Searching for my Seoul... (part 2)

In a galaxy far, far away, our story continues with our hero well rested after an unsuccessful quest after the cheapest hotel room in existence. This has not been the first time he has exerted his energies in search of a bargain and sure as hell won't be the last....

Ahhh well, moving on. After resting my weary legs, I started to feel the stomach rumble and ducked out of the hotel to get some grub. The Lonely Planet guide indicated I was near one of the popular markets, Namdaemun - which is near central Seoul - and I decided I'd go check it out. 

Namdaemun market is fairly similar to every other shopping market I've ever been to in Asia - full of stalls selling a wide variety of stuff - most of it being fake handbags, Louis Vutton ties, Gucci sunglasses, etc that all falls apart within a week or two if you're careful, otherwise it might not make it out of the market alive. Needless to say, when that happens and you go back to return your brand spanking new Ray Band sunnies that just happened to have the lense fall out the first time you try them out, the stall you bought it from magically turns into a deep fried indescribable local food stall. Such is the nature of the fabric of the Asian market universes  - Petaling St in KL and Palika Bazaar in New Delhi can claim similar honours. The one benefit from the Korean version is that the shopkeepers aren't as in-your-face as their Indian counterparts nor are you likely to have poo thrown on your shoe (that is another story entirely!). But I could be proven wrong... however the deep fried whatever it was wasn't too bad and my glasses are still broken.

I can almost go down in history as the worst shopper ever. Unless I know exactly what I want and why I want it, I inadvertently spend my time being indecisive, umming and erring over even the simplest of purchases and usually end up walking away with nada. I managed to get out of my predicament a little this time when, as I was attempting to ask for a price on something, a Korean lady helped me out. She started talking to me, as she knew some English, and then asked if she could walk around the market with me and chat. Apparently, she was from out of town, visiting her daughter who studies at a uni there and she'd been studying English and wanted to practice - so she followed me around and taught me a few things about Korea while we had a relatively broken conversation as she struggled with my accent and I tried my best to follow what she was saying. What surprised me was that her daughter seemed to know little to no English - which is a bit of a role reversal to what you usually come across. The sweet lady even showed me some of the nearby food stalls and explained to me what was in all the dishes - lets just say I might reconsider trying some of those now - ignorance is bliss when experimenting with food!

Since this experience in Seoul, I've since found it is not a unique occurrence - everywhere I go, someone will spot the foreigner and use it as an opportunity to try out their English - mostly its kids saying "Hi" and "Where are you from?". I sometimes wonder how they would even know that I know English - I could be German for all they know - I've never had a Korean child come up to me and say "Guten tag!" That'll be the day... Meanwhile, if you are a foreigner and you don't know Korean or English and don't have a translator or tour guide, you would be almost up the proverbial creek in this country. You'd survive, but English can be a saviour at times, even if it is a poor one.

I parted ways with my inadvertent English student, satisfied that I may have introduced some Aussie slang to her vocabulary just to confuse her (I'm such a great teacher like that) and retreated to the hotel for some shut-eye.

The next day was a little more routine in the tourist sense - I checked out of the hotel, left my luggage in a locker at the train station (I casually mention this, but was a lot more work than expected!) and caught the subway to meet a friend at Gyeongbok Palace. 

Gyeongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace is one of the five palaces in Seoul and is the first palace of the Joseon dynasty. It's design follows Confucian philosophy and is simple in design, and from my point of view, looks very similar to a lot of the traditional East Asian architecture that is found throughout China and Japan. 

We arrived there just in time to see the changing of the guards ceremony, where numerous Korean men were decked out in traditional garb with weaponry and all and went through their ritual to the amusement of the gathered crowd. 

Bang that drum sunshine. I never would have thought colourful long flowing robes would be useful in combat, but there you go.

Our timing was not so perfect in terms of the free English tour of the palace, so we ducked out to check out another local market - Insadong. 

Insadong market

Insadong is a quaint market that tends to focus on selling more of the traditional arts and crafts of Korea/Asia and is a bit more cultural than Namdaemun, and has a lot less fake goods on offer. A very nice place to go for a wander on a Sunday afternoon and we were treated to a couple of small "cultural" performances... see the attached video.

I never said it was a Korean cultural performance! Seeing a turkish ice cream vendor in Seoul was a welcome reminder of Istanbul, and definitely unexpected!

Heading back to the palace, I observed more interesting aspects of Korea that I will elaborate on in further posts - due mainly to the length of this one! I imagine many of you have either flicked back to facebook or a youtube video by now, but for those who are still tuned in, I'll finish my story!

The tour of the palace was nice, and learning about and appreciating the history of a place is always fulfilling - I won't go into in this post, but Korea's history is an interesting one and hard to perhaps get an objective view of it - given the ongoing war with the North and long term resentment of Japan - these aspects have a sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle, influence on how the country's history is portrayed. 

Kicking it on a cultural tour - the building behind me was the party pad for the royal family - yeah boi

View behind the palace - great day.

After a pleasant afternoon getting my culture on, we made our way to where the Seoul Baha'i Community's Naw Ruz celebration was to be held. For those less familiar, Naw Ruz is the Baha'i New Year (it is also the term for Persian new year as well - literally means new year in Farsi) and marks the beginning of the Baha'i Calendar and the end of the Fasting period. Hence why a buffet Korean meal hit the spot perfectly! Over the years I have noticed however, that no matter how great the idea is, fasting tends to shrink the stomach and you can never eat as much as would have liked. Alas, it happened again, but the food was delish and the company was even better! It was great meeting the Baha'is in Seoul and partaking in a joyous celebration with them - the stand out was the performance put together by the youth and the quiz/game show afterwards. Having seen Baha'i youth do creative performances all over the world, they definitely took a unique approach to it and, as usual, it was an extremely joyful occasion and the crowd really appreciated it. I then had time to catch a coffee with some of my new friends before hitching a ride on the KTX train back to Ulsan. 

Youth performance at Naw Ruz celebration

Overall, I was very satisfied with my visit to Seoul and I look forward to going there more as my time in Korea  continues!

Until next time readers - gamsahapnida!