Soul Searching in Seoul

So over the Lunar New Year break I went to Seoul for a vacation on my own. For those who don't know, the Lunar New Year, or Seollal, is the beginning of the Lunar calendar. From what I have gathered, it is the same as New Year (January 1st), on the Gregorian, or Western calendar. The first day of the Lunar New Year changes every year. This year it started on January 30th. The national holiday lasts for 3 days. This is a huge family holiday and lots of people receive money and good wishes for the new year from their family members. The roads are packed as people travel home, the trains are all sold out, and most buses as well. Luckily for me, my Korean co-teacher Scarlet, was kind enough to reserve bus tickets to and from Seoul for me. 

I headed out bright and early on a grey and drizzly Thursday morning. I got to the bus terminal early and waited for my 12:00 bus. Around 11:45 I went out to wait on the platform so that I didn't miss my bus as they always leave right on time. There seemed to be a new bus going to the same place about every 10 minutes. I'm not sure if that's a normal thing or if it was just for the holiday. All of the buses have the times in the window so that you get on the right bus. So if your ticket says 12:00 and the bus says 11:50 you don't get on that bus, you wait for the 12:00 one. As I was waiting, I was approached by a Korean woman who spoke English fairly well. She chatted with me for awhile, before giving me a magazine about God and questioning what we see on the news. Having people trying to convert you is very common in Korea. I told her that I would read it on the bus. She was very friendly and made sure that I got on the right bus. I left the magazine in the little sleeve on the seat in front of me. The bus wasn't full, but there were only a handful of empty seats. It took about 2 and a half hours to get to Seoul. The traffic leaving Daejeon was really bad, but once we got away from the city it was smooth sailing. Once in Seoul at the bus terminal, I made my way to the taxi stand and got a taxi to Itaewon. Itaewon is a part of Seoul that is basically where all of the foreigners go. As the taxi was going over the bridge that is over the Han River, I had a brief moment of panic and fear. I have never really traveled anywhere by myself before and this solo trip was a new experience for me. I got out of the cab in Itaewon and made my way to IS@K guesthouse where I was going to be staying. IS@K is kind of like a hostel, with different types of rooms for travelers to stay at. You basically pay just for your bed, and everything else is shared. You can stay for as long as you like. I was put into a 4 bed mixed room, but got lucky in that all of my roommates were girls. I didn't spend much time at IS@K's other than to sleep. And I didn't really sleep either because other people would stay up talking, watching movies and doing other things until 4:30am. This is the one thing that I would change about my trip to Seoul. Next time, I would rather rent a room in a love motel where I could stay for cheap and not be bothered by other people. 

After getting checked into IS@K's I went out to wander around Itaewon. I was looking for What the Book? an English bookstore that I had seen there when I first went to Seoul. I thought that I remembered where it was, but as it turned out, I didn't. I ended up going the wrong way, and getting lost. Thankfully, in the land of Samsung I had my phone with me and was able to put the bookstore name into Google. From this I got a map with a marker of where What the Book? is and where I was. The marker that was me moved as I moved. I used this to get back to the main street where I had started and to find What the Book? which was actually closer to me than I knew. I ended up walking way out of my way and in a huge loop trying to get to it. I wasn't too nervous while I was lost, as I knew that if I really needed to, I could just grab a cab and get them to take me back to my starting point, so I didn't really truly feel lost. I went to What the Book? and spent a few hours in there, looking at books, a bit in shock at how many other foreigners were in there, and how large the bookstore actually was. At around 5 or so, I went and got a Greek chicken wrap. Then I bought some tall socks from a street vendor and went to Starbucks. I sat in Starbucks for quite a few hours, reading one of the new books that I had gotten at What the Book? While I was there I was chatted up by another Korean woman. This one started by asking me if I could watch her bags while she used the washroom. She had put them at an empty nearby table, and I wasn't doing anything other than reading so I said sure. When she came back out, she thanked me and sat down at her table. After about 40 seconds, she started asking me general questions like where I was from, and how long I had been in Korea. I politely answered,while continuing to read, hoping that she would get the hint that I didn't want to be bothered. She finally started commenting on my rings, asking me where I had gotten them, saying which was her favorite. This was when I knew that something was up. She then moved to sit in the other chair at my table and asked me how much my rings where. I told her that I didn't know as they were gifts from home. Then she asked me to go get ramen (noodles) with her to eat. I told her no. Then she asked if I would go and buy her ramen because she was hungry. I told her no again and went back to ignoring her. She finally got up and left. After awhile, I went to IS@K's and did some writing about my day in my journal, then I went to bed.

The next day I got up and went to Starbucks. I sat in a window seat, and did some writing while I had my frapucinno and people watched. The window was right over the main street in Itaewon so there was a lot of hustle and bustle of people on the street. I noticed that there were a lot of Arab looking people on the street. There was about as many of them as there were Koreans. A lot of people come to Korea to go to university here. After a few hours and some consulting of the internet and my Lonely Planet guidebook, I went and found the bus stop that would take me to Namsan Mountain and the N. Seoul Tower, my first tourist destination. The bus was crammed full of people all going to the tower and we kept picking up more. It took about half an hour to get to the mountain. Then there was a bit of a walk up to the main part where the tower was. The area was packed! I wasn't expecting to see so many people when I got there. There were people EVERYWHERE! I had already been to the tower in Busan back in August and September, and both times it wasn't even close to being as busy as N. Seoul Tower was on that day. I'm not sure why it was so busy, maybe because of the holiday. This tower is supposed to be a very romantic place for couples. You can go there as a couple, buy a lock, write on it, and leave it with millions of other locks to show your love to the world. I wondered how many of those couples actually lasted..... 

