i really miss this...a LOT

racing for fun...all the time!!

i miss running in korea...not that i went for any regular training runs, in fact i was quite the opposite...my friends teased me that i'm the only person they know who shows up to run a marathon with almost no training...as in, i've run 5-10 miles once or twice before a 26.2 mile race...and the majour factor in my decision to run the race is weather...if it's raining, i'm out...anything else, i'm good to go...i miss being able to run a race nearly every weekend of the year...living in a city of 20 million people has ups and downs, and being able to run all these races is definitely an up...

half a day in seoul

the next morning we took a bus to the train station…it’s a new station, having been built in the past few years…hana and mom both thought it looked so nice they took pictures…lol…it would be a whole lot more convenient if it were located closer to town, but when building the tracks for the train, that would’ve been ridiculous…it wasn’t a long bus ride anywho…we got to the station faster than hana and I had expected, so we took an earlier train…2 hours later, we were in seoul…a bit over an hour after that, we were back in our hotel…the same one we’d stayed in earlier…at this point, hana asked mom and I if we’d mind changing hotels the next time we stayed in seoul…the 20 minute walk from the subway station was getting to her…

After a quick planning session, we got back on the subway, and rode first to COEX, as all three of us needed something from an office supply store…across the street from COEX is bongeunsa…a Buddhist temple…probably the second most touristed temple in seoul, but I think it’s worth it…as buddha’s birthday was coming up, there were preparations at this temple as well…it’s a big temple, so there were crazy numbers of lanterns…EVERYWHERE…plus, each year bongeunsa puts together an exhibition of traditional lanterns…last year, the exhibition was in one of the temple halls, and the lanterns were lit up…this time they were placed all over the temple grounds, and I’m guessing they were lit up at night…I liked seeing them, and I think hana and mom enjoyed them as well…hana and I also sat for a little while in front of the big Buddha statue (it’s the tallest in some area, according to the brochure)…mom took our photo, of course, and later told us we looked very peaceful…hmmm…

From there we got back on the subway, and rode to my neighborhood…it was nice to point out to mom and hana the building in which I lived…we had dinner at a galbi restaurant, one of my favourites…I was rather amused (as usual) watching the two of them use chopsticks to put their meal together…after finishing eating, we were all knackered, but I wanted to show hana (in particular) a store where I knew she could find the kitchy Korean stationery she’d been keen to see…we ended up spending way too much time in the store…it’s one of those stores full of stuff you don’t need, but it highly entertaining anywho…all sorts of frog stuff, a large display of stationery, hair stuff, etc…fun…then the long train ride back to the hotel…

The next day we flew to hong kong… 

together again!!

Mom and hana arrived early the morning after I came back to Korea…I spent my day at Lindsey’s flat, killing time before going back to the airport to spend the night…mom and hana’s flight was scheduled to arrive at 0500, public transport doesn’t run that early…both flights to Korea on which I’ve arrived have come in early, so I knew there was a good chance that would happen again…and it did…their flight landed 50 minutes early, so they were completely through customs and immigration just before 0500…which meant we got to sit down on the benches and wait for the trains to start running…

Hana brought me presents!! A set of stationery cards, and a box of thin mints…I could talk for days about the awesomeness of girl scout cookies, particularly thin mints and samoas…yum…even so, I didn’t open them up straightaway, I didn’t want to waste that awesomeness by eating them when I wasn’t hungry or craving the cookiesJ

After asking the an information desk to call our hotel to get directions, we hopped on the train…too bad it was overcast and foggy, mom and hana weren’t able to see much…not that Korea is stunning, but it would’ve been nice for them to see a bit more at that point…they’d flown into Korea in the dark…what seemed like ages later we got to the particular subway station, found a taxi, and gave him the little sheet of paper given to us by the information lady…he put the hotel into his GPS and away we drove…it seemed to me that we were going in a giant circle, and later I was proved right…nor surprisingly, mom and hana had no idea…lol…our hotel wouldn’t let us check in until 1400, but they did let us leave our bags for the day…so after figuring out a basic plan of attack, we started walking…why does it always seem that I walk in the wrong direction from what I want? I wanted a coffee shop, and it took us foreva to find one…as we learned later that evening, if I’d walked in the other direction, we would’ve found one almost straightaway…argh…anywho…

