Mum and Estelle come to Korea

I honestly didn't sleep for about a week before mum and Estelle arrived, partly because I was very excited and partly because I was sure that somehow mum would miss a flight/get lost in CDG airport or 1001 other possible mishaps! Luckily, they arrived safely at Incheon on Sunday morning! I went to meet them at the airport, we caught the bus back to Bucheon and got them checked into the Hotel Kobos where they were pleasantly surprised at what £30 a night gets you in Bucheon! I had to tell mum it was a "love hotel" when she noticed the condoms by the side of the bed!

I'm writing this some time after they left, so I can't remember what we did on what days, so instead I'm going to post a few of my favourite photos of their time here. It was lovely to spend time in Korea with mum and Estelle and I miss them a lot now that they're gone!

Seoul Fringe Festival

The Seoul Fringe Festival is currently taking part in Hongdae. Its organised along the lines of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in that any artist can take part in the event. The official English website can be found here.

Last weekend, Robyn and I had a wander around Hongdae to watch some street performances, but failed to find much of note, due to a lack of signposting along with the Korean disdain for street names and an English map which marked venues, but indicated no nearby landmarks, so they were nigh on impossible to find (or it could be that we are both useless at reading maps)! We couldn't find Honggik Park (one of the main venues for outdoor performances) at all...

We went back to Hongdae on Sunday to see a Fringe event showcasing five Korean rock bands - Selly, Rubi Star, Renata Suicide, Dusty Blue and Pennylane. You've got to love the descriptions in the festival programme -

Selly - their music "stirs peoples emotions and touches their hearts with implicative emotions".

Rubi Star - "expected to be the next star band for its infinite potential".

Renata Suicide - "addictive heterogenous rock" which is "gaining popularity among manias"?

Dusty Blue's write up is the most baffling - "green paper covered with dust is still green, any dust cannot change its color". Huh??

Pennylane - "unique music combining 80's style pop and emotional modern rock". Ok, that one is quite normal!

All the bands were really good and gave me a bit of faith in a music scene dominated by poppy girl groups and boy bands. Its just a shame that the gig wasn't better attended - at no point was there more than 50 people watching. Maybe it was the lack of a bar...I've never been to a gig where there was no bar (not even soft drinks). It was probably a good thing as the loos were the squatting variety!

Selly

Rubi Star

Renata Suicide

Dusty Blue

Pennylane

The Fringe Festival ends this Saturday (29th August).

Seoul sightseeing

On Lisa's last weekend, we went into Seoul and stayed overnight at the Ibis in Myeongdong. It rained heavily on Saturday, which was a good excuse to look around the shops!

In the evening, we went to see a dance musical called Sachoom at the Nagwon Theatre in Insadong. The receptionist at the Ibis booked the tickets for us and we got them discounted from 50,000 won to 35,000 won! Sachoom is an abbreviation of the Korean phrase sarangha-myeon-chumeulchueora, which means “dance if you are in love.” The show was really fun and energetic mixing different contemporary dance styles and the glistening muscles of the male dancers didn't hurt either!

Me and Lisa at Gyeongbukgung Palace

Sunday was a much nicer day, so we went to Gyeongbukgung Palace and arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony (at least, I think that's what it was). It was the third time I've been to Gyeongbukgung, but the first time when the sun was out, so I took plenty of photos! Despite the hordes of people and fake facial hair (the guards, not me!), the ceremony was quite compelling, especially with the atmospheric music and it gave an inkling of the ornate rituals that existed during the Joseon era.

Changing of the Guard ceremonyAfter looking around the palace buildings, we strolled through Insadong then took the Seoul city bus tour (which managed to cram far too many people onto the bus and thus we could only see things which were on the right hand side of the bus due to all the people standing in the aisle, sigh).

