Advertisement
Published: April 18th 2006
Receiving the first stamp in your brand new blank passport is like a christening to become an avid traveler, and for that reason, I’m excited for Beau, my fraternity brother who decided to join me for my South East Asian journey, regardless the US Government’s travel warning for its citizens to Indonesia. He is willing to risk his comfort level to experience something different that the rest of the world can offer; it will be quite a shock for him, coming from the first world into a developing country. For that particular reason, I believe that developed South Korea, which definitely is a different place compared to the USA, is a good transition to bridge the two before finally jumped into the chaotic third world Indonesia.
Arriving at the Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, South Korean’s immigration was a breeze, and Beau received his first-ever small red square entry stamp on his passport. The temperature of Seoul is freezing; although we have out winter coats on, it is still very cold. Neither of us are prepared for such a cold weather; isn’t our main destination a tropical paradise of Indonesia?
Unfortunately people seem not to understand English, nor do we
Roof detail
A row of random animals on the roof - supposedly to guard the palace.understand any Korean. Figuring out how to use a Korean ATM from foreigners’ perspective is very challenging, and asking two police officers in English to assist us on withdrawing any Won currency from a US bank isn’t helpful either. Other than that, Incheon Airport is very impressive, with a 24hr gym, sauna and massage parlous available by the International concourse.
Our hostel is located at the Seoul’s city center, which is a long way from the airport. Bus ride takes about one hour to Changdeokgung Palace stop where we got off, and they do a good job on lighting the main palace’s entrance. Seoul seems to glow in the dark, with extensive lights throughout the city. Walking around at night feels safe thing to do, perhaps because of many policemen everywhere in almost every corner of downtown Seoul.
My traditional Korean food experience can be associated with karaoke party. As we walked into one of the restaurant, we figured it out a little too late that a karaoke private party had a reservation for the whole restaurant, as the restaurant owner screeched and yelled at us in Korean, while whisking us out the room. So instead, we were
Roof details
Don't you love the details of these structures? sitting outside in a restaurant bench with the cold with gas lamp heater nearby, glaring at a Korean menu ordering random food for our dinner. Inside, people were singing their guts out in the karaoke machine, drinking and having a good time.
Bulgogi beef and Kim Chee are the only two Korean foods I’m familiar with, so I figured that those are simple enough for us to order. When our waiter brought out our drinks, she brought along many simple, colorful vinegar-preserved spicy vegetable on small dishes for appetizer. Beau wanted a hot tea, so he received three cups for his hot tea order, consists of a cup of boiling water, a ceramic strainer, dried tea leafs and a lid. There he is, sitting there with a big grin on his face, trying to perform the traditional Korean tea ceremony instead of having an instant Lipton Teabag.
Tipping is not common in Korean culture, so we might insult the restaurant owner when we tried to leave them some money on the table. Our waiter frantically grabbed the money from the table, chased us and shoved it back to our hands, while saying something in Korean the whole time.
Korean tea ceremonial
Our authentic Korean meal - complete with the confusing tea cups (emphasis on the plural form of the cups) For some reason we thought they wanted a US dollar instead, and she went berserk when we went back to the table and left several US dollars for tipping. Restaurant owner came, and he grabbed the money from the table and shoved it back to us, and pushed us out the restaurant. By that time we figured out that they didn’t want any tip; talking about us being ugly Americans. Strike two.
Jet lag is a funny business. Going westward on the globe supposedly increases the probability of getting jet lag, and that’s the case for our Asian trip. I was widely awake at six in the morning even though I only have had five hours of sleep the night before. At the brighter note, I experience the unusual crack of dawn in a foreign land. Talking about ‘Sleepless in Seoul’, geez.
Gyeongbukgung Palace is an ancient imperial palace that can be traced back to its Chinese heritage. We had about an hour before its official opening time to explore the palace ground in a bitter cold Seoul winter morning. At nine o’clock, we entered the three main gates surrounding the majestic huge palace complex, which consists of
Gyeongbokgung Main Entrance
Beau and I in front of the main gate, Gyeongbokgung Palace. Serenity is kewl, eh? at least 900 structures. The original complex was completed in 11th century, but the Japanese destroyed and removed most of the original structures during its occupation attempt several centuries later and the current wooden structures are completed in 1800s. The painting job is extraordinary; every single beams and pillars are detail painted in bright red and some colors accent. There are lots of animal stone sculptures in the palace ground, surrounding the imperial throne structure of the king.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0248s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
