Blue House

First thing first, I did not get to go inside the Blue House. I merely managed to stand on the outside, dejected at my bad timing. Indeed, I happened to be there during their summer holidays and there were no visits for the whole month I spent in Korea.

The Blue House, or Cheongwadae, is a complex of buildings, which includes the residence of the President of the Republic of Korea. It would have been an interesting visit, if just to assuage my curiosity.

I was impressed despite not being able to set foot inside the complex. Let's just say the guards posted on the outside had little in common with the actors parading at Deoksugung... There was just something impressive in the air. I suspect it was mainly in the details, from the shine of their shoes to the rigidity of their posture. Even the ones that were not in uniform and tried to be helpful gave off this aura of competency that you don't see in the police patrolling the street, which are mainly young men doing their mandatory service.

I'm sure this would have been a worthwhile visit. Word of advice though: be sure to visit their webpage to reserve your spot a fair bit in advance as, when the Blue House is open for visits, the spots fill in rather quickly. Let's say it's not a show up the day of thing.

The Blue House is close to Gyenongbokgung Palace and Gallery Hyundai, a favorite of mine. In fact, the whole neighborhood is worthy of a stroll and some fair bit of exploration.

Hangang

I have quickly mentioned the Hangang, or Han river, in one of my previous posts about Korea when I was describing my area of residence.

To put things in perspective, the Hangang is the fourth longest river on the Korean peninsula at an approximate length of 494 kilometers. It is made of two smaller rivers flowing from mountains to the East and converging near Seoul.

 (Han river to the left)

You might wonder why I'm bothering to write a post about this particular river. Well, like other major rivers (I'm thinking of the Gange, the Nile and the Danube as well as the St. Lawrence closer to home), the Han river has played an important role in Korean history. This river was highly coveted as it constituted a trade route with China via the Yellow Sea. And let's not overlook the fertile lands on its banks.

The river was under the control of various sovereigns up until the Joseon period when it became the primary waterway of the new Korean capital of Seoul, then known as Hanyang. While, in history this river was useful for transportation purposes, it is no longer the case as it is situated between the two Korean nations and civilians are barred entrance because of the political situation. While the Hangang largely belongs to the Republic of Korea, its effluence in the Yellow Sea is situated a few nautical miles from North Korea and some of the river's tributaries are actually located there. During the war, the Han Bridge crossing the river was destroyed by the South Korean army in order to slow the North Korean troops. This also destroyed the hopes of thousands of citizens to escape.


At the beginning of South Korea as a country, the river became extremely polluted by the new industries and the impoverished population. It became a convenient spillway for refuse. The usage of the river has since then shifted to a more leisurely purpose and the last decade has seen government sponsored environmental efforts to clean it up. It is now a location of choice for pedestrians and cyclists.

 (Walking by the river, under the many bridges)

The Palaces of Seoul: Deoksugung

Just so you can position yourself better, Deoksugung Palace is a short walk away from City Hall station in downtown Seoul.

A few facts

Deoksugung is a walled compound of palaces where members of the Korean royalty resided until the colonial period at the turn of the 20th century. It counts among the Five Grand Palaces that were built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty.

Deoksugung Palace originally belonged to Wolsandaegun (1454~1488), the older brother of King Seongjong (1469~1494) of the Joseon Dynasty. It became a proper palace when Gwanghaegun (1575~1641) ascended the throne and gave the palace the name Gyeongungung in 1611. Afterwards, the name was changed back to its original title of Deoksugung.

Notes from my visit

As I had expected from my first palace visit, there was a grandeur rivaling some of the well known western castles. It was hard not to notice the stark contrast between the palace and it surroundings of concrete.

It seems that walking along the stone wall is a popular activity for workers of the area on their lunch breaks to escape the concrete jungle. I encourage you to follow this same road to explore the neighborhood. In fact, this walk will eventually take you to what is left of the Russian Legation building. Only the tower, the basement as well as the hidden passage leading to Jeonggwanheon in the Deoksugung Palace remain today. The building was restored in 1973 and stands above a nice park at the back of the palace. This being said, I don't think you can go inside, at least I couldn't on the day of my visit.

The Russian Legation building is where King Gojong and the Crown Prince fled on February 11, 1896 after the assassination of Queen Consort Min to avoid suffering the same fate. It is on October 8, 1895, that a band of fifty Japanese men armed with sword neutralized a unit of the Korean Royal Guard. Twenty of these men entered the queen's wing and pulled all the women outside to be questioned. Their aim was to identify the queen and assassinate the woman who was considered such a grave threat to Japanese domination of the Korean Peninsula.

 (What remains above ground of the Russian Legation)

The buildings

The buildings inside are a great display of traditional Korean architecture. If you visit, do pay close attention to the details of the canopies and the painted wood used in the construction.

The one building that sticks out in terms of architecture is Seokjogwan, with its Greek architecture. Seokjogwan had many purpose throughout its existence. Now, the east wing serves as a Palace Treasure exhibition, and the west wing is used as part of National Modern Arts Center.

Another building of interest is Junghwa Hall, one of the historical centers of Deoksugung. It was the center of politics during the period of Daehanjeguk (the Great Korean Empire) and served as the backdrop to critical discussions on national affairs among the country’s great leaders. When you visit it, pay special attention to the two dragons that decorate the canopy above the throne of the king.

Finally, Jeonggwanheon was the first western style building built in the palace in 1900 and this is the entrance to the secret passage to the Russian Emissary mentioned above.

Also, while you are on the grounds of Deoksugung, I would advise taking the time to visit  the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The museum has four locations: Gwacheon, Seoul, Deoksugung and Cheongju. The visit to the Deoksugung location is included in the price of the palace entrance.

Bring your camera

A private company sponsors the change of the guards. In this neat display, actors portraying Josea-era guards take their roles very seriously as they parade in the court. If you manage to get close, this could make for some very good pictures.

Also, if it strikes your fancy, you can rent traditional costumes to ensure that you bring home that priceless portrait.

My visit of Deoksugung opened my appetite and I found myself walking up the street, along the stone wall, until I found a nice place to have some delicious Dolsot Bibimbap. Bibimbap would become one of my restaurant staple, as you will be able to read in one of my upcomig posts.

After my lunch break, I did some more walking which brought me to a bookshop where I purchased a children story about a rabbit in order to practice reading. I must say, Korean has the advantage of having an alphabet. It makes it easy to learn to pronounce the sounds behind a symbol. However, it doesn't make it easier to actually learn vocabulary.

From there, I sat at a canal to read until I got approached by two students who bravely asked me if they could practice their English with me. So we spent some time chatting about just about anything. Considering how shy Koreans are, the students displayed a lot of courage in approaching me!

Finally, after a full day, I headed back home to the apartment.

First Steps in Seoul

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my next stop was Seoul, the capital of South Korea. At this point, I had been on the road for 3 months and had figured I would need a change of pace. This is why I allowed myself to spend a full month in this country, which would turn out to be my last stop in Asia.

I found myself a nice little apartment, with three awesome roommates, which was located close to the Mapo-gu Office station. Which was of course a major plus. It was also equipped with everything I could possibly want. This wasn't a touristy neighborhood, with all the advantages and disadvantages this entails. Yes, I was away from the circus, but this also meant my chances of having trouble communicating were higher.

My location also allowed me to reach a canal in 5 minutes by foot. From there, another 10 minutes would take me to the Hangang (Han river). This became a favorite spot of mine as most nights, around midnight, I would set out in my running gear and make my way to the second bridge. There, I found an outdoor workout station, which combined to the stairs leading up to the bridge, proved to provide everything I needed. I would come back afterward in a run as well. You can have a sneak peak at my set-up with this map.

My great location gave me access to many other great things, apart from the river. There were restaurant, a traditional market and almost anything I could need close by. If I felt like walking, Hapjeong was not that far away.

Some Apprehensions about South Korea

I would lie if I pretended I had no apprehensions about South Korea. First, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. In my research, it seems I came across too many reports of racism experienced by foreigners. As I was planning on dropping my bags there for a month, I was really hoping these reports were exaggerated and that I had no reasons to worry.

I am happy and relieved to report I experienced no such problems. Except, perhaps, for the fact that I did sometimes feel some people staring, not the stares I got in South East Asia... it's hard to explain, but it was a different type of stares. I'm not sure if it makes any sense still.
 
Other times I did feel like I was dressed incorrectly. I suspect it mostly had to do with the cuts of my shirts: v-necks that would be considered rather conservative in Canada, but were quite daring for South Korea. This was easily fixed by wearing a scarf.

I did pay heed to the accounts of my fellow travelers who had a hard time adjusting to South Korea. It seemed one common denominator was the corruption. For a developed country, it was surprising to read several accounts of foreigners being assaulted only to be charged for the crime and, for sole way out of being prosecuted, having to compensate their victim in the four digits figures. Which was much more economical than going ahead with a defense that could rise much higher.

Another common theme seemed to revolve around the idea that South Koreans were not fond of Americans. The main explanation I could find for this was the controversial presence of several American military bases in South Korea.

But, as I said, this was not my experience. I found South Koreans to be very welcoming and kind. I have made friends during my month and have seized the opportunity to discuss the preceding points when I voiced on one occasion my pre-arrival apprehensions. I didn't know at the time, and my friends were kind enough to overlook my misstep, but it was a major faux-pas for me to actually speak of this. I suppose I should have known better, I had heard South Koreans are really proud and my questions could have easily been interpreted as criticism of their country.

