Sabbatical XV – Seoul Weekend: Palaces, Streams, Art

Saturday June 22 – Awake, stiff from long sleep.  I should be tired by now - I am deeply tired, but I’m ready to get out and see Seoul.  Familiar breakfast foods: cereal, yogurt, fruit.  Can’t face rice, meat and chili sauce to start the day.

I read about Korea before the trip – of course, new territory.  But I was tired of planning, so rather than decide a whirlwind itinerary around the country (very doable), I thought, screw it, just go to Seoul.  Geographically huge, so I further iterated and chose to spend my time around the old Joseon dynasty core, which has cool history and art.  Here’s a map grab:

My AirBnB is the red star, and all the places I think I want to go, except the DMZ and Incheon Airport, are black stars.  The map is probably about 2 miles wide.  The colored lines are subway lines.  I figured I could walk and or subway everywhere. 

Today is palace day.  Leave the King’s Garden, turn the wrong way, but actually get to Gyeongbokgung (palace #1) in time for the changing of the guard.  Here’s a bit of the fifteen minute ceremony, which I'm sorry I can't enlarge:

Gyeongbokgung was the royal residence for a couple hundred years starting in the late the 14^th century.  The Japanese burned it down a couple times, it burned several other times (it’s all wood).  Much of it was razed by the Japanese during their 20^th century occupation.  The current complex is gradually being restored and expanded.

It was a big functional compound, with residence areas for the king, queen, queen mother, various concubines and various offspring.  The building foundations are all a holocrystalline granite.  Very uniform.  The buildings seem to be constructed out of this stone, a terra cotta brick, and wood. 

Gyeongbokgung is bigger and more open than I expected. Brighter too – I somehow expected green, not bright granitic sand and paving stones.  Swarming with people.  I stroll about, weaving through the dense crowds.  Mostly Korean, but lots of foreigners: at minimum, Malaysian, Chinese, various Euro, various North American, based on languages.  It's definitely a place for Gen X and Y Koreans to come visit, in packs or as couples.

Although it only cost 10,000 won to enter Gyeongbokgung, you can get into it or any of the palaces free by wearing Hanbok, the traditional Korean court garb.  There are numerous places renting this adjacent to all the palaces:

It’s a thing to do for young Koreans, though I see Westerners and Malaysians (my assumption – women in Islamic clothing) dandied up as well.  I wonder if they have my size.  I do not check. 

The buildings are interesting, echoes of Japanese castles I’ve seen, but much more colorful, more highly decorated:

I like them.  They feel uniquely Korean.

Particularly the Chimneys of Amisan (Dowager Empress) behind her living quarters:

In this garden, all of the objects, like the blob of schist in the left foreground, have symbolic value.  

The chimneys?  The Koreans coped with harsh winters through subfloor heating.  Charcoal furnaces were under the buildings (hence structure fires) and vents ran underground to these chimneys.  All the palace buildings have similar structures.  Modern Korean homes (including my apartment) still use subfloor heating.  Seems civilized to me; I don’t know about its energy efficiency.  The schist  amuses me; while granite is the ubiquitous building material in Seoul, only boulders of this metamorphic rock seem to be used for contemplation.

I go on a useful tour:

Lunch at the adjacent National Folk Museum, which gives me some additional historical perspective on Gyeongbokgung and Korean pre-history.  

First millenium "spirit poles"

I fell in love with this carved granite sink:

Lunch, more caffeine. 

I amble east across Hwadong towards  Changdeokgung (palace #2 – there are several more in the area but I figure two was enough).  But there is a Starbucks.  It has an Americano and a tandoori chicken sandwich:

Changdeokgung is the most recent residence of the Korean royalty.  My morning tour guide explained that the royal family essentially petered out once the republic was established in the late 19^th century.  The current crown prince “lives as a commoner”, albeit that he has an architecture degree from MIT.

More palaceness:

Changdeokgung is a bit prettier than Gyeongbokgung, but I’m getting tired despite Starbucks.