Fan maker in Insadong

Bukchon Hanok Village

Earlier today, I ventured into a part of Seoul so far untouched by developers (I know, this is a pet peeve of mine!) known as Bukchon, an area where traditional Korean houses or hanoks have been preserved. Bukchon is inbetween the Gyeongbukgung and Changdeok palaces overlooking Samcheong (which I visited a few weeks ago)

A hanok

The area dates back 600 years or so and was once home to high-ranking officials and aristocrats. Bukchon is still residential although some hanoks have been converted into museums and guesthouses. Its a peaceful area which gives you some idea of what Seoul was like in the past (for rich people anyway) and is ideal for walking around. There are some good views from the top of the hill which were presumably clearer in Joseon times!

Bukchon street

View over Seoul from the top of the street

View in the other direction over Samcheong

Steps leading up to Bukchon from Samcheong

Getting there: the nearest subway station is Anguk. Follow the walled road which is directly across the road from Insadong-gil. Turn right and walk up the hill until you come to the Bukchon visitor centre. Various hanoks are scattered around this area, but to see the main concentration, turn left and the area above is on your left.

Samcheong-dong

Samcheong-dong is a nice little area to the north of Gyeongbukgung Palace which I stumbled across by accident. Its a pretty low rise neighbourhood with lots of traditional tile roofed buildings housing coffee shops, boutiques, galleries and restaurants. And the intriguing sounding Museum of Chicken Art!

Coffee shopRestaurant

The neighbourhood has a nice cosy feel at odds with much of what I have seen of Seoul so far.

The Museum of Chicken Art!The blatant disregard for this sign amused me!

Getting here: from Anguk station, take the opposite exit to Insadong-gil and follow the walled road.

Jongmyo Shrine and Changdeokgung Palace

Last weekend, I visited the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Jongmyo and Changdeokgung Palace. In the park outside Jongmyo were hundreds of adjoshis (they were all men) playing the same board game (not sure what it was, possibly Baduk or Changgi?)

Jongmyo is a shrine to deceased Kings and Queens of the Joseon era and is the oldest preserved Confucian shrine in the world (building started in 1394). The main hall, Jeongjeon, has 19 spirit rooms (there is also another hall called Yeongnyeongjeon built to house the memorial tablets of later Kings and Queens). Each year in May, an ancient ritual known as Jongmyo jerye is held to commemorate the late Kings and Queens which includes court music known as jerye-ak and dancing.

The park surrounding the shrine is very peaceful and its hard to believe you're in the middle of Seoul.

Jeongjeon - Main Hall

The south gate through which the spirits were believed to enter and depart (the King would enter from the east gate and the performers would enter through the west gate.

Korea was a monarchy until the Japanese annexed Korea at the start of the 20th Century and deposed the royal family. After the end of the Second World War and Korean liberation in 1945, South Korea became a republic and most of the assets belonging to the royal family were seized and they were stripped of any authority (they were seen as being partly responsible for allowing the Japanese annexation). The current heir, Yi Chung, currently lives in his ancestral home in Seoul.

Nearby Changdeokgung Palace (Palace of Prospering Virtue) is one of the 5 grand palaces of Seoul and was the site of the government until Gyeongbukgung was rebuilt in 1872. Changdeokgung became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 as it is an "outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design". To me, it didn't look a whole lot different than the other palaces in Seoul that I have visited as they are all very similar in style, but then again, the entry fee for Jongmyo and Changdeokgung was a paltry 1,000 won (about 50p), so I thought I may as well have a look around!

Changdeokgung

Outside Changdeokgung I stumbled across these sculptures made out of grass and flowers obviously harking back to a more pastoral past. Not that long ago, most Koreans lived in the countryside, but rapid economic growth in the 1970 caused mass migration to the cities. Seoul has a population of around 10 million, but is classed as one of the biggest megacities in the world as the surrounding metropolitan area (of which Bucheon is a part of) takes its population up to around 25 million. No wonder the subways are always so crowded!

Seoul is an interesting city, but the bulk of it is not very pretty and fairly monotonous (step off at any subway station and you will probably see the same vista of Dunkin' Donuts, Paris Baguette, Baskin Robbins along with identikit tower blocks. It seems a shame that the more interesting low-rise areas seem particularly susceptible to the wrecking ball. This is one side of the Cheonggycheon stream near Jonggak which is lined with coffee shops and pizza places, all nice and clean.

