Welcome to our 2nd day in Seoul! It is already February 7th so I'm already falling behind, but hang in there, once we get to the Olympics, I'll try to post something every day, even if it is shorter.
Today when we went down to the restaurant to eat, we discovered that our initial reaction to the hotel music was correct, this place is stuck in the 1980's and 90's. We been here less that 24 hours and I've already heard 3 or 4 ABBA songs. Breakfast is a sort of UN buffet. In addition to the typical American faire, we also have our choices for Korean, Chinese, Japanese and vaguely European.
Today is history day. We are off to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Gyeongbokgun was built in 1395 and for most of it's history, it was the home of the Joseon Dynasty that ruled Korea for just over 500 years. This palace was mostly burned to the ground during the Japanese invasion in the Imjin War of 1592-5, but was largely rebuilt during the 19th century. Here is part of the palace gate:
The palace and all of what was then Seoul was surrounded by a very big wall. Most of the wall is gone, but here is one of the gates and guardhouses:
The palace has a very strong Forbidden City (Beijing) feel to it. Check out some of these pictures:
This is understandable because of the way that China dealt with nearby countries. In exchange for paying tribute (payments made to China along with things like trade and diplomatic relations), China agreed not to invade. This arrangement kept the Joseon in power for 27 generations of their family. It also resulted in a strong Chinese influence on Korea in the writing system, social structure, arts, etc.
As we were walking around, we noticed a lot of teenage girls wearing elaborate custumes:
As we were walking around, we noticed a lot of teenage girls wearing elaborate custumes:
The outfits are called hanbok which just means Korean clothing. These outfits date back more than 1,000 years. But it took us a long time to find out why these women are dressing up in these dresses. Apparently, this is one of the latest fads among young people in Korea. Both women and men will dress up in these clothes, take their pictures often at historical sites like this, and then post them on Instagram for their friends to see.
We are getting cold so we stop into the National Folk museum to get warm. In honor of the PyeongChang Olympics, they have a special exhibit on winter showing how the Korean people have traditionally dealt with winter. They showed historical gear for ice fishing, skating and hunting along with what they wore to keep out the cold and crafts that they enjoy in the time before they could begin planting their next crop. Other exhibits gave us some understanding of how hard it was to be a subsistence farmer in such a harsh land.
We are making our way back out of the palace when we hear drums beating. They are changing the guards in the parade grounds just inside the main gate. Here is a picture of the soldiers in their traditional garb:
We are getting cold so we stop into the National Folk museum to get warm. In honor of the PyeongChang Olympics, they have a special exhibit on winter showing how the Korean people have traditionally dealt with winter. They showed historical gear for ice fishing, skating and hunting along with what they wore to keep out the cold and crafts that they enjoy in the time before they could begin planting their next crop. Other exhibits gave us some understanding of how hard it was to be a subsistence farmer in such a harsh land.
We are making our way back out of the palace when we hear drums beating. They are changing the guards in the parade grounds just inside the main gate. Here is a picture of the soldiers in their traditional garb:
The guy with the orange and red uniform with pheasant feathers is the battalion commander who is leading the troops coming off duty. Off to the side is a band that is playing suitably military marching music and beating another one of those huge drums like we saw yesterday.
After that, we head to the cafe to get some warm food. Beth has a meal with vegetables and glass noodles and a sort of sweet rice drink and I have bulgogi (a thinly sliced marinated beef dish) with green onions and rice and sparkling water. Feeling much better, we head back outside for a quick walk over to the National Palace Museum.
I had originally thought that this museum would be a sort of National museum, but found that it specialized only on the Joseon Dynasty. It was quite interesting. I learned that one of the reasons that the Joseon ruled for 500 years had partly to do with how they were trained. The Joseon followed Confucianism and one of their critical beliefs were continual improvement. A crown prince was supposed to master skills like calligraphy and poetry and linguistics. In addition, even after becoming King, they were expected to continue to practice to improve their skills to better lead their people - a far cry from what we currently see in the US government!
A Joseon ruler, even when not present at a social affair or meeting, was represented by this screen called a Irworobongdo sitting behind the throne:
The full moon and red sun represent the concepts of bringing yin and yang into balance, but the meaning of the five peaks and the twin waterfalls have been lost to history. The main idea is that even when he was not present, the Joseon leader was watching over his people.
Since Confucianism includes ancestor worship, each Joseon ruler posed for an official painting. Here is one of them:
On the death of the ruler, his portrait would be installed in a separate nook in the hall of ancestors so that future rulers could come to meditate and seek advice from his ancestors. I'm trying to picture Donald Trump seeing wisdom from George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or.. Barack Obama, but just can't.
We've had enough cold for the day and head back to the hotel. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Steps: 10,751
After that, we head to the cafe to get some warm food. Beth has a meal with vegetables and glass noodles and a sort of sweet rice drink and I have bulgogi (a thinly sliced marinated beef dish) with green onions and rice and sparkling water. Feeling much better, we head back outside for a quick walk over to the National Palace Museum.
I had originally thought that this museum would be a sort of National museum, but found that it specialized only on the Joseon Dynasty. It was quite interesting. I learned that one of the reasons that the Joseon ruled for 500 years had partly to do with how they were trained. The Joseon followed Confucianism and one of their critical beliefs were continual improvement. A crown prince was supposed to master skills like calligraphy and poetry and linguistics. In addition, even after becoming King, they were expected to continue to practice to improve their skills to better lead their people - a far cry from what we currently see in the US government!
A Joseon ruler, even when not present at a social affair or meeting, was represented by this screen called a Irworobongdo sitting behind the throne:
The full moon and red sun represent the concepts of bringing yin and yang into balance, but the meaning of the five peaks and the twin waterfalls have been lost to history. The main idea is that even when he was not present, the Joseon leader was watching over his people.
Since Confucianism includes ancestor worship, each Joseon ruler posed for an official painting. Here is one of them:
On the death of the ruler, his portrait would be installed in a separate nook in the hall of ancestors so that future rulers could come to meditate and seek advice from his ancestors. I'm trying to picture Donald Trump seeing wisdom from George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or.. Barack Obama, but just can't.
We've had enough cold for the day and head back to the hotel. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Steps: 10,751
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