Seoul's Palaces, Museums and Sporting Venue's.

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Waiver: All the pictures names have changed around and as i have to change each one individually i can;t be bothered, i'm sure you can work out which is which. Cheers !!

Day 49 (Thurs 25^thOct)



Today was my first full day to explore Seoul and that was my plan. As the weather was decent enough I decided to do the Palaces and City Centre. I took in 3 palaces all with very long names being Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung and Chandeokgung Palaces, the last being a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Deoksugung is smack bang in the centre, it’s not that big and seems weirdly placed now there’s high rise buildings all around it. It’s nice enough and not too big so you can see all of it within an hour. I then headed off for the 2 main palaces of the city. On the way to Gyeongbokgung I passed through Gwanghwamun Sqaure, which has a nice fountain and water display as well as a large statue of Yi (a general) and Sejong the Great, 4^th ruler of the Joseon Kingdom. The square itself is right in the middle of 3 lane either way traffic, I suppose it’s like Seoul’s Tian’anmen square, although not as big or as grand.

At the far end of Gwanghwamun square is Gyeongbukgong Palace. As I got there they had changing off the guard which was unexpected but pretty cool. The guards all wear completely different and very colourful outfits, and all have exactly the same bum-fluff beard going on, they look more Mongol’s than Korean’s. The palace grounds are huge and would take ages to explore every bit of it, therefore I decided to miss a few bits out. Palaces too me sort of get a bit samey after a while so I looked at the guide map and went for the biggest pavilions along with others that looked different or that they stood out. I spent a good 2 hours walking around here and probably saw half of it, if that. I decided to head off anyways.

En route to the next Palace I stopped off at a temple, Jogyesa. It was a lovely spot, and surrounded by shed loads of floral displays, my nana would have loved it. There were also for some reason 3 classical singers outside the temple singing away, no idea why as it was a Thursday afternoon but they were very good. The temple also housed a couple huge golden Buddha’s. I moved on to the last palace from here.

Chandeokgung was my last stop. This palace is also huge although its in 2 sections. The front bit and the ‘secret gardens’ back bit which you had to pay more to go into. Having seen a lot of temples I thought just the first bit would be enough, plus I was getting tired by this stage. I had a good look around, took loads more pictures and then left. Going through all my pictures at some point is going to be a nightmare, been the best part of 150 a day recently, just snap everything. One last stop at the Myeongdong Cathedral on the way back, but I couldn’t get in so I just looked around the outside. It’s a decent cathedral right in the middle of the busy shopping district of Myeongdong and seems quite a popular spot.

I spent the night in the hostel, I don’t seem to have done too much in the night time in Korea. It seems to be relatively quiet amongst travellers, maybe now it’s into Autumn I’ve missed everyone but hostels have been quiet so my nights have been relatively dull, but that isn’t always a bad thing. For one, not many hangovers means I can get up and go out early.



Day 50 (Fri 26^th Oct)



After yesterday being spent outdoors today was an indoors day, although it’s turned out to be even nicer weather wise so maybe I got it back to front. I wanted to see the museum’s today so I went first to the War Memorial of Korea.

This museum was amazing, with most of the displays and information being relative to the Korean war of 1950-53. The exhibition halls were filled with pictures, videos, replica weapons and situations the troops found themselves in and thankfully there were English commentaries for them all. The museum was really fascinating, even if you knew all about the war I’m sure you’d learn something new there.

There were also displays for earlier wars/conflicts ranging back hundreds and thousands of years but these don’t interest me as much as the 20^th century history, that seems far more relevant to me. Korea have also had troops involved in pretty much every conflict since the Korean war including, Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. They didn’t have particularly large numbers of troops in these conflicts but they’ve assisted in all of them. This is due to being saved by the UN troops in the Korean war and being part of the UN.

There is also an area outside which houses all sorts of replica tanks, aircrafts, huge land to air missiles, howitzers and a destroyer vessel, they are quite something although actual real ones would have been more impressive. I moved from here to the National museum of Korea after a quick stop off at a bakery for some lunch, thought I’d bought little bread things, turned out they were more like cookies, so not a bad result all round.

The National Museum, is well pretty much like every national museum you will ever see. In the old ages people used stones/rock to make tools and kill animals etc, then we invented currency and had coins, then we made bronzed items by using casts. It’s very interesting the first time and maybe even the second one you go to but they are all very similar. As I said before I prefer recent history, mainly 20^th century as at least this is a bit more varied, mainly due to conflicts and democracy. This meant I spent way less than an hour in there as I couldn’t be bothered reading the same things I did elsewhere. Took a wander around and ended up back at Yongsan station, which is where I came to get my laptop fixed earlier in the week. I then headed back out to my hostel to move rooms, not sure why but I was asked to when I got here. Must have too many booked in one room. Just had a look and my previous room’s bed looks way better than the one I’m moving too but it’s only 2 nights so I can deal with it.

I went out for tea to a British fish and chip restaurant. Being a Friday I’m used to a chippy tea and heard about this place from an American lad a few weeks back and had been craving it since. The place is run by 2 lads from England and they know how to make proper fish and chips, it was superb. I stayed there for a couple hours drinking with the owners and finding out how 2 lads ended up cooking fish and chips in Seoul. It’s a new business so I hope it work out. I certainly enjoyed it. I then moved onto a bar which was recommended and stayed for a few hours, chatting to a fair few people which hasn’t happened so much in Korea so that was nice. Staggered back to my hostel after getting a little lost, got there in the end though.



Day 51 (Sat 27^th Oct)



Woke up with a banging headache. I’m not sure what it is but even if I have a couple beers I’m getting terrible headaches. Must be the Korean beer because this doesn’t happen at home, not this bad anyways. It’s rained all day so I haven’t got out of the hostel. I wanted to see the Olympic stadium and see what the fuss about gangnam is but I may have to take that in tomorrow morning before I leave for Incheon.

I literally stayed in the hostel all day apart from 2 quick visits to the supermarket for noodles, watching plenty of American tv on my computer. It wasn’t a bad day, with watching some F1 and football also and you do need a day doing nothing now and again. Being out and about all day every day takes its toll but if it’s dry that’s what I’d rather do.



Day 52 (Sun 28^th Oct)



Used my last day in Korea to visit the Olympic Stadium and the World Cup stadium before heading out to Incheon to spend the night so I get a slightly later early rise in the morning. After fried eggs on toast, a seeming specialty for breakfast in Korea, I headed to Jamsil sports complex, which houses the Olympic Village, why they don’t call it that I have no idea. Maybe sponsorship has something to do with it but I got there anyways.

I do my usual thing when arriving at a stadium, look for an emergency exit, usually the corners off the stadium, where an ambulance could go straight in and see if its open. Ta-dah, it was as per usual. These doors tend to be open as workers maintain the stadium and it’s a good access point. Straight to track side for a few photo’s before heading back out and a walk round the stadium to see all the other arena’s in the complex. After this I hopped on the subway and went back to the World Cup Stadium. For 1000 won (60p) I got access to the stand, pitch side, down the tunnel, changing rooms, training area, media area etc. You get free roam to look around with no security, also included is a museum of past and present football items. You really can’t fault how they price attractions in Korea. Bar my day at the DMZ nothing has cost more than £2, it’s a bargain. Fetched my bags and headed to Incheon after this to watch the F1 and prepare for the Merseyside Derby. I sure hope it’s a good result as I will only be getting around 4 hours sleep after it, due to a 7:30am flight in the morning. That is Korea done and tomorrow I welcome the Philippines. Can’t wait !!

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Photos

Gwanghwamen Square
Statue of Yi

Gwanghwamen Square
Sejong the Great