On the other side are lots of little Korean shopfronts ready for redevelopment. Korean history and culture isn't just royal palaces and museums, its about ordinary people too and it seems that city planners are all too keen to sweep away anything that isn't seen as modern Korea and that is a shame.

Just an update...

I've been a little slack in updating this regularly mainly because I'm not doing quite so much sightseeing as I did when I first arrived in Korea and have checked off a good number of touristy things around Seoul and Bucheon. I am very excited as I will be having my first visitor from back home soon as the lovely Lisa is coming to stay for a fortnight at the end of July. We're going to travel down to Busan to spend a few days by the beach, hopefully venture over to one of the islands near Incheon and spend some time in Seoul.

I was off work for 4 days with tonsillitis, but luckily the antibiotics cleared it up. Being ill in a country where the most people don't speak English was an experience I'd rather not go through again, but I was lucky that there is an information desk for foreigners and the nurse there helped me through the process. I had a belated birthday night out on Saturday. I met Robyn, Dara, Janice and Keith for pizza, then we went to WB Bar for cocktails before going to Double, a club near Bucheon station where we saw a Korean hip hop band called Supreme Team and watched bemused as the Koreans went mad for them!

I'm trying to get in a routine of keeping fit. I walk round the park near me a few times a week and have joined a softball team which meets up for the first time on Saturday. Let's hope it doesn't get too hot for a little while! We've had some glorious weather recently which has been a good excuse to stock up on some summer clothes. Most of the summer stuff I bought with me was holiday clothes, so I needed some skirts and sandals for work. I haven't had too much trouble finding shoes and clothes here, although a UK size 6 is the largest standard shoe size here! There aren't many decent clothes shops in Bucheon, although I've discovered a large Uniqlo concession in the GS Square Department Store! Apparently July and August are very hot and humid. I had a little taster at the weekend as it rained all day on Saturday and then got very warm and humid on Sunday. Thankfully it has been much fresher today. I have air con in my apartment and at school - I think its my favourite ever invention!

I'm still enjoying teaching and the majority of my students are great. The preschool students are continuing to pick up English at a quick rate. It amazes me how well some of them are able to communicate in English when 4 months ago, they could barely speak a word of English! Today, I had an open class when the parents sat in on a lesson. It was pretty stressful as some of the parents complain about anything. One girl's mother complained that her daughter wasn't getting as many stickers as her friend (the students are given sticker sheets which they can exchange for a gift when completed). This is the same mother who complained about art class a couple of months ago, so I'm sure she will have something to say about the open class! I think I had my revenge though as the students made flower trumpets in art class today which I allowed them to take home with them and they were very noisy!

I've not taken many photos recently, but I was walking around the Jongno area in Seoul the other week and thinking to myself that often Korea doesn't feel very Asian when I came across some little alleyways which felt much more Asian than all the towerblocks and shopping malls.

Sadly it seems that these little alleys nestled in amongst Seoul's high rises are becoming increasingly rare. Not far from here, the area of Pimatgol, a tangle of small streets, has recently been demolished as part of the 'urban renewal' process. It seems a shame that these little characterful areas are disappearing to be presumably replaced by more homogenous office blocks.

National Museum of Korea

We have had some glorious weather over the long weekend (apart from Saturday of course). Today is Children's Day which is when parents spend time with their children and buy them presents. We also had yesterday off work to make it a 4 day weekend.

Bridget and I went to the National Museum of Korea in the morning which is in an impressive modernist building set in a park near Yongsan.

The National Museum of Korea

There is a section dedicated to Hangul, the Korean language. Koreans are rightfully proud of their alphabet which was created by King Sejong (the one who lived at Gyeongbokgung Palace) in the 15th Century. Before the invention of Hangul, Chinese characters were used to represent the Korean language. As anyone who has ever tried to learn Chinese will tell you, there are thousands of characters used in Chinese script. It can take many years to learn to read Chinese and thus most of the population of Korea was illiterate as only aristocrats could take the time to learn to read. King Sejong saw there was a need for a more simplified written language and a phonemic alphabet was devised with 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Each syllabic block includes at least two letters with at least one vowel and one consonant. Hangeul is the only invented alphabet in use in the world today.