After lingering over coffee, the weather was still not great, so I decided to have them come with me to yongsan electronics mart…I needed to get a new camera, and wanted to do it as fast as possible…I knew what I wanted, and I had an idea of how much I should be paying for it…which made the whole process fairly easy…the first guy I talked to kept trying to up sell me, so I told him I’d keep looking…which I did by going to the guy across the aisle…he was way cheaper, and not so pushy…even though I was thinking about getting more than just a camera, (I would love a bigger tripod, that’s also light) I stuck to just the camera…I’m still thinking about that tripod…hmmm…hana and mom just watched while I went through the whole process…

By that point, everyone was hungry for real food…hana’s tummy wasn’t feeling so great, she wanted something bland…mom just wanted Korean food…so we walked until I saw a small, typical little Korean restaurant…no English to be seen…I’ve never had to pick out food for other people before, it’s not fun…at least, not for me…other people like it…all three of us were okay with our meals…from there, we went into the I’mall at yongsan station…lots of western stuff, but still entertaining for the ladies of the family…I don’t remember how long we spent in there, but I do remember all of a sudden feeling tired, and not wanting to be on my feet anymore…

Back to the hotel…the 20 minute walk from the subway station to the hotel wasn’t fun…a very early night for all of us…hana and I slept well, for at least 10 hours…lack of sleep and jet lag will do that to you

The next morning we got going later than I thought, but since everyone was still a bit tired, that wasn’t so much a bad thing…mom had shown me a list of things she thought she’d like to see in Seoul, so I picked a couple, and we started from there…she wanted to do the city bus tour, which started near one of the palaces…I suggested we see the palace, then hop on the tour…so we took the subway to one of the stations near that palace…the station is called gwanghwamun, which is the name of the giant plaza area in front of the palace…there are statues of admiral yi sun shin, (I’ve mentioned him in earlier posts…to sum it up, according to Korean history he pretty much singlehandedly turned back the Japanese in a number of battles in the 1590s when the Japanese were invading) and king sejong (he and his advisors invented the Korean alphabet used today, among other things…he’s considered to be one of the greatest Korean kings)…on one side of the plaza is the American embassy, which has to be one of the ugliest buildings I’ve ever seen…it doesn’t blend in at all…

It turns out that under the statue of king sejong, there is a basement area you can enter, and learn about him and some of his accomplishments…I wanted to get to the palace, mom and hana overruled me…so down we went…it ended up being fun…we had fun playing with the digital interpretive stuff…taking photos of ourselves, and putting hats on…mom even took a photo of hana bowing to me…which is the way life should beJ

From there we went to the palace…gyeongbukgung…I’ve written about this palace before…it was built as the main palace of the joseon dynasty…it was destroyed in 1592, by the Japanese, but later rebuilt…now it’s probably the busiest of the palaces in seoul…when I first came back to korea a year ago, they were rebuilding the front gate, so it was covered…that has since been finished, hana and mom got to see the new gate…(which I didn’t point out to them, so I doubt they noticed)…we wandered all over the palace…there are a lot of areas to explore, we didn’t spend too much time in the busier areas…at least, we tried not to…there were several school groups around, I have a feeling that happens every day…we found the area where you can put on old school traditional clothes…I chose the clothes of a commander, hana’s costume of choice was of someone below me…again, as it should beJ…it was fun, and something I hadn’t done in a loooong time…

By that point, it was past lunch time, and we were hungry…so we went to kimbap cheonguk…which translates to kimbap heaven…I picked four “flavours” and the three of us shared…I don’t think hana and mom were really all that keen about kimbap…dunkin donuts was across the street, so that was dessert…

Back on the subway, we went to coex…mom had expressed an interestest in seeing the largest underground mall in asia…it’s a mall…some useful stores, some not so much…hana and I got some jelly bellys, which I hadn’t had in ages…but mostly, we sat and watched people…it was the first chance mom and hana got to see “Korean fashion”…snarky comments ensued…

Back to the hotel, plans made for the next day, daily journal written, and sleep…