I am on the 3 pm guide tour of Huwon, the “Secret Garden” of the royalty: a private park.  At least 100 of us follow the guide around:

The complex is hilly, gorgeously lush and peaceful.  Hard to imagine that Seoul is right outside the walls.  This was the place that the emperor and others would come to contemplate and think deep thoughts:

A nice break from the urban scene.  I enjoy climbing the many steps around the area.  Many of my companions do not. 

Enough history, so I push on south through Insadong, which my guidebook describes as the “tourist hub”.  I dunno, it’s packed with Koreans checking out the many shops along the main street and many alleys:

I watch a Korean African dance performance:

They are very good and having a blast.

Further south, to recon Cheonggyecheon, an urban greenway, for a run tomorrow.  The original stream here was covered by a freeway, and then rehabbed into a park in 2005.  Good move: 

Promising.  Tired.  Time to head home.  A view south towards the Seoul CBD along Sejong-Daero:

And north towards Gyeongbokgung:

The tall banner on the right is at one of the several very loud protests going on along this main boulevard.  A lot of them seemed right wing and/or anti-communist.  Hard to be sure. 

Eat.  Sleep.

Sunday June 23 – 5 am, I make myself get up after too little sleep to run along Cheonggyecheon.  It’s still cool, i.e., low 70s.  Few people are out as yet.  It is pretty:

Remnants of the old freeway and the shantytown that bordered it:

Water hazard (yes, I had to cross this twice):

Mostly not a helpful sign:

The square portals in the wall below are storm sewer outlets.  Cheonggyecheon could totally fill during a monsoon or typhoon.  Not a good time to run here.

9 miles.  I am tired. I saw maybe 15 other runners, only the few foreigners acknowledged my waves.  It is warm, but there are no flies or dust.  Breakfast, shower, eat, a nap, and on to museum day.

I’m pushing myself, I know but the Weta test applies at some level.  So to the Seoul Museum of History, almost adjacent to the King’s Garden.  This is a city museum, but it fleshes out some of the pre-history I saw yesterday at the Folk Museum.  It tells a very positive story of Seoul’s origin and evolution, with a lot of emphasis on its growth since the 1970s.  It’s a little confusing, despite my pre-trip reading, I can’t keep all the Korean dynasties straight, and Seoul seems to have changed names at least seven times. Admittedly as well, I want to know the broad outlines of Korean history, but the details – I’m not planning on taking the Korean History GRE.  Anyway, I learn stuff.  One odd note: the Korean War, which decimated the city, gets at most one large panel of coverage.  Basically, passing acknowledgement.

Back to apartment, change shoes. I can tell my sandals will blister my feet by the end of the day. 

East past Gyeongbokgung and north on Samcheong-ro to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.  I pass a Buddhist shrine, hidden behind a row of shops:

MMCA has a few galleries of Korean artists.  I like the Park Seo Bo retrospective, particularly his later pieces, which use traditional Korean paper and colors:

The galleries are full but not crowded.  A mixture of people, but largely missing the youth crowd who were all over the palaces.  This is not a good place for selfies, I guess.

Further north, and then a random stroll over the ridge of granite covered by the Bukchon Hanok Village.  This is one of the few remnants of traditional Korean housing in the country, or so say every guidebook I read.  Anyway, it’s quaint, scenic, peaceful despite the presence of everyone else who read a guidebook:

Yes, I climbed all 451 of these steps

 

Note security cameras

 

Still, it’s a fun stroll. I find a CU (Korean ~ of 7-11) and get caffeine and bibimbap and rest my tired lower body.

South and back west to the Seoul Museum of Art,which has a great David Hockney exhibition of all things (courtesy of the Tate Gallery).  No pictures allowed.  Oh well. 

It’s a clear sunny day, probably 90 degrees, so I decide I’ll go for one more activity today – sunset from atop Namasan, a granitic peak in the middle of Seoul.  The view from the N Seoul Tower on its summit is supposed to be great.  To get there, I stroll through Myeong-dong, supposedly Seoul’s upscale shopping district.  Sure, there are many global brands here, but what’s enthralling, and encumbering, is the density of street vendors.  

