you might say i'm obsessed...

this is not the first post i've written about tombs in seoul...and it probably won't be the last...as one korean friend (a classmate from primary school!) noted recently, i've probably seen more tombs than most koreans...when i tell koreans which tombs i've seen, they're usually quite surprised, if they even know what i'm talking about...i love the tomb areas because they're peaceful, and i can learn a bit of history...

there is a map of all the tombs in one of the brochures i got at an earlier tomb, and until i saw that map, i had no idea how many tombs there are in seoul and around...TONS!!...something like 42 different tombs, when each complex is added up...i've had fun crossing them off as i get to each one...(yes, i know, i'm a geek)...some of them are closed to the public, so i'll never get to all of them...

anywho, this sunday i again had the best of intentions in terms of what time i wanted to leave my apartment...buuuuut, again, that didn't happen...what is it that makes it so hard for me to get out before noon? i'm awake long before then, and ready to go long before then, but it still doesn't happen...

this time i picked two tomb areas, both in seoul...at least, that's what i thought...i thought they looked to be relatively close to each other...not surprisingly, i was wrong...oops...i forgot that the subway lines definitely don't go straight, and that buses don't usually come as regularly as subway trains...

my first complex had two tombs...to get there i was supposed to get to a certain exit of a certain subway station, then look for three different buses...but when i got to that exit, none of those buses came to that stop...at all...argh...you'd think the information would be correct, but i have now been to at least three tombs where the bus numbers have been incorrect...is it really that hard? anywho, i started my korean reading again (slow as, but hey, i'm trying) and figured out a bus that would take me where i wanted to go...the bus ride was longer than i expected, and into an area of the city that isn't so commercial...fortunately, the route map and the announcements matched up, as well as the signs on the street, so it was easy to figure out where/when to get off the bus...then all i had to do was follow the street signs to get to the actual complex...thankfully there was a bridge to cross the street, as it was a highway...a few hundred meters down the road i passed the tomb keepers house (not in the actual complex itself, unlike other tomb keepers houses i've seen)...i haven't yet gone into one of these houses, i'm not sure if i'm supposed to...heck, i don't even know if anyone lives in these houses, or just if someone used to...

my first tomb complex of the day was called hoeilleung...two tombs...heolleung and illeung...and i love this area...the ticket guys were nice, to start with...as i walked through the gate to illeung, i noticed a little girl and her grandmother...holding hands, walking around, the grandmother appearing to teach the little girl...(at least, that's what it looked like to me)...it was just cute...on the right  side of the hill i saw a staircase...yahoooo!!! it was obvious that you're supposed to walk up those stairs to get close to the tomb area up at the top of the hill...this was the first time i'd seen such stairs, normally it doesn't seem like you're supposed to go anywhere near the top of the hill, nowhere near the actual tomb itself...at the top of the staircase is a wider, boardwalk sort of area...again, it's obvious you're supposed to stay there and look at the tomb...i was happy to be close enough to the tomb that my camera could zoom and get a good photo of the soldiers and ministers and animals in front of the tomb...the wall around the tomb is obviously in great shape...the trees behind the tomb were actually a bit behind the tomb, not right up on the wall...seeing that made me happy, as i realized i could get a photo from behind the tomb, which is a viewpoint i like just as much as right in front of the tomb...there was no obvious exit from the viewing platform on which i was standing, but i knew i could step over the little ropes...hee hee...

as i turned around to get closer to the ropes and go over them, i heard a little voice...it was the little girl, offering me a cracker!! how cute is that?!?! i knew the grandmother had told her to do so, but the fact that she did was really impressive...she wasn't afraid of me!! kids cry or turn away from me all the time, partly because i'm big, and partly because i look different from anything i know...anywho, i was happy to take a cracker...in my really broken korean, i asked her if she liked crackers, and she said she did...i was pretty excited that she understood me, and didn't just look at me like i was a freak...(come to think of it, kids often understand me, even though i know i'm not using proper grammar, it's the adults who don't have a clue)...the grandmother wanted to take a picture of the two of us together, and i was happy to do so...of course i asked her to take one with my camera as well...obviously, she isn't exactly smiling, but she is making that V symbol so many asians make in pictures...i wonder what that's all about...when the teachers at school tell the kids to make that symbol, they say "vwee"...(the korean language doesn't actually have a V sound, they only have a B sound)...after the photos she offered me another cracker (of her own volition this time i think:) then she and grandma said goodbye and started walking back down the stairs...

