#seoul

My Sth Korea Tour – November 2024 – Blog 5

Day 14  20/11/24

Brekky early & time to chill before the 9.30 bus start for the pre-paid $150AUD Seoul City Sightseeing Tour that was rescheduled due to the Gyeongbokgung Palace opening times, changed earlier in the week.

From my previous planned daily walks alone to the South, we head off from our AMID Hotel in the opposite direction (North) by bus, for our first stop just 10mins away where we view the Heungnyemun Gate (centre) from the side entry to the Gyeongbokgung Palace & the 15min rendition to the changing of the Royal Guards Ceremony. There is no royal family existing here in Sth Korea now so with tradition dating back through the last 500years the guard ceremony has been resurrected to keep their culture & history relevant. As per common practice, the young locals all get dressed in traditional costumes for free entry plus it really makes everything wonderful to enjoy. To hear the big drum over the other drums was amazing & strong & be good in a rock band. Lol. I had great difficulty in getting a good photo, such was the volume of onlookers. It was difficult to understand the ceremony of the procedure however, it was done in such precision you could only admire the exhibition & the participant’s dedication.

Photos of the middle right & lower right is the Heungnyemun Gate (Central to the palace grounds) & the lower left & middle bottom is the Gwanghwamun Gate (front street entrance).

The construction of the Royal Palace was completed in 1395 however all buildings in this estate were completely destroyed by fire from the invading Japanese in 1592-98. A secondary, or say a temporary palace was built after the invasion in 1610 not far away from these grounds but these palace grounds were left derelict for some 270yrs. Finally, restoration took place in 1867 to resurrect this amazing monument to past Korean Governance & this continued to again in 1990. This vast walled ‘fortress’ of some 692,000m2 also housed about 500 tiny homes of essential governing people but these were never restored.

Where the guard ceremony (parade) was carried out was the foundation for the Japanese to erect their own government headquarters during their invasion of governance & the Gwanghwamun Gate (rear of the photos) was removed. A concerted effort to restore the main factor buildings have been ongoing since 1990. The Japanese Govt building was removed in 1997 & the Heungnyemun Gate (middle gate of palace grounds) was restored to its original state too. You will note in some of the photos, the buildings & shrines are also protected by a group of baboon looking monkeys on each roof hip line.

The Gwanghwamun Gate (main front gate) was restored in 2010 along with the King’s & Queen’s separate living quarters. You can see in one of the photos, the King’s sleeping quarters has numerous hanging panels from the ceiling that can be drawn down to segment of different room designs and to provide further privacy, as the King had many maidens as well. The Shrine in the King’s Palace area is an amazing work of features, etc all under the 25m ceiling. The bottom right photo shows our travelling group with our guide, Jade in her full voice of commentary & some of the group showing readiness for more viewing.

The actual King’s Palace restoration even retained the original large mote which looks fantastic in the photo and unfortunately is not open to the public. Surely, it would be as magnificent as its outside aesthetics.

King’s Palace with Mote

A short walk away was the National Folk Museum of Korea to learn more history & culture by being directed into the Permanent Exhibition #3 (Korean Life Passages) however upon entering, Jade, our guide, was in fine voice with no evidence of stopping & one could envisage this might take hours to get through this one floor of the museum so I headed off alone with the plan to meet up with the rest of the group who wanted respite & coffee in the foyer Cafe. Some of our travellers were limited in their walk lengths & stamina, so each to their own management. Exhibition #3 presents everyday items and culture from past to present and the growing education from child to adult & was quite detailed & well presented.

There were plenty of displays showing the various historical way of Korean life and how things progressively changed, and I was comfortable in studying these without the volume of speech from Jade. She was truly full on!! The last sight that really took my eye was the extremely colourful bier (Korean Hearse) which is carried by 12-24 pallbearers. This large bier is called a Daeyeo & a smaller one, Soyeo. This Daeyeo is in original condition & built for the funeral of Choi Pilju (1796-1856) making this bier constructed in 1856 & was a great donation to the museum from the family. One traveller who caught up with me said it was like a Noah’s Ark due to the shape & the 4 levels of animals on it with sculptures of human beasts, 12 zodiac animals on each level signifying the deceased to the afterlife.

