Seoul

My co-teacher took me to Seoul this Saturday and showed me around. We firstvisited Insadong, a famous Seoul neighborhood where traditional Korean foods, pottery, and artwork are sold. This was the first time since I have been in Korea that I saw large numbers of westerners in one place. Having a Korean guide certainly proved to be a benefit. She pointed out and explained things I am sure the majority of tourists missed, and took me up a non-descript stairwell to a small tea house where we enjoyed tea, a cold rice soup, and rice cookies.

We next visited Changdeokgung Palace, which is one of the oldest and most important palaces in Korea. The palace, which consists of a series of buildings and courtyards, as well as a royal garden commonly referred to as the "Secret Garden" was both impressive and historically interesting. While most of the buildings are four to six hundred years old, kings of the Joseon Dynasty continued living there into the 1920's (even though the Japanese began their occupation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910). The last royal residents were still using some of the palace grounds in the 1980's.

After seeing the palace, we ate a lunch of various Korean foods then headed to Seoul's tallest building, the 63 Building, which is apparently a popular tourist sight in the city. Here, we saw the aquarium (which my father would have loved), then went to the top floor where there is an observation deck/ art gallery. On display was a collection of Hello Kitty artwork which I will not even try to explain. After a quick electric violin concert we took the elevator back down and headed on our way.

Needless to say, the day was pretty full and this post probably does not do my experiences or the city of Seoul any justice. But thats kind of the point. My overall impression of Seoul is that it is a spread out, diverse city that has a lot to offer if you know where to look. Some cities in the world can be seen and understood in a couple of days. Seoul is different. I strongly believe that I will have to spend more time there before I can begin to talk intelligibly about my impression of the Korean capital.

Note: I am having some computer issues and this post may need to be slightly edited in the next 24 hours.