Ok, maybe that’s one too many panos, but it gives the impression.  I do get a Tornado Potato, fried spiral on a stick, which I regret a little the next day, perhaps too much fried garlic:

A glimpse of Namasan and the North Seoul Tower:

Namasan can be summited by a 200 m climb, or by cable car.  I take the latter, along with 49 other people:

This after a 20 minute queue to get on the cable car.  I somehow didn’t think there’d be crowds.  A stiff climb from the cable car dock, past a large beer garden, to a large area of shops and vendor stalls around the base of the N Seoul Tower.  Smell of sugar and fried food.  Almost all of the railings around the area are encrusted with multiple strata love locks (for sale nearby):

Besides the young couples like in this picture, there are lots of Korean families and other tourists up here.  I take lots of portraits, and get one in return:

Finally, it begins to get dark, so I get in the queue to go up the Tower.  It’s 236 meters high, so an excellent view over the city.  There are several levels, mostly restaurants.  I stay on the observation deck, with approximately 4 million other people.  Now this is selfie central.  There are queues to take pictures in certain spots, and I’m bemused to see individuals and couples strike the same series of poses. 

I squeeze to the windows.  Here are four from more or less each cardinal direction (in order of S, W, N, E), which should give you a sense of the size and topography of Seoul.  All the hills are granite, as far I could tell.

25 million people.

The sun kept setting.  Here is more or less the same view at four times:

Well worth the queues to get down the tower, and then to get back on the cable car. 

A good time to watch people.  Besides the young self-engaged couples, there are lots of family groups, many multigenerational.  I watch them interact.  There’s a real warmth between people, especially with young children.  I don’t remember this from my visits to Japan.

I’ve been generally observing people as I wander or ride about; I assume most of whom I see away from the tourist centers are Korean.  As time passes it’s easier to distinguish who’s Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, and of course African, Latinx, or Caucasian.  Most of the Koreans I see are either what I'll call retired, or Gen X/Y.  Fewer parents and children just because of the times I'm out and looking.  There are definite gradients and trends.  Older Koreans are shorter and stockier than Gen X/Y equivalents, and in general they look more – hard worn.  Maybe this is age or living through the 20^th century.  These “ancients” (I realize I’m on the verge of this category) dress in an older, less casual way.  Vests with many pockets are popular with men.  Generally, more stoical in public.  The young generations read as much more globalized, in terms of fashion, expression, and behavior.  They are still kids to some degree, so much more hormonal and libidinal fizz.  I’m not tall around them.  I also see people who are totally doing their own thing, like the guy with muttonchops, thick black rimmed glasses, and wearing all black of course.

Maybe I'll digress to my observations on Korean women.  I had heard that Korean cosmetics (presumably a mostly female-aimed market) are a thing but didn’t try to learn what that thing is, but the notion caught my attention.  Based on Seoul, there’s much Gen X and younger emphasis on a sort of princess look.  To name a few variations: 1) the winsome long asymmetric skirt princess; 2) the short shorts farm girl princess; 3) the school girl princess and; 4) the dyed hair K-pop princess, and 5) my personal favorite (and the rarest) the future tech princess.  A willowy build and longish hair seems idealized for all of these, as does a lighter shade than most natural skin tones.  Not everyone dresses like this, but a healthy majority, enough that I noticed it, make the effort.  All these looks are clearly feminizing/objectifying and must take some effort to achieve, especially as Koreans, like the rest of us, come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and aspect ratios.  They were not unattractive, but at the same time appearances that require heavy prep and maintenance read like camouflage.

I didn’t see any equivalents for young men, who tend to dress like, well, sloppy young men (ok, maybe there were a few who were KPopped out).  One picture of a pair of "future tech princesses" might illustrate this:

Trust me, I did not make a systematic effort watch or to photograph Korean women, especially the ones who could be my kids.  Further, as you may have noticed, I don't particularly like photographing people.  

Subway home.  Exhausted.