The next day we started with a visit to a coffee shop of a chain I hadn’t yet tried…(I never did get around to trying all the different chains I saw in seoul)…and from there we went to the starting point of the city bus tour…I think we just barely missed a bus, but the weather was nice, so it wasn’t much of an issue to wait for the next bus…they come every 30 minutes or so…the original plan was to ride the entire route (which is supposed to take a couple hours) to see how everything fits together, then pick a place to get off the bus and explore…after going for a little while, we decided it would be better to get off when we got to a place we wanted to see…the first place we chose was a traditional village…unfortunately, hana’s tummy didn’t want to wait that long…she got crazy motion sick, so we had to get off the bus earlier than planned…when Koreans learn to drive it seems to me that someone tells them that the break or accelerator should be depressed at all times…which means there is a lot of start and stop motion…I’m a bit used to it, but I still get sick from time to time (and I avoid taxis In korea wheneva possible) but hana isn’t…we stayed on the bus as long as possible, then we just had to get off…the tour lady didn’t seem to understand what was wrong, she asked if we would be continuing our tour later…she didn’t seem to get that we really needed to get off the bus RIGHT NOW…

Fortunately, we got off the bus near itaewon…as far as unplanned places to be, it’s not horrible…the bus recordings say it’s a must visit area for shopping, but it really isn’t…the economy of itaewon is very dependent on the US military base right next door…if yongsan wasn’t there, this area of seoul wouldn’t be anything exciting…there is shopping, but it’s far from the best place in town to shop…there are lots of international food options, but there isn’t a lot of korea in this part of the city…hana needed “comfort food” so we ended up at mcdonalds…it’s a place I try to avoid as much as possible, but her tummy needed it…after that I wanted to go to tartine, which is a Canadian pie place a bit down the road…

Eventually we got back on the bus and made it to the traditional village…namsangol…it wasn’t originally a traditional village…the city took five traditional houses from various parts of the city and moved them all to this location…if I remember correctly, most of the houses are of the upper class…or the way the upper class used to build their houses..in other words, servants quarters and the like…there are “actors” sitting in a few places, I guess they are supposed to be showing certain activities…but when you see them texting on their phones, or see a plastic bag in the area, the feeling isn’t quite so authentic…after we walked in the entry gate, I realized why the place seemed so familiar…my school this past year had come here for a field trip…the school didn’t explore the village, we only went to a performance in the theatre…so it was nice to see what else happens in the area…

This day was 29 april…another big event was to take place that night…(that night Korean time anywho)…after the village we took the subways back to our hotel, picking up dinner along the way…then the three of us watched the royal wedding (prince William to kate middleton)…let me say I’m glad I’ve never married (and never will marry) a prince…planning that wedding must’ve been super chaotic, and super stressful…I can’t imagine planning a wedding (or being in one, for that matter) when you know people around the world will be watching…like many others, I thought pippa stole the show…

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...

together again

In the summer of 2008 (summer for the northern hemisphere, that is) I spent 5 weeks studying spanish in the guatemalan town of quetzaltenango...no one calls it by that name though, it's almost always shortened to xela (shay-la)...xela is a great place to study spanish...it's the 2nd largest city in the country, but there are almost no tourist sights there, so there is nothing to distract you from studying...foreigners go there because there is very little english spoken locally...there are a number of spanish schools, all offering basically the same thing: 25 hours a week of 1 on 1 spanish tutoring, along with a homestay...it's a fantastic way to learn the language...and in guatemala, it's CHEAP...anywho the point of all this is that i met quite a few people during my 5 weeks there...and one of them just moved to korea!!! yippee!!! she moved to incheon, which is the 3rd largest city in korea, it's where the majour international airport of korea is located...to get from my subway stop to hers takes 78 minutes...her name is lindsey, she grew up in iowa, but has lived in denver for the past 6 years...

needless to say, i was more than excited when she told me she was moving to korea...the world of travelers is pretty small, but it never ceases to amaze me how often i get to see someone i met in one area of the world on the other side of the world...yahoo!! i suppose someone who is willing to go one place outside of their comfort zone is willing to go somewhere else as well:)
lindsey arrived in korea about two weeks ago, but spent her first week in an orientation/training session in the city of jeonju...she said there were about 400 people in her orientation...she doesn't yet have a hand phone (mobile phone, cell phone, handy, whateva you want to call it) so figuring out how/when to get together took place completely over facebook....and when she was a few minutes late i kept wondering if i had written the correct meeting details in my message...lol...it's amazing how much we depend on phones...we ended up having lunch right next to the subway station, and i introduced lindsey to one of my favourite korean foods...donkasu...fried pork cutlet...in germany they call it schnitzel...koreans say it's a traditional food here, and while that's probably true, it's a traditional food in a whole lot of countries:)...i had my absolute favourite korean food: sundubujiggae, which is spicy egg and tofu soup...

since lindsey has only been in korea a short time, and doesn't know much about korean culture or history, and i'm a big geek, i suggested we go to changdeokgung, one of the 5 palaces in seoul from the joseon dynasty...changdeokgung is the only one labeled a UNESCO world heritage sight, (the designation came in december 1997) i think it's the one that was least destroyed, or perhaps it's best to say best preserved...changdeokgung was originally constructed in 1405, as a secondary palace to gyeongbukgung...a year later, the back garden was created, it's now known as the secret garden, and you can see that too, with a separate ticket...lindsey and i opted to skip that part, since it isn't spring yet...heck, winter is about the only time the secret garden isn't really worth it...to see changdeokgung, you have to join a tour...there are a couple english tours throughout the day, japanese and chinese too i think...cory taught me a long time ago that it's easy to "lose" the tour group...and the tour guide doesn't tell you anything that isn't in the brochure or on the signs next to each building throughout the palace complex....

a korean palace from the joseon dynasty is nothing like a european palace...these palaces are composed of a bunch of different buildings, each with a specific purpose...you can tell which buildings are more important based on two things: their size, and their location...the closer to where the king "worked" and lived, the more important...the bigger, the better...you don't get to go in any of the buildings anymore, but even back in the day when the palace was lived in and used, there wasn't much in most of the rooms/buildings...as you can see from the photos i've posted, the buildings all look somewhat alike...the same colours used to paint, the same general style, etc...obviously, the wooden boardwalks are from modern times, when the palace was made more accessible for people with disabilities...i think red was a royal colour...surprisingly, the original paints came from china! if i understood our tour guide correctly, back in the day the painting was redone every one hundred years or so, but now it's redone every 20 or 30 years...i couldn't tell if that was because the quality of the paint back then was better, or whether it just doesn't take so long now...

the buildings are all fairly close to each other, and i have no idea how people remembered how to get from one place to another...there are gates and walls all over the place...the gates are pretty small, and most tourists have to remember to duck their heads, or you end up with a lovely bump on your noggin...surprisingly, i actually remembered to duck through every gate this time:)...
the palace (like pretty much everything else in the country) was burned down in 1592 when the japanese invaded...well, much of it was burned down...according to one site, it was burned down by angry korean citizens after palace inhabitants were evacuated (to what is now a northeastern suburb of seoul, uiju) just before the japanese got to seoul...apparently they didn't like the idea of their leaders running away...nearly the entire palace is made of wood, it probably burned pretty quickly...repairs and rebuilding were completed in 1610 or 1611...if i remember correctly, changdeokgung was the official #1 palace for a little while at this point, as gyeongbukgung was still being rebuilt...i just checked, and changdeokgung was the primary palace until gyeongbukgung was rebuilt in the 19th century...overall it served as the main palace longer than gyeongbukgung...

this main throne hall looks big and relatively empty to me, but this is where a lot of official palace business was conducted...the king sat on the throne for hours on end, and it doesn't look at all comfortable to me...it's like a bench chair, with a very straight back...(not that he would've been able to lean back even if he had been so inclined)...according to our guide, the gold screen behind the throne is unique to korea, and can't be found in japan or china...(koreans are constantly pointing out differences between themselves and china/japan)...
the palace was constructed in keeping with the principles of geomancy, if that's the right word...a bridge was built over the stream/creek that runs in front of the main gate...to the back of the palace is a mountain...
not only was changdeokgun the primary palace longer than gyeongbukgung, it was also where the joseon dynasty ended...the last meeting of emperor sunjong (why he was an emperor and not a king, i don't know) and his ministers was held in changdeokgung, just before japanese annexation in 1910...afterward, even though he was no longer in charge, he and his wife (the empress,) the crown prince and the crown princess lived there until they died...

when you enter the main gate of the palace, they give you a brochure...there are bits and pieces of random information, as well as a map of the palace...some of the information is about changdeokgung, but there is also plenty of information about the other palaces, and the royal shrine...i don't currently have the brochures from those sights, but i'm guessing they're all similar...seoul has gotten pretty good about having literature available at all it's tourist sights, for geeks like me who like that stuff...temples are about the only place that don't seem to have those brochures...(which i think is good, since temples shouldn't have to produce literature...they're not there to teach you anything)...by the time i leave korea this time, i'll be leaving behind a ridiculous collection of brochures, as i collect them from every place that hands them out...

the palace can be reached by walking straight out of a particular exit of a nearby subway station...out of another exit of that same subway station, you can get to the area of seoul called insadong...it's quite touristy, and full of kitchy souvenirs, but there are TONS of great little galleries to check out, as well as a few good restaurants...since lindsey is new to korea, i thought she might enjoy walking through the area...it's a pedestrian zone, which is lovely...of course, there are hoards of people, so you're always stepping out of someone's way, or making them go around you...most of the hoards are foreigners, i'm sure there are other places in seoul that koreans go to get all this stuff...come to think of it, they probably don't go get all these souvenirs, they already have them, and aren't likely to give them as gifts...i'm talking pencil boxes, decorative bags, ceramic everything, etc...in addition to all the kitchy souvenirs, there are lots of unique individual stands...it's like a year round local fest...

in addition to all the stands of unique and not so unique stuff, there are tons of nifty little buildings...some are shops full of more kitchy stuff, and some are galleries with awesome stuff...i've spent many an hour wandering through tiny little galleries...there are more than 100 galleries in the area...sometimes it seems as though the buildings themselves (like this three story mall on the left...i love the umbrellas, they go all around the 3rd floor) are art exhibits themselves, and sometimes not so much...there are tons of little alleyways, it would be really easy to get lost in this area...well, almost...everything tends to circle back to any of the main streets in the area...

at one end of the most main street of insadong these traditional games are set up...you pick the "arrows" out of the containers, take a few steps back, and try to throw them back in...believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks...a LOT...at school, during traditional holiday times, i've spent some time trying to figure out the secret to this game...i have yet to figure it out...it's funny watching the kids try to figure it out, just because some of them have advanced motor skills, and some of them, well...don't...(is that mean to say?)...
after you've worn yourself out playing games, you can step into one of several tea houses...(i sound WAY too much like a guidebook)...i'm all for tea, it's really grown on me in the last year, but it's hard when all the containers have chinese characters on them!! its nice to smell the different teas, though this isn't the cheapest area of town in which to buy...it is howeva, the area with the widest variety...it's also a great area to get gift sets of tea...of course, you can also get the accessories for tea...the decorative/ceramic cups with the tea strainer in them, tea bells, etc...as we walked by one tea shop, there was a line out the door...apparently people really wanted to taste one type of tea in particular...we didn't feel like waiting in line, so who knows what we missed? hee hee...

i can't help it, i love these fans...hand painted, or so i'm led to believe...i wouldn't be entirely surprised if that's not really the case...there are quite a few fans at this display, and many that look just the same down the street...who knows...either way, they're pretty...insadong is supposed to be a place in seoul where you can get traditional hand made paper products, so maybe so...
in addition to the stalls of unique jewelry/items, there are stalls of traditional food...i'd write all the names, but i don't remember many off the top of my head, and believe me, you're not going to remember any of them unless you've spent time in korea...it would be easy to do a tour de food just in this area alone, and totally overeat...(not that i'd mind doing such a thing:)...of course, you can find all the food in other areas of seoul as well, at cheaper prices...western/foreign tourists = higher prices...if i remember correctly, the rule in insadong is that the names on the buildings have to be written in hangeul, the korean alphabet...it's the only place i've ever seen where starbucks isn't written in english...when you read it out loud in hangeul, its something like "su-ta-buk-su"...

after insadong, we were hungry...walking past all the food wasn't easy...lindsey decided she wanted street food, a craving of which i was fully supportive...on the way to a nearby subway station (we walked to another station entirely, having come out of another side of insadong) we stopped quickly in tapgol park...like so many other korean parks, there is very little green...but it is a nice area, a little more calm...a couple pavilions, a few statues, a very tall pagoda, etc...
according to a web site, this park was built on the former sight of weongaksa (weongak temple)...apparently the temple was known as heungboksa during the goryeo dynasty, but was renamed when it was enlarged during the joseon dynasty...why this is important, i have no idea...after all, the temple isn't there anymore!! the park was built after the temple was destroyed, a couple of the joseon kings didn't think much of buddhism...the park was built at the suggestion of an englishman, but they don't know when or why he made the suggestion...

there are a couple monuments/memorials in the park...the proclamation of independence was read here, though i don't know whether that's the proclamation of korean independence from japan, or korean independence as a full nation...(korea celebrates two independence days each year)...the web site also says this park was the site of the start of the 1 March 1919 independence protest...(clearly, the protest wasn't a success, since japan remained in charge of korea until the end of the second world war)...
it always kills me to see the pagoda in the glass case...but it also makes total sense, given that it would be completely destroyed, (and rather quickly at that) if left exposed to the elements...(the air quality in seoul is sorely lacking)...you can see it quite well when you get close to the glass, (and there are plenty of handprints) the detail of each carving is impressive...i think the official count is 10 levels...

