The Ramblings of Loren Christopher

My friend from university has been in town this week (another visitor, I swear I had no idea so many people would come visit me in Seoul…had six so far).  Unfortunately we didn’t get much time to hang out since she only had a few days and was seeing a couple other people as well.

Today we went to ChangGyeong Palace.  Out of all the palaces in Seoul and Korea, this one is by far my favorite one.  I had only been during winter months when the trees were dead, so this was my first time seeing it in its new spring glory.  The reason this palace is so great is because there IS so much greenery everywhere you look.

Small pathways take you from one various chamber to another, you’re surrounded by trees and flowers the whole time….the lilacs were blooming and they smelled so nice.  I can imagine it would be beautiful in the fall too when all the leaves are changing colors.  The first time I visited ChangGyeongGung we did an English tour, which I would definitely recommend.  It IS interesting learning about how these people lived, and how many of the customs carried over into present-day Korea.

For example, when you look inside even the living quarters, you notice that there is no furniture.  Koreans never used chairs or beds, they sat on the floor, ate on the floor, slept on the floor.  This is why it’s customary to take your shoes off at the door in so many Asian countries (who wants to eat off the same place where you walk around on your shoes?  you wouldn’t want someone walking on your dinner table in their sneakers right?).

Also, they had ondol floor heating even back in the 14th Century, you notice that all the palace buildings are raised to provide room for heating equipment underneath.  This is something that still exists today in Korea and is quite common–floor heating.  I have it in my apartment and it’s so convenient.  My feet never get cold, and in the winter is works so well in heating my whole place.

So, on this bright sunny day, a stroll around the palace was just more than perfect.  I’ll admit, palaces are a bit like cathedrals in the sense that they get old after a while.  Once you’ve seen a few, you begin to feel like you’ve seen them all.  This one though, has such a pleasant layout with nature that I thoroughly enjoy it each time I visit.

We were nearing the end of our walk when we spotted a group of Koreans dressed up in traditional Korean clothing.  Then, we saw more groups of them all marching in the same direction…such ornate clothing and each group wore a different color, bright reds, green, blue.  The colors represent the rankings and positions (i.e. the noble court, scribes, warriors, etc).  We were blown away by how many of them there were, obviously they were getting ready to perform some sort of ceremony, so we followed them into the main palace court.

Sure enough, they perform the customary “receiving of the king and his son” (at least that’s what it seemed like they were doing).  Quite an odd feeling watching the king being carried in on the throne while they were playing traditional music.  I felt like I had stepped back in time quite a few hundred years until I glanced over to the right above the rooftop and noticed a modern apartment building.

We definitely lucked out to see this type of ceremony.  I’m not sure what was special about today and why they were doing it…but it was VERY cool to see.  They have a “changing of the guards” ceremony twice a day at Gyeongbok Palace and I always thought that was pretty cool, but this put that to shame.  And, can I just say again how glad I am that spring is finally here again!?

A special treat arrived in the mail for me last weekend, a right angle lens.  It can be also referred to as a “spy lens”, but that sounds creepy and slightly perverse, so I prefer the term “right angle lens”.  So, I bought one of these because I’ve always been interested in street photography, and capturing the candid shots of people I see as I travel.  Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the courage to just ask them if I can take their picture.  And I’ve tried sneaking pictures of interesting looking people, but it never quite turns out the way I want.

So, I was pleased when I heard about this lens attachment….and last weekend I went out around Jongro (central Seoul) to test it out.  Jongro is a pretty happening area, particularly on the weekends.  There’s Insadong street which has loads of touristy stuff and shops, at night there are neon lights everywhere you look, bars, game rooms, all kinds of street food, and people everywhere.

I went in the late afternoon….the weather was perfect and I visited Tagpol Park.  This place is FILLED with old Korean men.  They all come here and play a traditional game called “Go“.  I have no idea how to play it myself, but it is comparable to our chess or checkers…..in that there is a board and there are pieces and you take turns playing.  I’m sure it’s more complicated obviously.

