Essential Seoul, WTRD 5 of 49, September 8, 2017

This morning, we awoke at 4:00 am.  It's getting better!  By tomorrow morning, we hope to sleep until at least 6:00.  From 4:00 until 9:00 we had a leisurely morning until our tour guide Ms Hana and driver picked us up for the Essential Seoul Tour.  There were three of us on the tour, Russ, me, and a Polish-Now New Zealand woman, Ewa.

Buddhist Temple

Our first stop was the largest Buddhist Temple in Seoul, Jogye Temple, The buildings and grounds were beautiful and well kept. 

 The Golden Buddhas presided over a temple  filled with women (one man) sitting silently on mats reading prayers or contemplations.

Women in grey smocks carried in food donations on their heads for the monks and were busy organizing the food and laying it along large side bars on both sides of the temple.

After seeing this temple and many others from around Southeast Asia, we decided if we were going to be monks, it would be from this well organized temple.  In many of the other countries, monks are required to beg for food and faithful donate to them either by leaving offerings in the temple or handouts as the monks pass through town.  This temple looked very well stocked.

Population

Our guide told us that 50% of Korean population is Catholic, Christian, or Buddhists.  The other 50% are not religious.  South Korea's population is approximately 50,000,000 million people.  Ten million people live in Seoul, but on any given day, there are usually 25,000,000 million people (working commuters, tourists, dignitaries) in Seoul.  Land is a premium, apartments are small and expensive, and they are packed with people.

Main Palace - Changing of the Guard

Changdeokgung Palace 

Built in 1405 by King Taejong, Changdeokgung Palace was designed to blend harmoniously with the natural environment. While much of the complex was destroyed by fire in the Japanese invasion in 1592, it was rebuilt in 1609 and has since been restored to its original splendor. The main palace of Gyeongbokgung was also destroyed in 1593, and for 300 years beginning in 1609, Changdeokgung served as the seat of power while Gyeongbokgung was being rebuilt. It served as the seat of royalty again in 1907 by King Sunjong, the last king of Korea.

UNESCO designated Changdeokgung Palace a World Heritage site in 1997 for its unique palace architecture. It’s the best preserved of Seoul’s five remaining Joseon palaces, with the royal family residences, public area and gardens open to visitors.  From Viator Tours

As we approached the main palace, we inquired about the men and women wearing traditional Korean clothing walking about amongst others in contemporary clothing.  Hana told us that there are many shops in Korea that rent the traditional clothing for the day.  If tourists wear the costumes, they get free admission to the Palaces.  The cost of the costume exceeds Palace admissions, but everyone loves to have themselves photographed in the palaces wearing the  traditional clothing.  Everyone wearing traditional dress whether Korean, Japanese, Europeans, young, old, all looked like they were having loads of fun preening in front of cameras.

As we passed through Gwanghwamun Gate and back in time with a tour of Gyeongbok Palace, former residence of Joseon Dynasty royalty, a group of girls wearing traditional dress were posing for photos.

I stood beside the official photographer and snapped a few photos at the end of the session when the kids were growing weary.  The girl with her hands up to her cheeks came up to me and indicated that she wanted to see the photo I took.  I showed her.  She put her hands and arms over her head to form a heart, and said in English "I love you".

Russ and I posed for a photo as well after the changing of the guards.

We spent most of the morning wandering the palace grounds, peeking into buildings and trying to imagine life in this palace.

Hana told us about the Korean written language.  

It was in this building, that the King assembled language experts to develop a new written language called Hangul.  It would not be complicated like the Chinese system nor pictographs.  It would be a phonetic based writing.  There are 24 letters in Hangul, 14 consonants and 10 vowels (unlike English where one vowel may have 2-3 sounds), each of the vowels in Hangul has one unique sound.

After our palace visit, we waited for our driver to pick us up outside one of the side gates.  There was this funny little sculpture on which children love to climb.  We got a kick out of it, although it is questionable that the symbolism of this sculpture is really meant for children.   See what you think.  I can think of a couple of cheeky political captions.

Our guide took us to a nice little restaurant in a back alley for lunch.

Our individual plates had some meat, fried egg, carrots , and greens.  We were to dump in sticky rice, mix it all together, and eat it with different garnishes and sauces.  It was very tasty.

Following lunch, we had an opportunity to try on Korean traditional clothing.  Russ wears a hat that is designated for a King.

After posing and dancing around in our costumes, we were driven to the top of one of the highest points in Seoul, Bugak Skyway atop Bugak Mountain for panoramic views of the city.  It was a hazy day, so visibility was not terrific, but it gave us a sense of how densely populated Seoul is.

