Oneday Hanbok Rental at Changdeokgung Palace

It has been long since I shared more lobangs and reviews here as I was too busy at work.

Anyway, I'm back here again as I went to Seoul (yes I know AGAIN) last month with my parents! I shared my hanbok rental experience last year and I told myself I need to allow my parents to experience this extravagant rental in Seoul 😄 I'm glad that I did it.

I decided to visit Changdeokgung Palace this time round as I've been to Gyeongbokgung Palace twice... You may check out my previous post with Seohwa Hanbok here.

You will need to buffer at least 10 minutes to find the shop after you alight from Anguk station, Exit 2.

Once you are at the junction smack right outside the Elementary school, please look for the shophouse in yellow as shown above. Continue to walk straight before making a left turn.

Based on my experience, I got lost at the junction so I decided to take the picture as a guide to those who are reading this. Please refer to their website here for more information.

Finally we are here!

I'm glad that the Oneday Hanbok Rental is more spacious than Seohwa Hanbok!

 They have a neoprint booth in-store!

Countless of shelves for you to place your belongings...

They have more changing rooms here!

Moving on to their Hanbok selection:

For guys

 and ladies! Look at my mum's excited face haha

They even have this accessory stand for your convenience

As mentioned in my previous post, I would strongly recommend to wear as light as possible as you will definitely find it a hassle to pack all your stuff into the bag provided by the shop (see the above shelf picture).

There isn't any make-up artist, only hairstylist but please do not expect much from her. The service is free of charge so simply let her know what colour band you prefer and she will do the necessary.

Can't really see the plait due to my hair colour haha

My mother's turn!

 These complimentary items can be found at the hair styling area

Hair accessories are complimentary as well

Do take note that there is an extra fee for emperor's hat, gat and woman's outerwear.

Wah my mum looks so beautiful leh! 😍

We wore our shoes and walked under the rain to Changdeokgung Palace. Simply head towards the Anguk station Exit 2 and turn left. Alternatively, you can also head left from the Elementary school.

It was unfortunate to experience the Hanbok rental on a rainy day but we survived! 😥 We forgot to bring umbrella and jacket! We were wearing heattech underneath but it wasn't sufficient enough to keep us warm. Hence, it was quite a wasted trip lah as we couldn't explore even half of the palace leh. 

We had to hide in the souvenir shop for awhile before the rain stopped. However, I caught a flu there due to the extremely cold weather. We were shivering when the wind blew lol 

I seriously think that my dad has the emperor's face or maybe he is too old to be a scholar? HAHA

See! Initially he chose the emperor's outfit but he realized that he wore the exact outfit in 2015 here HAHAHA

All in all, i'm contented that my parents enjoyed the experience very much and I feel that they have aged a lot while I travel with them. Seeing them smile makes me happy as well.

Here are my updated tips before making your way down for the Hanbok Rental:

• Wear as light as possible
• Wear comfortable shoes, not boots as you will have a hard time wearing with the outfit
• Bring as little as possible
• Try not to eat oily/fried food that will upset your stomach few hours before the reservation
• Style your hair at your apartment/hotel first
• Slap on full make-up first as you got no time to touch up later
• Bring your passport, umbrella if the weather doesn't look good, outerwear if the wind is strong and KRW for deposit
• Decide between Traditional Hanbok or Modern Hanbok design (I chose the latter)
• Clear your bowels before wearing that inner skirt

Please do not hesitate to contact Oneday Hanbok at onedayhb@naver.com should you have any query. 

We roamed around the area before settling down for Ramyeon located opposite Anguk Station, Exit 5. Please scroll all the way up to see the map haha.

I have no idea what they have over here but I'm glad that they provide an English Menu specifically for tourists!

We also ordered their rib dumplings (4,500won) and I was craving so badly for it the next day.

The rib dumplings can't be found in the picture as I forgot to wait for it before snapping 😋 their soup is very flavourful! I remember going back to the same restaurant on our 2nd last day as I miss their rib dumplings too much.

Seohwa Hanbok Rental at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Flew to Seoul with JY in March 2018! I missed their weather so much and I look forward to the weather forecast every morning. How I wish I can rewind time and pause at those enjoyable moments...

