Old Seoul
All throughout the city of Seoul are castles, temples and gates
of old dynasties. It's very interesting to see all of the old buildings
right next to the new ones.
Across the street from the theatre is a statue of Yi Sunsin
(1545–1598), a Korean naval leader noted for his victories against
the Japanese navy during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)
during the Joseon Dynasty. He is reputed to be one of the few
admirals to have been victorious in every naval battle (at least
23) that he commanded.
Near the theatre is one of the old castles called Gyeongbok Palace.
I had a chance to go there on my way to work one day. It is the
largest palace of the Joseon Dynasty and was built in 1394. It
consists of 330 buildings sitting on 410,000 square meters of land.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to tour the castle as I
had to get to work, but at least I got to see a little bit of it.
The gates of the castle are guarded outside by two large animals
The gates of the castle are highly ornate.
Inside is the castle forecourt and the entrance to the castle
itself. Just inside the gates is a large drum, called a Buk, used
in changing of the guards and various other ceremonies. It is barrel-
shaped with a large wooden body and animal skin on both ends.
In one of the large intersections of the city, there is a huge
kiosk. I'm not sure what it signifies, but it's quite colorful and
interesting.
One day during my stay the city got very hazy and everyone was
wearing dust masks to keep from breathing the dust. It turns out
that it was yellow sand blowing in from a sandstorm in China. It
was amazing how thick it became. It's hard to imagine that it could
travel so far and be so thick.
Another day I was walking around the city and I could hear a loud
drum. When I got near the Deoksu Palace, there was a ceremony
taking place. The Deoksu Palace is a walled compound of palaces of
varying construction. I never got to go inside, but the ceremony
was quite interesting.
There is always something going on in Seoul. One day near the
theatre there were some street performers
On another occasion near the river there were some mimes.
And in another location there were people staging a protest.
Everything in Korea is a new experience. Even going to the bathroom
can be a challenge. I was in a department store and went to the
ladies room. I was disappointed to see that there was a line, but
in the end I was thankful there had been. While standing in line I
noticed that each of the ladies took some toilet paper from a large
roll by the door. Sure enough, that's the only toilet paper provided.
On another occasion, we had stopped at a rest-stop on a highway.
There were several busloads of school children also at this same
rest-stop. Even though there were about 30 stalls, there were about
80 people trying to use them. In this case, they didn't make one
big line to wait for the first stall available, everyone just picked
a stall and lined up outside of it. I didn't know where to go, but I
found a line and got in it. When I finally got up there and the door
opened, I discovered it was an eastern style toilet - one that's
at floor level. It actually looks like a small men's urinal lying
on the floor. You're supposed to squat down over it. I thought about
getting in another line but decided to give it a try. It actually
wasn't bad at all, and not nearly as difficult as I would have
thought. Sorry, no pictures!
The food in Korea is another new experience. I did most of my
sightseeing on my own so when it was time to eat, I didn't know
where to go or what to order. I'm not too crazy about hot foods,
and Koreans like their food spicy and hot. I had to be careful about
that, but that's easy to do with sign language. Most of the
restaurants have picture menus so that you can at least get a glimpse
of what your food is going to look like. I was still never sure
if I was ordering beef, lamb, pork or whatever, but most
everything I had was good. I tried foods in restaurants,
I sampled the foods sold on the street which were also
interesting and good.
There were some sidewalk markets which sold fruits and vegetables
and wagons which sold popped rice and other interesting things.
The grocery stores were a new experience. Many things looked
and tasted wonderful, but I still rarely knew what I was eating.
It would be fun to have the time to try many things.
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