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Published: June 20th 2008
South Korea - where do I start? I realize that I say “Where do I start?” a lot; I guess that I am just trying to get my head around what just happened (even though sometimes it’s 2 weeks later). I was in Seoul, South Korea from June 6 until the morning of June 9.
Here’s why I went to South Korea:
1) If every one had an opportunity to go to Korea, who wouldn’t want to go check it out?
2) Tickets were CHEAP! Since February, I have been looking at flights to different countries in Asia. I figure, I am in Asia for the first time, China is HUGE, but it’d still be cool to check another country off of my list. It’s been disappointing. Usually travel within Asia is so cheap, or so I hear, but because of the Olympics, prices have been astronomical. We’re talking about US$600-800 for a 1.5 hour flight! Anyways, I was randomly searching one day and found a $250ish flight to Seoul, Korea - which is ridiculously cheap for no reason (except a little expensive compared to normal)…and it was only for one weekend. I don’t know why.
3) Finally, my visa.
I have a multiple-entry visa for 180 days. This means that every time I enter China, for the duration of a year, I am allowed to be in the country for 180 days before I have to leave. Because of my job, I need to be in the country until about August 27 or 28 - my visa appropriately expired on the 11th or 12th of August. So, I had to leave and come back to extend it.
So, appropriate price + legal issues = Seoul, Korea.
Seoul is amazing. I could live there some day if it was necessary. It is clean, people obey traffic laws, the subway is amazing because it goes everywhere and it’s clean, the people are great, etc etc etc. The Tower Palace, according to Koreans, is the symbol of wealth in Seoul. It is a very expensive apartment complex, to say the least. This is where I stayed!!! My friend tutors a family who lives here and they allowed us to stay in their apartment. I love them for that. I can not begin to tell you how nice this place is. The apartments are great, it has a free spa, KTV (karaoke)
in the basement, fitness center, video security screens, and the list goes on. My friend and I were both incredibly relaxed this weekend and I could probably say that it is because of that place. It felt great to be in a legitimate house for once on top of the fact that the place was awesome. I owe my friend big time.
The family put us in contact with one of their friends who could help us out that weekend and she, like the rest of the Korean people, was so great. She was so willing to help us and really tried to help us experience the Korean culture as much as possible, even though we were only there for one weekend. She cooked and bought Korean foods and drinks and brought it over to us every night - naturally, this gesture was amazing and the food was better. We got to talk with her for a few hours one night. Let me just note that her English is amazing. She has been all over the world and her family also lives all over. Also, she’s been to every country in Asia except for China haha. Anyways, I learned
so much from her. We talked about the world, the Korean culture, the mentality about North Korea, her experiences in America, our experiences in China, etc.
While we were there, we saw a few different places around Seoul. I think that it is safe to say that on this trip, I saw more of the actual city compared to historical sites. It rained a lot and we were really enjoying the city-life so it was a good time. The sites that we did see included the Royal Tombs, Seoul Tower, Namdaemun Market, and Gyeongbokgung. (All of the following quotes are from the Lonely Planet, Korea)
Gyeongbokgung: Honestly, I think of this as “The Forbidden City of Korea.”
“Originally built by King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon dynasty, the grandest of Seoul palaces served as the principal palace until 1592, when it was burnt down during the Japanese invasions. The 'Palace of Shining Happiness' lay in ruins for nearly 300 years until Heungseon Daewongun, regent and father of King Gojong, started to rebuild it in 1865. King Gojong moved in during 1868, but the expensive rebuilding project nearly bankrupted the government.
Two of the grandest architectural sights in
More Locks!
I thought that this was just on Huang Shan!Seoul are here. The first is the two-storey, ornate Geunjeongjeon, the main palace building where kings were crowned, met foreign envoys and conducted affairs of state. It is best viewed from the imposing second entrance gate, Heungnyemun, which is guarded by soldiers in Joseon uniforms. With its double-tiered stone platform, flagstone courtyard and surrounding open-sided corridors, Geunjeongjeon is an impressive sight. Then walk left to Gyeonghoeru, a large raised pavilion resting on 48 stone pillars and overlooking an artificial lake with two small islands, which is almost as grand a scene. State banquets were held inside.”
The National Palace Museum is also on this site.
Namdaemun Market: This is the biggest market that I have ever seen or imagined in my life (not that I dream about markets often haha). Next to the market, there used to be a huge, very famous gate. “The Great South Gate of Seoul fortress was originally constructed in 1398, rebuilt in 1447…” However, in February, I believe, the gate burned down. Nobody knows how it happened.
“This huge night-and-day market dates back to the 15th century and has thousands of shops and stalls selling ginseng, dried seaweed, clothes, shoes, accessories, hiking gear, watches,
handicrafts, sunglasses, spectacles and contact lenses. The variety and cheap prices attract both tourists and locals and food stalls offer cheap meals for the adventurous.
Different sections have different opening hours - wholesalers are open all night and although many shops close on Sunday, plenty of them and the stalls remain open. Alpha has two floors of toys and two floors of stationery. Shops in Hoehyeon underground arcade sell stamps, second-hand cameras and second-hand LPs, CDs and DVDs.”
