Surfing the Korean Wave: Days 3 & 5 - the wife takes the lead

 

Seoul street scene

When it comes to traveling, my wife and I are hardly comrades-in-arms. While I like to wander around, taking in the sights, Shu-E prefers the tour group route, traveling with friends and enjoying the camaraderie that comes with experiencing new places together. Walking is hard on her, especially as she gets older, with all those steps taking their toll on her knees, ankles and feet. She also expresses little interest in the cultural and historical facets of the places we visit (unless we're in China). With our daughter no longer in the leisure picture (at least for now), I've been trying (though not always succeeding) to go about things more equitably. Seeing as we would have four full days in Seoul (not including our arrival), we agreed that I would decide where to go on two of them, and Shu-E would get to lead the way on the other two. Our first full day in the South Korean capital was also the first of "my days", and we visited the Bukchon Hanok Village and the Changdeokgung Palace. Day three would also be up to me (more on that in the next blog post), leaving the second and fourth days to my wife to be our tour guide. What follows is a brief synopsis of what we ended up doing on those occasions.

Morning view from our suite 

Before arriving in South Korea Shu-E had made brief mentions of wanting to visit a few locations connected with some popular Korean television dramas (a medium of which she's been a fan since the early 2000's). However, when it came time to venture out into the city, she changed her mind, and so on our third day in country we walked (yes, walked!) from our hotel in Insadong to the Gwangjiang Market, a sprawling complex worthy of being called Seoul's busiest food alley:

My wife was in her element perusing what was on offer in the numerous market stalls:

Lunchtime. It took a while to settle on which of the many food stalls we should sit down to eat at...:

...but eventually she chose an eatery that offered live octopus tentacles, a dish called San-nakji: 

I like octopus but found this dish to be somewhat rubbery and bland-tasting. Shu-E, however, was quite satisfied with the meal. Neither one of us came close to choking:

Korean dishes are known for their spiciness:

Next up on our itinerary was a university. To get there from the market we had to transfer at Seoul's main train station. It was National Foundation Day, and there was a celebration being held in front of the station, featuring singers, speakers and South Korean and American flags. Virtually everyone in attendance was elderly, with veterans in uniform and ajumma in hanbok:

Taking a quick break at a branch of Gong Cha, a Kaohsiung 高雄-based Taiwanese tea chain:

My wife wanted to visit Ewha Womans University to see the impressive main entrance. The school building consists of six floors built underground, and separated by a plaza that gave the impression of standing in the middle of a partitioned Red Sea:

Like any Asian university founded by Western missionaries there was a (closed) chapel:

Blocks of apartment towers are a ubiquitous sight all over South Korea:

From the university we plunged into the busy shopping streets in the surrounding area, where I found the perfect encapsulation of the past year at work:

Trying a cheesy hot dog:

Back in Insadong, where we had dinner on a rooftop:

No wonder I gained a lot of weight on this trip:

Day five (aka Shu-E's second day calling the shots in Seoul) was a lot quieter. For one thing we spent the entire morning relaxing in our hotel room suite, not leaving until lunchtime came around:

After eating we did a bit of window shopping along Insadong 4-gil and 5-gil:

A procession of hanok-clad participants:

With my wife opting to rest her legs and feet back in our room, I went for an afternoon stroll around the neighborhood. Nearby was Tapgol Park, a symbol of resistance to Japanese colonial rule, the site of where the first March First Movement protests were held. The park is also the home to a 10-tier, 12 meter (39 feet)-high marble pagoda that dates back to the early 16th century, when the land was part of a Buddhist temple complex. It's a beautiful structure but difficult to appreciate behind the glass box in which it's encased:

Exiting the park I continued my neighborhood exploration:

I headed off in the direction of a World Heritage-listed site, the Jongmyo Shrine. Many couples were taking photos along the outer walls as I approached the shrine:

I inadvertently ended up walking in the opposite direction to the shrine's entrance, which turned into quite a trek as the shrine grounds are expansive:

I eventually reached the front gate and paid the ridiculously cheap entrance fee (₩1000 or 75¢) to go inside: 

Jeongjeon, the main hall and most important part of the shrine, was closed for renovations:

However, views of other parts of the complex, like the Yeongnyeongjeon (Hall of Eternal Peace), could still be appreciated:

Eventually I made my way back to the hotel, where Shu-E was waiting to go out. That evening was the Seoul International Fireworks Festival. The gathering crowds, however, raised my anxiety levels to uncomfortable heights and I eventually had to get out. I told my wife she didn't need to accompany me on the long subway ride back to Insadong, but she insisted on going. The sheer numbers of people we passed leaving the site confirmed I made the right decision, but Shu-E was disappointed nonetheless:

We ended up having dinner near the hotel:

Korean beer is generally pretty light, with Terra being the best of the mass market brews. Our server unfortunately brought us Cass. It was still better than Hite or Kloud, though:

