Day 4: Changdeokgung

I walked North along the West side of Jongmyo to get to Changdeokgung and came across some outdoor exercise machines. While travelling through Seoul, I found many places, mostly in parks but sometimes along paths like this one, where outdoor exercise machines were installed for people to use.

I saw a number of different exercise machines throughout and most of them were of low-impact designed more to loosen or warm up the body. The ones I saw here included a sit-up bench, a suspended walker and a bench-press like machine that used your own weight as the counter weight. When you grabbed the bars and pushed forward, the seat would move up in the proportional amount.
I continued North until I finally got to the entrance of the Royal Palace of Changdeokgung (or Changdeok Palace).

When it came to ranking sites, my Lonely Planet Seoul City Guide book ranked Gyeongbokgung ahead of Changdeokgung. So before I even got here, I felt like this palace was somehow not going to be as grand. While Gyeongbokgung may have the majestic Gwanghwamun and other things going for it, I actually enjoyed visiting Changdeokgung more. Changdeokgung just seemed to have a certain 매력 (charm) to it that was missing in Gyeongbokgung. It is hard to explain but Gyeongbokgung felt like big empty house where as Changdeokgung felt warmer like a place that was lived in. Perhaps it was the surrounding greenery and how everything seemed to be more compact and a little cozier.

I got to Changdeokgung at around the same time as a group of school kids so we kept pace with each other for a while where I would move on to see something and then they would be right behind me. I wished that I could be part of their class. They were so very cute and had designated 짝꿍 (partners) that they held hands with. ^^

Here is the main building of Changdeokgung and the inside of it. The building had very high ceilings and very detailed work both on the inside and outside.

Beyond the main building, there were many smaller buildings and living quarters that almost seemed maze like with the way they were all connected (I felt kind of like Pac-Man). I read that parts of 대장금 (Jewel in the Palace) were filmed at Changdeokgung so as I walked around, I pictured 장금이 (Jang Geum, the main character) running around here and there, always getting herself into trouble or precarious situations. What amazed me the most when I visited any palace or shrine in Seoul was all the detailed craftsmanship that went into creating the building structures from the walls, to the tiles, to the roofs, to the ceilings and so forth.

Here is a collection of clips I took while at Changdeokgung that will give you a sense of what it is like better than I ever can with words. While I was there, it was the most gorgeous of days with sun shining bright and clear blue skies.

It was also very hot. Located within Changdeokgung is a nice air conditioned café where I stopped for a while to get out from under the sun and to cool down with two iced coffees. One of the main attractions within the palace is Biwon, or the Secret Garden. When you buy admission to the palace, you can also buy a joint ticket for Biwon also or you can buy one at Biwon. It was past 12PM and I was getting hungry and a little tired at this point but figured I would end my visit with Biwon and then leave. When I got to Biwon, I found that entrance was only through a guided tour so I bought a ticket. Just before the tour started however, the guide gave a disclaimer that it would run for about 2 hours long and that it might be discomforting for some people who have trouble walking. It was my fault for not reading the sign properly stating how long the tour was before buying a ticket but I felt I wasn’t in the right condition to go on a tour for the next 2 hours. I think if I went, I would not have enjoyed the experience being so hungry so at this point so I decided to leave figuring I would just come back to see Biwon on another day.

I packed many thicker long sleeved t-shirts for the trip but with the weather turning out to be so hot, I knew I had to get some lighter clothes. I figured since I was just there not too long ago, I’d return to Shinsegae Department Store for lunch and some clothes shopping.
As I mentioned before, the basement of Shinsegae is entirely dedicated to food. They have all kinds of fast food stations that range from Korean, Japanese and Western. It’s not like a food court where the eating tables are centralized in one area though. Instead, each place has their own local seating and because there aren’t too many seats, it gets full pretty fast. I wasn’t sure whether you could buy food from one place and then sit down at another to eat. I didn’t want to test it so I just looked for a place that had seats available. I know a lot of people in Korea like to eat 돈까스 (which is Japanese Tonkatsu) and I’ve never tried it outside of Canada so I decided to go for it. It was really good and filling despite the fact that I don’t particularly like eating pork. I found eating out in Seoul to be extremely affordable. In a sit-down restaurant in Toronto, you can expect to pay a minimum $13 with tax and tip. I found equal portioned meals in Seoul went for about just more than half that. That gap for fast food was a little more narrow but it was still cheaper in Seoul by a couple of dollars per combo meal. I think it also helped that the Canadian dollar was strong against the Korean Won. It was around $1CAN to 1300WON when I went but I could remember years ago when $1CAN was only getting about 700WON or so.

What wasn’t as cheap were clothes. I ended up getting a couple of thin long-sleeved T-shirts from Tommy Hilfiger and they were 65,000WON each (~$50CAN). I bought almost the exact same Tommy shirt in Canada and it went for about half that. To me, the weather I was experiencing in Seoul was virtually summer or Indian summer like but with all the summer clothes already gone I didn’t have too much of a choice. I was happy though that I was able to find exactly what I was looking.

I hopped back on the subway and headed home. In the station, I took a couple of pictures of ads starring Korean music idols that I had encountered frequently while travelling by subway.
2AM!

Taeyeon and Seohyun of Girls’ Generation!

태연, 오빠 왔다! ^^