However, I am glad I did breach the subject. It allowed me to gain insight that would come useful throughout my stay. While racism exists (to be fair, racism can be a problem anywhere really), Westerners might mistake extreme shyness for race bias. I can attest to the shyness of South Koreans. Communication is another issue that can result in locals seeming unfriendly toward foreigners. Communication issues could also explain the unfair nature of the assault investigations.

My roommates did however warn me, saying the assault cases to which I was referring most often happened at the end of the evening in a neighborhood called Itaewon. The explanation made sense. On weekends, many young American soldiers gather in Itaewon for a drink or two or too many. Soon, you find yourself with a melting pot of cultural differences, politics and inebriated minds - an explosive mix.

I was advised to keep out of there on weekend nights. I did. So I can't really comment further on this.

I will go further in depth in some of the elements mentioned here in upcoming posts. Stay tuned.

Change Log

2014-10-08 - Pictures were added to the post Our Stay at a Ryokkan and Traveling by Night.

Pictures were added to the post Oh deers...

2014-09-26 - The post Exciting News - A Round the World Trip was renamed to a simpler Kickoff. Small changes were made to the wording used in the post. The post was also added to the Reflexions category to make it easier to access it.

The post Creating a Will – Part 1 was renamed to Creating a Will, since I never wrote a part two and I feel I don't have enough material to write one.

The post Last Meeting with the Board was renamed to Last Board Meeting. The body of the post was modified to increase clarity of content.

I have added the label Health to the post Vaccination.

A picture was added to the post Air Canada's Red Tape Nightmare.

One line was added to the Te Papa comment in the Zealandia post.

A few changes were made throughout the Surfing in Manly Beach post.

End of Journey

This is just a small message to let you know that I have returned home after months on the road and after exploring a total of 20 countries. Of course, my travels did not end in Japan, my loyal pair of sneakers did many more miles after that. However, I just couldn't write fast enough for my retelling of the journey to coincide with my actual pace.

I had started this blog at first to keep friends and family at home informed of my whereabouts. I was surprised by the readership and have decided to maintain my blog and to write the story to the end.

I will take the time now to rework some of the previous posts as I go over them as well as write new ones. Perhaps, add pictures to the ones that lack them. This means that my publishing schedule will change as well. At this point in time, I am aiming at publishing twice a week. I will also keep a post up explaining the changes made to previous posts, if you wish to revisit them.

Time to Say Goodbye

After a lovely visit of Japan with Jason, it was time to part way yet again. He was heading on to Canada on a rather long flight and I was moving on to South Korea. There were quite a few places we didn't manage to see as our visit was quite targeted geographically. Among these locations that we would have wished to see there was the bunny island for Jason and Hokkaido for myself. I don't exclude the possibility of returning in the future to complete our tour of Japan.

As for Jason, it was his first official traveling and I was glad he shared this moment with me. I am confident he had a great time and he seemed eager for more. Perhaps, this trip will open the door to more duo wanderings in the future!

As you can imagine, there was something quite sad when we parted at the airport, but it was tampered with some great plans we had made for after my return. We also had talks of him maybe joining up with me at a further point in one of my other locations.

This being said I had myself mixed feeling about my next destination. I had heard rather scary reports of racism against foreigners in South Korea. Incidents were not all there was to be read about, so despite some apprehensions, I had faith it would go well. Being on my best behavior had helped me so far and I was sure it would keep me out of trouble in the future as well.

Word of the Day - Love Lock

Lock left on bridges, fences and all sorts of structures - actually, it seems any structures will do. The lock bears the initials of the lovers and once they have thrown away the key,  their love should have become unbreakable.

The Love Lock trend has grown worldwide, much to the dismay of municipal authorities who must pay for their removal. In Paris, the Pont des Arts is almost fully covered in these and it has been known to damage the structure.

Floating Gardens of Osaka

When dearest J suggested we go see the Floating Garden Observatory in Osaka, he hadn't realized these “gardens” were located at the very top of the Umeda Sky Building. At about a whooping 50^th floor, it proved to be a test for his willpower. He had thought these would be nice water gardens at ground level, not the nice relaxing walk he thought it would be. The garden itself was not made of beautiful flowers, but was rather made up of the skyscraper jungle spreading out on the horizon. Tiny ants of cars made their ways busily between buildings.

It took a bit of imagination to visualize the garden, but it was still a nice day and provided a gorgeous view of our surroundings.

There was also a small counter where you could order your initials and those of your loved one engraved on a Love Lock. With lock in hand, you would head on up to the observatory and lock it up on a fence to ensure your ever lasting love.

Did we play the game? Of course we did.