The evening may have ended on a disappointing note but Shu-E would get her revenge later on in the trip. Until then here's some more K-Pop to tide you over:

Surfing the Korean Wave: Days 1 & 2 - being a 서울 man

Getting my bearings in the Bukchon Hanok Village area

We're back...minus one. After five weeks on R&R the wife and I have returned "home" to an emptier abode. If you've read the previous post, you will recall that we had spent about three weeks in the U.S., spending time at my sister's and dropping off our daughter at college. Mission sadly accomplished, Shu-E and I then delayed the onset of empty nest syndrome by spending nearly all of the past fortnight visiting South Korea. Below is the photo we sent to Amber just prior to take off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on a Korean Air plane:

After nearly a twelve-hour flight, we finally landed at Incheon International Airport and made our way via train and subway into Seoul. It was evening when we finally checked into the Orakai Insadong Suites, following which we ventured out into the immediate neighborhood in search of something to eat:

What we eventually brought back to the room to consume:

It didn't take long switching channels to find some K-Pop on TV:

Our room. At the time of check-in we were upgraded to a suite, which was larger than some apartments I've rented. The room included a large kitchen and a washer/dryer. The presence of the latter eliminated any need to search for a laundromat later on in our journey (though we did make use of the laundry facilities at the hotel where we stayed in Busan):

The next morning (our first) we ventured out into the capital. This was my second time in Seoul, with the first coming more than a quarter-century ago. At that time I was living and working in Tōkyō 東京, and made the trip during the Golden Week vacation period, staying in the tourist black hole of Myeong-dong. It was a short jaunt across the Sea of Japan (oops, sorry, I mean the "East Sea"). With the exception of a day trip to the Korean Folk Village in nearby Suwon, I never left the bustling capital city, an oversight which I intended to rectify this time. For my wife this would be her first visit to the ROK:

Our first destination that morning was Bukchon, an area home to around 900 hanok, traditional Korean homes. Once there we dropped in at the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center, which itself was housed in a hanok:

After getting some background information at the center, we then spent the rest of the morning wandering around the village. Though I'd recently read the area has become a tourist magnet in recent years, this particular Wednesday morning was relatively quiet (still busy but not overrun with hordes of foreign travelers). An indication, however, of the village's popularity was the many signs asking visitors to keep their voices down:

Posing for photos outside the Simsimheon, a modern reconstruction erected using traditional methods on the site of two older hanok. Alas, it didn't appear to be open that morning (either that, or I needed to have made reservations in advance), but we would get to experience some semblance of hanok life later on during our trip:

Looking toward the N Seoul Tower, which I visited back in 1999:

After leaving the village it was time to find something to eat. Our first lunch in country ironically was a Korean take on that Japanese comfort favorite, donburi:

A common sight everywhere we went in South Korea (an indication of the well-trodden tourist path we were traveling on) was the shops renting out hanbok, traditional Korean clothing:

Seoul is home to four royal palaces, the most famous being the largest, Gyeongbokgung. I had visited this palace during that long-ago Golden Week holiday, at a time when the National Palace Museum of Korea was still housed in the former Government-General Building dating from when Korea was under Japanese rule (the building was subsequently demolished and replaced with a modern structure; by contrast, the former Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan currently serves as the Presidential Office Building, an example of the different historical attitudes relating to Japanese colonialism in South Korea and Taiwan). For this trip, however, we decided to instead check out the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Changdeokgung, arguably the most beautiful of the four palaces (at least according to my guidebook):

The highlight of this palace is the Secret Garden (Huwon), which can be seen only on a timed entry or with a guided tour. We opted for the former as there was a shorter wait:

Having a look around the rest of the palace grounds following the Huwon:

One of the later additions to the palace shows Western influences. Even though the Joseon Dynasty (Korea's last) was abolished in 1910 parts of the palace still served as a royal residence up until the end of the 1980's:

The main hall sits in a large plaza modeled after Beijing's Forbidden City, but the building is clearly Korean in design:

Markers indicated where officials lined up according by rank:

The interior of the main hall. Changdeokgung served as the main royal palace until the Gyeongbukgung was rebuilt in 1868:

Bridge ornamentation:

The day turned out to be a warm one. It was also the first of several days involving a lot of walking, which would take its toll on Shu-E's legs and feet. Somehow, despite all those thousands of steps, I still managed to return to Beijing 3.9 kilograms/8.6 pounds heavier:

After resting a bit back at the hotel, that evening we went out to what my guidebook described as Seoul's largest traditional market, Namdaemun. Which turned out to be hard to believe - at least the section we visited (using the suggested subway station and exit mentioned in the guide) was very quiet, devoid of any crowds, and hardly the bustling marketplace we were expecting. We still ended up having dinner there:

The atmosphere was much livelier back in Insadong, on the approach leading to our hotel:

We would explore a much more vibrant market the following day, so stay tuned for that report coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy some K-Pop: