Seoul & Jeonju, South Korea
Jul 13
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Greetings from Bangkok, friends and family.
We've settled in well and are enjoying life here. We'll share more about the city sometime soon.
Now, though, we're happy to share photos from our July trip to South Korea.
Davina had a pair of conferences there: the International Organizations Network and the Academy of International Business. A couple of photos from the ION conference, which she (successfully!) organized in her first year as the group's new president.
Then Corwin joined her for several days of sightseeing in Seoul and Jeonju.
July is rainy season in Korea. No problem, we figured. It's rainy season in Thailand and many other parts of the region, too. We were wrong. Not all rainy seasons are the same. Korea takes its very seriously. Here was the remarkably accurate forecast. Woe is we...
No matter. We kept our upper lips stiff and enjoyed a soggy but satisfying first trip of our sabbatical. Some photos (click to enlarge) and experiences below.
Seoul
We stayed 6 days in Seoul, mostly sightseeing, eating, and shopping. Some highlights...
Gyeongbokgung & Changgyeongung Palaces
Seoul has several royal palaces from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897). We visited two with Davina's friend and collaborator, Salma. The palace design is so distinctive. Wood structures painted in vivid green and red, with purple and blue trims. Tiled roofs gently sloping down and then turning up at the corners. Curious figurines of fish, dragons, tigers, and other symbols of the royal family. All surrounded by beautiful red pines and ginko trees.
A peek inside the throne room and other royal rooms at Gyeongbokgung palace. The eye goes to the intricate and richly colored wood. The space itself is fairly sparse, with minimal furnishings, unlike the what you'd find in many European palaces.
The throne has golden dragons to symbolize the king's power. Behind it is probably the best known and most iconic artwork in Korea: The Painting of the Sun, Moon, and 5 Peaks. It symbolizes the queen (moon) and king (sun) as yin & yang principles for the universe.
Check out the fun dragon and this bench's gorgeous mother-of-pearl inlay.
The palace grounds are lovely too. We liked how well-spaced and layered it all feels. Each spot is calming.
We were lucky to catch the Changing of the Guard at Gyeongbokgung palace, while musicians play traditional instruments like the conch and large drums.
Many Koreans visit the palaces dressed in their traditional hanbook outfits. One couple was kind to let us pose with them.
Korean Food Markets
Inside Gwangjang market, Seoul's revered food market for all of Korea's favorite street foods. We enjoyed freshly made kimchi dumplings, Korean pancakes, fried dough...
When in Seoul ... Korean BBQ, which entails paying someone to let you grill your own food over white-hot coals at the table. Strange concept but loads of fun!
Koreans love a good fermentation. Many still ferment foods at home, either in these traditional pots (below) or modern versions. Most restaurants serve multiple side dishes of fermented goodies with the meal. Inevitably, we thought of our fermenting friends Jamie & Giordana at every meal. Which meant we also had the same conversation at every meal.
Koreans love snacks too. Seoul has many stores devoted entirely to packaged snacks, like cookies, chips, dried squid, and, of course, instant ramen. Shelf after shelf of instant ramen.
A few other peculiar snacks take a Korean spin to American classics... things like matcha Kit Kat or -- brace yourselves -- mochi chocolate chip cookies. That's right, mochi & the chocolate chip cookie, together in a brilliant spin on smores. It even somehow makes Hershey's chocolate acceptable. Koreans are so clever!
They also apparently eat spam, though, so let's not give them too much credit.
Jeonju
Seoul is a bustling city, stimulating and interesting, but also a bit much. We're not built for it. Davina's just a small-town girl. And Seoul is a lonely world. So, we took the midday train goin' to Jeonju. (please insert your own guitar solo here)
Jeonju is a smallish town 3 hours south of Seoul. It's famed as the birthplace of bibimbab (a national rice dish) and for its village of hanoks, homes designed in the style unique to the Joseon era. Many of the homes are well over 100 years old.
Charm and calm throughout. We enjoyed in immensely.
These outdoor gyms are in parks everywhere here and in Thailand too. We often see them being used too, mostly by seniors or Davina. What a great idea!
We stayed at this lovely 150 year-old Hanok. It is the first one in the village to open up to tourists, back in 2002 when Korea and Japan co-hosted the World Cup.
Of course the room was traditional too: a small (7' x 7'), spartan room with a heated wood floor and thin mattress, plus A/C and an attached W/C for us modern travelers. Bonus: it's apparently an Ames room too. Watch your head, Davina.
It wasn't bad either. It kind of grew on us, in fact. This is Corwin the next morning.
Reflections on Korea
We had an excellent adventure in Korea despite the rain. A few quirky things stood out.
A. Koreans Are Clean
Seoul and Jeonju were astonishingly clean. We searched everywhere for graffiti or litter, to no avail. This, despite having virtually no trash cans available in public spaces! People just bring their rubbish home. And then cleaners come out to finish the job. Incredible.
And it's not just a few rogue street cleaners up to good, either. Everyone's in on it. On one morning stroll in Jeonju, we came upon a gang of older women roving the streets with brooms. We crossed the road to avoid them.
B. Anything Your Country Can Do, Korea Can Do Cuter
Everything is also so gosh darn cute! Everywhere you look, cuddly bears, pink galore, and K-Pop stores. Their chocolate is boy band themed (BTS!). Even the police station is cute.
C. Koreans Are Challenging Walkers
We are avid walkers. We've been doing it for a long time. The key, we've learned, is to walk on one side of the passageway. In the USA, for example, we walk on the right and pass on the left. Simple, really.
That concept does not work in Korea. People do not walk in straight lines there. They zig and zag. We crashed into so many people the first few days. Walking in Seoul is like driving in India, where people joke that you need 3 things to drive: good brakes, luck, and a working horn. So Corwin bought a squeezy bicycle horn in Seoul, just to let everyone know we're walking there. Squeak, squeak. It embarrassed Davina. But it did the trick. People kept at bay. Our knees were saved.
D. Koreans Don't Forget
Japan "occupied" Korea from 1910-1945, a period of great suffering and cultural erosion for the Koreans. If interested, the History channel has a good video about the occupation and its fallout.
That period still hangs over the country. We saw reminders of it everywhere, especially stories of the "resistance" effort led by student organizations, Buddhist and Christian leaders, and other groups. Their efforts are memorialized in many ways.
Like in this entrance gate at a Buddhist temple in Seoul. The left photo below shows the whole gate; the right one zooms-in on its mural of Korean scholars battling Japanese soliders.
Or through these statues, officially called the Statue of Peace but known more commonly as the Comfort Woman Statue. Over 100 have been placed throughout the country since 2011. Each memorializes (and protests) Japan's mistreatment of Korean women and girls during the occupation. Each feature of the statue -- her gaze and clenched fists, the empty chair and bird, and so on -- represents something unique about her experience and fortitude.
That's all on Korea. Up next time: our August trip to Indonesia.
Take care,
Davina & Corwin
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