It was far too nice a day to be indoors, so after a quick scoot around a couple of the galleries and the museum shop, we ate a picnic lunch in the park and were told off by a guard for sitting on the grass, ooops! I was interviewed by a bunch of university students who wanted to ask foreigners about the ways in which they greet friends and family and what they think about Korea.

The Museum from the "Lake of Reflections"

Later on in the afternoon, we went our separate ways, Bridget went to Itaewon and I decided to head for Myeongdong to do a little shopping (the museum shop wasn't big enough to quell my shopaholic tendencies).

Unfortunately, Myeongdong (which is one of Seoul's main shoppng districts) was absolutely heaving, so I decided to walk towards Jonggak to catch the subway back to Bucheon instead.

I walked past Cheonggyecheon stream which runs the length of Seoul city centre and which used to be covered by a busy road. A few years ago, the government decided to uncover the stream and make a park running along either side. You can cross the stream via conventional bridges or via stepping stones, be careful not to get your feet wet! The stones help to regulate the speed of the flow of water.

Cheonggyecheon

The main landmark in this area is Jongno Tower which is 33 storeys high. There is a bar and restaurant on the top floor which is famous for its views of the city and is a traditional place for Koreans to propose to one another. So if you ever get invited for a meal there, you may go home with more than just indigestion!

Jongno Tower

Gyeongbokgung Palace

After visiting Seodaemun Prison, we decided to head down the road towards Gyeongbokgung Palace and the National Folk Museum of Korea. I had missed the tour of the palace last time I visited, so I was keen to see inside the actual palace grounds. It was tipping down all afternoon, but it was worth it as the palace buildings were so beautiful.

Gyeongbukgung consists of a number of palaces including Gyeonghoeru, the pavilion on the lake (below) which was King Sejongs party pad where he held all his important banquets. There are three gates and bridges which run across the water to the pavilion - the largest bridge could only be used by the King, the next in size was only to be used by the royal family and the smallest one by everyone else.

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion

Getting the hang of the k-girl pose

Geunjeongjeon is the throne hall of Gyeongbukgung, only the King was allowed to walk up the main steps and into the hall using the middle door.

Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall)

Inside

The poor old Queen was shunted off to a separate palace (Gyotaejeon) behind the King's sleeping quarters. Her purpose was to provide the King with a male heir and not make a fuss about all the King's concubines. During the Joseon era, Korea was governed by Confucius' principles - women had no status in society and women were not allowed out in public, so the Queen would have been confined to the palace walls. She would have had relatively little power until her husband was succeeded by her son and she would move into the 'dowager's palace'.

The palace buildings and grounds were stunning, but felt, not exactly fake, but not very old! Found out (thanks to wikipedia) that the complex was left in ruins by the Japanese (them again!) at the start of the 20th century, so they have been restored to their previous appearance.

Seodaemun Prison

Today, Bridget (fellow teacher) and I went to Seodaemun Prison in Seoul which was built by the Japanese in the early 20th Century when they occupied Korea and is now a museum. The prison housed Korean independence fighters including Ryu Gwan Sun, a high school student, who was tortured and starved to death in 1920. Conditions in the prison were completely inhumane, as a punishment, prisoners were forced to stand upright in small coffins for days on end. Torture and beatings were part of daily life. Many prisoners died inside or were executed. Some women, including Ryu Gwan Sun, were kept in underground cells which were deliberately designed so prisoners were unable to stand upright in them and were subjected to rape and other sexual torture.

The museum was interesting, but very chilling, especially the graphic descriptions of torture and the execution hall. Next Saturday, I am going on the DMZ (Demilitiarised Zone between North and South Korea) with the USO, which I'm sure will be equally depressing, particularly as I have to be in Seoul by 6.30am on a Saturday...

Front gate

Let me out!

Prison guard Bridget Cells

Gate to execution building