Seoul: Part 1

Oops - just realized I neglected to post "Part 1" before posting "Part 2" - here it is...

Seoul: Part 1
Seoul made the 2008 Lonely Planet's Readers' Poll of the world 10 most hated cities, right up there with Chetumal, Mexico. I'm in agreement on many of the others, but on the selection of Seoul, I'm dumbfounded.
Colin and I originally planned to leave Seoul the day following Tom's departure, staying a total of three days. Instead, we decided to stay an additional five days, then another two.... In all, we had 10 days in and around Seoul, including a short side trip to the nearby West Sea Islands. We could happily have stayed longer, feeling comfortable with the city by the time we left, but like we had just scratched the surface of really getting to know it. The people we saw every day had just started to open up – our morning coffee and waffle vendor broke off a piece of her sticky rice cake to share with us the morning we left, and our inn owner's son had just started to seek Colin out to play the clown and make him laugh when he came home from morning kindergarten. We left before any real friendships had a chance to take hold, but not before falling in love with the city and many of its unique neighborhoods. If Seoul is the worst of what we are going to experience, this is going to be a stellar year!

Arriving at the Seoul Train Station from the southern city of Gyeongju, we easily navigated the subway and found our guest house in an alley just steps from the station stairs. It was also less than a block from Gyeongbukgong Palace – perhaps Seoul's most impressive palace in a city filled with them. Inn Daewon was squeezed in between several simple Korean restaurants serving groups of office workers from the nearby highrises, but inside the inn showed the bones of a traditional hanok (traditional house) with a plant filled central courtyard surrounded by guest rooms and a shared kitchen.
On our first evening, we walked down the wide avenue stretching south from the palace gate – the street left me with the impression of Lincoln Center melded with the D.C. Mall – performing arts centers and museums were interspersed with embassies and national government buildings on both sides of an expansive boulevard accented by a public median filled with walkways, statues, fountains and flower gardens. At one corner, a brightly painted corner shrine was backlit by the lights of a skyscraper, and at another, a palace gate tucked next to City Hall hinted at the many centuries that this same location has served as Korea's center of power and authority.

Returning to our inn after a dinner of seafood dolset bibimbap (seafood and veggies in a very hot pot, mixed at the table to complete cooking and meld the flavors) we slept happy and content on mattresses on our ondol (heated) floor, pleased that Seoul was looking like a good place to be.

Our second day in Seoul clinched it. With only one last full day with Tom before his return home, we set out to experience some of Seoul's most irresistible offerings – the open air markets and the public baths. As we wandered down the boulevard again, we caught the sound of horns and music from the opposite side of the street.
Making our way across, we saw flashes of bright blues and yellows in the crowd along the sidewalk. We had just stumbled onto the changing of the guard at one of the city's many palaces – what a spectacle!
Despite the occasional wink from a “soldier” to a child in the crowd, it was like being transported back in time – beautiful pagentry and incredible costuming. They even had a tent set up where passersby could try on period clothing and wander around the square – very cool. When it was all over, we continued on our way, stopping in a few bookstores and oogling at the many fountains and squares along the way, until we arrived at Namaedum Market.

Entering the market through “Street Food Alley,” we were immediately inundated with new sights and smells. In between whole dried squid and vats of boiled silk worm larvae, appealing options like “knife cut noodles” and Korean mandoo (dumplings) made our stomachs growl.
We spent some time exploring the different alleyways, offering everything from ginseng and iron tools to electronics and mother-of-pearl boxes. The market was a maze of people and wares, and has been going strong in this location for centuries. Once we'd worked up an appetite, we found a bustling stall with tables in the back and piles of steaming dumplings and meats on a grill in front. We squeezed in to take a seat, pointed to a few things that looked edible, and ordered a couple of beers. As usual, it was de-lish! We wobbled out, not able to finish it all, and took in a last swing around the market before moving on.

Our next target – a public bath (sorry, no photos folks!) – led us through side streets and underground passages en route to and around the back of Seoul Station. After carefully following the directions in our guide book, we were left staring at a construction site where the bath should have been. Undeterred, we hopped on the subway and headed to the Olympic Stadium, home of “SpaLand” - one of Seoul's largest public baths. Actually, SpoLand and SpaLand are two halves of the same facility – an olympic sized swimming pool, indoor golf, and fitness center on the sporting (“spo”) side; and hot spring baths, saunas, steam rooms, and jjimjibang – a family area with heated floors, cafe, massage chairs, oxygen room and computer room - on the “spa” side. For the truly hard-core budget traveler, you can stay all night if you want to, sleeping on a thin mat on a heated floor with an awkward but functional square pillow (they used to be wood blocks). For less than ten bucks, you get all the facilities, a locker, and a place to crash.

After nearly three hours of blissful indulgence, we convinced Colin it was time to go – he absolutely loved it and didn't want to leave, so I had to promise we'd come back. Guess we were going to stay a few days longer in Seoul! We went to the airport with Tom the next day, then just moped around our guest house missing him until bedtime – this separation was harder than our original departure in Canada. It took all my self control not to tell him to pack in the job and get his butt back to us a.s.a.p.! But then Id be responsible for all his discomforts on the trip ahead – not sure I want to “own” that. ;-)

Next up - Seoul: Part 2... (Note: there will be a delay in our regularly scheduled programming, due to government restrictions on social networking and blog sites... look for more near the end of November)