The point, however, is that this park is flooded with old Korean men who bring their games and they just sit around playing.  Some men will crowd around and watch particular games (I guess if they know it’s a good game).  Also there were some REALLY old men talking who had crowds gathered around listening to them.  I wish I had gone with one of my K-friends so I could have gotten a translation.

I like old people, especially of other ethnicities.  Old Koreans in particular amaze me because I cannot imagine how much change they have seen in their lifetime.  Just 50 years ago the entire country was ripped apart and starving….they had nothing.  Now you walk down the street and people are in designer clothing, using the latest technology phones, there are multinational corporations everywhere you look.  It’s amazing to think about.

That’s one of the reasons this country fascinates me so much.  There is an interesting juxtaposition of ancient (and somewhat archaic) societal hierarchies, customs, and traditions mixed with the ultra-modern and image conscious people of today.  Last Saturday, as I was walking around creepily taking pictures of strangers….lol, I tried to capture an essence of the people and why it is that I like this place so much.  For more photos you can check out my flickr page.

A couple weekends ago I went with friends to the east coast of S. Korea, we visited a small little beach city called Samcheok.  Things were starting to warm up a bit and we were all severely in the mood for a weekend getaway trip!

The bus ride (very comfortable bus) was almost 4 hours….we left around 7am so got there in good time.  We were dropped off at a small bus station, and after a few of our feeble attempts at conversing in Korean, we found out which local transport bus would take us down along the coast.

It was so nice to see the ocean again.  I’ve always said that I need to live near the water…there’s just something about it.  I never fully realize how much I love it until I’ve been landlocked for a while and then get to see the wide open ocean again.  The bus stopped along a few coves and beaches, and we just got off at the one that we thought looked the most beautiful.

We searched around for a 민박

 (guesthouse) and found a lovely one right by the water so we checked in.  The owner was an older Korean man and was soo nice.  It was the start of the tourist season so we were the only people there, perhaps some of the first customers of the season, so he was waiting on us hand and foot to make sure we had everything we needed, hehe.

We immediately dropped off our bags and took a stroll along the beach.  Mind you, when I say it was “starting to warm up” in Korea, it was still a little chilly and the water was FREEZING so none of us went for a swim.  It was nice to walk in the sand again though, hear the waves, look out into the blue blue water.

We ventured further down the coast to a park (actually hitched a ride on a high school bus, which was hilarious).  Haeshindang Park is beautiful.  I’d been there before, but not with my big group of friends so I wanted to show them.  The water is beautiful and there’s a big rocky cove that is just stunning.  I felt like I was back on one of the Greek islands!

So, our first day was a relaxing one….we headed into town before sunset and ate at a lovely Italian restaurant called “Buona”, then had Baskin Robbins and walked around a bit.  We actually ran into a couple other foreigners who live in Samcheok so we were talking with them.  They said there are only about 30 foreigners in the entire city…seems like they all relatively know each other.  They verified that there’s not much to do there, but it is a scenic place to live.  The thought of living there for a year just did not appeal to 

me at all, haha.  I’d rather go there for a vacation any day.  Seoul has it’s crowds and long subway rides, etc, but at least you could never get bored here.

The next day we headed to Hwibangsa cave….our guesthouse owner was gracious enough to chauffeur us all the way over there for a nominal fee.  This cave is the largest limestone cave in all of Asia.  It was so big!!  It’s cool that they had bigger walkways and colored lights here and there to give it a more dramatic effect.  Definitely a must for anyone planning on visiting Samcheok.

The walk up to the cave was a little exhausting, and it was drizzly out.  But the fog and drizzle really set the mood as we were up in the mountains.

Coming back to Seoul, we felt like we got a lot out of the trip.  Sandy relaxing beaches, and then foggy mountains and a huge cave….not bad for just two days and one night.  Like I said, this was my second time visiting Samcheok, but I’ve enjoyed it so much both times that I’m not sure if it will be my last.