Today, we saw Seoul’s most famous attraction, the Gyeongbok-gung Palace. I don’t know too much about the palace or its history (it does have a long history though and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times), but it was an interesting place to walk around. The first unique thing about it was the guards posted all around the entrances with fire extinguishers handy in their utility belts.  Spare extinguishers were also readily available at various locations throughout the palace grounds.  Good thing though, as the palace is the largest wooden structure in Korea and the most famous landmark in Seoul (a gate whose name currently escapes me) recently burned down from arson. The complex was comprised of a huge wooden gate and surrounding wall enclosing dozens of buildings. We saw throne rooms, large halls, and living quarters, but the perhaps the coolest thing were the natural features of the palace. Several large ponds were inside, with plenty of shady foliages around and pagodas in the center. Also pretty interesting was the juxtaposition of the palaces and the surrounding environs. Looking back towards the front of the palace, Seoul’s modern skyline loomed. Looking in the opposite direction, the mountains rose even higher. We spent a couple hours there exploring the large grounds. Reading back over this, I realize that this post isn’t too exciting, but that’s because it wasn’t. I mean it was an interesting morning excursion, but it just was a bit anti-climatic given that it was one of Korea’s most famous attractions.

palace garden
As far as national Museums go, I found Korea’s to be very well curated and in a beautiful building.  The exhibits were informative and the artifacts interesting to look at.  Not knowing much about Korean culture or history, I found the one about Hangeul, the masterfully created Korean writing system which is said to be the most logical in the world, particularly intriguing.  I’m not exactly sure how it all works, but apparently it is just very systematic and makes sense–you know, in a way that ”ph” sounding like ”f” doesn’t.  It was developed under the direction of King Sejong of the Joseon dynasty in the 1440s.  He felt there was a need for Koreans to express their words in writing effectively, and the traditional Chinese characters weren’t cutting it.  Hangeul was the answer, this new script successfully expressed the sounds and true meanings of Korean words, though it was not widely used until after 1945.  Even so, October 9, or Hangeul Day, is still celebrated as a national holiday.    

One aspect that makes the museum unique from others is the abundance of sitting lounges placed throughout the museum in various configurations and near windows, offering a peaceful view of the park below.  Many museums do not have so many windows.  The windows were like a display case, creating an exhibit of the outside.  It was almost as if to say, “We have many national treasures inside our museum; nature is a treasure as well.”  (Given the ammount of hiking Koreas partake in, I believe it is true they treasure their surroundings.)  On an even grander scale of outdoor curation is a display above walkway connecting the two sections of the museum.  It is flanked on either side by the buildings, below by a wide staircase, and above by a roofline.  These edges create a massive frame for one of the ultimate open-air artworks: the sky.

The palace was simple, but it was also very beautiful.  Rather than one monstrously huge building, there were dozens of smaller structures spread throughout the grounds.  Beautiful mountains provided a regal backdrop to the compound, to which no man-made garden could compete.  The palace itself is located on the upward part of a hill that slowly slopes up from the city.  Looking out from the buildings, I could see a view of the city from over the palace walls and I imagined the old emperors looking out over their capital.  The grounds were very neatly landscaped.  It wasn’t overdone with loads of flowers and trees; just simple and beautiful grassy areas, old trees, and a couple of peaceful ponds.  The grounds were not crowded and I enjoyed walking around the maze of buildings and walls in search of something exciting.  Like Matt mentioned, there wasn’t anything crazy or extravagant about the palace, but I didn’t come to Korea expecting Peterhoff Palace, and I am glad we had the chance to see how the Korea rulers pimped out their cribs in their own style.

roof decor

 While this is not entirely true, it is a fact that much of my exposure to Korean culture has been through the Korean dramas I watch with my grandma when I visit Hawaii.  Not that that it is representative or anything.  Imagine if someone took General Hospital to be a good representation of American life.  I did, however, mention to Matt that I did recall a good deal of bowing in the shows.  Not sure if this was true to life, I brought it up so that he could be prepared to expect it, just in case.  Sure enough, before we left the airport we had received our first bow.  It was awkward as I don’t think either of us quite knew how to respond.  Now we’ve begun to sprinkle our thank you’s with slight leans forward, as we’re not really sure what entails a bow or how low of a bow when. 
 There are a couple other things I’ve quickly noticed about Koreans: three main components of style.  Grey suits, shiny, and stripes, and any combination there of.

