Changdeokgung Palace and Insadong Market

Hello to everyone!

I arrived in Korea without incident via Tokyo on Friday afternoon. In Tokyo, it was hard to miss how beautiful the Japanese women are. Their skin is like porcelain and their features are soft like their language. Thus far of all the Asian languages that I 've heard, it is the most fluid and romantic sounding. Everywhere here, it is a treat to see the well-dressed, sharp uniforms of the airline flight attendants. They are modern suits that are reminiscent of another time when air travel was a special treat, not the unimportant commodity that American-based companies have succumbed to. In fact Mike and I are impressed by the dress everywhere. Taxi drivers and bus drivers all wear dress shirts and pants with ties. There is an honor to their job and they dress accordingly. Women are well dressed everywhere in the city. Most women in the city wear high heeled shoes in the same manner that we don a pair of sneakers. I can't decide if their shoes are better made and more comfortable or if our feet expect better. Even walking through the city, high heels are the norm. Skirts are more common-place than pants for women and it's fun to see the women locked arm-in-arm as they traverse the marketplaces. It is obvious that this is a social norm, one that as Americans we do not enjoy without social judgment.

We took the Seoul City Tour Bus from our hotel into the city. The bus runs two different lines, one highlighting the historic palaces and one highlighting downtown. We rode the downtown route which has 30 different stops and runs in a circle. You buy a pass for $ 10 and can get on and off all day. Our only complaint was that the bus only rode in 1 direction so if you got off and wanted to go back to something you had seen, you had to take a cab. Not a problem though, we were smart enough to figure this out and chose to exit at Changdeokgung Palace which ironically means, palace palace. The Palace was used until 1989 but sadly when the last queen died, there were no more direct descendants to the Joseon Dynasty. The ticket price was less than $ 3 and were were just in time for the English speaking tour. Our guide was wonderful and had a good sense of humor. We walked over an ancient stone bridge and toured many of the buildings including the throne room and residences of the king and queen. According to Confucianism women and men had to live separately from age 7, thus accounting for the separate quarters. The Palace was constructed over more than 140 acres and included many gardens, most of which had a rectangular shaped pond with a circular island in the center. The belief was that the earth was rectangular and the sky circular, thus the representation. A beautiful stone gateway, carved from a single piece of stone sits at the entrance of one garden. Everything is beautifully preserved. Only Palaces and temples were allowed to be painted with color. The colors and ornamentation of the buildings was fantastic. Rooftops are covered with individually made and baked tiles. The roof tiles of buildings specific to the king were tiled in blue; a color representing dragons and thus the king. The more important the person occupying the building, the more stone creatures on the corners of the roof acting a protectors of the buildings.

Marketplaces, namely Insadong, The art district, where one is treated to a crush of people enjoying some of the Korean traditional crafts and foods. From traditional Korean tea rooms to street vendors cooking Kebabs, Sweet custard breads with a sweet bean filling, and a sweet cinnamon-filled pocket that Mike and I would gladly have eaten all day, you quickly gain access to the sights, sounds and smells of Korea. We were quick to stand in long lines for the freshly made treats; like anywhere, the longer the line, the better the treat. Among our favorite shops was one called "The Riceteria"Whose window looked like a candy store but rather than chocolates there were beautiful packages of rice-based confections or concoctions in every shape, color, flavor and size. Other stores boasted handbags, papers, pottery, and clothing. My personal favorite was a store with traditional Korean dresses shown in the widow that were "Sydney-size." Without a doubt she would never have taken it off because she would have been a princess.

At a posh tea-room on the second story of a building at Insadong, Mike and I enjoyed a steaming cup of 5-spice tea while sitting on the porch overlooking the market. We asked our waitress for a recommendation of tea and 5-spice was described to us as a treat brewed to enhance all of the taste buds. She told us that we would taste spice (or heat), sweet, sour, tartness, and beer? Mike and I both gave a puzzled look at the word beer. Nonetheless it was delicious and the color of pomegranate served in what looked like a rice bowl (though it was a tea-cup) with a small spoon and was sprinkled with pine nuts. Mike and I looked about trying to decide if you sipped the tea from the spoon or picked up the cup. To our dismay no one near us was having tea and so we did a little of each wondering if anyone was giggling a the Americans. Finally we decided sipping from the bowl was easiest and went with it. Along side of the tea, we were given two treats; a chewy and airy rice confection with toasted sesame seeds on the outside. Very tasty!

Alright, well enough prattling for now. Talk to you soon!