Seoul: Part 2

Seoul: Part 2
We decided to stay in Seoul for another week, because our first couple of days there had us completely hooked . We met up with fellow traveler Meg, who we'd first met in Tokyo, for a visit inside the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace, just a block from our inn.
The palace is a sprawling complex of grand halls, freestanding temples, and a spacious open air banquet hall constructed in the center of a pond, all connected by stone walkways and dotted with gardens. At the northeast corner, a five-story pagoda houses the National Folk Museum, and just across the road an historic neighborhood of 'hanoks' – traditional homes – winds up the hills of an quiet enclave called Bukchon Village.

After leaving the palace, we wandered through these streets oogling at the doors and arches of the homes, feeling like we were in a Korean version of San Francisco's restored Victorians. In the evening, we met Ji Young - a Korean woman my mother had befriended at a conference in Brazil, who took us to an incredible dumpling soup house in nearby Samcheongdong that we never would have found on our own, and then back into Bukchon Village to a traditional tea house we had seen earlier in the day, but mistaken for a museum(!).
Sitting on the floor, sipping fruit and flower concoctions and nibbling on pumpkin rice cake, Colin discovered a love for tea that has continued through our travels ever since – very cool development!

The next day we sought out the Children's Grand Park, covering many acres far to the southeast of the city center.
Fairly run down, it still provided space for running, plus an old-timey amusement park, an aviary, and an “animal show” featuring doves, seals and monkeys – most of which did what they pleased, rather than what the trainers wanted. ;-) The zoo was a depressing sight though – outdated, substandard habitats and too small spaces.


The evening was a greater success – we rode the cable car up Namsan Mountain, where the N'Seoul Tower is visible from all points of the city. At the top, we were instantly drawn into an Italian restaurant sitting on the cliffside, where Colin was able to get his pasta fix and I had my first glass of red wine in 6 weeks (ahhh..). Walking around N'Seoul Tower after dinner, we took in magnificent views of the city at night.

We needed to get an early start the next day – our inn didn't have a room for us the next night, so we had decided to head out to the West Sea Islands for an overnight visit. Unfortunately, we didn't in fact get an early start, after lazing through breakfast and visiting the nearby used bookstore to exchange books for Colin, so once we stored our bags and took the hour+ subway to Incheon, the port city west of Seoul, we had missed the last ferry to the islands.
Incheon didn't look like much, but we decided to buck up and take a room at the Hong Kong Motel in Chinatown near the subway station, then head to the islands the next day, delaying our return to Seoul. Chinatown in Incheon proved to be pretty interesting – very overwrought and ornate, with a great view of the sunset from the hill at the top of the 'hood. The Hong Kong was equal parts “love hotel” and respectable dive, and the management seemed pretty good at keeping the different types of guests separate - the man checking in before us got a little packet of condoms and accoutrements, while we were simply given our room key (whew). The next morning, we successfully made our way to the ferry terminal and caught a boat to Deokjeokdo – about an hour from the mainland on the “fast boat.”

At the ferry terminal, the tourist information office called ahead to book a room for us and arrange for pick up from the ferry. When we arrived, we walked past the fish and seafood market set up on the dock, and our ride quickly found us (we stuck out like sore thumbs, once again being the only foreigners on the boat). We drove to the opposite side of the island, to Sepori Beach – a lovely 2 km stretch of sand in a cozy bay – and a few blocks into a very sleepy seaside town to our inn. The town looked just about comatose, and we were the only guests at the hotel, aside from a few workers doing maintenance and repairs.
It was the off, off season, apparently. As we headed out to get something to eat, the owner stopped us and asked if we'd like his wife to cook something, because the restaurants (*all* of them, he said) were closed. We said sure and did a quick circuit of town before returning to eat. It was clear that the only thing worth seeing this time of year was the beach itself, which to be fair, was what we'd came for. In fact, we had the beach entirely to ourselves!
During what was left of the morning low tide, a few shellfish gatherers harvested out in the shallows, but once the water rose, our only company on the beach was a sweet little dog that Colin dubbed “Flop.” He stayed with us all day, romping and sleeping in the sand, while Colin built him a royal doggie sand castle and played canine tag. It was perfect, and a great way to rejuvenate for taking on the rest of Seoul.
We watched the spectacular sunset, which seemed to last for hours, before returning to our hotel, having another meal with the maintenance crew as our only companions. I was tempted to wake early enough to climb the mountain behind us to the tiny shrine just barely visible at the very top, but time was too short – we woke, ate some store-bought cookies, and headed back to the ferry for the return to Incheon. By mid afternoon, we were back at Inn Daewon in Seoul and making plans for the evening – a return visit to SpaLand for a few hours of soaking, steaming and leisurely reading stretched out on the jjimjibang's heated floors.

With just two days left in Korea, we mapped out what remaining Seoul sights we most wanted to see. The Shamanistic Temple in the north hills, a restored stream running through the city center, and the famous neighborhood of Insadong made the cut – all fantastic!
We got horribly lost looking for the temple, hiking up and down the foothills of the mountain it was hidden on at least three times, which made finding it all that much sweeter. ;-)
Colin became intimately familiar with Chyeonggu – the restored stream running through the city center – when he fell into it jumping over a series of slick rocks; and we fell hard for Insadong, where we had the best food we'd eaten yet in Korea.
We spent our entire last day wandering the streets of Insadong, visiting the park where the Korean Declaration of Independence was first read, and browsing, shopping and eating our way through the alleys. Exhausted, we headed back for our final night at Inn Daewon. The next day would be all packing and transit, first by subway again to the Port at Incheon, and then boarding our overnight ferry to China....

Next up: Taking the slow boat to China....