If you think Changdeokgung Palace looks suspiciously like Gyeongbokgung Palace, you’re not far wrong. Changdeokgung was basically built as a replica of Gyeongbokgung when the latter’s location was deemed to be insufficiently auspicious. Changdeokgung, however, has an expansive “secret garden” around the back that was resplendent in fall foliage.
It seems like 50% of all adverts on Korean TV are for super heavy duty puffy winter jackets. While it certainly gets chilly here in winter, it’s doubtful that hiking up glaciers is quite a popular a pastime as the adverts would have us believe.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest of Seoul’s palaces. While pretty much entirely reconstructed (the Japanese occupation of Korea didn’t of any favours to the longevity of major buildings), the scale of the place is pretty stunning.
Zodiac statues at the National Folk Museum of Korea.
From the interpretive panel at the Korean National Children and Folk Museum: Phallicism handed down in Korea, venerates natural stones or geographical features shaped like female-male sexual organs as objects of praying for the birth of a male baby, the protection of villages, productiveness, and complementary measures against geomantic problems. Note that the above was installed in the grounds of a children’s museum.
The beautiful doorways and rooftops of Bukchon Traditional Hanok Village.
Seoul is a great city for coffee. There’s a fabulous coffee shop around every corner. We stopped at one today and ordered cups of coffee by the bean, and it was delish. While our coffee cost just as much as our lunch, that probably says more about the cheapness of the dumplings (although nothing about their quality - super tasty)
View from our window: Hotel Sunbee, Seoul. 10:40 am, 28 October 2013
Seoul instantly feels more westernized than Japan, from the visual branding on the signs to the way people move around in public. But also: street food. A rare sight in Japan, where eating and walking is generally Not Done, with the noticeable exception of rice balls on sticks. But street food in Seoul is seemingly endless. There were massive line-ups for these vaguely phallic ice-creams (not especially nice, but the line-up snakes through shelves of vintage toys; hence Astro Boy). The road side take-out cocktails-in-a-bag were lethally strong, and also not especially nice. But, hey: cocktails in a bag.