Last Night in Korea
Aug. 25th, 2012 07:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterWell, here I am, on my last night in Korea. I was originally going to remain in Daegu today for a day of sight-seeing, returning to Seoul just to catch the plane back to the US (hopefully before the typhoon reaches Korea), but after talking to folks at the meeting I changed plans and came back to Seoul a day early for some sight-seeing in Seoul.
Really, either option would have been just fine, I can now say in retrospect. I've learned that Daegu is a major center for textiles, while Seoul is, well, a big, historic city. It has been the capitol of Korea for over 500 years, so there are a lot of historic buildings here (although many of the buildings were affected by the occupation by Japan during the first half of the twentieth century). I took the high-speed train from Daegu back to Seoul, and arrived at the Seoul train station in between the times when my friends J and A got there, and when S arrived with another contingent. I'd asked about crashing in J and A's hotel room, but then discovered that S was in a hotel room of his own at Seoul National University, which would mean a bed to sleep in. Once S and company arrived, I gave them my luggage to take over to the University Faculty Hotel, got directions for how to get to the hotel, and then set out to meet up with J and A at the Changdeokgung Palace (not to be confused with the Changgyeonggung Palace, next door, which used to be joined with the Changdeokgung Palace until the Japanese Occupation, when it was split off and turned into a zoo).
There was an English tour scheduled for 14:30 at the Palace, and J, A, and I all managed to meet up there just in time to tour the palace. S is good friends with a Korean nutritionist, KPL, who had recommended this palace to us as the one and only place to visit if we were to visit one and only place, because it had a secret garden behind. When I eventually get around to uploading and posting photos, I'll post a bunch of the palace, but the real highlight of the tour was the second tour of the "secret" garden (which used to be known as the "rear garden" until someone decided it was fancier to call it the "secret" garden). 'Twas a garden full of gingko trees and maple trees, with ponds and streams and resting space for the King and Crown Prince. Oh, plus the King's library (which means I can sort of claim to have visited a library on this expedition - no more books there, but it sure looked like a nice place to study!). The garden was such a great antidote to all of the flashing neon and compact urban life on pavement.
I was pretty tired from walking around by the end of the tour. Did I mention that Korea is rather warm and humid? Texas is worse, but the heat and humidity catch up with a person after a while. So then we briefly stopped for some cold drinks and considered our next options. We were all fairly hungry, and J wanted to do a bit of souvenir shopping, so we headed for the Seoul Namdaemun Market, which was supposed to have a Noodle Alley with delicious foods for dinner.
Well, the food wound up being pretty good, but we got fleeced; all of the noodle stalls had Foreigner menus with pretty high prices, compared to what we'd been paying for food in Daegu. Daegu is definitely less tourist-oriented than Seoul. It wasn't the end of the world, but it made us less enthusiastic about shopping in the market, especially as we were running out of currency (always a delicate balance when on the verge of leaving a country).
So, after strolling around, checking out designer clothes that don't really appeal to most academics' tastes, we decided to call it a night - J and A went one way, I went another, to the Seoul National University Faculty Hotel.
I am highly amused by the great contrast between the Bali Motel in Daegu and the Faculty Hotel. I'll post photos for your amusement, too. In the meantime, it feels like time to wash off the day's sweat and grime, and then time to head to bed. I'm starting to come down with a cold, which means that it was actually a good thing I followed![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gfrancie's advice and packed some cough drops. I've also got some mint tea on hand, so hopefully I can survive the flight, get rest, and maybe even get a little more knitting done. Then it will be a quick evening in Seattle of bike-packing, then another haul across the US and back to Texas, where I'll get back to work with the crickets and with the fall crew.
Busy busy busy.
Really, either option would have been just fine, I can now say in retrospect. I've learned that Daegu is a major center for textiles, while Seoul is, well, a big, historic city. It has been the capitol of Korea for over 500 years, so there are a lot of historic buildings here (although many of the buildings were affected by the occupation by Japan during the first half of the twentieth century). I took the high-speed train from Daegu back to Seoul, and arrived at the Seoul train station in between the times when my friends J and A got there, and when S arrived with another contingent. I'd asked about crashing in J and A's hotel room, but then discovered that S was in a hotel room of his own at Seoul National University, which would mean a bed to sleep in. Once S and company arrived, I gave them my luggage to take over to the University Faculty Hotel, got directions for how to get to the hotel, and then set out to meet up with J and A at the Changdeokgung Palace (not to be confused with the Changgyeonggung Palace, next door, which used to be joined with the Changdeokgung Palace until the Japanese Occupation, when it was split off and turned into a zoo).
There was an English tour scheduled for 14:30 at the Palace, and J, A, and I all managed to meet up there just in time to tour the palace. S is good friends with a Korean nutritionist, KPL, who had recommended this palace to us as the one and only place to visit if we were to visit one and only place, because it had a secret garden behind. When I eventually get around to uploading and posting photos, I'll post a bunch of the palace, but the real highlight of the tour was the second tour of the "secret" garden (which used to be known as the "rear garden" until someone decided it was fancier to call it the "secret" garden). 'Twas a garden full of gingko trees and maple trees, with ponds and streams and resting space for the King and Crown Prince. Oh, plus the King's library (which means I can sort of claim to have visited a library on this expedition - no more books there, but it sure looked like a nice place to study!). The garden was such a great antidote to all of the flashing neon and compact urban life on pavement.
I was pretty tired from walking around by the end of the tour. Did I mention that Korea is rather warm and humid? Texas is worse, but the heat and humidity catch up with a person after a while. So then we briefly stopped for some cold drinks and considered our next options. We were all fairly hungry, and J wanted to do a bit of souvenir shopping, so we headed for the Seoul Namdaemun Market, which was supposed to have a Noodle Alley with delicious foods for dinner.
Well, the food wound up being pretty good, but we got fleeced; all of the noodle stalls had Foreigner menus with pretty high prices, compared to what we'd been paying for food in Daegu. Daegu is definitely less tourist-oriented than Seoul. It wasn't the end of the world, but it made us less enthusiastic about shopping in the market, especially as we were running out of currency (always a delicate balance when on the verge of leaving a country).
So, after strolling around, checking out designer clothes that don't really appeal to most academics' tastes, we decided to call it a night - J and A went one way, I went another, to the Seoul National University Faculty Hotel.
I am highly amused by the great contrast between the Bali Motel in Daegu and the Faculty Hotel. I'll post photos for your amusement, too. In the meantime, it feels like time to wash off the day's sweat and grime, and then time to head to bed. I'm starting to come down with a cold, which means that it was actually a good thing I followed
gfrancie's advice and packed some cough drops. I've also got some mint tea on hand, so hopefully I can survive the flight, get rest, and maybe even get a little more knitting done. Then it will be a quick evening in Seattle of bike-packing, then another haul across the US and back to Texas, where I'll get back to work with the crickets and with the fall crew.Busy busy busy.
