of a few Korean celebrities wearing his designs. The items were quite nice but pricey.
Continuing down the street, we saw many familiar sights that reminded me of my previous trip here.

-  Park Shin Hye’s hanok (house number 70-5) and Jung Yong Hwa’s hanok (house number 70-28) as featured in the drama Heartstrings.

- shop where I bought my mug featuring Yoon Eun Hye with her short hairstyle from the “1st Shop of the Coffee Prince” drama.

- school at the end of the road.

We retraced the same path we took in our previous visit. Indeed, autumn brings different sights and experiences.


Cafe in a traditional wooden hanok, next to the school at the bottom of this road.

Some of the hanoks were operating as guest houses. This one was offering customers a chance to dress up in traditional costume for a photo shoot, with or without the sunglasses
We then crossed the busy Bukchon-ro Road to explore the western side of the village, entering through the familiar Bukchon Ro 11 Gil.

Golden statue of Budhha peering over a roof of a hanok along Bukchon Ro 11 Gil.

There are a few recommended photo stops here but we skipped those (been there, done that) and went to the Sanggojae, the house featured in Korea drama “Personal Taste” starring Lee Min Ho.  The house is number 43 located at the higher part of Bukchon. Many tourists were taking turns to pose outside this house. 

Sanggojae, the house featured in Korea drama “Personal Taste” starring Lee Min Ho. This photo was meant to be send via Whatsapp to relatives who were fans of Lee Min Ho back home.

Tree with ripe persimmons in the garden of the house opposite House 43.

We continued heading west, passed the photo spots 6 and 7, and soon came to the edge of Bukchon. From here, we could see Samcheongdong below us and the autumn colours of the trees at Bukhansan in the distance.

Autumn colours of the trees at Samcheongdong below us and those at Bukhansan on the background, on the right.

We walked down a steep flight of stairs to get to Samcheong-ro below.
Steep and long flight of stairs leading from Bukchon to Samcheon-ro below. I believe this is Photo Spot No 8.


SamCheongdong at bottom of the stairs.

Samcheong-ro is lined with cafes, museums, antique shops and a number of famous art galleries.

Samcheong-ro was pretty busy at this time, i.e. dinner time. We could either have dinner here or trek to a reputably best samgyetang restaurant in Seoul called the Tosokchon, located near the Gyeongbukgung station. Getting to the Tosokchon means some walking but there were loads of things to see on the way.
Checking out an interesting ToCharacter  (Korean Cartoon characters) gift shop along a side street off Samcheong-ro.

Posing with Wingcle Bear (Korean Cartoon Charactor).


  Photos taken while resting on a road side bench.

Fallen leaves of the ginkgo trees.

We continued along the Samcheong-ro road, next to the stone walls of the Gyeongbukgung. By then, it was too dark to shoot good photos. This stretch of road was also lined with ginkgo trees and was quite good for a romantic stroll. 

We soon came to the busy road where the Gwanghwamun is located. Gwanghwamun is the main gate of Gyeongbokgung (Palace) and is located to the south of the palace. Gwanghwamun is comprised of three arched gates called Hongyemun, with the middle gate reserved for the king and the other two for his officials.
Gwanghwamun was beautifully lit at night. A fellow tourist helped to take this shot for us.

From the Gwanghwamun, it was not too far to walk to the Tosokchon restaurant for our samgyetang dinner. More about Tosokchon in my next post.