Greetings from the Land of the Morning Calm! That’s right, I am officially a Seoul man (couldn’t resist) and my Korean adventure has begun. Seoul has been the capitol of this peninsula for pretty much it’s entire history going all the way back to about 4000BCE. Several dynasties followed over it’s history, the most influential being the Josean dynasty from 1392 until about 1910. They’ve been conquered by Mongolia, China, Japan twice, there was a very famous modern war that leaves the country divided into democratic south and communist north to this day, a military cout in 1961 that persisted until 1993, and yet South Korea has become one of the economic and cultural powerhouses of the world. You have to respect this culture, except for kimchi, I’ll never understand kimchi.

There is so much to see and do here! I’m only a week into the trip and I’m already exhausted. I’ve been out and about every day from about 8am until after 10pm every night. I’ve had the chance to learn all about the countries history at four different museums, the Seoul Museum of History, the Korean Museum of Contemporary History, the National Museum, and the Korean War Memorial which was especially massive. Not only the memorial and the museum, but it had about a city block or two filled with tanks, planes, helicopters, armored transports, and even a battleship… seriously! That’s a first for this traveler!

Being here in spring means two things. First, all the temples are all decked out with paper lanterns stretching from building to building to tree to whatever in honor of the Buddha’s birthday coming up. Second, the cherry blossoms are blooming EVERYWHERE! The place is just beautiful!

Having been the capitol for so long, and as you can imagine, there is a TON of history in this city. There are five royal palaces here. They have really cool names too, palace greatly blessed by heaven, palace of flourishing gladness, palace of prosperous virtue, palace of virtuous longevity, palace of serene harmony, and I of course visited them all. They were all built for different purposes, for the king, for the queen, for the prince, for concubines, as secondary residences, but through Korea’s turbulent history they each had their days in the limelight. The main one is Gyeongbokgung, the showpiece of Seoul. The palace complex is huge and took several hours to explore. It was the king’s main palace and it sits at the heart of the city.

Deoksugung was built as a royal house, but wasn’t meant to be a palace at all, until the Japanese arrived in the 16th century and started destroying everything in sight. The king moved in by necessity and the rest is history.

Changgyeonggung and Changdeokgung sit almost side by side on a beautiful hill on the east side of Seoul. Changdeokgung is probably the most atmospheric as it was built as a retreat for the royal family to ponder existence and write poetry. It’s spread out all over the forest with ponds and meditation huts.

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The fifth temple, Gyeonghuigung, also known as the western temple was mostly destroyed by the Japanese, but it’s been painstakingly rebuilt and now sits in the middle of a public park. Unfortunately, I visited on a Monday and it was closed, but I was able to walk the perimeter and take pictures over the wall.

Another very important place is the Jongmyo shrine. When Korean royalty died, they buried the bodies in the ground unmarked and created stone tablets with their names and accomplishments carved onto them. They believe the spirits of the these long dead members of the Josean dynasty are contained by the tablets and the tablets are contained in the shrine. You can’t get in to see the tablets, but the huge hall and complex surrounding it are very beautiful and peaceful.

When the Japanese arrived again in the early 1900’s they built a prison to house all the Korean patriots fighting for their country. Many people were imprisoned, tortured and killed. It’s a very somber place, but a very important piece of Korean history. It looks like a relatively modern jail. The execution room was especially frightening. A small wooden house with a gallows at one end like a stage and benches and tables at the other, almost like a theatre.

Holy Crap… I went to the DMZ!!!

My first trip out of the city took me to the DMZ where South Korea is separated from North Korea with lots of fencing, lots of barbed wire, lots of camouflaged outposts, and lots of men with guns. The UN mini city of Panmunjom, where leaders from both sides meet and greet in buildings that straddle the official border was closed to visitors back in October, so I missed visiting there by only 6 months. Maybe it has something to do with all the missiles North Korea has been lobbing around lately. Hmmm? I was however able to go to the third tunnel and Dorasan train station (quite literally, the end of the line). Back in the 1970’s, some tunnels were discovered with the help of a North Korean engineer who defected. It was estimated that 30,000 troops could make it through the tunnels per hour. Wow! The North of course denied making them, but it was pretty obvious. I donned a hard hat and walked to within a stones throw of the border, until I got to the cement barricades and booby traps. There are 4 known tunnels at various places along the border. Scary! The Dorosan train station is as far as the South was able to build. There are tracks that go all the way to Pyongyang, but the trains aren’t allowed to go there… yet. The south hopes to open up the lines some day, allowing them to connect to the trans-Siberian railway and all the way to Europe. They have signs pointing the way to the platform for your train to Pyongyang when you’re ready though.

Also on the tour was the Freedom Bridge, where prisoners were exchanged after the armistice agreement was signed in 1953, and a couple of observatories where you could peer across the border and see the North’s propaganda village and the abandoned industrial town of Gaeseong. I got some cool photos through the binoculars. The most interesting fact about the DMZ I learned, though, was that the 4km wide stretch of land bisecting the country has become a sort of ecological paradise for wildlife. All sorts of animal species are absolutely thriving in there without human interference. Awesome! All in all, I have to say I was disappointed with the tour however. Aside from being herded from place to place too quickly to take it all in, they’ve turned what is otherwise a very tense and dangerous place into an amusement park complete with rides for the kids and plenty of souvenir shops. Bleh!

My other day trip took me south to Suwon City. They have one of the best preserved 18th century town walls complete with lookout posts and four huge town gates. I walked the whole thing. It’s been relatively cold since I got here, but I had a nice reality check when the weather turned hot the day I decided to go for a hike in Suwon. I was roasting! (below left is the north gate of Suwon and below right is the south gate stranded in a roundabout)

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Lastly, no visit to a big metropolis like Seoul would be complete without a trip up to an observation deck in the sky. But wait, Seoul has two, so I went up both. First the Namsan Tower atop Namsan Mountain for views of the heart of Seoul (see the pic at the very top of the post). And for my final night in Seoul, the 120th floor of the Lotte World Tower for stunning night views down the Hangang River. It’s the tallest building in Korea, the fifth tallest building in the world, and boasts the highest glass floored observation deck in the world. It was terrifying! Luckily, the glass bottom section was relatively small and optional.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not a foodie at all, but I have to say the food here is so good! I spent eight days in Seoul and I stepped foot inside a restaurant a total of only three times. There’s so much good street food to choose from, mostly barbequed meats and seafood, but many other things as well. You name it, they probably have it. Mom and Pop traditional restaurants are on every street as well. The people of Seoul are definitely not going hungry. Seoul is a great city! It’s walkable, safe, friendly, has an intricate web of metro lines waiting to take you to every nook and cranny, has interesting museums dotted amongst ancient palaces and temples, and is surrounded by mountains. Two thumbs up from me!

There’s a lot more of Korea to see, so stay tuned for more…

See all the pics from Seoul and the DMZ right here

And see all the pics from Suwon here