a quick subway ride, and we arrived at yongsan station...across the street from the station (once you figure out the right exit, as there are tons of exits from the building) are a bunch of street food stalls...the menu at each is pretty much the same, so of course i love them all...fried food always smells good, and almost always tastes good...even though it's not healthy...i chose deokbokki, with hard boiled eggs that had been mixed in...a spicy mix of yumminess...lindsey went for something that i would call pakoras, and mandu (dumplings, like the polish call peirogis)...heaven!!
the reason i wanted to get the street food near yongsan station is because there is also a fabulous sauna nearby...called the dragon hill sauna...the biggest sauna in seoul, and well worth the 12,000won entry fee...it's 7 floors, though no one gets to go on all the floors...(two are for women only, 2 are for men only)...you walk in and pay your entry fee, they give you a key with a number on it, a t-shirt, two hand towels, and a pair of shorts...the number matches up to a particular locker, in which you put your shoes...from there you walk to the men's or women's elevator, and go to your appropriate floor...in the locker room you find the locker with the same number, and leave your stuff inside...lindsey and i wanted the naked floor, so we left the shorts and t-shirts in the lockers too...go down the stairs, and the entire 2nd floor is full of whirlpools, showers, a dry heat room, a steam room, etc...each whirlpool is a slightly different temperature, and the temperatures are posted on the wall...it's amazing how easy it is to feel the difference between 41°C and 46°C...41 is warm, but comfortable, 46 is hot, and not at all comfortable...even the difference between 41 and 43 is noticeable...43 is lovely...there is a cold pool too, at 17°C...it's a shock, to say the least...but after a minute or two in there, nothing else seems too hot, at least not straightaway...we spent two hours soaking, steaming, etc...i managed to lose my towel, so i ended up using my t-shirt to dry off...hee hee...
after the dragon hill, a quick run through emart (the korean version of walmart, and this particular one is like a super walmart) then home...a great day catching up with a good friend...

taking a day off

 one part of the contract i have with my school says that i have three sick days to take during the year...it also says that if i want to, i can take those sick days as personal days on fridays if i clear it ahead of time...since the end of my contract is right around the corner, i wanted to use my last friday as a personal day...fridays at my school are special days, meaning we don't have normal class...it's always a birthday party (1x a month,) a field trip (2x a month,) or theme day (usually the last friday of the month)...this friday was a field trip, so i wasn't missing anything at all...(since i don't have a specific class of kids - i teach all the kids in the school - there isn't a group that has to be covered if i'm gone)...
i woke up to a beautiful sunny day...blue skies (above the smog that is)...chilly, but pretty much my idea of perfect...after spending way too much time online, i ventured out...first to pay bills (i love the way i can pay bills through a machine in my bank) and then to get cash...then on to the subway...i'd figured out one temple and two tombs i wanted to see...
45 minutes later, i was off the subway, and found what i thought was the right bus stop...according to the map in the subway, i needed this specific exit to catch the bus that would take me closest to the temple...the papers i had printed from the web said i needed a different bus stop, but those papers had been wrong at other times, so i wasn't very trusting...anywho, i hopped on the right bus, only to get the feeling that it wasn't going in the right direction...because i tend to get freaked out about those things, i got off, and backtracked a ways...luckily, the paper for this particular temple had a small map showing me where i needed to go...straight down a street that is called hwagyesa-ro...which means hwagye temple street...how convenient!! i did see the bus as i walked, but i wasn't able to tell where it was coming from...i also saw it on the other side of the street...i never did figure out if i should've stayed on the bus or not...either way, it wouldn't have taken me all the way to the temple, though i would've been able to get off at the right stop, as i knew the name in english and korean...since the weather was fantastic, i didn't mind the walk...and i like walking, so that made it even better...i walked past lots of little restaurants where i could get food if i got hungry, and made note of those...(i like to eat; me figuring out places to get food should come as no secret)...

 eventually i came to a gate...once you've seen one of these temple gates in korea, you've seen them all...koreans would probably say differently, but to me, they all look the same...and i've seen plenty...i like going to see temples, even if they do look the same...hee hee...right around the temple gate a lot of construction is going on...a new set of apartments, fixing up other stuff, etc...it wasn't a quiet area...pretty soon i came to the turtle looking thing at the top of this entry...i think they mark a particular person? again, i've seen tons of them, and they all look the same, though presumably if i could read the chinese characters, i wouldn't think so...