The last historical visit of the day was in a section of town where 600 year old restored and privately owned homes were built, Bukchon Hanok Village, well-preserved traditional Korean buildings.

Ying, Yang Architecture

The last stop of the day was in the largest shopping area in Korea.  It was filled with stores and consumers.  Consumerism for cars, cosmetics, designer clothes, and just about everything else has to be off the charts here. There were dozens of blocks of high end stores.

Tomorrow, we start our 8 Day Tour around the Korean Peninsula.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in South Korea.

Walk About Seoul, WTRD 4 of 49, September 7, 2017

First Birthday Celebration for this little man.

It has been another long day.  We awoke around 2:00 am Seoul time, late morning California time.  It is now 9:00 pm Seoul time, about 5:00 am California time. Even though we took a nap late this afternoon, Russ is already sleeping, and I am working hard to keep my eyes open as I work on this post.

After breakfast, we took a long stroll about the old center part of town where we are staying, returning to our hotel around 3:00 pm.  Here are some of the photos of our day.

Beautiful architecture of steel and glass reach for the sky.

But the old and traditional are still favorites for locals and tourists.

The new city hall, space age glass, is a new wave over the old.

 A designed river flows through the city with vegetation and flowing paths.

This sculpture is a casting of old speakers..  Some of them still work providing sounds of people, birds, and the city.

We visit te Deoksugung Oak

 We appreciate the lovely architecture and the painting craftsmanship.

Remarkable wood work and precision painting.

Asian Influence followed by Western Colonial Influence.

Peaceful walking paths and places for contemplation.

The guards stand ready to protect the palace.

Admiral and Emperor Hold Court in the Main Square.  

The River of time runs through the square

We walk up the river of time toward the grand palace.

Symbolic metaphor - River of Time

We only take a photo of the main palace  (above) as we will be touring this tomorrow.  Today we are visiting the lesser and older palace grounds.  The one below is Unhyeongung Palace.

A Korean Family in Traditional Dress Celebrate their Son's First Birthday.

The young "prince" takes his first steps in the Unhyeongung Palace.

Palace rooms replicate a period passed - Tea Ceremony

We enjoy the signage along our walk.  Lions are celebrating 100 years in Seoul.

We visit an artisan shopping area where we discover a shop that sells round commemorative disks that people sign and hang up like locks on a bridge.  Russ and I have not heard of this place, but it appears to be quite famous and many tourists come here to take their photos with the little discs.  There are 10's of thousands if not hundreds of thousands.  The geocache directions brought us here otherwise we would not have found this place at all on our own.  And yes we find the geocache here.

A sign in the ladies shows the correct way to use a toilet.

There is a cafe here called the Turd Cafe.   Meals are pictured in bowls shaped  like toilet bowls. Humorous, but not very appetizing.  Don't think we will be coming back for dinner.













So that 's our day. Now it's time for bed

All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs.

Endless Day - Arrival in Seoul, WTRD 2/3, September 5/6

Arrival in South Korea, Incheon International Airport

We spent our first night at the Weston Hotel in San Francisco.  On the morning of Worrall Travel R Day (WTRD) 2, Russ and I gathered up our belongs packed in two small carry-ons, two personal items, and one medium gear bag for check on.  Half of the gear bag is filled with bulky, maybe-we-will-use items (walking sticks, hiking shoes, swim suits, sport coat for Russ, first aid, emergency medications, my trusty teapot and crash rations of coffee and soup.  The other half of the bag is packed with gifts for our host families in Japan.  Since Japan is our last stop, we will be hauling this bag all over Korea and Japan.

SFO

Check in at SFO went smoothly at the new sleek counter self-check stations. These are nice additions where passengers can actually set some things on the counter and not juggle all the things they have in their hands.  We were the only ones at the self check.  The United Desk at 8:00 am was not busy either at self-check or main desks.   Passports scanned, boarding passes issued, luggage claim tag secured, we dropped off our single bag, made our way through security and to a little cafe for breakfast.

The 747 heading for Seoul had a decent size crowd, but there were a lot of empty seats which allowed freedom of movement and physially more seat room. Russ and I usually reserve a window and an aisle seat and hope no one books the middle seat.  Sometimes it doesn't work, but most of the time it does if the flight isn't really full.  Today it worked, so we had the middle seat for more room, could stuff our day packs under the middle seat on the floor leaving lots of room for leg space in front of us.  The flight took off on time and for the most part the ride across the Pacific was smooth and uneventful.

