Day 3 in Seoul

October 12, Wednesday – Day 3 in Seoul
We bought our lunch at the same shop and then departed to Gwanghwamun station by subway at 10.45am. We had lunch at the park in front of Gwanghwamun at 11.45pm. We reached our destination, Gyeongbokgung at 12pm. Gyeongbokgung is the primary palace during Joseon Dynasty (one of the dynasty during the Three Kingdoms). Behind the palace, we were able to see some rocky mountains. This background had made the palace look very grand. In order to reach the palace, we just need to walk in Gwanghwamun. The admission fee is 3,000 won each.

We were just in time for the free English tour guide session at 12pm. There were many visitors there, both foreigners and locals. We filled in a questionnaire before the tour and were given some postcards on the palace. The tour took about 1 hour and the guider was a Korean. Her English was a bit weird making it hard to listen.

The palace is divided into mainly 2 parts; the king’s working place and the king’s resident. Some parts of the palace were rebuilt as they were destroyed during the Japanese Occupation. Some of the old buildings remained until today. “tancheon” refers to the paintings on the buildings. Only palace, temples and government buildings were allowed to have these paintings. The colors of the paintings were made from natural sources, such as the yellow color was made from the goat’s heart. These paintings were water resistant. Thus, making the buildings last longer, around 100-200 years. The writings at the palace were Chinese characters. This is because China had great influence on Korea during the olden days. Chinese characters were used before King Sojeon created the Hangul characters.

The first building that we saw as we entered the palace was Geunjeongjeon, the main building of Gyeongbokgung. Ceremonies such as the New Year’s celebration and receiving the arrival of the foreign envoys were held here. Then, we proceed to the king’s working place, Sajeongjeon. Papers were used to cover some parts of the windows/doors. These papers were water-resistant. The lower part of the wall was made of olive paper and was green in color. This was to prevent water from going into the place. During the olden days, they used a device to check the time, date and seasons. This device mainly uses the concept of shadow. It does not work during rain. There was another device, known as the water clock which was able to check the time despite any weather. Other buildings had heating system. It is known as “ondol”. Underneath the wooden floor, there’s a passage. While the charcoal is burned underneath, it will heat up the wooden floor and the whole room will become warm. There chimney is normally located directly behind the building.

Next, we visited the party palace, Gyeonghoeru. It is one of the items in the Korean’s 10,000 won notes. Entertainment was performed there. There was a small pavilion there and surrounded by a pond. The scenery there is very calm and peaceful.

Then, we visited the king’s resident. It is something very interesting indeed. The whole building is divided mainly into 2 big rooms and a hall. Inside the big room, it is further divided 9 small rooms inside. The king’s room is the middle room inside this big room. The other small rooms surrounding the king’s room will be occupied by the palace workers or nannies. They were sort of like bodyguards, to guard and take care of the king. They must stay awake even when the king is sleeping. The king’s room is like a multi-purpose room. There is no furniture in the room. The furniture is all located at the store rooms, surrounding the main resident. When the king wants to eat, the palace workers will take out the furniture from the store room and then place them accordingly. After the king finish dining, they will remove the furniture and put them back into the store room. The same goes for sleeping. Everything is done in the same room. The furniture of the room will be placed accordingly whenever the king is around and removed once he leaved. It must be tough for the palace workers there, setting and removing the furniture a few times a day. The doors are removed hung on top of the entrance. I wondered what is it’s purposed. The heating system there is slightly different. The chimney is not located directly behind the building, but further apart, at the gate between the king’s resident and the queen’s resident. Some security actions were taken during the olden days, such as the ones serving the food must test out the food in front of the king before it is served. Silver eating utensils were used so that poison can be detected.

The queen’s residence is behind the king’s residence. It has a wooden floored hall in the center with 2 rooms at both sides. It is only building open for enter. We must take off our shoes before entering the hall. Amisan chimneys in the queen’s garden boast their beauty.

Many Korean’s culture is almost the same as Chinese, maybe due to its influence during the Three Kingdoms. The same as the China, only son can inherit the throne. They believed that only the son can inherit the family’s bloodline. Normally, the queen’s eldest son will inherit the throne. However, if the queen does not have any sons, the king will choose the best son among the concubines to inherit his throne. It happened 4 times before among the 27 kings of Joseon dynasty where the king is a son of the concubine because the queens did not have any sons. The king must visit his mother’s place everyday, early in the morning to ensure that she is in good condition.

Behind the palace is a small pond. It was the place for the king to rest. Our free tour ended there. The National Folk Museum is located beside it. We made a short visit there. We were amazed by the different types of candlesticks and candles used during the previous dynasties. It comes in various sizes as well.

We snapped some photos around the palace once more heading to the entrance there for the royal guard changing ceremony demonstration at 3pm. It lasted for around 15 minutes. We were allowed to snap some pictures with the guards posing there after the ceremony but not allow to touch them. Hmm… perhaps they think of it as a type of sexual harassment.

Then, we headed to Jongmyo Royal Shrine. It was a long way there by foot. We reached there at around 4pm but did not visit it as we felt that it was almost the same like any other temples that we visited before. The park in front of the shrine was crowded by many senior citizens. Some of them were doing some performance, such as singing and selling some writings. There were some hawkers selling food in front of the park.

We headed to Myeong-dong after that. Jun and Jane recommended this place to me. We were lost on the way but managed to reach there eventually with the help of a Korean. It is the best place for shopping when it comes to fashion. There are many fashion shops and restaurants around there. It was crowded by teenagers. The things there are indeed different, the clothes and hawker food etc. However, the prices are not cheap. Itaewon is the best when it comes to shopping for souvenirs.

We had dinner at a small shop at 5+pm. The food there is expensive and not delicious. We walked around the area for a while. Then, we headed to Lotte Department Store. The decorations there is really nice, the door and the staircase etc. However, things here are not cheap as well. It is really weird in Korea that we can bargain the price for some items with the promoter in the shopping complex. This is not the market and yet they can do that. The promoter can make decisions on the price.

Then, we headed back to Guil Station by subway at around 7+pm.

I watched the drama series with Jun and Jane again at 1am.