Three Days in Seoul

I just got back from Seoul.  I know, I know, I wasn't even home a week from Sydney before leaving for Korea.  But I won't be an expat forever.  I gotta take every opportunity I can get to travel.  Side note:  I will be heading to Chiang Mai, Thailand in two weeks!

Joe had a business meeting in Seoul.  Savannah was in Cambodia with school (that will be an upcoming blog post.)  Austin stayed with a friend, and I got a cheap ticket on Air Asia for the 6-hour flight.  I hung out with my friends while our husbands went to meetings.

DAY ONE

Here are Allison and I at the front of Gyeongbokgung Palace, built in 1395.  It is the largest remaining palace.

The guards were very colorful!

Our tour guide for the one-hour tour

The Royal party house!

These beautiful young women were walking around the palace grounds.  Photo credit-- Mary Ellen

There are several museums on the premises.  I popped in the Folk Art Museum and saw this portrayal of a Korean wedding.

These statues were outside the museum.  I was born in the Year of the Tiger!

I love viewing the present through the past.

I was paying for my sandwich with the Korean currency, the won.  10000 won is worth $8.76 USD.

In the afternoon, we traveled about an hour to the town of Icheon, to the studio of a master potter.  Our private tour guide took us to this studio, where we met the son of the master.  He explained the process of making the traditional Korean celedon pottery.

Here is the wood-burning kiln he uses.

This is the vase I bought.  What is so interesting to me is that the designs are not painted on.  The design is carved into the vase and then inlaid with lighter clay.  The vase was carefully wrapped and placed in a crate for me to carry on the plane.  They will also ship your purchase.

After the tour, we stopped at a local park.  We took some time to enjoy the fall color.  It was beautiful!  That is one of the things we miss the most in KL-- cool fall weather!

On the way back to the hotel, I  snapped this picture of the Olympic Stadium.  Not as cool as Beijing's though.

We ended the day with a group dinner at a Korean barbecue restaurant.  There were quite a few side dishes placed at each setting, including kimchi, of course.  The stainless circle in the middle is where they place the grill.  With very hot coals.

Your meat is cooked right in front of you.  Over hot coals.  It was a very warm dinner. 

DAY TWO

In the morning, we walked across the street from our hotel to this temple.  The Bongeunsa temple was built in the 8th century!

Next was the Insa-dong area of Seoul.  This area is full of shops, artist galleries, and restaurants.

This friendly group of 16-year-old students stopped us and interviewed us for a survey on tourism.

 Lots of Korean fashion for sale.  Many of the clothes were somewhat shapeless with dark colors and heavy fabrics.  It was very clear that Seoul experiences cold winters!  Now the lady is this picture was actually selling the silk corsages she is wearing.  The one on the left is the one I bought!

I wanted authentic Korean food for lunch.  We found this very small restaurant tucked in one of the alleys.  We ordered fried pork cutlet, tempura vegetables, fried prawns (hey, we were doing LOTS of walking!), and cold spicy noodles.  Allison and I had enough food for four people!

I made Allison get in some of my pictures.  I prefer people in my pictures.  They can seem so lonely to me with no one in them.  Allison prefers lonely pictures.  She didn't ask me to get in hers!!  :)

In the afternoon we had a reservation for the secret garden in the Changdeokgung Palace.  When I think of secret garden, I think of a small walled garden.  At the palace, think large private park.  Our tour lasted 1 1/2 hours!  Absolutely lovely!  

We had a beautiful fall day with highs in the lower 60's.  It was hard to beat!!

We may have done a little shopping in the Gangnam section of Seoul.  Think Rodeo Drive or Michigan Avenue.  We loved this department store.  The exterior was covered in large 'scales'.

My original plan was to get a video of me dancing 'Gangnam style' so I could embarrass my kids.  But this was at a very busy intersection, and I lost my nerve.  Kids, you can thank me now.  :)  Day two ended with dinner at PF Chang's.  I must confess.  I felt like I was cheating on Korea by eating there!  But Salt and Pepper Prawns trumps kimchi any day!

DAY 3

We spent this day just doing a lot of walking around the city.  Starting with City Hall.  I got this picture from the Internet.  I wasn't far enough to get the whole thing.  This has got to be the coolest City Hall ever!

My picture is actually a little better with the fall colors!  :)

They were setting up for some sort of harvest or flower festival when we visited.  TONS of flowers in  several exhibits.

This was the interior, with walls of real plants.

Bronze statue of Admiral Yi SunShin.  

He was successful in the late 1500's with these unique ships.

This is Korea's favorite king.  I don't have his name.  The name of this square, however, is Gwanghwamun Square.

So, right in this square is a small photo studio.  For $4, we got to dress up in royal garments.  Well, I never pass up the chance for an interesting photo!!  :)

This young man was dressed in the royal garments of the king.  Allison asked to take his picture.

 This pose was actually Allison's suggestion.  The 'king' liked it so well that he asked Allison to take one with his camera.  :)

We walked along the River Walk.  It started out like this.

Other parts looked more 'natural'.  This was a beautiful and very clean path.  There was even piped-in music at certain parts.

I have never seen such beauty under a bridge!

We didn't walk the whole path.  At one point, we went backup to street level and were at this market. I believe it was the Dongdaemun market, a large area with many wholesale shops.  There was a whole block of sewing machine stores.  We saw lots of fabric, rubber bands (you would not believe the huge bins of huge rubber bands), paper, office supplies, etc.

Now this is something I have never seen before-- fur wholesalers!!  These were not actual fur coats, but rather fur accessories.  We also saw fur trim and fur collars, ready to be sewn onto a coat or jacket.

We then turned into a large indoor area.  There were aisles of food for sale.  That whole place reminded me of the souk in Muscat, Oman.  This stall sold all kinds of kimchi.

Crabs, anyone?

After the markets, we went to Seoul Tower.  Actually you take a cable car to the top of this mountain.

We just walked around the top of mountain and had a delicious Italian lunch there.  We didn't even go up to the top of the tower, but one can.  There are more restaurants at the top.

We saw great views of Seoul and were good with that.  

This was a wonderful three days in Seoul!  I loved visiting this gem of a city!