Seoul Tower: Do you remember the blog about the Pearl Tower in Shanghai and how I mentioned that it was another tower in another city where you can look out over the city? Well, this is Seoul’s Tower (obviously). Even though I say that about the towers, they are still cool haha. We did not go up this one though. Honestly, the tower is on top of a mountain so you do not really need to go up there. I am sure that it is cool, but we saw what we wanted to see without spending money (except for the cab driver that ripped us off on the way up there…)
“The peak of Mt Namsan used to be crowned with
fortifications, but they are long gone and have since been replaced by the Seoul Tower. The entire tower has a modern look, feel and name thanks to renovations completed in 2005 that dropped in speedy elevators, a spiffy lobby and the urbane handle, N'Seoul Tower. The tower stretches 480m (1574ft) above sea level and houses several cafes and restaurants (one of which is revolving) and an observation deck. The views are marvellous, especially at night.
Be sure to run your ticket through the scanner beside the elevator to activate a reservation number for the lift; it's a great system to preserve order on days when the lobby is filled with impatient crowds. The view from the T3 observation deck is worth the entrance fee; it's even better upstairs on T5 in the revolving restaurant. The easiest and most picturesque route to N'Seoul Tower is to take a taxi from Insa Dong to the Namsan cable car. From the cable car it's a short walk to the base of the tower.”
Seolleung Park Royal Tombs: These were pretty cool. The chunk of land is in the middle of the city area, so it’s pretty funny. But, they’re neat.
“The spirit
Me on the Security Screen
Ringing the door bell....new technology...awesome tablets of the Joseon kings and queens are in Jongmyo, but their tombs are scattered all over Seoul. The tombs are elaborate but mostly underground, and were the scene of rituals to remember the dead who were officially mourned for three years according to Confucian rules. The tombs of King Seongjong (ruled 1469-94), his third wife, Queen Jeonghyeonwanghu, and his second son, King Jeongjong (ruled 1506-44), are in this wooded park.
King Seongjong is remembered as a prolific author and father (he had 28 children by 10 concubines), while King Jeongjong ruled for a long time but was a weak king. The entranceway to the tombs is marked by a red spirit-gate with spikes on the top, and a small hall used for ceremonies to honour the dead. The tombs follow the Chinese style and are guarded by larger-than-life stone statues of warriors and government officials along with smaller statues of horses, tigers and imaginary animals that look like sheep. The stone lanterns, pillars and pathways are there to guide the spirits back home.”
Ok so, now that I have told you about the main places we visited, let’s discuss Korea. Koreans are very serious about respecting your elders.
Guy Guarding the Tomb
One of the guys outside of the Royal Tombs No matter what, you will respect any one who is older than you. Even when they are drinking, they have certain customs that you must follow, one of which includes the fact that the oldest member must always drink before everyone else.
We rode the Subway everywhere that weekend. I noticed a lot on the Subway. I have found that it’s amazing how much you can learn about a culture riding public transportation. I noticed three main things on the Subway outside of the cleanliness. First, people do not feel the need to rush every where and push every one all over the place, unlike China. The subway pulls up, people let others off of the Subway and orderly file on. Next, if a man is sitting on one of the seats and a woman walks on, the stats that he will stand up for her to sit down are about 8 in every 10. There’s nothing to it, he just stands up, points to his seat, and lets her sit. Finally, this one refers back to the seniority thing also. People will ALWAYS, no matter what, stand up for an older person to sit down. Anywhere from I’d say
around 50 and above, people would stand up for them. Between 50 and 60, they would also stand up for older people. The funny thing is that it doesn’t seem to be expected of people to do so, but they do it. Every time someone would stand up and offer their seat to a senior citizen, the senior would appreciate it and then refuse, and then the person would ask again and the senior would sit down. So, my friend and I knew about the seniority thing before we left; we learned about it from our Korean friends. One day, we’re riding the subway and both sitting down. There are 4 other seats in our little section filled with 2 senior citizens and 2 Koreans in their late 30’s, early 40’s, I would say. When two cute old ladies walked on, my friend and I appropriately stood up for them and offered them our seats. I can not tell you how shocked people were. One of the older men in our area spoke some English and started thanking us profusely. The other ones just smiled at us thanking us in Korean. The guy who spoke English started asking us where
we were from, etc and told the others. I think that the major shock was that we were foreigners and they didn’t expect it out of us. We like to think that we cleared some of the “Ugly American” name that day (though I didn’t get that vibe too much from the Koreans). I don’t know, all we did was stand up because that’s what they do.
It’s also important to note that Korea is expensive. The currency conversion is US$1 is approximately 1,059 Won (Korean currency). It’s crazy. The smallest bill is a 1,000. So, the whole weekend we used 100 and 500 coins and 1,000 and 10,000 bills. It was weird. They would say, “Ok, that will be 8,000 Won” and I would freak out and then start breathing again and realize everything would be alright. You will definitely pay between 6 and 10 dollars for a small meal there. Honestly though, maybe I budgeted money appropriately, and we didn’t eat at any really expensive restaurants, but I did not spend as much as planned. Who knows.
Finally, I think that it is important to note how neither of us spoke any Korean…at all. There is
Terrible Martial Arts Demo
Ours were so much better...and that's not even me being cocky.... not much to say about that other than that. Every time we tried to ask for something or say something I started laughing. It was too funny. I mean, why did we go to Korea and not know how to say anything other “thank you.” Granted, the numbers that I learned from karate came in handy and my friend knew how to say “subway” and a few other words. That’s it. I’m not going to lie though, going 3.5 days in a place where you can barely communicate what-so-ever is very tiring…but very fun. Oh and p.s - they barely have street signs. I do not know how people get around. Though the Subway was incredibly vast and expansive, we had the Lonely Planet telling us where to go to and which exit to use, etc. So, it was actually pretty easy.
Well, that’s Seoul for you! Again, I did not proofread this.
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David
non-member comment
Mountain Dew!!!