 just after the turtle marker, there was a trail, with a small map indicating what i could see along the trail...it showed another temple...woo hoo...i decided to go see the temple i'd come for, and consider the other temple on the way back...in korea, maps are always faced in the direction in which you are looking...for me, this is fantastic, but for most people who assume north is at the top of the map, it's confusing...anywho, i continued along the road, and got to the rest of the temple area...a huge building, in which the templestay program looked like it takes place, and a bunch of other smaller buildings...none of them looked particularly open, and everything was in korean...not an english word to be found...which i kinda liked...(again with the "this is korea, there should be lots of korean here" thinking)...i could hear chanting coming from one building, but i didn't see any open doors, and didn't want to interrupt anything...i figured monks/nuns were in there meditating and/or chanting...it was nice to listen to, especially because i was the only person i could see outside...after seeing a couple signs, i could tell that the chanting was coming from the main temple hall...

hwagyesa temple belongs to the jogye order of korean buddhism...(i don't know what, if there are any, other orders of korean buddhism are called)...the description on the web site i use to find things/places to see in seoul says the temple is in the city of seoul, but that it doesn't feel like it's in a city because the surrounding area is so quiet and peaceful...the temple is at the base of a mountain, and all around there is a lot of nature...it actually feels like a functioning temple, unlike some of the really touristy temples...the temple was built in 1522, in the 17th year of the reign of king jungjong in the joseon dynasty...then it was destroyed by fire in 1618...almost 300 years later, funds were raised and the temple rebuilt in 1866...according to the site there is a small spring somewhere in the temple grounds, but i never did find it...

in front of the building on the far left you can see two of the korean version of a "wishing well"...you can find them in pretty much every korean temple complex, but i liked these because the papers are tied in a bow, which is different from anything i've seen previously...usually i see cards with stuff written on them...i was tempted to unroll one of these bows, but that's obviously wrong...lol...i also wanted to write a wish of my own, but didn't see any paper or pencils anywhere in order to do so...i wonder how long the papers remain on the wishing well, and if there is a monk/nun who is specifically tasked to take care of the wishing wells...i suppose pretty much every area of the temple is taken care of by someone who lives there...

one aspect of this temple that i really liked was the feeling that it's a real temple, that monks/nuns live here, and that it's not just to be seen by tourists...i could see a building in which i presume they live...i wonder what their individual living quarters are like...off to the side of the living quarters was this area for kimchi pots...were they actually full of kimchi? i don't know...traditionally kimchi is put together, put in these pots, and buried underground for a length of time...howeva, most of the time these days people make the kimchi so that it's ready to eat as soon as it's done...

obviously these pots aren't underground, but it's nice to think that the monks and nuns are still living the more traditional way of life...i could see a couple areas where things were planted as well...i loved the simplicity of it all...i wonder who takes care of all the food for the monks/nuns...do they eat together? what time do they eat each day? how do they know when it's time to do various things in temple life? is a bell rung? do they wear watches? what time do they get up each morning? what time do they go to bed? i remember my schedule from my meditation retreat, but that was in thailand, geared specifically for foreigners...is a typical temple day at all similar here?

notice the small bell...is it ever rung? these three items were next to what i assume are the living quarters of those residing at the temple...is it only monks and nuns who live at a temple? or are there secular folks as well? does anyone ever pay attention to this little buddha? he's only a foot tall, give or take...(that's 30cm for anyone who is not american)...i didn't walk around this entire building, so i don't know if there were similar things on the other side of it...this building definitely looked like a home...

the size of the templestay building was at least twice the size of any of the other buildings in the complex...i could see what i thought was an office, or welcome room for anyone who does a templestay, but i don't know what else was in there...just outside the temple complex was this set of gravestones...i don't think real people are buried underneath this spot (it's cement) but i could be totally wrong...i didn't see any signs that could tell me who is here, or why they get special markers...and why are some of the markers smaller than others? i know i ask a lot of questions, but these sorts of things are never explained, not even at the more touristy temples...just outside the main temple complex area was a huge international zen center...it looked like a building in which a big group of people could stay for a while...like a college dormitory, something along those lines...these smaller markers were along the street, just behind the zen center...