i let them get halfway down before stepping over the ropes...hee hee...i could tell i wasn't the first to do so, the grass was matted down, and i could see a few footprints...i stayed in the trees, and walked behind the tomb...some of the trees had even been cut down, it didn't feel nearly as foresty...the place i ended up standing to take my photo was actually the remaining stump:)...the view from the stump was perfect...i could see everything, and it was high enough up that the different parts of the tomb didn't block each other out in the photo...(i can't believe i thought about that, and actually wrote it!)...i couldn't figure out if it was "forbidden" to be back there, but i didn't want to push it...by the time i got back down to the viewing platform area there were a bunch of young guys (i'm thinking upper high school age?) there, who all gave me a funny look...which i pretended to ignore...i don't know if the funny look was because i was clearly not inside the 'boundaries' or because i am a foreigner and i was at a place you don't see a lot of foreigners...i should mention that i've never seen another foreigner - white person, that is - at any of the tombs i've visited, except for when i was with cory)...i calmly walked back over the rope, and down the stairs...

illeung is the tomb of two people...i think it's the first time i've seen two people buried in the same mound...king sunjo and queen sunwon...sunjo ascended to the throne when he was only 11, his grandmother ruled "behind the veil"...he took over direct rule when he was 14...i wouldn't think that old enough to rule a country, but who am i to say...he died in 1834 at the ripe old age of 44 or so...(i could be totally wrong on this)...this tomb was originally in the town of paju, northwest of seoul...it was moved in 1856, and the queen was buried in 1857...
a side note: the soldiers and ministers in front of illeung all look different because they were created by different artists...
while going from illeung to hoelleung, i walked through a wooded area, full of alder trees...apparently the city thinks they're so beautiful that the area was designated an ecological reserve by the city...
hoellung is a double mounded tomb...buried there are king taejong, and queen wongyeong...he was the 5th son of king taejo...he got to be king because he fought with his brothers...while king, he made royal authority stronger by getting rid of privately organized militias, and making ministers report directly to him...(to whom were they reporting before?)...he also moved the capital of the country from gaegyong (i don't know where this is) to hanyang (which is now called seoul)...
there was another set of stairs, this time on the left side...at the top, there was a gate, which was open!! AND, there was a guide sort of guy in the tomb area, talking to three people...i was thrilled to see this, it was obvious i could go in the area and look around...i could get really close to the animals, the people, the tombs themselves...woo hoo!!! i was actually able to walk down the hill back to the red pointed gate, i didn't have to go down the stairs!! i didn't do that, but i saw a korean family doing so...the building that normally has the stele of the person in the tomb had turtle thingies...the door was open, i could walk in there as well...yahoooooo!!

i took a different bus back to the subway station, rode the trains to a different stop, and took another bus...when i started the day i thought the two areas i wanted to visit were somewhat close to each other, this is when i found out they weren't at all close...the bus ride was a LOT longer than i thought...and the announcement for the stop i was expecting wasn't the name that i expected...again, thank goodness for reading street signs...
my second tomb area is called donggureung...as far as tomb complexes go, it's one of the biggest, if not the biggest...9 tombs total...
as i walked toward the entrance, i passed the kids played by the ginormous ice tower...i thought the kids were cute and all, but i was more fascinated by the huge block of ice...i couldn't figure out how it got there, in that particular shape...maybe there is something under the ice that i can't see?
the entry price for donggureung is the same as every other tomb complex, even though this complex is so much bigger...in total there are 17 kings and queens of the joseon dynasty buried here...the tomb complex was built after king taejo died, and was originally called dongoreung, then dongchilleung...when i walked in, i took a picture of the map of the area because there are so many tombs and i wanted to make sure i saw all of them, even though i knew they'd all look generally the same...i am SUCH the geek...i also wanted to make sure i didn't get lost...(i'm always terrified of being lost, even though it doesn't happen easily in the city)...i decided to start on one side, and make my way to the other, which ended up being a really convenient route...
i went first to sungneung, the tomb of king hyeongjong...and his wife, queen myeongseong...according to the brochure, he's the only joseon dynasty ruler not born in korea...he was born while his dad was being held hostage by the manchus in china, as they were invading korea...he made the military stronger, and cleaned up the financial system of korea, which had been screwed up by fighting wars with both china and japan...

the next tomb was hyereung, the burial place of queen danui...she wasn't a queen when she died, she was only crown princess...her husband, king gyeongjong (the 20th monarch of the joseon dynasty) didn't sit on the throne until 1720, she died in 1718...i couldn't tell when she "received" her posthumous title...was it while he was king?
my third tomb in this visit is called gyeongneung...the only triple mounded tomb in all of the joseon dynasty...i was keen to see this one, just cause it's a little different from the others...but as it turned out, i wasn't actually able to see all three mounds from any one vantage point...gutted...i could see each of the side mounds, but not the one in the middle...and there was a very clear set of fences along the bottom of the hill, so it was obvious i couldn't walk up anywhere to get a better view...i tried to see the hill behind, to see if there was a vantage point for a photo, but i saw nothing...argh...anywho...king heongjong succeeded his grandfather to the throne at the wise old age of 8...his grandmother ruled from 'behind the veil' until he was 15...in one of the mounds is his first queen, queen hyohyeon, who died after only 6 years of being queen...the next year he married queen hyojeong, who lived 50 years past her husband...she's the other mound...the tomb was actually created as a tomb for queen hyohyeon in 1843, and her husband was added in 1849...then queen hyojeong was buried there 50 years later...i wonder who decided to bury her there? as a ruler, king heonjong built damns in each province, and published a few books...believe me when i say none of the titles sound very interesting...

