Day 4 - Palaces and Reunion!

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9:30a start to the day. With weather continuing to be burning hot, we decided that one palace was enough and took the subway to the largest of the 5 palaces in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace, in west part of Seoul. Many tourists here – busloads of Chinese visitors, and despite the sweltering heat, many chose to wear hambok (Korean traditional dress). In the back garden of the palace is Hyangwonjeong Pavilion and Pond. Many parties were apparently held here by King Gojong.

After Gyeongbokgung, we too subway to Namsangol Hanok Village. “Hanok” means traditional Korean house. There are several such hanok villages throughout Korea. This one is very beautiful with lots of gorgeous landscapes and magnificently recreated traditional buildings. The entire area would take 3 hours to cover. We did about half.

We decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up before Halahbujee met his friends (Halahbujee called a few friends when he arrived in Seoul and tonight a few are getting together for dinner).

A quick refresh and off to dinner. We were asked to join as Halahbujee’s friends said they wanted to meet us. These are Halahbujee’s high school friends, some of whom he hasn’t seen in over 50 years! The reunion was … amazing. Halahbujee was all smiles and all of them were close to tears. What an honour to witness the happy reunion. And worth the meal we sat through. For those who like haejangguk, our apologies, but really, we could all barely put up with the smell nevermind the taste. It’s called “hangover” soup and is made with beef bones and intestines, and congealed ox blood (Don/Elke – you may like this as it’s similar to blood sausage). Our love for Halahbujee won out and even Sophie, Miss Macaroni and Cheese please Sophie, put some in a bowl and took some spoonfuls for Halahbujee. We tried Korean wine, "mahkarlee". It's pretty good, but also pretty potent. It even hit Robb a little bit.

Halahbujee was the last to finish because he was so excited to see his friends, he was talking and smiling the whole time! Because some of his friends couldn’t make dinner, they all agreed to meet up again on the 14^th for an extended night of celebrating and karaoke singing!

Tomorrow we start our one week bus tour around South Korea.

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Photos

Old and new in one city
Gyeongbokgung Palace was built in 1395 but sits within the bustling modern city of Seoul.

Jon's future wife? (the one on the left)
One of the many girls who came to the Palace in traditional hambok.