as i kept walking back toward the original temple gate, i saw these big markers...again, there were no signs to tell me what i was looking at, and it wasn't easy to get close to them...obviously, they're bigger, and with the way asian (and let's face it, western) society often works, that means someone, or some idea that's more important...these look more like memorials to me, rather than grave markers, but i don't know if that's true...somehow, i don't think anyone is ever going to write up a sign in korean or english (or any other language, for that matter) that says what all these markers are for, specifically...my guess is that koreans already know...maybe they learn in school, or maybe there is temple literature somewhere that says who is buried where, and why they get big markers, or any markers at all...i don't even know who i would ask to find out, even if i did speak korean...after looking around and just enjoying the peacefullness of the whole area, i walked back to the subway station...walking back was a whole lot faster, or at least it seemed that way!! i suppose i could've tried a bus, but i was really enjoying the weather, though most people think i'm crazy for liking to walk as much as i do...

from that subway station i went to another subway, and caught another bus...back in november i interviewed with a private elementary school in this part of seoul, so the bus i caught, and the stop at which i was supposed to get off were familiar...yay!! because i knew where i wanted to get off, i was only listening to the announcements, not trying to read the names on each stop we passed...as it turned out, the bus driver was playing each announcement slightly late...i stood up immediately after he played the announcement for the stop i wanted, but that was after we'd passed the stop on the road already...anywho...

the bus driver asked me which stop i wanted, and i told him...he realized i'd stood up at the proper time, but we'd already passed the stop, so he pulled the bus over straightaway and let me out in between stops...i walked back to the proper stop, and found the entrance to the tombs i wanted to see...again with the joseon dynasty tombs:)...and just like temples, they all look the same, but i love them anywho...this one was called taereung...again with the questions: how did they come up with the names of the tombs? and when the tomb names change later, why? the signs always say what the tomb is called, but it doesn't say (in english anywho) if the name translates to anything in english...korean names often mean something, which wouldn't be obvious to a non-korean speaker...like other tombs i've seen in seoul, there was a big stone information board that designated this tomb as a UNESCO world heritage sight...

taereung is the tomb of queen munjeong...a very politically ambitious queen...she was the second lawful wife of king jungjong...as far as korean royalty goes, she lived for quite a while, being over 60 when she died...(1501-1565)...
just her luck, the king had had an heir with his first wife...howeva, the queen didn't let that sort of thing get in her way...with the king, she had 5 kids, 1 son and 4 daughters...she killed the first heir (had him killed, i guess) so that her son would be the next king...so king myeongjong ascended the throne at age 12...since he was obviously too young to rule, she acted as regent and did it for him...as the web site says, she ruled from behind the veil...it isn't the first time in history that such a thing has happened, but i think in western cultures there was an official title for the person who ruled behind the child monarch...she made her younger brother part of the administration, basically in name only...while she was in charge, she got rid of a lot of political adversaries, many of whom were scholars...a different web site says something about her wanting to rehabilitate buddhism, i don't know what that means...while she was in charge she wanted to move the tomb of her king, and she wanted to be buried next to him when she died...but this didn't happen...according to the 2nd web page, her son posthumously granted her the name munjeong, so i have no idea what she was called while she was alive...why would he change her name after she died? it's not as if he was granting her a new title, if that makes any sense...

i liked this tomb because i could actually see the tomb itself from the bottom of the hill...(remember an earlier post when i said all these tombs are on top of man made hills?)...i still wanted to get closer, for a better photo, so i walked up the side of the hill, and tried to walk across the hill, just in front of the tomb...but i set off the motion detector siren!! whoops...apparently the CCTV cameras that you see on tall poles at the back of every tomb complex aren't all just for show:)...hee hee...obviously, i didn't get the photo i wanted...i knew i was the only one at the tomb right then, but i didn't know if an alarm bell was going off in an office somewhere...there was a blinking red light as well...after i got back over to the side of the hill, the siren stopped wailing...i dont know if it was really that loud, but it sure seemed that way to me!! i was ridiculously nervous as i walked out of the front gate of the tomb complex, i was terrified i'd get in official trouble...but i didn't...

on the map at the entrance, i could see that there were two tombs...the other one was called gangneung,   and is the tomb of king myeongjong and queen insun...it's a double tomb...to get to gangneung from taereung, i had to go back out on the street, and walk quite a ways...when i got to the entrance gate of gangneung, it was closed...argh argh argh...oh well...i walked to the nearest bus stop, (near the entrance gate of sahmyook university) and started making my way back home...