the next tomb in the complex was called wolleung...the tomb of king yeongjo (21st monarch of the dynasty) and his second wife, queen jeongsun...he lived a looooong time, and was the longest ruling joseon king...according to the literature, he was fair, and treated all of his subjects well...(i'm pretty sure that even if the truth were the opposite, that's what would be written...in any case, negative things would never be written)...he wasn't the direct heir to the throne, at least that's what i understand...he was the 4th son of his father, and only came to the throne after the death of his half brother, king gyeongjong...considering how many kings died young, it's a good thing there were multiple wives and kids!!

his second wife (queen jeongsun) on the other hand, i would call a modern day gold digger...she was only 15 when she married the king after his first wife died...taking a second wife wasn't at all unusual, in fact i'm sure it was expected...but she was 15 and he was 66!! she only lived to be 60 years old!!...a 50 year age difference is ridiculous, in any society...(maybe that's just me, but i thought i'd put it out there)...not only did she marry the "old" king when she was so young, she was a majour influence in having his heir, crown prince sado killed...(crown prince sado was killed by being locked in a chest full of rice, how awful is that? the chest - or a likeness - is on display at changyeonggung, one of the palaces in seoul)...the next king was king sungjo, who ascended the throne at a young age, so she got to be dowager queen...apparently, she had "excessive" influence...it sounds like modern day historians (well, at least the people who write these brochures) didn't like her much either!

from there i walked to the tomb of queen jangnyeol... i think the pronunciation would be jang-nyeol...she was the second wife of king injo, the 16th king in the dynasty...of the jo family, she married the king in 1638, and became queen immediately...the brochure said she was "chosen" to be queen...who did the choosing, and how did they do so? i'm sure there were a number of families from which "acceptable" daughters could be chosen, i'm curious about the selection process...presumably, that sort of information isn't easily found for foreigners like me, who aren't real historians...i wouldn't know where to look, or who to ask, even if i did read/speak korean at an acceptable level...anywho...the brochure also says she was installed as queen...i wonder what the queen installation ceremony was like? obviously there wasn't nearly as much pomp and circumstance as there would be for a new king, but was there any? were there special costumes to be worn? were there a lot of people involved? she didn't have any kids with the king, which must have been rough...in those days, a measure of a woman's success in life (particularly a queen's success) would've been in producing an heir to the throne...even now, when the korean birth rate is one of the lowest in the whole world (barely over 1) it's still important to have a child...she became dowager queen at age 26 (can you imagine me having already been queen for 6 years?!?!) and lived through four more kings...it must've been a somewhat lonely life, as not many people lived that long back then...it doesn't mention whether she attempted to have any influence in the politics of the dynasty after her husband died...

the next tomb on the course was that of king taejo...he's pretty important...REALLY IMPORTANT...he founded the joseon dynasty...he was a general in the previous dynasty, the goryeo dynasty...he founded the new state in what is now kaesong, north korea in 1392...two years later, he relocated to what is now seoul...when he first founded the new dynasty, i don't know what the name was, he didn't give it the joseon name until 1394...he tried to get along with china, and encouraged agriculture...apparently the golden rule lessons didn't click with his sons, as they fought quite a bit...they fought so much he stepped down from the throne in 1398...he returned to his hometown, devoted himself to buddhism, and died in 1408...the grass on top of his tomb is said to come from his hometown, which apparently he missed very much when he wasn't there...pampas grass...it's the only joseon tomb to have such a covering...there are fences at the bottom of the hill to his tomb, so i couldn't get up close for a good photo...my zoom worked well enough, i suppose...when i first walked to this tomb i thought it hadn't been well taken care of, and just looked sloppy...at first i didn't know it was a special type of grass on top of the mound!

since i was being rushed out of donggureung by that point, i rushed through the last couple tomb areas...the first was hyeolleung, the tombs of king munjong and queen hyeondeok...two tombs, on two separate hills, with only one gate and one shrine...i liked the way it is set up...king munjong was crown prince for 29 years before sitting on the throne...during those years he focused on his academics (i guess the korean tradition of education started a looooooooong time ago:) and learned about politics...go figure, after all that studying, he only got to be king for a couple years, before dying of poor health...his queen definitely didn't start out that way...she entered the court as a court lady, then became a royal concubine...she married the crown prince, gave birth to an heir, and died a couple days later...she was posthumously given the title of queen when her husband was crowned...
from there i skimmed by sureung...the tomb of king munjo and queen sinjeong...they're buried in the same mound...i still wonder who decides this stuff...according to the brochure, he was never actually king, though he acted as regent? i don't think i understand what that means...the brochure says he surrounded himself with men of talent and sought to exercise politics for the good of the people...he died at only 22...he received his king title when his son was crowned, and later promoted to emperor...i guess there is life after death...queen sinjeong received the title of queen dowager at the same time as her dead husband got his king title...only she was still alive...she was involved in the politics of the dynasty until her death at age 83...