We kicked off our first full day in Seoul with visits to two things we often see in capital cities: national museums and stock markets. We went to the National Museum first, which moved to a new location just a couple of years ago. It’s a really huge building and very-well laid out, as far as museums go. Like many national museums, this one began with Korea’s Neolithic history and once again, we spent way to much time looking at fossilized rice and arrowheads. We did learn a lot about Korean history, which is basically a series of kingdoms, which were split, combined, and attacked by China and Japan. Obviously much space was given to the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled from the 14th century until the Japanese occupation in the 20th. It wouldn’t be very interesting to recount the details here, but it was a somewhat interesting museum, especially since I previously knew very little about Korea or its history. The most interesting galleries for me were the mapmaking/history of Korean contact with the outside world and the Hangul (Korean script which was invented in the 16th century) gallery. But after eight galleries of probably 100 meters each, we were pretty tired. We ate at the museum café, just a simple udong meal. From the museum, we took the subway a few stops to Yeouido Island, a small island in the river. It’s the financial district of Seoul, kind of the Wall Street of Korea. We quickly found the Korean Exchange, where I read there was a small museum dedicated to the securities industry and a viewing room from where visitors could look down on the trading floor. Once past security, we were led to a large cavernous room with many displays and ticker symbols and prices on large LED boards on the walls. The sign said that this room was the exchange. One of the exhibits explained that the KRX (Korean Exchange) went to all electronic trading a few years ago- guess my guidebook was out of date. Although I wasn’t able to see a real live trading floor, the place was interesting and their information displays were interesting: history of the Korean market, old stocks and bonds, synopsis of other large exchanges around the world, etc. It was unique addition to my circuit of Asia’s exchanges.

After all my stressing about arriving in Seoul, it actually wasn’t too bad. Immigration and customs were a breeze. The airport had an internet café, which we hopped on for a few minutes to get the names, addresses, and directions for a couple of possible guesthouses in the city. Then we took a bus from Incheon into Seoul. It was a really nice bus- big plush leather seats and even seatbelts! The drive took about an hour, but it was nice to relax for our first glimpses of Korea. Korea immediately reminded me of the US. It seems to be about the equal with the US infrastructure wise, although Joylani said that Korea looks a little nicer. But unlike other really developed Asian places (like Singapore, Hong Kong, or the huge Chinese metropolises), Korea was not crazy. It seems pretty mellow, especially given that Seoul-proper has over 10 million people (20 in the metro area). Once at our stop, we got of the bus and started looking for a place to stay. We started walking one direction and then the other…and then in the original direction again. Readers have probably long since recognized that Joylani and I aren’t the best navigators. When we finally found the road we were supposed to turn on, we walked down it and then back up it and then back down it, before coming back up it again. We just couldn’t find the next street to turn on. We asked some directions and got some bad ones, but in our wandering, a nice old man asked if we needed help. Well, he didn’t speak English, but he said something in Korea, so I walked over and showed him the hotel info we had written down. He didn’t know the place or location, but he called the number, got directions, and then proceeded to walk with us for two blocks until we found it. After thanking him, we walked into the lobby of Yim’s House (name of hotel) and asked if there were any rooms available. Luckily, there was a cancellation for that night and the proprietor said we could probably stay for two nights. Tired of walking around, we just took it and figured we’d worry about where to stay the other nights later. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and exploring the surrounding area. Overall it was a pretty easy transition back to travel, made easier by the fact that Korea is a developed country and the help of a few kind people.