Walking as Royalty

When I told people I would be going to Seoul on Wednesday (which is a holiday in Korea), the question would inevitably be something like: "With whom are you going?" When I said that I’d be going alone, they all expressed surprise at me doing such a thing. I was beginning to wonder what I was letting myself in for, but me being me and believing that you can’t get THAT lost in a city with an even OK transportations system, I still went. My opinion is that, despite the stress of possibly getting lost and not finding anyone who speaks English to help, the day was a success.

I made my plans the previous evening, marked the subway stations and roads I need to follow and noted the times I had to be report for the guided tours, and then got some sleep.

I was out of the house at about 08:45 and made it to the Bus Terminal just in time to catch the Seoul Express at 09:00. On the bus I went over my plans once more and then relaxed while listening to Podcasts on my MP3 player. I think I arrived at the Bus Terminal at about 10:15 and then went on memory to try and find the subway. Of course, I got lost almost immediately. The signs kept on pointing me in strange directions. I had some idea of where I was supposed to go as I had been in the area the previous week with June. Eventually I found the station and made sure I got on to the right line - no problem there. The line I needed went through the Bus Terminal, and then it was just a matter of going in the right direction. After studying the map again I was on track and off to my first destination, the Palace of Illustrious Virtue, or Changdeokgung.

This was the "backup" palace of the last dynasty of Korea, but was used as the primary for almost 300 years because the "primary" was destroyed by a fire and wasn’t rebuilt for a long time. The Dynasty that resided here ended in 1910 when Korea became a Japanese colony. The Japanese from that period was very destructive throughout Asia and here they destroyed most of the palace. Today only about 30 percent remains after restoration. The most beautiful part is what is called “The Secret Garden”, where the Emperor would read and study or just enjoy some quiet time.

After Changdeokgung I headed off to The Palace of Shining Happiness or Cyeongbokgung. I planned to be there in time for the 13:00 English guided tour, but decided that the changing of the guards was more important to see. They don’t do this every day or even throughout the year. In any event, they have a nifty little pamphlet that tells you what everything is with enough detail to be very useful. As with the other Palace, the Japanese thought it would be a great idea to destroy most things here, but restoration here has been very successful and it is quite an impressive complex. My favourite part was, and I am sure there is no surprise here, the Gyeonghoeru, a two story pavilion that was used for royal banquets. It is built on a platform on a large pond and looks like it is floating in the water. Even more beautiful to me was the two gardens on platforms just to the side of the pavilion. I really like water and how it improved my photographs!

Something that I found interesting here was the fish that seemed to have watched to many Jaws movies. They swim just under the surface with their top fins breaking the surface. It makes for an eerie sight when standing a few meters away so that you can’t see under the water surface.

Also on the same grounds is the National Folk Museum. I honestly started getting tired and did not want to roam through a museum. The structure itself is impressive and something to behold.

As a little side note, I bought some Ddakbboki at a street vender on my way to Cyeongbokgung. I sat there on one of her little seats munching away. Ddakbboki is little sausages of rice cake, cooked in a chilly sauce with a few veggies and fishcakes pieces added in.

The weather was cooling and it looked like it might start raining, so I headed down Sejongno to the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. He was the inventor of the famous Korean Turtle Ships and can be seen on the Korean 100 won coin. To be honest though, he was just my landmark to get to the statue of the hammering man.

The hammering man is a multi story, moving statue of, and here is the amazing thing, a man hammering on something. I was expecting more, but it is still something worth seeing. I am sure it would have been much nicer if I wasn’t expecting to see it.

I had time left and the weather seemed to be stable, so I decided to go to Insadong, a traffic free area reserved for traditional Korean goods. You can buy all kinds of stuff here - it is a must for tourists. Earlier I had to explain to some Americans how to get there. Lucky for them I knew what and where it was since I had been there the previous week with June and Jin Ju. I also noticed on the map that I passed it when going between palaces.

On the way there I decided it would be a good idea to take a little detour in the general direction of Insadong, but my eastwards turn somehow became south, and I ended up at the Cheonggye Stream.

Lucky June took me there as well and I knew where I was, so it was map time again. I am pretty sure that when we were there we took the Subway to get to the Insadong area, but it was actually walking distance. I can’t wait to tease her about this. I just hope we did actually take the train or I will be the one with egg on my face.

Back to business, I just went for a little stroll through the area there, looking at the shops and the people before heading home.

I got lost, again, at the Bus Terminal trying to find the ticket booth for my bus and almost got onto the wrong bus, but in the end I got home safely and not that late either.

I slept really well after the hard day’s walking. Good thing to because I had to record the TV session for the school the next day.

The next Blog will have a bit about garlic, Shrek and other useless things

Go well

p.s
If you notice that I said something incorrect or that I am starring at the wrong end of the donkey, then let me know and I will correct it. This does not really count for spelling, but because I suck and know it, I will not bite your head of for correcting that.

Hey! What do you think of my donkey expression? I just thought that up. I was trying to translate an Afrikaans expression, “Die kat aan die stert beet he”, and this one just happened.

*Please note that the statements in this Blog are not intended to make anyone look bad. I do not look down on Koreans. I'm merely describing how amusing I sometimes find people and I am mostly describing it to other westerners. Feel free to come to South Africa and tell the world how crazy we are because heaven knows, we are.