Posted by Jess
17 April 2011

I took advantage of some available airline miles and a free weekend and made plans to visit the Republic of Korea.  I mentioned it at work and my manager asked me to take a few hours to visit our Seoul office during my trip as well.  I left Thursday night for Korea.  The flight was only 2 hours, but Narita Airport is over an hour outside Tokyo and Incheon Airport is the same from Seoul so it was a short flight but a long journey Thursday night.  Of course the taxi driver to the hotel made it as short as he could by driving at 150kph.  (90+mph).

I stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at the Times Square Mall, a relatively new mall that is the largest in Seoul.  The hotel was nice but had a glass wall to the bathroom which was strange.  If you stand at the bathroom sink, you can look out into the sleeping area through a plate of glass like you would have around your shower.  I guess since there's only one bed this is no big deal, but I found it curious that the bathroom door is solid wood.


Before heading to my room on Thursday night, I asked the front desk how long it would take to get to the office in the morning - the concierge thought it would be 25 minutes.  Good thing I left early because it took over an hour.  Traffic in Seoul is crazy.  I blame it on two things - the fact that the roads make no sense as far as I could tell and it's not very bike friendly.  My meetings were just in the morning and I was back to the hotel around 1pm.  By 2pm I was headed back out to explore the city a little.

I took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace and found my way out to one of the entrance gates.  Next to it was the National Palace Museum and it was free so I decided to take a look around.  There wasn't too much on display and I finished in about 30 minutes.  There was one room that was filled with a large clock that was run by water and chimed every two hours.  It was built between 4-7AD.   It seemed pretty advanced to me for something built 2,000 years ago.  And it was a sign of great power back then because the ruler was the timekeeper, which also kept his people on task and in a sense, ruled their time.
 


After the museum I headed onto the palace grounds.  I was lucky to catch the changing of the Gate Guard ceremony and then set off to explore the palace.  It was a large area with some pretty spots in it and had a beautiful mountain backdrop.  It wasn't busy there as it was on overcast and chilly afternoon.  I think I might be getting a bit "palaced-out" because I wasn't so into it today.  Or it could have been that I didn't have a tour guide so not knowing the history of the palace made it a bit less interesting.  The original palace was built in the late 1300's and has been rebuilt in the 1800's.  And is now being repaired again after destruction during the Japanese occupation in the 1900's.






I headed out the main gate and into the main downtown street of Seoul's government district.  I passed a few embassies, including the U.S. one, which looks like it was built during the Korean War as barracks and was converted after.  It is not an impressive building.  I stopped in for a coffee and a snack to warm up a bit from the chilly weather at a Dunkin Donuts.  In the case you could buy Spinach, Broccoli, or Carrot Donuts.  Oh and a banana filled one.  I don't think I've ever had a green donut before.  And I still haven't.


With my coffee in hand I headed towards Insa-dong, a neighborhood known for small shops selling traditional Korean goods and souvenirs.  The area also has a lot street vendors, cafes and art galleries  It was a good place to find some souvenirs and watch some locals lining up for local treats.  I wandered in and out of shops and around the neighborhood before finally heading back to the subway.  I window-shopped through the mall connected to my hotel for a bit and headed back to the room for the night. 

More in the next post on Saturday's tour.

Kanpai!
Jess