Boxing Day in Seoul

On our third and final day in the city, we walked a lot. First we went to the Cheongokgung Palace, the imperial seat of the Korean royal house for much of Korea's history. It was a sprawling compound that the literature compared several times to the Forbidden City. I saw many elements of what I've read about in the forbidden city—separate palaces for each member of the royal family, an imposing throne room with a large courtyard leading up to it, a surrounding wall with four ornate gates to match the cardinal directions, and lots and lots of guardian spirit carvings—but I wanted to know more about life there. Was it as insular? Were people not often allowed to leave once they entered? I guess I will have to do more research. All of the structures had been rebuilt at some point, and signs constantly reminded us that we were seeing a piece of what the palace compound used to look like. The official story is that the Japanese burned down the complex in 1910 (I will go into more depth about how the Koreans feel about the Japanese some other time, but there's no love lost there), though I have also read that servants burned down the palace after the royal family fled. I like the latter story better, and I can definitely understand the urge to torch the workplace if you're a palace servant.

While we were at the palace, two English students approached me for a project. They wanted to ask me whether I thought segregation was still a problem in America, and whether it's a problem in Korea. At first I actually tried to give them my opinion—yes, racial segregation is a problem in my area of America, but it gets better with every generation, and I have not detected any racial diversity in Korea, so it would be hard to make a comparison—but I think they got, “Yes, it's a problem in America, Korea is better,” and walked off satisfied. High schoolers everywhere like to simplify the world, I guess. I was a little miffed. Yes, America has a uniquely horrid history of treating non-Euro ethnic groups badly, but we are the only country I've been to that acknowledges and tries to deal with the problem. Yes, you don't have racial strife if you're in a homogenous country, but you lack the diversity of ideas and culture that I find myself missing now. Oh well. I guess everyone thinks they live in the middle kingdom.

After lunch at a porridge restaurant (yes, Korean porridge rocks) we returned to the complex to visit museums. In the palace museum, we saw elaborate seals, record books, some of which were bronze or bamboo, and instruction booklets for putting on the intricate ceremonies of the Joseon royal family. The Joseon dynasty united three warring kingdoms in Korea and brought about an enlightenment in the late 14th century. They established Seoul as the Korean capital. We then went over to the Korean Folk Museum, where I managed to cram a little more information about Joseon farming life into my head. Farming is integral to Korean culture even today, and a lot of the superstitions, traditions, and festivals revolve around the harvest year. Chuseok, the second biggest Korean holiday, is a harvest festival. And, as I may have mentioned before, the produce here is out of this world. We saw a Korean water clock and wood block printing press. Moveable type appeared in Korea almost 100 years before Gutenburg.

We went to Insadong for dinner, which is a traditional Korean shopping street. Now it's mainly souvenir stands, but I had amazing jujube and cinnamon tea at an old wooden tea house and we had a nice Korean meal for dinner.

I leave this morning with mixed impressions of the city. It's even colder here than it is in Daegu, and there are so many people. I have never been in such a jam packed subway, which is saying something because I have been in a lot of subways. There were people who literally couldn't fit in the cars and had to wait on the platform for the next one. There are many more western touches here, and we enjoyed some of the comforts of home (like Indian food and coffee). Seoul is a beautiful city with a rich history, which is apparent in the old temples, statues, walls, and pagodas amidst the modern buildings. It makes me think of Rome. In the end, I'm happy to be going back to Daegu. I like diversity, but I also like not having to travel 45 minutes to get anywhere or shove people out of my way to walk down the street.


The courtyard in front of the throne hall. To get here, you have to go through three gates. The middle walkway is only for the king.











The inside of one of the living quarters. Everyone sits on the floor. Gotta love that ondol heating.















A chimney carved with symbols of longevity for the dowager empress. The king was a bit of a mama's boy.










A pleasure palace in the middle of a lake. The king and his guests would boat around for awhile, then would feast in the open air pavilion. The floor has three levels: the more important you are, the higher you sit.










A Korean water clock.