I usually
do much more planning when I visit a new country, but I didn’t do much at all
for Korea. I had a list of a few things I’d like to do but none of it was a
necessity (except the DMZ/JSA tour but we’ll get to that later).
I was lucky
enough to meet up with some Korean friends that I went to grad school with who
were nice enough to be my personal tour guides!
I was
surprised by how big Seoul is, it reminded me of New York City. It’s so modern and westernized I felt like I
was back in America (minus the language barrier).
Seoul is
the home of five royal palaces. There is the main palace, Gyeongbok, is located
in the center with a palace in each direction.
I went to
Gyeongbok on my last day in Seoul. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but was
luckily enough to step off the subway about ten minutes before the changing of
the guards ceremony.
As the
ceremony took place, announcers explained what was happening in Korean,
Chinese, and English.
After the
changing of the guard, I wandered around the palace grounds.
A man with broken
English told me to follow him to the more beautiful area. He took me to a pond
and pointed me to the President’s House behind the palace.
My final
day in Seoul was Lunar New Year Day, so there were many special activities
going on at the palace and Folk Museum, which is located behind the palace
grounds. I happened upon it by accident and didn’t have time to go in the
museum, but walked around and watched some of the outdoor performances.
On my first
full day in Seoul we went to the eastern palace, Changdeokgung. This is said to
be the most beautiful of the palaces.
My favorite part was the huge secret garden in the back that makes
you feel like you’re far out of the city.
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| Touching that gate is supposed to give you a lifetime of happiness...or wealth... or something equally exciting |
I wanted to
go to a traditional teahouse while in Korea and the one we went to was
beautiful. We took our shoes off before we entered and sat on the floor at
tables close to the ground. The floors are heated in Korea so it was nice and
toasty.
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| The view from the teahouse |
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| My name in Korean |
After our
teahouse visit we walked around a neighborhood with old, traditional houses.
Then worked
around the touristy shopping area.
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| Of course, Starbucks |
After dinner we went up to the Seoul Tower.
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| The elevator to the cable car |
We took a cable
car up the mountain and got to the top right at sunset.
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| Locks all over the fences at the top |
It was an amazing view
of the whole city, but it was freezing!
The next
day I went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone and Joint Security Area between
North and South Korea. That was absolutely insane and deserves a post its own
post.
When I met
up with another friend Thursday we walked around some of the shopping areas
and I got a few souvenirs.
It was
Lunar New Year, so the city was really quiet.
All the
excitement finally caught up with me and I was exhausted so went back to the hostel
to rest. When I went out again later that night it was really quiet, even
around my hostel which is usually a very busy night market.
I
underestimated the power of Lunar New Year and most things were closed, so I
had to go for a pizza for dinner. I didn’t know what to expect but it was
actually pretty good… and came with a mystery container of…
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| PICKLES!?!? |
My last day
was busy too, besides the palace I went to Namsangol Hanok Village. I read they
had special programs for New Years so I wanted to check it out.
There were
tons of people and a bunch of traditional activities going on.
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| New Years Wishes |
I walked
around the grounds for a bit and found a time capsule. A nice man practiced his
English on me and told me all about the time capsule that will be opened up in
300 years.
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| Interestingly found all over on the subway |
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| The very quiet subway on Lunar New Year |
I had an
amazing time in Korea! Seoul is such an exciting city and I’m so glad this my
last trip before heading back to America!
As you can tell I have a bit of an obsession with taking pictures, so there are tons more here.
<3
