17,806 Steps in Seoul

Hi Everybody!!

After almost 18 hours of travel time Isabel, Auntie Weng, and I made it to Seoul for a 14 hour layover. Never one to miss an opportunity to check another country off my list, I was thrilled to be getting a taste of Korea through our layover tour! 

We had two hours to spare before our driver Hun arrived so we decided to refresh ourselves in the hall with this very clever makeshift vanity Isabel created. I will say, it did draw a few peculiar looks from the employees but I thought it was genius!

Then we had a quick breakfast of coffee and bagels. Apparently here they put cheese inside the bagel, almost as if it were baked through the middle which was very different and I can’t say I liked it. However, the bread itself was amazing and dare I say, even better than the famous New York bagels. They were so fluffy and light, the proofing was perfect! 

(Below are a few pictures from our drive that don’t really fit in my story but were too pretty not to share!)

By 7 am our driver Hun arrived and took us to the only place open in Seoul early on a Saturday morning, Jogyesa temple. Which was how two Catholics, a Muslim, and an atheist all found themselves at a Buddhist temple for morning worship lol! We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but the outside had a gate with four spiritual protectors in each corner that the worshipers would bow to each one before entering the grounds. 

Around the courtyard there were hundreds of lanterns, each one representing someone’s wish. The temple itself was built in the late 14th century and housed three giant golden Buddhas, one for health, one for wealth, and one for happiness. 

But the most entertaining statue to me was this little guy called a haechi, which is a mythological creature that wards off evil and can distinguish right from wrong and good from bad. Legend says that the haechi rams the corrupt and guilty with its horn. Essentially said creature is fiery, righteous, unicorn lion who stands for justice and I’m obsessed!  

The next place we went to was Bukchonhanok village, a little town with houses that are around 600 years old. Because this place is a historical site, the government pays citizens a million dollars to live here. While the houses are updated, they aren’t particularly modernized, which lead this town to become a senior community. I can’t say I blame the younger generation for wanting to live in apartments! I myself wouldn’t do well without a solid heating and air conditioning system or a microwave lol.

After walking the village we visited Gyeongbokgung palace, which is the main palace in Seoul. Unfortunately because of constant warfare with Japan and then North Korea, not much of this place survived. Most of what we saw was replicas or restoration work, the oldest being 150 years old. But it gave us a good feel for what the palace would have been like. 

They even have reenactments of the changing of the guard ceremonies. 

Over 500 years, Korea had 27 kings which isn’t a great track record. All around the palace are these Korean longevity flowers in an effort to combat their short life spans. You can see them on the shingles above the six white dotted flowers on this gate. Apparently it didn’t work because the kings loved to party and eat and drink in excess according to our guide. They had multiple party buildings in the middle of the lakes, which was intentional so that the spaces didn’t get too hot during the summers and also had beautiful scenery while entertaining.

Another fun fact is that in Korea the king was only allowed 9 concubines because of Confucianism. There were other peculiar influences of Confucianism throughout the palace, for instance the stone floors were extremely uneven and placed at different heights intentionally because it was considered impolite to run and everyone in court was supposed to walk slowly. I myself tripped a few times when I wasn’t paying enough attention to where I was walking, guess that trick really does work to force people to be mindful! I can’t really say that my poor feet agreed.

One of the highlights of the palace was that for once my 5’5’’ self felt tall! I was practically a giant going through all these doorways! 

By the time we finished perusing the grounds all of us were frozen, so Hun took us to get Korean chicken soup for lunch. They stuffed the chicken with ginseng, rice, and dates and boiled it in a bone broth. It was the perfect meal to reinvigorate us for the markets.

We visited two markets called Insadong and Hongdae. Insadong had lots of souvenir shops and little trinkets. The streets were so busy because according to Hun it was a “nice” day at 30° and everyone wanted to be outside enjoying the “sun.” I was freezing despite wearing thermals and layers. 

Thankfully we warmed up in a traditional tea house before going to the very trendy market in Hongdae where I promptly realized that I am now too old to be hip and trendy, even in Korea. I did enjoy watching everyone else’s sense of style and fashion but it almost felt like I walked onto a college campus town center and stood out like a sore thumb. Thankfully street food has no age so we enjoyed all the little stalls with snacks like this one. This was fried dough filled with red beans but shaped like fish and basically the only type of fish I’ll ever get to eat in this lifetime. I can’t complain though, as it was delicious!!

Before I knew it our day was over and it was time to get back to the airport to catch our flight to Manila. We did a lot done in 9 hours and all three of us were beat but so happy to have explored. Who knows, maybe I’ll come back again to finish seeing the rest of this country. All I can say is that after today I’m satisfied…for now…

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Lots of love,

Carolyn