Sight seein' in Seoul
It's been about a month, and we finally decided to do the tourist thing. We ventured into Seoul, the capitol, cameras and guidebooks in hand. As we got closer and closer to the tourist center--a beautiful mix of ancient palaces, modern government and business buildings, and hundreds of posh shops--we noticed more English, higher prices, and more and more foreigners. To tell you the truth, it was actually kind of nice to talk to people that understood you a little better, and to meet many people in a similar situation to your own. Don't get me wrong--I love being stared at by every set of eyes when I walk into a restaurant or when a store clerk laughs at the way I say something--it was just nice to see that we're not the only ones.
The areas of the city we enjoyed were quite beautiful. The city is a nice compromise between concrete and glass, and green trees and running water. A tour guide at the palace we visited, told us it's the Korean "Feng Shui" that makes the city so nice. It's probably true. I mean, we were in the heart of a city that has over 20 million people in it, and we really didn't feel suffocated. We were able to spend some time at Changdeokgung palace, where the royal family lived in the 19th century, and then we went on a nice walk up a nearby mountain to a lookout point over the city. Here are some pics.
This is a typical street in the neighborhood we wandered through. There were lots of street vendors, selling everything from binoculars and belt buckles to live squid.
Just look at how much fun I'm having!
This palace is famous for a large garden, called the Secret Garden, and this is the beginning of it. It is so beautiful right now with all the Japanese Maples turning colors for the fall. When the royal family lived here, you were only allowed into the Secret Garden by special permission of the king. One of the kings loved to fish, so he had this tiny little pond put in the palace and stocked the hell out of it. Sounds like something grandpa Chuck would do.
Do we look like tourists?
She's beautiful, isn't she? So is the building behind her. It was built by a prince as a place to keep his concubines.
posted by beth and ryan @ 2:01 AM
3 Comments:
I hear that some of the street venders stay who prepair food stay open through most of the night. Have you guys eaten anything from them yet. I was told that the kabobs and the onion pancakes were pretty good. Just try not to think about the sanitation practices.
Yea, there are tons of street vendors that stay open pretty late. There lots meat on sticks, like chicken, pork, and octopus (yes, octopus), and a bunch of other things that are kind of hard to explain. Most of the street food is deep fried or not super nutritious, its kind of like fast food, so we don't really eat that much of it. Also, they don't really have refrigerators so I don't know where they keep the uncooked meat. It's something I really don't like to think about, but on the days that I spend hours on the toilet, its just hard not to think about those sort of things.
We are actually going to do a few posts about food in the next couple of weeks. Laaaatttteee!
nice ryan
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