the only tombs i didn't see were in a set of three...not a triple mounder, as i tried to see earlier, but three hills with one gate, one shrine...called mongguneung...i think...as i was taking pictures of king taejo's tomb, i could tell that it was getting close to closing time, and the employee who came out of the woods at that point told me so as well...he wanted to chat too, which was fun...we talked about where i'm from, how old i am (he said 28!!:) and where he's been in the states...he said i should come back to donggureung in the future, and bring a friend...i laughed...as the conversation was ending, he asked when i was coming back...i guess he meant it...hee hee...even though i missed one set of tombs, i'm not likely to go back...there are enough other tombs and other stuff in seoul i still haven't seen...

another tomb and temple day

 another day of attempting to see the tombs and temples of seoul, and not having everything work out the way i want it to...fortunately, there are so many different places to go that this isn't an issue...for this day, i'd figured out stuff to see in the northwest area of seoul...actually, i think all of these are technically out of seoul boundaries, but i don't know for sure...
i first wanted to see a set of tombs called seosamneung...three tombs all with different names...(so how did the three tombs end up with the other name to describe them? does the name seosamneung mean something in korean?)...huireung, hyoreung, and yereung are the names of the tombs in this complex...i rode the subway out to samsong (which sounds really similar to samseong, another subway stop on the other side of seoul) then waited for a little while for a yellow bus (i'd never ridden a yellow bus before)...the bus came to the subway stop, i got on, the bus driver turned the bus off, and got off for a break...i took out my book and started reading, knowing that he'd eventually get back on...and he did...i don't know how long i read, but that didn't really matter...i thought the bus ride would be 15 minutes, but it was more like 5...again, thank goodness for being able to read and understand the basic bus announcements...i hopped off the bus, and started walking in the direction the sign pointed...it was supposed to be 600m down the road...

