Visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace felt like stepping into another era. I decided to rent a traditional hanbok, and the moment I put it on, the modern world seemed to fade into the background. Walking through the palace grounds dressed in vibrant layers, I couldn’t help but imagine what life here might have looked like centuries ago, royalty, rituals, and stories carried in every stone and wooden beam. The palace itself is vast, filled with courtyards, gates, and pavilions that invite you to pause and take in their detail. I took my time exploring, stopping often to look closer at carvings, painted ceilings, and the way light moved across the tiled roofs. It’s more than just history, it’s a living archive of Korean culture. 

Of course, I couldn’t be here without thinking of BTS. In September 2020, they performed two unforgettable stages for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at this very palace. “IDOL” came alive in front of the Geunjeongjeon Hall, with its grandeur as the backdrop, while “Mikrokosmos” glowed with emotion at the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. They wore modern hanbok and infused traditional aesthetics into global performance art, carrying a piece of Korea to audiences around the world.

Standing in those same spaces felt surreal like overlapping timelines. Here I was, in hanbok, retracing the palace grounds where BTS once stood, blending heritage and modern artistry into something unforgettable. Gyeongbokgung is not just a palace, it’s a bridge between past and present, tradition and global culture, history and the voices of today.