The next & last exhibit was an interaction of photos projected onto a very large wall. One was a saying I aspire my later life to from my attendance in Landmark Forum, 2017 & a few books I read from Ekhart Tolle (The Power of Now & A New Earth). The saying here was “When I was young there were many tomorrows, but as I get older there are many yesterdays. As tomorrows must all become yesterdays, today is only a moment” by Han Jang-sok 1832-94. Landmark Forum is where I saw over 150 people change their outlook on life after the 3day forum & the outcome was “Stay in The Present” so you can understand “today is only a moment”. Turning left in the semi-darkness hallway was the Café where onlookers were smiling at me thinking the group was finally coming out. Sorry people, for it took another 30mins+ before Jade & the group resurfaced.

Next, we were to stop for a 10min quick photo of the ‘Blue House’, I believe is the President’s House which left me at the back of the bus out of the view from the side window. The bus only stopped for a mere 2 seconds then takes off leaving me with a partial blurred photo. Arghh!!! I was able to take a rapid shot of a similarly constructed neighbouring residence, obviously a Government Building also.

From there, we venture to the other side of the city (South) to view the Bukchon Hanok Village, a traditional housing estate dating back 600 or so years & still a private residential community. Today, there is only boundary access due to arriving here at the closing 5pm timeframe, so that’s disappointing. 15mins was our viewing time of basically nothingness, apart from some of the external building styles and some young Koreans in traditional costumes who have come to visit also.

We depart past the neo-fururism architecture styled monolith Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) designed by Zaha Hadid & Sameo & completed in 2011. Haha passed away during COVID. This building won the SEGD Merit Award in 2015 @ a construction cost of $451Million AUD. It resembles a large stainless-steel submarine at first glance & apologies in trying to get a good photo which really is a miracle to do so. The was no information to confirm what this building housed or was used for. Look hard into the RH photo below.

Bukchon Hanok Village
Dongdaemun Design Plaza

We were later granted 90mins of free time shopping at the large outlet store opposite but after scouring 6 levels of a Myer type store with same Australian prices I was back on the bus with no purchases worth getting. What a waste of time & others thought so too. One lady traveller bought a very expensive coat & that was all the bus purchases that happened.

Back at the hotel a few of us ‘lively’ ones decided on a group Korean bbq dinner for our last night out. Sally had found the other day an out of the way Korean bbq restaurant, but upon first glance, it was not inspiring. I was glad it was nearby to our AMID Hotel & surprisingly sat all 11 of us at the one table with 3 bbq plates (gas fired) along its centre. The staff were excited & very keen to see us, although taken aback first at us ‘barging in’ being an out of the busy shopping zone. They quickly arranged the pork, beef, brisket & vegetables & we started ordering the extra-large stubbie Cass beers prior to starting our own cooking.

We all did a bit of our own cooking (once I saw how it was meant to be done) & by the time the eating was done we had clocked up 23bottles & a $550 bill & that was well priced & worth it. Some of our ‘lively’ group went back to the hotel however, some of us (4) weren’t yet done so we went off searching for a bar or similar. We looked up at a 2nd floor neon sign that indicated was a ‘party-type’ bar & ventured in. It was almost deserted, but we did a group order & found to have been ripped off at $70AUD for 4 beers!!! Marching out in disgust we found another place for 4 beers at $28, which by then left a couple walking back to the hotel a bit strange & wobbly however I managed to do the Qantas online checkin, pre-packing, Polarsteps journal, etc before falling into bed. Young people are so soft now!!!

Beers All Round

Tomorrow is basically another free day (without Jade) & to finish brekky by 10am & checkout at 12noon. The bus picks us up at 5pm for Incheon Airport back to Sydney for the 10pm flight of 10hrs.

My day has ended with a walking trek of just 8.51klms which is a lot less than expected & yesterday’s walk. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos.

My Sth Korea Tour – November 2024 – Blog 4

Day 12   18/11/24

Being in Jeonju with a brisk (near freezing) 0°C to 3°C for our first stop at Gyeonggijeon Shrine, Jeonji some 10mins from our hotel where we reluctantly exited the bus & for a very long time stood in the shade (sun was very weak with the cloud cover, but it was something) & felt the brisk 10klm/hr breeze cutting through us. Most of us were shivering even though we had layers of clothing. Today had a feeling it was going to be slower than normal where Jade (our guide) kept stopping at weird areas & talking for ridiculous amount of time of some details of history that no-one could even get their head around. When a few of us walked away we gained more information that gave our location more relevance & at the same time Jade got the message we wanted more movement plus the other Trip A Deal bus group was now ahead of us which then complicates things more.