less than 200m later, i saw a guard shack of sorts, and a gate across the road...someone came out of the shack and said something...i don't know exactly what, but i'm guessing it was along the lines of "where are you going?"...i said the name seosamneung, and he said it was closed...gutted!! i was gutted!! making my way all the way out there to find it was closed...ugh...the web page had said one area of seosamneung was closed, but that some of the tombs were open...apparently i read that wrong, or misunderstood what had been written...argh argh argh...
fortunately, i simply waited for the bus to come back, got back to the subway station, went two stops, and got on another bus...this time i was on my way to paju samneung...the web page had listed quite a few buses that would take me where i wanted to go, but i didn't see nearly that many listed at the bus stop...i did see a couple numbers, so i read the routes, and they did seem to indicate that i'd get to where i wanted to go...i can read korean, but not quickly, so i tend to stand in front of the bus routes and read for a lot longer than any korean would...they probably get annoyed or laugh at me for taking so long to figure things out...anywho...relatively quickly a bus came along that had the right number, so i hopped on...it was a bit crowded, but i was able to stand near the front, right in front of the more detailed route...every single stop was listed...since it was on the bus, there was no "you are here" sort of arrow, which meant i had to figure out which stop was the one at which i had boarded the bus...
that took a lot longer than i'd like to admit...usually subway station stops are marked a little more brightly, or with a different colour, but that wasn't the case this time...oh well...i figured out (finally) where i'd boarded, then figured out which direction i needed to look by reading the names of a coupe stops, then went back to the route map and started reading some more...this route map had english translations, but i figured out that they weren't very helpful...sometimes the translation didn't bear much resemblance to the korean name, which was awful...i quickly realized the name i was looking for wasn't correct in english...
so i went back to my slow korean reading...and found the stop i was looking for...the bus announcements would say the upcoming stop, and the stop that would come after that...which was handy, when in combo with my reading skills...basically that gave me two warnings when my stop was coming...the web page said i should get off the bus at "gongneung"...(not to be confused with gangneung, which is where i had attempted to go the day before)...the english on the bus route said "gongdong"...the hangeul (korean) said "gongreung"...the announcement said "paju samneung"...you'd think they'd get it all together...i was glad i had read that the name of the tomb complex area was paju samneung...(again with the naming of a complex area, in addition to each tomb inside the tomb area)...i was listening really carefully, knowing that my stop was about to come up, so i was ready to get off the bus at the right time...there was a sign on the highway pointing, so i followed...it was about a 10 minute walk...absolutely nothing of note along the way...nothing...then i came to a small sign pointing to a parking lot and it mentioned that i was entering an area of the royal tombs of the joseon dynasty...another sign, in the parking lot, was similar to the UNESCO world heritage sign i'd seen previously at other tomb sights...i think they all say the same thing...
i suppose i could take a picture of one of them, but they're not very interesting...there was an information board, with a translation in english...love it!...and a picture, not that it's ever very hard to figure out where to go...the entry fee was 1000won, which is less than a dollar...there can't be many UNESCO world heritage sights that are so cheap...the lady who sold me the ticket also handed out an english information brochure...there were korean brochures sitting out, but i'm guessing they don't get a whole lot of english speakers at this particular tomb complex...anywho...i walked down the pathway, which wasn't at all sealed, it was more like a sand covered trail...i'm guessing it wouldn't be pleasant to walk along there just after majour snow or rain...
i chose first to see gongneung, the tomb of queen jangsun...one web site says she was the lawful wife of the 8th king yejong, the other says she was a consort to the king...so i don't really know...her father was han myeonghoe, who was the prime minister under king sejo...after the first son of king sejo died, and yejong ascended the throne, han myeonghoe made her crown princess...(i don't know how he got to do it, but that's what i read)...basically, he had the political power, and he wanted her in the monarchy...
she ended up dying not too long after, from complications of birthing prince inseong...she was only 17...she was only crown princess when she died, her queen title was posthumous...king sejo is said to have thought she was beautiful, and very nice and was thrilled when she was installed as crown princess...her husband died not too long after she did, he only served as king for a few years...
there was no fence blocking me from walking up the hill, so this time i opted to walk straight up the hill from behind the big building...it was a steep hill, and i didn't get that close to the tomb, but i did get to take a photo...(it's the second photo of this entry)...the whole time i stood there i was worried i'd set off another motion detector siren...and this time there was another family there at the same time...hee hee...howeva, as i came back down the hill, i noticed the father climbing up one side of the hill, so i know i'm not alone in wanting to get closer...i think if there were hoards of tourists, the korean government would make a sturdier barrier preventing people from getting too close, but for now, the CCTV cameras and such serve as a good enough deterrent to keep people from getting too close and destroying the monuments...
my next tomb was called sulleung...the tomb of queen gonghye...she was the wife of king seongjong...it's rather confusing, but i'll try to explain...she was the younger sister of queen jangsun...(needless to say, i'm sure pa was thrilled to have two daughters end up as queens!)...the tomb actually faces her sister, though i didn't figure that out until i read it...this tomb is fancier (notice the photo with the drawings of the different animals and such in front of the tomb) because she was actually queen when she died, as opposed to her sister...she was younger by about ten years...pa had a total of at least four daughters, i wonder what happened to the two oldest...
yejong died, not long after his wife...at the time, they'd already had kids, but the 15 year old was "sickly" and the 3 year old was, well, 3 years old...so the heir ended up being the son of king deokjong, king seongjong...(i had to write down a family tree in order for this to make sense to me because the description was more than a little confusing)...this was the only time in korean history when two sisters became queen...
the third tomb was the only double tomb in the complex...it's the tomb of king jinjong and his queen hyosun...jinjong was the oldest son of king yeongjo, and though he became crown prince at age 7, he died before his 15th birthday...his wife lived until she was 37, childless...(on a side note, king yeongjo killed his second son, crown prince sado, by locking him in a rice chest)...
moving on...as i was waiting for the bus to this set of tombs at the subway station, i noticed that another bus went to a temple i had wanted to see previously...so when i came back to the station, i switched buses...i asked the bus driver just in case, and listened to the announcements...when the bus got to the stop, he remembered i wanted to go there, and let me know this was the right stop...(sometimes i really love seoul bus drivers!)...
the road leading to the entrance of the temple, wasn't exactly clear...(or maybe that was just me, since i tend to overanalyze such things)...in fact, the beginning of it was blocked off, but since i could see plenty of others on the road, i figured out it was blocked off to vehicular traffic only...but walking down the street only got me to a T-intersection, and no sign telling me where to go...so i guessed...fortunately, i guessed the correct way...and that road led me to another T-intersection...howeva, at that intersection it was obvious where i needed to go...
since i tend to freak out about such things, i asked a vendor just in case...he laughed at me, and said i needed to walk about 300m farther down the road...(i asked in my ridiculously basic korean, but he understood me just fine)...as i walked, i passed plenty of people coming out of the national park (bukhansan national park) after a day of hiking...all decked out in the latest greatest hiking gear, which always makes me laugh...
the entrance gate to the temple was in the middle of the road, just like the one i'd seen the day before at hwagyesa...it's as if the gates have been built, then they stay as they are and life just continues around them...i'm guessing there is some sort of templestay program here as well, because i could see buildings that clearly weren't part of the temple itself, but were still part of the temple complex, if that makes any sense at all...there were also information/direction signs that were stowed away but could easily be put out when needed...
according to the web site, jingwansa (jin-gwan-sa) is one of four majour temples around seoul...i have neither seen nor heard of the others, and i hadn't heard of this one until i looked up temples to see in seoul...but that doesn't mean anything, since i'm a foreigner...
jingwansa has been around for a long time...at least, the idea of it has...it was originally dedicated to jingwan in 1010, during the goryeo dynasty...(that dynasty was before the joseon dynasty, for you folks not up to date on your korean history)...during the reign of sejong (the big mighty korean king who also invented the korean alphabet...sejong is definitely regarded as one of the greatest ever korean kings...i always wonder what he actually did himself, and what was created by his underlings and he was then given credit for) a library was created for confucian scholars...he wanted the scholars to visit from all over the country/world...since the internet was obviously not in operation back then, i wonder how information was transferred over great distances...how did priests and scholars know of libraries such as this one? how did they figure out how to get to different places? how long did they stay? what was the typical daily schedule of a visiting priest/scholar at the library? were there opening hours? where did they stay?
the temple complex is officially made up of a whole bunch of buildings...i could type all their names, but that would take a while...these names don't easily roll off my tongue, which means i'd be flipping back and forth between web pages, and that's just a paid...plus, if you're reading this, you probably don't care about the specific names of each of the buildings in the temple area...most of the buildings have shrines to buddha, and there is one that is designated as the main temple hall...it wasn't that much bigger than the others, and it was closed...at least, that's the way it seemed...and i didn't hear any chanting from inside this time...
over in one corner, i found three smaller buildings, each appeared to be only big enough for one person to "worship" at a time...they still had the shrines and all, but were quite small...as i walked by one of them, a guy inside answered his cell phone!! if you're in a temple, worshipping, aren't you supposed to turn that thing off? strange...anywho...the smallest building was ridiculously tiny...almost the size of a backyard storage shed...i think it was built to honour someone referred to as the "hermit sage"...i guess it makes sense that it was small, and gave the feeling of isolation...i guess a hermit is pretty isolated...there are signs in this back corner that describe each of the buildings, down to the little details that are supposed to make them different and unique, but this small building was the only one that really sounded like anything unusual to me...the descriptions talked about different elements of the buddha paintings and statues, but since i'm not buddhist, nor have i ever really studied such things, the details don't much matter to me...

