This is part 4/5 and the last part of our trip.

As I mentioned in Korea - Part 3, we didn't have enough time to visit every place we wanted to go to on our Seoul Tour Bus ride. But my uncle ended up surprising us and drove us over to one of the palaces my parents really wanted to see. This was Changgyeonggung Palace.

In Korea - Part 3, I shared a photo that was a replica of a throne room. This is the original:

And here's as good of a picture as I could get of the beautiful dancing phoenixes (?) sculpture above the throne:

Always so in love with this turquoise colour. And I love that my ancestors used it so prominently in their architecture!

I also spotted a pigeon and what do you know—pigeons are truly worldwide.

This is what you see when you exit the palace. I really loved the juxtaposition and symbolism of having the past still remain alongside the modern era.

And then we were off to 한국민속촌 (Korean Folk Village)!
In Korea - Part 2, I spoke about 제주민속촌 (Jeju Folk Village), and how that was comprised of all the original structures. 한국민속촌 is mainly replicas, but they do have areas here and there that are the original structures from way back when. Because of the excellent historical replication that 한국민속촌 has, they actually shoot some of their historical dramas here!
While we were there, they actually had crews in certain areas prepping for an upcoming shoot.

They had a section dedicated to the history of Korean Pottery (and you could also take a lesson!), and y'all know I had to stop on in there—

They had quite a lot of onggi pieces available for sale and I definitely wanted to grab something, so I bought these two that were actually handmade by the woman running this area.

 My mom told her that I was doing pottery as well, and showed her some of my work and she absolutely loved it! At that moment, I really wished I had thought to bring some mini totems with me to share with her as a little art trade. But maybe this is something I can do next time. 🙂

This place was so gorgeous!

I spotted these block-printed pieces posted on several doors throughout the area. Some of these, I've only seen them online so it was really cool to see them in-person. If I recall correctly, some of these were posted on doors as a type of talisman.

Of course, I had to take pictures of some birds I spotted—

The absolute highlight of my time here was getting to go on a horse ride!
My uncle surprised me with a ticket, and it was a pretty brief ride but it made me the happiest girl in the world.

We walked SO MUCH that day. I don't think I'd ever been that tired in my life LMAOO

The next day, we visited the resting place of one of my other uncles, spent our last hours in Korea with my grandma, and then flew back to the US.

Goodbye, Korea!