11th Day: Gwanghwamun Gate, Gyeongbokgung Palace and Street Food

---

Today we went to a famous palace called Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is one of the famour attractions in Seoul and has a very interesting history to it. I just you know, the gate itself is humongous. The gate is called Gwanghwamun Gate and it is the main entrance into the palace.

Inside the gates, there is a whole open space where ceremonies used to held. In front of the huge space, there is a smaller gate that will lead into the inner palace. Inside the inner palace there are traditional buildings that was conserved and small gardens with ponds. The palace was very big, we spent ages just walking around in there. We saw different kinds of interesting buildings that were in the palace and each one of them had various purposes.

After leaving the Gyeongbokgung Palace we decided to get some traditional street food. We went into a clear tent with plastic tables and chairs and a counter table where the 'Ajumma' (middle aged lady) was. We sat down and Sandra ordered some food. I wasn't sure what she ordered at first but when the food came she explained each of them to me. The first one was 'Ddukbokkie' which are long cylindrical rice cakes mixed with a spicy sauce with carrots, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and cucumbers. The second dish was 'Mandu' which are fried dumplings which had meat inside. The third one was 'Fish Bread' with was a fish-shaped bread made out of a pancake mix and red bean paste in the centre. Some of the other dishes were Fish Cake, Sundae (Korean sausage), Fried hotdog and roasted corn. A drink they had was 'Soju' which was alcohol made out of rice. Soju is the most common beverage found in almost all street food stand. After the meal, I felt so full and all I could think of was sleep.

---