Nori Bong night out and Gyeongbokgung Palace

I had never heard of this and when my fellow staffers and I decided to go out one Friday, they were kind enough to introduce me to the infamous Nori-Bong! It's kind of like karaoke except every group that comes to the nori-bong gets their own private room in which you're able to sing along to the lyrics on the tv. They even provided free popcorn and ice cream?? awesome!

 Popcorn, ice cream, beer = :)

 All of my awesome fellow staffers!

 Jeznin controls the songs on the tv with this remote.

The nori-bong was fantastic, although if I remember correctly you're technically not supposed to drink in the nori-bong, however we did and it wasn't that hard to. Bear that in mind if you decide to give it a shot, because some places might be more strict than others. We were also extremely loud and the only foreigners there so we got a bit of a harder time!

 So the next morning as I pulled myself out of my post-nori bong hangover, I decided to do something cultural and educational so I decided to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace in the NW part of Seoul. If you are visiting Seoul and would like to visit, the palace is extremely well mapped out and you literally walk out of the subway onto the palace grounds. This picture above is actually the view I got after I walked up the steps out of the subway!

 Gyeongbokgung Palace means 'Palace of Shining Happiness,' and if i'm not mistaken is the largest in Seoul. It is actually quite old, I believe about 700 years old and is under construction because the Japanese tried to burn it all down in the 20th c.

 Some of the amazing architecture. This was one of the doorways that led to another courtyard.

Some of the palace guards standing watch before the changing of the guard ceremony.