I bought a ticket to the tower and the Alive Museum (I will talk about this later) for 15,000 won ($15.00 Can). After walking around somewhat lost, I finally found my way to the entrance for the tower. You have your ticket checked and then wait in a huge line. As you are waiting there are t.v.s that show a bear, the mascot of Namsan park and the tower, helping people fall in love at the tower. At one point in the line, you get your picture taken. Then you get to wait again for the elevator to the observation deck. Once inside the elevator, you watch the ceiling with a screen on it that gives the impression that the elevator is going so high up that you leave Earth and go shooting out among the stars. The elevator stops at "N Seoul Tower" and everyone piles out. Once you get out there's a counter where you can see your picture and purchase it. I skipped this part. On the observation deck (which is walled in by glass walls), there were tons of more people, and lots of souvenir type things to buy, and a huge wall that was a candy display, and you could buy the candy. The windows had different cities around the world and the elevations of these cities written on them. The view is good, but I wasn't overly impressed. I think that once you've been up one tower in Korea, you've been up them all. It's pretty much same same. Then there was another huge lineup for the elevator taking you back down to the main floor. Once off the elevator there is, of course, another souvenir shop. And that was the tower.

After wandering around lost for a bit more I finally found the Alive Museum. What a waste of money that  was. I thought that the Alive Museum would be full of cool and interesting things to look at. It was not. Well it kind of was but not really. Let me explain. There are two "galleries" for you to walk through. In each room of the galleries the walls have been painted a specific way so that you can go and pose in front of it and have your picture taken so that you look like you are actually in that picture. For example, one wall had Michael Jackson doing his moonwalk painted on it. So you posed doing the moonwalk next to him, your friend takes the picture and you end up with a picture of you doing the moonwalk with Michael Jackson. Kind of interesting, but for me a total waste of time and money as I didn't have anyone to take my picture and I didn't want to constantly be hounding people to take one for me. The second gallery started out the same as the first and then all of a sudden there was just a wall in front of me. I was more or less just wandering quickly room from room kind of just looking at the pictures. I went back to the entrance where the ticket guy told me that the gallery was a maze that you had to go through. He then talked me into going back in and actually going through the whole maze. I was kind of in doubt because I hadn't seen any doors, and he told me that they were painted into the walls so that they blended in. He assured me that the maze was easy to get through. I started out in it by myself, but caught up to a family of 3 and we more or less went through it together. I think it would have been a lot more fun if there had of been someone there with me.  

After the museum I made my way back to the bus and the bus stop and headed back to Itaewon. Once there, I got on the subway and made my way to a cat cafe. A cat cafe is a cafe where you can go and buy a drink for 8,000 won ($8.00 Can) and play/pet actual real live cats that are kept there. You can stay at the cafe for as long as you like. Cat cafes are more popular in Japan than they are here in Korea, but there were a lot of people who came and went in the hour or so that I was there for. Most of the people were either Korean girls or young Korean couples. A few foreigners showed up. 

After the cat cafe, I went back to Itaewon and had dinner in a Canadian pub called Rocky Mountain Tavern. I had a burger with a side of poutine and a cesar to drink. There was a hockey game on t.v. and I watched it for a few hours before I went back to IS@K's where I did some more writing and then went to bed.

Anyhow, this is where I'm going to leave off for tonight. I can't breathe through my nose as I'm sick again, and I need to have a shower and head to bed. Hopefully I will be able to finish this post tomorrow. Good night faithful readers :)

Soul Searching in Seoul~ Photos

These pictures are from my trip to Seoul on the Lunar New Year break, January 30th- February 2nd, 2014.

First pictures are of Seoul as seen from N Seoul Tower located on Namsan Mountain. 

These pictures are from my visit to Changdeokgung Palace and the Secret Garden. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time that I was there so I did not get many pictures of the Secret Garden. 

 Jinseonmun Gate

 Injeongjeon, the throne hall. Major events and ceremonies, including the coronation of a king, where held here. It is a National Treasure. 

 Nakseonjae Complex. Quarters built for King Heonjong where he could go to read and relax. The Donggung, quarters for the crown prince, where originally here as well. These buildings were lived in up until recently. Bangja Lee, the wife of the last crown prince, lived here until 1989. 

 

 Pavilion hidden away.

 This is a well that had water in it.

 A bit of old Seoul and new Seoul in the background. Changdeokgung Palace is basically in the middle of the city.

 Seongjeonggak Area. The residence of the crown prince. The crown prince's study was used as a royal hospital during the Japanese occupation. A prince could not be a crown prince before the age of 4 due to the high rate of infant mortality. At age 10, the crown prince had a coming-of-age ceremony, followed by a wedding ceremony. 

 I had about an hour wait in the rain for the Secret Garden English tour to begin, so I spent it trying to take good pictures of myself.

 Entrance to The Secret Garden.

 Buyongji, a rectangular pond, that the King liked to fish in. The square shape of the pond represented the sky, and the round island in the middle represented Earth, creating a balance between the two. Having balance, or harmony, between sky and earth was very sought after, and still is. This palace was built in harmony with one of the other palaces in the area.

 The second pavilion in the background, Yeonghwadang Pavilion, was where state exams were held, sometimes in front of the king.

 If you were a noble person and the king was angry with you, you would be left alone on the island for awhile as punishment.

 Buyongjeong Pavilion is said to look like a lotus flower in bloom.

 Pavilion were you could sit. Sometimes meals were held here.

Sadly this is the end of my Secret Garden pictures. The rest of it was pretty much the same. Areas where the king could go with his nobles and relax.