Travelling! #2: Seoul

On to our next destination!!  I've since been back with my childrens' center, but that was a whole different story that I'll tell later.  For  this blog, let's talk about our first YAV retreat that was more than a day trip -- our trip to Seoul!

KTX Bullet Train, zoom!

First of all, the way we got there and back we another first of mine; we rode the bullet train!  It's called the KTX (Korean Train eXpress) and can get you from Daejeon to Seoul in an hour.  There's not much else to say about it, it's smooth and over before you know it.

Once we arrived in Seoul, we headed to the KMPC office to meet our contact between PC(USA) and the Korean Presbyterian church.  There's also a hotel on the premises, so we put down our stuff before heading out for a night on the town.

Uncle Simon and Haejung 이모 had plans that night with relatives, so just the three of us YAVs were turned loose on the neighboring shopping area, which is apparently popular with the college crowd.  As usual in Korea (I've come to learn), this means lots and lots of clothing shops.  So we explored (wandered around), getting our bearings, checking out the shops, noticing the American fast food chains that have made it here, and trying to decide what to eat for dinner.

Better out than in!

Sneaky ninja panda

Rotating column of ...meat?

If it's this heavy now, what happens when someone sits there?

... Not sure what to say about this character...

I couldn't just tag along in clothes shops ALL night!

Three-story Dunkin' Donuts, classy.

I must: "NONE SHALL PASS!!"

I know I know, it looks just like bacon.
But the server said beef, we think...

Choosing what's for dinner is always an important question, but we felt like there were so many opportunities for different kinds of food in Seoul so we should choose carefully.  We landed on Japanese, and started looking.  And had no luck.  After wandering and getting hungrier and hungrier, we walked past a place that was hoppin' with locals and smelled absolutely delicious.  So without know much Korean yet, we ordered some 삼겹살 (sam-gyup-sal).  At our table was an inclined griddle, and we were served with veggies and bacon-thin strips of raw beef.  So we grilled it  up, including putting some veggies in the path of the draining grease, and it was sooo good.  This is where I discovered that 김치 (kimchi) is even better when grilled.

After dinner we checked out the Soul Food Café, which was a little charming coffee shop, and headed back to our hotel.  There we went to sleep in traditional Korean style, sleeping on mats on the heated floor.

Day Two

Good morning!

During the second day, we had Uncle Simon and Haejung 이모 to show us around!  We started with a nice pastry breakfast at the nearest Paris Baguette (a big chain of bakeries in Korea), and headed out to first explore Dondaemun, which is a big clothing market area (Yay…).  So I think you'll have to look closely at the picture to get any sense of the scale of Pyounghwa Clothing Market, but I'll attempt to describe it.  From along the river, it's a building that is about four stories tall by about as far as you can see.  Inside are countless shops, each one specializing in one type of item, like belts or hats or socks or scarves.  The amount of choice is crazy -- each shop is only about 8 feet wide and crammed as full as possible.  Uncle Simon bought a new hat.

It just keeps going, and going, and going...

Pretty cunning, I think.

Across the river is another clothing building, a little more square shape than the last, but equally monstrous.  We headed in there and upstairs to find a large number of 한복 (hanbok) stores.  한복 is the name of Korean traditional dress.  The women generally wear large dresses that are very pretty.  The men wear loose pants and shirts with fancy vests that are also very… pretty.  Maybe the Annas will manage to save enough money to buy one of these beautiful dresses before they leave!

Maybe it's because I'm from
Albuquerque, but this building
seems BIG.

한복!

Manly.

Crossing the mighty river!

The river itself apparently used to be very polluted and unpleasant, but Seoul has made an effort to clean It up and has built nice walkways on either side, so now it’s a very pleasant walk.  Nearby also is Seoul's East Gate, which is one of two large gatehouses left from Seoul's walls.  The other is South Gate and is the first national treasure of South Korea, but when we were there it was still under reconstruction after being set on fire in 2008.

Next we headed to 이태원 (Itaewon), which is historically where you could go to get cheap knock offs of anything you can think of.  Unfortunately, the main street has been taken over by legitimate name brand stores -- not nearly as fun.  It's possible the knock off shops have just moved off the main road down into the nearby alleys, but we didn't really have time to search them out.  But, as an example of how awesome they used to be, we've seen one of those silky jackets that Uncle Simon had custom embroidered for one of his sons, Kevin.  It had his name on the front and He-Man on the back!  Fantastic.

 At lunchtime we headed to a little noodle place Uncle Simon and Haejung 이모 knew about where they make their noodles by hand.  In addition to being totally delicious, it was our shelter from a downpour that started right when we got there.  It was a nice calming way -- once we got a bowl to catch the rain trying to drip onto our food --  to spend lunch and digest a little while we waited for the rain to pass.

Our next stop was the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  First we went to the National Folk Museum located on the grounds and visited its open-air displays, which include a traditional Korean home, a rice-grinding mill, a Chinese medicine shop, and a replica village showing what Korea was like in the 1950s.  The latter was interesting as it showed us a little of the transition from the traditional buildings and ways of life we had seen in Jeonju to the big city apartment high-rise life we see now.

Then it was inside to stroll through the museum with its collection of folk objects.  I particularly liked a screen painted with the layout of the entire palace grounds, a collection of beautifully crafted furniture, and a little scarecrow ogre woven out of straw.  Before heading out to explore the palace grounds, we caught a folk performance show which included fan dances, traditional drumming, and the most amazing hats I've ever seen.  Seriously, check them out by clicking here.

Finally we headed out into the palace grounds to look at all of the amazing buildings.  The building in the middle of the lake and the throne room building were especially impressive to me.  But it's not very useful for me to describe buildings when you can just look at the pictures below!

Pretty.

Clay jar storage.  All the kimchi!

Zoom in!

No Uncle Simon and Haejung 이모 to complete our set, oh well.  At least I have a sword!

Throne room, from the side

The throne itself!

Square in front of the throne room looking out into Seoul.  An interesting mix of old and new.

Lastly we headed to a neat shopping place that was built in a spiral so that you just walk around it and go up and up.  We grabbed some dinner, and finally when we were all tuckered out, we headed back to the train station to zip home on the bullet train.  YAV retreat success!

Hi Mom!  Guess where I am!