Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung Palaces in Seoul, Korea (July 28 and 30)

On the 28th, I visited Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. It's a huge palace compound right smack in the middle of downtown Seoul. It was constructed in 1394 and given the name Gyeongbokgung, meaning "Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven". It was destroyed in 1592 when the Japanese invaded Korea. But the Japanese cannot be blamed for that (at least not directly). That dirty deed is blamed on either the slaves of the palace who wanted to "destroy the records of their servitude" (Moon Handbooks' version) or on the citizens of Seoul who were angered by the desertion of the king and aristrocrats as Japan invaded (Lonely Planet's version). Of course the sign at the palace blames the destruction on the Japanese, and the audio guide I rented lost no opportunity to blame the "evil" Japanese for anything.

The changing of the guard

Throne hall.

The throne room. The painting of the five peaks was a standard scene around the palace, as well as behind the throne at Changdeokgung.

At the rear of the palace grounds, considered one of the prettiest scenes in all Korea

More photos of Gyeongbokgung Palace

On my last full day in Korea, I visited Changdeokgung Palace (by the way, don't ask me to pronounce any of these names!). It's a smaller palace, but was a bit nicer because you must go on a tour and so it was less busy and quieter.

The throne hall. In the courtyard in front of the throne hall were lines of stone markers indicating where each rank should stand. The area to the right of the approachway was for civilian leaders and the left for military leaders. The right was considered more important, so in times of war, they switched positions. The middle section of the steps leading to the throne hall has no steps because the king was always carried in a palaquin so he didn't need steps.

Looking back at the city from the throne room. The gate in the foreground was for the king, and if I understood the tour guide correctly, that white ridge on the rooftop was to indicate which buildings were for the king.

The throne - notice the same five mountain peaks on the painting behind the throne.

Some mythical creatures on the throne room roof for protection.

Raised corridor for the king, since his feet should never touch the earth.

Two interesting features here. On the left is a small door. That was for when the king had to go to the bathroom. They would slide the chamberpot in and out of the building through this door.

In the bottom right is a fireplace. Korean palace floors were heated by fires under the building!

The Secret Garden. Much was made of this Secret Garden, but once again, I couldn't help comparing it to Japanese gardens and being less than impressed. I was told that the name Secret Garden was given to it by the Japanese, and my first thought was that they probably thought it was so embarrassingly small and basic that it should be kept secret.

More photos of Changdeokgung Palace

On the 31st, I took the KTX train from Seoul to Busan. I don't know if the KTX is similar to Japan's bullet train (shinkansen) but it took only 3 hours to get from northern South Korea to the southern tip. In Busan, I had a quick lunch of spicy ramen before getting on the ferry to take me back to Japan.

Overall I really enjoyed Korea, though when I got back, a friend correctly diagnosed that I went through some culture shock there. That really surprised me because I had assumed Korean culture and Japanese culture to be at least surficially similar. But I guess I've been in Japan too long... Only one week left in Japan, then REAL culture shock will begin!