ChangGyeong Palace in the Springtime
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!?