Our group hoping to get warm

These ancient village areas were always set up as forts to keep out the undesirables & enemies. This village dates back to 1410 where it was posthumously dedicated to King Taejo, where he reigned 1392 – 1398 & being the founder of the Josean Dynasty, 1392 – 1910.

The entire complex was totally destroyed, except the Main Hall during the Japanese invasion, 1597-98. The shrine was rebuilt in 1614. All other ancillary buildings & archives were rebuilt 1991 & 2004.

Jade then hurried us through this open area & then took the exit gate & walked around the boundary wall to the attached Hanok Village, a historical village with some very tiny houses originally set at 900 of them, but with renovations, etc, the quantity has been significantly reduced.

Entering from the other side of the village we enter a house & small garden dedicated to the making of the historical Korean Paper which is the traditional Mulberry mulch paper by Hanji Industry Centre. It is Korea’s first centre specialising in paper & an extensive collection of artifacts & database of the very long history. Korean paper is superior & stronger. The mulberry mixture is much like a fluid milky porridge and is easy to use the sifting process.

When the workers had everything set up they showed how each of us have a turn of using the timber tray sifting pan through the mulberry liquid in a sideways & back & forth motion for about 15seconds like a gentle sieving action. Then the lady & man take out the wet white sheet & place it on the table where we each decorate our own paper with fine leaves, & miniature cut out art pieces as we see fit. The man then uses a paint roller to remove (force) the excess liquid out. Another man picks up the smooth page sheet & puts it through a slot fan dryer for 2 seconds & then places it on a long, heated steel tabletop for final drying. It was special seeing how everyone had different ideas of decorating their paper.

Later, we were all given our respective art sheets to take home but it will take a slight miracle to get it home undamaged or crimped in our luggage for there were no protective tubes for each of them (later, I spent hours in Seoul looking for such tubes with no luck). Each of us were very impressed with our free gift & was well worth the time & to get out of the chilled weather!! Just when we were almost all receiving our paper the other Trip A Deal bus travellers turned up & the melee started trying to exit peacefully & with decorum. Lol!!!

Walking back to our starting point and given a further 15mins of free time which was a waste for most of us but understood Jade was setting up a Korean lunch for the group. It was too cold to sit around really, but I found the steel park bench seats in the open spaces delightfully heated.

At our starting point adjacent to the Shrine, Jade has organised a group meal of a traditional Korean buffet. There were so many varieties & typical me, could not figure out what was what but there was so much food & it kept coming!!! I did wonders using stainless chop sticks for a change.

Back on the bus with everyone full we took to Hwy 25 again @ 100klms/hr for another 15mins till Jade announced we should be ready for another pit stop. At this transit stop I encountered my first squat toilet. Yikes!!! Not impressed!! Luckily, I had Googled in how best to use them. Not my favourite toilet .. LOL!!!

Hwy25 evolves into Hwy1 at some point & this takes us all the way into Insadong (centre Seoul CBD) for our 3night stay at the Amid Hotel. Location was excellent.

Seoul has 31 bridge crossings of its rivers & has 10Million people living directly in Seoul with another 3million in the outer fringes. When you include the outer Seoul region the population increases to 25Million, just short of the entire Australian population of 27Million. Korea has 25million cars too & it seems buses have the highest priority on the road network going by the access provided by other motorists.

Settling into our Amid Hotel, the room isn’t as good as the last lot of rooms we have had & that’s disappointing due to staying 3 nights but certainly comfortable & a decent standard.

Tomorrow, I have a Seoul Free Day as most of the bus are going to do the optional DMZ Day tour (1hr drive away) & I have seen enough of DMZs in these recent years. Also, I get an overdue sleep in and an easy, lazy breakfast too before I seek out the immediate city area around my hotel. My walk muscles will enjoy the added peace too seeing I walked 5.33klms today.

Day 13 19/10/24

Yay!! No alarm!!! Finally got a decent sleep-in but I’m talking in total hrs, bed @ 10.15pm & awake @ 7am. Sorted out my stuff as hotel staff come in while you’re at brekky & do up your room whether you like it or not or have the Do Not Disturb sign up. Most hotels do it, so be aware this does happen.

Was able to catchup with my favourite couple Maria & Ted & eventually Ed turns up too, so it was great to see them off to the DMZ tour leaving me & a few others do some city roaming. With none of the stayers coming up with a group plan I made sure I went to the areas we won’t see tomorrow on the city tour & obviously, found myself alone to explore. Our guide, Jade said the hotel rooms will be without power from 10am – 4pm for a scheduled electrical check so that reconfirms my full adventure day out.