walking around the temple area was nice...all the buildings were around a central open space, which is probably used for big ceremonies...(every temple in seoul has a day when official ceremonies take place, i've never seen one of the ceremonies, but i've seen plenty of photos...since the ceremonies are not in english, i don't know if i'd get anything out of them, even if i did know when they take place...
as i was getting ready to leave, i notice a nun getting ready to ring the big bell...i'd never seen that before...each temple i've visited has had a huge bell, with the big thing that rings it, but i didn't think the bells were actually used...i guess they are after all!! it's a deep, loud, simple sound that goes on for a while...i heard her hit/ring the bell three times...if i remember correctly, it was about 6pm (1800) so maybe she was indicating dinner, or meditation time...i wasn't the only one who stood still while she rang the bell, everyone else i could see stopped moving as well...how many times a day does that bell get rung? and is it always the same person who rings it?

as i walked back out of the temple area of jingwansa, and back down the road past the temple gate, i noticed a couple signs saying bongeunsa...both in hangeul and english...i could see the symbol for temple as well...(the symbol for temple is often confused as the nazi swastika...the temple symbol has been around for a LOT longer)...the signs said it was only 300m down an unsealed road, so i followed...i went up and down a set of small hills, and found the temple...which was in a state of total disarray...(sp?)...i could see an outdoor shrine to buddha (with his favourite tiger keeping him company, and a bunch of candles) and another of those turtle-y things i've mentioned in an earlier post...plus, what looked to be a temple, or at least an old building that had once been a temple...it was in bad shape, and there were things piled up on a back porch of sorts...it looked like a building that had once been something, but wasn't used for it's original purpose anymore...i found the sliding doors on the side, and when i pushed, they opened...a shrine was still in there, and it looked like the inside of any other temple i've seen in korea...it smelled like paint thinner though...or cleaning agents...in one corner was a bell with a big hammer...in another corner was a small case of small buddhas...totally quiet of course...i loved it, and sat for a little while...there was a house near this, but that seemed totally empty as well, so i don't know if it was lived in, or not...or even if it was a house...the whole area felt abandoned, even though some of the candles in the outdoor buddha shrine were lit...hmmm, a temple mystery!!