The only non-event for us was the lack of audio to the inflight movies.  Since neither of us were watching the movies it didn't matter, but to apologize for the problem, all passengers got an appreciation gift of a $100 gift certificate towards merchandise or air ticket or 5,000 mileage points.  Nice!  Thanks United.  Wonder if that made the local news?  Probably not.  No sensationalism attached to customer satisfaction or good deeds.

Because the 747 is not equipped with individual seat back screens, window shades were pulled down almost the entire flight, not particularly convenient for those who choose window seats, but I did try to peek out every once in a while.   We were high above the clouds all the way in brilliant sunshine and blue sky.  We chased the midday sun all the way across arriving around 10:00 pm PDT Sep 5, but 2:00 pm Sep 6 at Incheon International Airport.  Our plane and another plane from China landed about the same time,  We looked like a swarm of ants marching through the corridors of  the airport.  SFO passengers were shuttled to the left of the hall as we made our way to immigration.  Chinese passengers were shuttled to the right of the hall.  Apparently there was a thermal camera on the right side measuring the body temperature of the Chinese passengers as they passed through the hall. Guess there is a health concern.

After passport control, baggage pickup, and customs. We were met by our transfer host and driver for our hour ride into Seoul. It was grey and drizzling.

First Impressions:

We first noticed the many new cars on the road driving on an efficient freeway from Airport to Seoul.  The car electronic navigation system chimed every few minutes indicating a sophisticated road toll management system.

We passed over some beautiful bridges into the city and an astonishing amount of closely packed high rise buildings.  It was hard to tell in the grey drizzle whether the buildings were residential or commercial.

We arrived at our hotel about 4:00 pm.  Our room is clean, tidy, non-smoking, queen bed, has free Wifi, and is  the size of a shoe box....very small with a closet too small for any luggage.

There are no luggage racks, door hooks or towel racks. We spend some time rearranging our packing while not trying to stumble over the luggage, converting our air travel packing to land travel packing, stretched out on the bed catching up with mail, and trying to stay awake until 8:00 pm or so.  About 6:00 pm we decided to go out, get some fresh air, exercise our legs, and get something quick to eat.

It's drizzling outside and the streets are jammed with people in dark business day clothing all hunkered  under umbrellas.  Not sure whether these folks are really worried about getting sprinkled on or just the fact that the diameter of the umbrella provides a constant amount of personal space around them in a crowd.

Russ and I don't have an umbrella with us and even if we did we wouldn't have it up as the sprinkle is hardly noticeable.  What is noticeable is us.  My neon pink rain jacket and Russ's rust red jacket are in colorful contrast to the swarm of people in greys, browns, and blacks.  We walk for a bit looking in store windows, into busy and not so busy cafes, and decide we are too pooped to be adventurous, so we eat at a MacDonalds..  We both enjoy the shrimp cake and corn patty sandwich.  Not sure what it is called in Korean, maybe the Big Macornshrimpy.

Returning to our hotel, we shower and tumble into bed.  It's been a very long day.  As I write this blog, it is 2:00 am in the morning here and Russ and I are both awake.  It will take a few days to get adjusted to the time change, and we have nothing planned for today.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Seoul, South Korea

And so it Begins! Off to Korea and Japan Tomorrow.

September 4, WTR Day 1 of 49

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go. Leaving on a jet plane....as the song goes, tomorrow for Seoul, South Korea. We left home this morning at 7:00 am after weeks of preparation and work, not only for the trip, but numerous summer projects.

We thought we would escape the smoke and haze when we got out of the mountains, but it got worse the farther west we drove. When we arrived in Bay Area, the atmosphere was so bad we couldn't see the SF skyline or the Golden Gate. It reminded us the day we took off on Worrall Wind, September 5, 2009 into the thick fog. Hard to believe that was eight years ago!

After checking in early to our hotel and stowing our bags, we dropped off the rental car, took the airport tram to the terminal and caught an airport shuttle back to the hotel where we are just kicking.back and relaxing.

We bought an international data plan that allows unlimited texting wherever we are, a little data storage, and $1.00 a minute for phone calls. I think we will have our cellular data off most of the time after today. Russ will have his cell data off all of the time as the plan is only on my phone.

Text us but be patient for a response. If you want to call us, please do it today before we leave. When I send posts to the blog via email, you will get an email like this one (I think). If I post directly to the blog, you may or may not receive an email. It will all depend on our Internet connectivity. Best to check the blog if you aren't hearing from us. The blog is where most of the photos will be posted.

We lose a day flying to Korea so will actually arrive 12 hours after we leave on Tuesday morning, arriving mid-day on Wednesday.

We will be in South Korea for 15 days, then in Japan for a month.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in San Francisco