TEACHER NOMAD: SEOUL - DAY 2 OF TOUR

October 30 Wednesday

We weren’t going to get picked up today until 9:20. We still were up kind of early, jet lag is a real bother. Had breakfast. There’s a convention of nurses here, and they had breakfast before we got there. It was like the plague had hit. The waiters were bringing out more food, but it was kind of funny.

Heidi picked us up at 9:20 sharp. We walked toward the Gyeongbokgung Palace. It has been completely restored, so it’s not a cultural heritage site. It is, however, quite interesting. On the way over we walked past several museums and a large square. The square was clearly being prepared for a protest against the government. There have been others like that since we’ve come. The palace was featuring a changing of the guard. Men dressed up like Korean palace guard would have done in the 1400’s. The best part was the great, huge drum that was beaten on occasion during the ceremony. We wandered around the grounds – king’s rooms in the front, ladies rooms behind, and the garden in the back.

Famous Korean Admiral - Admiral Yee Sun Sin - who won 23 out of 23 naval battles but was ultimately rejected by the emperor of the time during the Josean Dynasty. Basically he was betrayed by a spy on the emperor's staff

A brilliant Josean emperor, Sejong, who invented the Korean alphabet (Hangul). Before then, the Koreans used Chinese characters. It took 100 years for Hangul to be accepted.

A palace guardian creature. I particularly am fond of this dog/tiger creature.

The palace front just before the demonstration "Changing of the Guard"

Large drum can be seen in the back.

This palace had to be completely reconstructed, but as before, several rooms were furnished to show what it had been like.

A pool in front of the women's quarters of the palace. There was a parade here too.

Our next stop was a nearby museum of Korean History. Rooms showing farming clothing, tools, and homes. Others showing village life. My favorite item in the museum were totem poles that were placed in front of farming villages – a man totem and a woman. Really cool things.

Charlie and I in the museum near a writing desk

The totems - or was the photo above of the totems?

My favorite Korean tiger. White tigers did exist in Korea until the turn of the 19th century. Story has it that a Japanese military guy shot the last tiger.

Another hanbok rental shop.

We then walked to the Buddhist temple. The story was that it only had one gate because the land was in the center of Seoul and too expansion for more than area than that. Something was going on in the temple and there were lots of women listing to a sermon? Speech? Several interesting things around. Great dragon and old decorated trees.

A quick shot of one of the Seoul architectural delights. The city is filled with great modern buildings with a lot of curves, bends, and style!

View of the Seoul Buddhist temple.

From the temple we walked to the small street that we had wandered on last night. We stopped in an alley off the small street and had a traditional Korean meal. Mainly lots of small dishes. It was loads of fun. Kimchi (of course), spicy small shrimp, anchovies, fish cake, two kinds of fish, beef, pork, two kinds of noodles. Amazing amount of stuff – all small plates.

After lunch we walked to the end of the small street and got into a taxi. We then drove to Hanok Village. Several old houses were brought to this area and used as a museum. There were five different houses 1.) the architect for the king. 2.) A wealthy family’s house (the Mins) 3.) the father of the queen 4.) the nephew of the king and 5.) A guard for the king. The houses were interesting in both what they had in common and the subtle differences.

Interior of a Korean traditional kitchen

Kimchee pots.

There was a falconry demonstration while we were visiting.

Another taxi ride – this one to the fashion district. Lots of huge skyscraper buildings – filled apparently with department stores and clothing shops. The most interesting place was DPP a former baseball stadium rebuilt as a fabulous weird building. Kind of a space ship meets wave meets worm. No windows and no angles. We went inside – there was a staircase and there were elevators, but there weren’t any easy way to find around the place. Slightly maze like we got a bit lost. 1^st floor? 2^nd floor? We eventually found our way out – odd. Lots of art shows were in it, and other rooms about to be art displayed. Heidi asked if we wanted to go shopping. Not really. So we got another taxi and went back to the hotel. Heidi was a good guide.