as i walked back down the road to get back to the bus stop, i looked slightly up, and saw some tombs (the lumps are easy to spot) as well as a turtle-y thing...to most people that wouldn't mean anything...but i also noticed that there was no fence stopping me from getting close...woo hoo!! it didn't really seem to be an actual sight, but that sort of thing never stops me...i climbed up, and whaddya know, there was a handy dandy sign there to tell me exactly what i was seeing...yay!! it was a sight after all, just not mentioned in any guidebook, or on the web at all...the sign said it was the graveyard of prince yeongsan...he's buried there with both of his wives, lady sim and lady jeong...(were they married at the same time?)...it doesn't say whether the wives knew each other, or how long they were each married, or who was first, second, etc...previous signs i've seen have said how old people were when they died, and how many heirs they had (or didn't have,) but this one didn't mention such things...
the original tombstone of the prince is missing, but i think the other tombstones in the graveyard are original...the prince was the 13th son (did his father really have 13 sons? or is it meant to say 13th child? cause even with several wives, that's a lot of kids!!) of his father...
this prince and one of his brothers were in involved in political intrigue, not surprisingly...they supported a palace coup to overthrow one of their brothers (i think that's who it was) and install king jungjong on the throne...but later, a palace servant confessed to the king (jungjong i think?) that another coup was being planned, (to put yeongsan himself on the throne) at which time yeongsan was sent into exile...all the way to hwanghae-do, which is now in north korea...i guess they figured that was far enough away that he couldn't do anything more...so how did he end up buried here? he was granted a pardon by the very king he planned to overthrow...
i loved this tomb area just because i was able to get up close and personal to the different tombs, and the different markers...awesome...i wonder why there isn't a listing for the tomb anywhere, though there is a proper informational sign there, which means someone knows about it!
from the tombs, i went home, bought strawberries, baby spinach and feta cheese, and had a lovely salad for dinner...exciting end to a day of wandering and exploring:)

the end of march/beginning of april

it's funny how your mood can change when a kid who normally drives you crazy is really good for a class or two...toward the end of last week, and the first part of this week, the kid i've mentioned earlier has behaved much better...he's still not good, nor will he ever be, but he's been a whole lot better...
it's hard to believe it's already april, which means i've been teaching again for over a month...time flies here..my opinions of different classes and different students have changed numerous times during that month..
last friday we had the monthly birthday party..every kid in the school who has a birthday in april (all 5 of them) got a bit of attention..you could tell some kids really DON"T like being the center of attention, while others absolutely love it..it's funny..i don't have much to do on birthday party days, so i use the time to catch up on paperwork, and do other class prep work..lunches on birthday party days aren't all that great..kimbap (lots of varieties,) and strawberries, cap cay, and a few other items...and cake of course..the cake always looks good, but the taste is never as good as the aesthetic appeal..argh..
the weekend was great..to start with, the weather was awesome..well, it was sunny anywho, and we haven't had much of that lately..still pretty chilly (most everyone thinks it should be a whole lot warmer by now) but definitely sunny, and that makes all the difference in the world..saturday morning i went to touch rugby practice, and contact rugby practice..i'm getting better at touch in a number of ways..better at defending, better at seeing the places i can run, and getting a little faster..(though when i quick guy is chasing me, it doesn't really matter..and i still have no real skill at changing direction)..there were more girls out for touch, which was nice to see..for touch we don't really do drills, it's just a couple hours of game play..love it..that's the best way to learn, even if i'm not always sure of what i should do..contact practice was good too..22 girls came out, which is a good crowd..hopefully they all continue to come out, as many are completely new to the sport..the bigger our numbers, the more fun everyone has..we did some drills, some specific game situations, and more..one poor girl got whacked in the face with a ball, and everyone saw/heard it..you could hear all of us breath in, it was that sort of silent shock..she recovered well though, and hopefully didn't end up with a bruise..all of us are keen to tackle and go full on contact, which should happen soon..coach said we'll be splitting into backs and forwards next week, which means more running for me..i think that's good?
after practice i headed north in the city heading to a buddhist temple, called jogyesa..(sa means temple, so it's jogye temple)..before entering the temple area, i saw a statue of min yeong-hwan..he was also known by his pen name of gyejeong..he was a patriot during the early years of the japanese colonial period, in the early 20th century..he was a member of several underground organizations all geared toward throwing off the powerful japanese, and after his death was decorated with several high honors..(none of which can i remember the names)..