Anyway! Sangjun invited me to try out their Hanbok rental services in late 2015. I never thought I would make use of this opportunity as I just came back from Seoul with my family. I AM TOO EXCITED TO TRY AN ACTUAL HANBOK RENTAL IN SEOUL!! 😜 Yes, 3 years ago I blogged about my family's free Hanbok rental experience at Myeongdong for 10 minutes HERE. I'm kind of glad that this post garnered quite a number of views.

Frankly speaking, I told myself to rent a Hanbok if I ever come back to Seoul as the free Hanbok experience is definitely not enough. There are only 2 backdrops and you can't leave the shopping mall with the limited Hanbok choice. 😴

Seohwa Hanbok (link here)

Finding Seohwa Hanbok is not difficult. Simply alight at Gyeongbokgung station and find Exit 4. You should see Hwadoo cafe once you reach the ground level. Continue to walk straight and look to your left. 

Directions with images can be found at their official website.

The entrance!

 Simply walk down the stairs and you'll need to remove your shoes before entering the shop.

The 2nd entrance to Seohwa 😸

The counter for cash transactions and reservations enquiry

They do accept walk-ins but it is strongly recommended to make an online reservation with them first. The shop is quite cramped and you wouldn't want to walk out of the shop feeling empty and make a wasted trip 😅

A pinboard filled with essential information for tourists! Please do not ignore these crucial information if you wish to avoid unnecessary problems/extra charges incurred unknowingly.

Look at the crowd! Our reservation was made at 9.30am in the morning...

LOOK AT THE WIDE RANGE OF HANBOK!!!!!!! This is only 50% of it HAHAHA

Selection for men.

Fret not, there are more designs as shown in the picture...

Emperor's hat and Gat (in translucent black on the right) which JY chose!!!

I will share the women's accessories later.

Firstly, you will be asked to keep your belongings at the bottom of the cabinet:

JY is here to demonstrate HAHAHAHAH look at his hideous heattech colour 😂

Secondly, you are entitled to TWO fitting chances. 

To put it in a harsh way, just choose the design that you seriously want it and don't be wishy washy. They ain't got time for you to change your mind more than twice.

The inner skirt for women! I look like a ballerina~

Luckily I bought a black heattech instead of turquoise :P

After selecting your Hanbok, they will don the Hanbok for you perfectly. You need not worry whether you can tie a nice knot or ribbon because you are in good hands!

Princess in the making... 😇

 Oh yes! Forgot to mention that they have washroom here. Please clear everything before you put on your Hanbok if not you can't visit the toilet after that!

Resting area (mainly) for men as women take a longer time to doll up.

JY should feel blessed that I didn't make him wait at all #lolbecauseinuasai #nothardworkingenoughtocurlmyhair

Make up room for women

Thirdly, normal accessories are provided for free such as hair bands, hair ribbons and hanbok handbags. Other accessories tagged with a price is not complimentary.

This is a good example of non-complimentary item.

Otherwise, the accessories shown here are all complimentary!

I took 1 hanbok handbag (i need to bring my valuables along!) and 1 hair band only. Now you know why JY doesn't have to wait like the other guys HAHA.

Fourthly, they will provide a recycling bag for you to keep your belongings. We had to keep both our belongings into this bag:

Please wear as light as possible but we can't because we need our winter jacket!!!

They will store all customers' belongings behind the counter.

Lastly, you are free to roam around Seoul! We decided to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace only since it is smacked right opposite Seohwa Hanbok shop and we wouldn't want to travel far like that...

There is a sense of satisfaction because JY listened to my advice to get the Gat although it requires a small fee of 2,000won, and he didn't regret it as his look won't be complete without the Gat. We took endless shots in the Palace because our matchy outfit is not planned beforehand. I will only be uploading just a few shots worth commenting :)

She requested to take a photo together. 

