Seoul Stories WITH Visuals this time
Alright, so where did I leave off…?
My flight from Seoul on Korean Air was long, but not unbearable. It was the first of a pair of nights I would be spending on airplanes. I managed to sleep during a good portion of the flight before we came in at about 8:30 in the morning to Seoul’s Incheon Airport. I was lucky my bags were checked through to Honolulu so I was free for about 10 hours before my next flight. I decided there was absolutely no way I could spend 10 hours in Korea in uncomfortable chairs in an airport concourse; at the very least I was going to get my passport stamped.
I headed for immigration, and on to find a place to stow my laptop and 10kg carry-on. For 4,000 won (about $4), I was able to leave it at the airport. The woman at information spoke fluent English and told me all about the places I ought to visit with my few hours to spare. It’s a wonder I remembered everything she said.
I caught the bus (8,000 won) that she recommended and rode it the hour or so into the city where two businessmen who had spent the better portion of the ride snoring, got off with me. It was about 7 degrees C outside, and the clearest blue sky. The two men walked me to just across the street from the palace I was planning to visit first. They showed me the underground walkways that took you under the streets so you didn’t have to brave the crazy intersections. With their very limited English, we managed a conversation in which we established that I was American and apparently very pretty.
The palace was beautiful, Changdeokgung, I think it was called, with a very different and much simpler design than the Grand Palace in Bangkok. You can only enter with a tour and the cost is 3,000 won. The palace was constructed of wood and painted with “everything natural” according to the tourguide. It has a large garden made up almost entirely of natural forest aside from a pond and a few buildings (and toilets added much more recently than 14thC). The palace itself has a lot of modern upgrades such as electric lighting and glass panes for the windows instead of paper. There is a definite Chinese influence as is apparent in the use of Chinese characters over the doorways, etc. The Koreans are clearly proud of these palaces as the grounds were well-kept and clean. Food and drink aside from water was not allowed on the tour. And, on a final note, although the tour guide reminded me of a lot of Koreans I’ve known who immigrated to the US with their uniquely inflected English, I still had some difficulty understanding her at times. I wonder if the Germans on the tour had any hope…
Old meets new
Can you tell what season it is?
After visiting that Changdeokgung, I headed out to find lunch. But before I could find lunch, I managed to find a tea shop and an art gallery, and in general the part of town with lots of shops. You know, the part I was trying to avoid because I was running low on funds… Insadong-gil I think is the name of the street, though if I’m wrong, don’t shoot me, I threw the map away before I left Seoul in order to save weight. I managed to throw money on some tea, turtles for my granddad’s collection, and some small watercolors, both with a tiger and rabbit, one with the two of them smoking pipes. The men in the gallery didn’t know anything about the paintings. They said they were classic-style pieces, but they obviously had no idea beyond that or else they didn’t understand what I was asking. Still I have something to hang on the wall.
I found lunch in a restaurant where everyone was Korean. The food was pretty good. I had a kimchi pancake which I could only finish half of. And somehow the steamed rice only managed to make some of the side-dishes hotter. In the end I wound up rolling rice into seaweed becuase I had had enough of my runny nose from the kimchi and spices. As I was leaving two Buddhist nuns came in and sat at a table at floor level. They looked at me quickly with a curious side-sweep. Everyone who entered the restaurant did. The meal in total wasn’t more than 10,000 won.
After that I was about ready to call it quits. The cold and exhaustion were starting to get to me, so I headed back toward the busstop. On the way I passed another of the many palaces in Seoul, Gyeonbokgung (I think it’s called). There I had come just in time to see a bunch of men all dressed in bright colors. I noticed they all had on the same boots, a design a little like unfuzzy navy-blue Ugs, which were too big for most of the men, and so flopped to the side. Aside from this minor detail, all else was in order. I had come just in time to watch the Closing of the Palace Gate Ceremony, an unnecessarily complicated way to close a gate if you ask me. So-and-so of such-and-such a rank had to walk, according to a traditional way, up to so-and-so of such-and-such and they had to check each other’s badges. The gate keys were passed from man #1 of high rank to man #2 of equally high rank, who turned around ceremoniously to hand it to man #3 of lower rank, who did the same to #4, who did the same to #5 and #6 who together closed and locked the gate. And imagine when there are 3 gates! I suppose it makes sense, you want to make sure no bad guys get inside the walls under a false ID and lock the gate improperly so that the enemy can come in the night. But nonetheless, as interesting as it was to watch, I couldn’t hang around to watch as the night watches changed shifts, because that was a whole new intricate process altogether and I was bloody cold!
I headed out of the gate that was left open (since the ceremony is only for show now), and headed toward the busstop. I got back to the airport with several hours to kill, and headed on my way to Honolulu along with a planeful of Koreans. I wouldn’t mind going back someday.
The street outside the other palace, Gyeonbokgung. The city was fairly clean, at least the limited part I saw, and the buildings were well spaced to allow a lot of light
The closing of the gate ceremony
Tags: 2. Asia, 2B. Korea, Photos
Drea
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