according to the literature, jogyesa is the head temple of the jogye order of buddhism, which is apparently pretty popular in korea..there are thousands of temples that are part of this order throughout the country..unlike other temples, this wasn't such a large complex..just a main temple with three large gold buddhas inside..a 7 leveled stupa in the courtyard..i don't remember what it's for..a drum tower of sorts, and a couple other buildings i didn't know..an information center for foreigners, which was really good for once..LOTS of pamphlets, and people who speak good english, and plenty of smiling..YAY!! i want to do a temple stay while i'm here, and one of the pamphlets i picked up listed a number of temples where it's possible to do that..hopefully it works out at some point..i'd like to see how things are different compared to the mediation retreat i did in thailand..i wandered into the main temple (taking off my shoes outside and going in through the side door, as the front door is only for the monks) and meditated for half an hour..there were lots of people in there, and a monk chanting the whole time..unlike in thailand where the monks are always chanting in pali (the language of the buddha) the monks here chant in korean..and they use a pa system, which i didn't really like..it wasn't nearly as peaceful..but still, half an hour of meditation left me feeling relaxed..
from jogyesa i walked to jongmyo, which is a royal shrine..before entering the area, i saw a statue, which of course made me wonder..the sign told me it was there to honor lee, sang-jae, who was also known by his pen name of wolnam..he is called a patriot, and lived during the time of japanese colonization, during the first half of the 20th century..he died as a martyr, for his work in promoting korean independence..
jongmyo is where most of the kings (and queens? i don't know) from the joseon dynasty are enshrined..according to the main plaque at the beginning, jongmyo is the supreme shrine of the state where the tablets of the royal ancestors are enshrined and memorial services are performed for deceased kings and queens..it was built (the whole thing was founded with just 7 spirit chambers in 1395) four years after the dynasty was founded, even before the first main palace (gyeongbukgong) of seoul was built..(though the location of the palace had been designated)..according to confucian philosophy, the shrine was built on the east side of the royal palace...building started just after seoul (hanyang back then) was designated as the capital of the new dynasty..(is it me, or is it crazy to designate the location of the new capital, then the location of the palace, then the location of the shrine, but start with the building of the shrine before anything else?)...
in one of the first buildings you see when you walk into the area, there is also a tiny shrine to a king from the guryeo dynasty there, and the plaque says it's unknown why it's there..king gongmin and his wife (who was a princess from mongolia, are known for leading the independence of the guryeo dynasty from the yuan in china..in these buildings and it's courtyard are a couple exhibits of things used during those times for visits to the shrine..the rooms which now hold the exhibits were originally storage rooms for all the stuff needed for an official visit to the shrine..incense, paper and other offerings..there is a little pavilion near these rooms, which was originally used by the kings for rests while they were visiting the shrine..apparently the visits were pretty long, if rests were needed!! i wonder what an official visit entailed??
after the resting area, a tourist comes to a set of three buildings, called jaegung..these buildings are where the king and crown prince made their preparations for an official visit..(why did they need a separate building for resting when they already had a building in which to prepare themselves for the visit?)..one building for the king, one building for the prince, and one building as a bath house..before an official visit, the king and crown prince stayed in jaegung in order to purify their minds and bodies..
i should mention that the path in between all these sets of buildings is trifurcated..i took that word from the plaque..it means the path is three fold..the middle was only for the king, and the sides for the prince/queen..
after the kings and queens died, a three year period of mouring started at the palaces..after the mourning period was over, the memorial tablets were moved to the shrine..there are two shrine halls..the first is jeongjeon, the main hall..there are 19 spirit chambers, which house a total of 49 tablets..jeongjeon is for the kings who did something outstanding or particularly virtuous..

the secondary shrine hall is yeongnyoengjeon, where there are 16 spirit chambers and 34 tablets..in yeongnyoengjeon are the tablets of king taejo's ancestors, going back 4 generations...apparently some of them were designated king after they died..i have no idea why..there were two kings deposed from the throne during the dynasty, and their tablets are not kept in jongmyo..the plaque didn't say where those tablets are kept, or whether they're kept at all for that matter...
jongmyo shrine was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1995..
after leaving the shrine, i walked through a small park area filled with men playing traditional games..no women to be seen, they were all probably at home..i watched for a little while; one of the games i understood, one of them not so much..none of the men i watched even noticed i was there, they were all focused on their games and looked down the entire time..
by the time i got home saturday evening, i was exhausted, and my feet were TIRED..
the next morning i got up and went to church..i actually like going to an early service most of the time..since it was easter, there were actually quite a few people at the service..after the service was a potluck, yay!! a nice chance to talk to people, which i don't normally get to do..
after church i went to the seoul museum of art..it was the last day of an exhibition of work by andy warhol..he was a pop artist who died not too long ago..he's best known for his portraits of people well known in pop culture, though he did other work as well..people also know of his work with ordinary objects, like campbell's soup cans..

most of his portraits used colours that wouldn't seem normal, and he often did the same portrait on more than one colour..there were a lot of very bright colours throughout the exhibition..what i didn't know until i went to the exhibit was his work with stuff related to death..i didn't particularly enjoy that part of the exhibit..i don't enjoy thinking about death, and even less enjoy seeing art that is in any way related to death..there were a lot of people at the exhibit, and the area in which they were selling souvenirs was packed..i thought the line was long when i first got there, but when i walked out of the museum, it was a whole lot longer..i wonder how many of the pop culture portraits koreans recognized before reading the names..and after reading the names, did they know who they were?
i don't think i'd ever spent any time in the area around the art museum, so i wandered around for a while after leaving the exhibit..i even found the zero spot marker..i don't know if that's the proper name, (it's probably not) but it's the spot from which all distances to/from seoul are measured..at one point it was probably the middle of the city, but i doubt it is now..
after arriving home, i grabbed a book and made my way to a nearby coffee bean..it's my favourite coffee chain in the country..unfortunately, it's also one of the most expensive..they have the best chai latte ever..and they have an amazing snack called chocolate mousse cake..sooooooo good...so good it's worth 18 weight watchers points!! i love it, even though i shouldn't..hee hee..it was nice to relax there for a little while..it was my first visit to a coffee bean since returning to seoul, i'm amazed that i held out that long!! after coffee bean i went grocery shopping, cleaned up my flat, and eventually went to bed..