We felt like a celebrity for that day as we had strangers (non-koreans of course) asking us to take a photo together. It was funny at first because I thought they wanted me to help them take a photo of THEMSELVES... Not until JY hinted me that they wanted to be the photographer and we are the models. 🙊

It was quite paiseh but we acceded to each and every strangers' request. A lady even hugged me and give me a cheek kiss! I can feel her strong excitement but sorry I'm not a Kpop star :'(

We had to trouble some tourists to be our photographer and it feels like trading fame back in Maplesea game...

That's true. Every time we got tasked to be others' photographer, we will ask them politely to help us as well HAHAHA 😎

Almost forgot to flaunt my backview 😛

This wouldn't have happened without Seohwa Hanbok! A huge THANK YOU to Sangjun and Seohwa Hanbok's team. I would definitely go back for more and recommend to my friends and family! In fact, 1 of my friends already went to Seohwa Hanbok for their rental service, after watching my instagram story!

Here are some personal tips before making your way down to Seohwa Hanbok:

• Wear as light as possible
• Bring as little as possible
• Try not to eat oily/fried food that will upset your stomach few hours before the reservation
• Style your hair at your apartment/hotel first
• Slap on full make-up first as you got no time to touch up later
• Bring your passport + korean won for deposit
• Decide between Traditional Hanbok or Modern Hanbok design (I chose the latter)
• Decide on which colour for your Hanbok
• Clear your bowels before wearing that inner skirt

Feel free to contact Seohwa Hanbok's team at seohwahb@naver.com if you still can't find the answer to your questions from their official website.

Last but not least, have fun with the rental service! 💚

Day 7, 8 & 9 of 9 in Japan: Kuromon Ichiba Morning Market, Osaka Mint Bureau

HAHA Spot my dad's face

We visited the Kuromon Ichiba Morning Market on a Tuesday morning. Simply alight at Nippombashi station and follow the signages - you will reach the market in less than 3 minutes.

 Their abalone is very hard and difficult to chill... I would not recommend this to anyone

The Kuromon Ichiba morning market has similar concept as Seoul's Noryangjin fish market - the only difference is the food is ready to be served instead of purchasing the raw seafood. Yes, they also sell raw seafood items here but most of the stalls will grill the items so that you do not have to pay for the preparation fee just like Noryangjin. 

 Dining area in ONE of the shops...

There is a huge restaurant situated in the middle of the market and they allow you to rest at the back area with your purchased food. Food verdict? Nah, totally not worth the money. Their food is mediocre, nothing fantastic and I would rather spend more money at Noryangjin fish market for fresher seafood and quality!

 This is the boneless chicken wing (except for the pointed area) haha interesting right!

Assorted tempura!

Next up, we managed to visit the Osaka Mint Bureau and this is the highlight of our trip! Please remember to check online for the public access dates as the gates to the cherry garden are specially opened to the public during a 1 week period in mid April every year. It was merely a coincidence that our trip happens to fall on that 1-week period... 😁 

Alight at Temmabashi station and remember to cross the river and walk for about 10 minutes before turning right? The crowd was crazy at that point of time and there were sufficient ushers to control the traffic. Hence, you wouldn't need to refer to your google map upon alighting the station and just follow the crowd~

The cherry blossoms are extremely pretty at Osaka Mint Bureau!!! 💓

 Tons of street food everywhere, right outside the Bureau

The Osaka Mint Bureau has more than 300 cherry trees standing on its premises. There is also a coin production process cum museum and I bought their japanese yen coins back home hehe.

Overall, I find that this Bureau is undoubtedly worth a visit even though it takes about 15 minutes to reach. Please note that the human traffic is never-ending even after exiting the Bureau - which leads to the stretch of street food.

Last but not least, we ended off our last night at Dotonbori street filled with our favourite Taiyaki, snow crab and beef! Look at my smudged make-up and exhausted face... 😩

That sums up my 2017 Osaka trip HAHA I know this is long overdue but nobody cares lah, as long as I document every travel itinerary here that'll do. I'm going to Seoul next week and I can't wait to update my blog with new places like EVERLAND THEME PARK! I will not blog in details but rather, I will only focus on places of interest that I have not visited 3 years back. However, I feel that I will repeat how awesome Myeongdong street is... We shall see! 😃