Walking the city streets, I wanted to find a small cylinder storage tube, as discussed, the day before so I don’t damage the Korean paper design I did yesterday in my backpack. I was going to get more for the group, too, but wasted so many hours with no luck. For something so normal is weird that I had no result.

Leaving my AMID Hotel I wandered along Ujeongguk-ro (street) to the Lotte Hotel where at street level & below is the very upmarket Lotte Department Store which is like no other I have seen. Another 100 or so metres further there is another Lotte shop dedicated to young children, if kids aren’t expensive enough. LOL!!! With constant, yet free flowing traffic I had to work out the underground street crossings on my way up to the area of the Hoelyeon Underground Markets (little subway-type mini shops under the main roadway), Namdeamun 24hr Market, The Sungnyemun Gate which is Korea’s first national treasure & is one of eight boundary gates to the original city size of Seoul & is the largest gate, The Korean Post Office (who even they could not help me with small tubes for my Korean paper & Level 5 of The National Museum of Korean History.

Lotte Dept Store
Sungnyemun Gate

Just outside the museum there was a full block along the extra wide footpath of war photos displayed on about 50 easels for public viewing on this wide Sejong Daero street with about 30 country allied flags behind them. It was a great presentation and obviously well respected by everyone. These photos gave you a clear insight of accurate portrayals of the war & well worth taking your time to peruse. One surprising aspect was that Seoul is only 45mins drive from the North Korea border, so that explains how quickly Seoul collapsed when the war started. A very quick invasion.

This Sejong-daero street had many important buildings, such as the Seoul City Council & City Hall, US Embassy, banks, museums, etc & obviously a very political area where across the street was a loudspeaker of an obvious protest but unclear to what purpose, however the police were around in very large numbers attending through volumes of police buses parked in special locations.

A number of streets had rows of concertina barriers locked into permanent storage positions that could be expanded in seconds. Police are very well prepared. The location of this protest was at the Gwanghwamun Square with the statue of King Sejong, The Great. Certainly, it is an important place in the city. By 2pm I had chalked up 12.27klms & was in need of body fuel.

From those easel photo displays there were a group of Korean men standing under a banner they erected. The banner had “Evil HAMAS release hostages now’. Such a great thing to see for the humanely release of the Israeli hostages from the vile attack on Oct 7th, 2023, unlike we see in our Socialist Australia under our worst ever Labor Government where antisemitism is escalating in trying to appease local Muslim votes.

Getting famished, I found a great Cafe to catchup on my notes, have coffee & a roll with sweet pastries after. The Cafe was Queens Bakery & after I sat down the whole bakery had about 60 tables occupied by about 98% women to men. Go figure!!! I had to check to see if it was a women’s only café. LOL! On the way out, I bought Maria (a fav older couple on tour) her fav custard tart for when she gets back from the DMZ tour.

With an extra long walk back to the AMID Hotel, my left calf muscle was tightening up & feeling a limp coming on which I can’t remember ever experiencing that before. Must be getting low on my Magnesium levels. Tomorrow is also a big walk day, so that’s not going to be fun. I walked across the Cheonggyecheon Stream Bridge & found this area rather surprising & unique. This stream of water ran through the city & for some reason in the 1950s, the city covered it over & built an elevated major highway over it.

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Over time, the stream became a cesspit & an unsafe area, then a decision was made some decades later to demolish this highway & return the stream to some beauty for the city in a hard landscaping, construction theme (not natural edges of flora but stones, pavers, etc) & now it provides a great attraction for passive walking, city lunch gatherings & festive celebrations. At its western end is a constructed weir & waterfall that provides a good constant flow. Such imagination and ingenuity for this landmark.

Upon returning to my hotel there was still no power to my room so I sat at the Level 1 (Ground floor in Japan & Korea) Cafe for a Hazelnut Latte (most cafe’s call that normal coffee) & watched my tired bus troops saunter in looking for a most needed respite.

Not a chance I’m going out tonight. The weather has been cloudy all day with temps 0°C to 6°C & with me wearing 4layers above waist & my jeans, cold & damp from the breezes I’ll use my time to do my own respite for the bus departs 9.30am tomorrow for the last day of our guided tour with Jade so we also must get our required tips ready for her & the driver. Our bus driver will take us to the airport when we are due without Jade, so tips have to be ready.

My day has ended with a walking trek of 14.66klms .. no wonder I have muscle stiffness in my calf. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos.