[Jia You Station] April 2014 -- Seoul, South Korea, Leisure Trip

In April, my wife went to South Korea for a business trip, and I happened to take a few days off to travel together and see South Korea. The affordable airfare from China Southern Airlines was quite impressive. A week before departure, my wife was reading about Korean history and became interested in the Korean alphabet invented by King Sejong. History books said that this seemingly chaotic script could be learned in a day. She downloaded videos and studied hard, but the more she learned, the more she realized she didn't know! It turned out that Hangul is essentially a phonetic alphabet, and it is indeed possible to learn how to read it in a short time, but understanding the meaning of the words is a long road ahead. It seems that the "learn in a day" claim was aimed at illiterate Koreans. Fortunately, after struggling, my wife managed to learn quite a few pronunciations, which helped a lot during the trip to Korea.

The plane departed on time. My wife had booked a later flight due to work, so she told me to go ahead to the guesthouse to get things ready. The plane landed at Incheon Airport, and almost all signs had Chinese labels—clearly many wealthy Chinese tourists come here! The shuttle train had announcements in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and English, so there were almost no barriers. The airport is several dozen kilometers from downtown Seoul, but luckily there is a train that goes directly to Seoul Station. There are express and regular trains. I bought a T-money card at a convenience store (similar to our transportation card, with wide uses, including shopping at convenience stores), swiped it to enter, chose the cheaper train, which had only a few stops, and arrived at Seoul Station in over an hour. It passed by Gimpo Airport, where my wife would land a few hours later. By the time I arrived at Seoul Station, it was already dark. I transferred to Line 4 and got off one stop later at "Sookmyung Women's University". The guesthouse owner had sent me a real-time street view map via email in advance. I walked and looked, but still got dizzy trying to find my way. The narrow alleys and extremely complex building layouts confused me. When I couldn't figure it out, I asked for directions. A staff member at a rice cake shop kindly used their phone's navigation to point me in the general direction. I walked straight ahead, and finally, with the help of a staff member at a GS25 convenience store, I arrived at the guesthouse. Only then did I realize I had already circled the area several times. Later, I retraced my steps and found that the street view map was accurate. The guesthouse was incredibly convenient to the subway: Line 1's Namyong Station and Line 4's Sookmyung Station were both very close. The area felt very lived-in. The only downside was the language—only Korean was spoken, making communication almost impossible. The guesthouse owner knew a bit of English, so we managed with gestures and a few words, and I checked in smoothly. The small room had a floor mattress, a clean bathroom, offering an authentic experience of Korean daily life. Settling in brought some peace of mind. My wife's flight was delayed, but luckily everything went smoothly. The subway was very convenient. The first day in Seoul went relatively smoothly. Thanks to the two Korean young men who showed me the way.

On the second day, we got up early. Our main destination was Panmunjom.

The bus departed. Seoul is not big. We passed by Gyeongbokgung Palace and drove along Korean highways. Before long, there were barbed wire fences along the Han River, and more and more observation towers. The guide said that the hills on the South Korean side were green, while those on the North Korean side were yellowish-brown. The one-hour-plus ride didn't feel boring thanks to the guide's commentary.

Soon, the bus arrived in front of a large building. Everyone lined up and entered. As soon as we came out of the building, there it was—the blue houses on the border between South and North Korea that we always see on the news. After the soldier gave a brief introduction, we were allowed to take photos, but only of the North Korean side, not the South Korean side. We snapped away.

After taking photos, we lined up to enter those blue houses for a tour. Inside the houses, there were mainly conference tables. Both sides had doors: the door from South Korea into the house was open, while the door from North Korea was closed, and vice versa. It is said that these houses were actually used for talks between the two sides many years ago.

The duty-free shop had many items from the American military. I bought a few as souvenirs. This area was the soldiers' living quarters, with various buildings and even a church. The American soldiers didn't seem so aloof. A small group next to us even bought a bottle of alcohol for an American soldier, who happily took photos and joked with them.

This area is part of the DMZ. We left for lunch. The Korean beef hotpot was quite tasty.

After lunch, we returned to the DMZ. First, we went to Dorasan Station to see the end of the Korean railway. According to the guide, if this railway could go all the way north, it would reach Sinuiju, then continue through Northeast China, Mongolia, Russia, all the way to Europe—a beautiful dream.

I bought a platform ticket and looked around the station. Then we left for the Third Infiltration Tunnel.

We took a small train 70 meters underground, wearing hard hats, and fumbled our way through the tunnel. Three concrete walls had been built along the demarcation line.

Not far from there was a hilltop that offered a panoramic view of Kaesong in North Korea. The vantage point was excellent. Completing this day of military tourism was quite satisfying.

At 5:30, we returned to the city. Myeongdong was right nearby, packed with crowds of shoppers. My wife and I had some pork cutlet, searched for delicious cold noodles, and exchanged money along the way, learning about the currency exchange places in Korea.

Breakfast at the guesthouse was a bit meager. The landlady was very polite, but she only spoke Korean.

The weather was so-so. After the Korean breakfast, we took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace is not far from Myeongdong, and the subway goes directly there. By chance, there was a parade performance inside the palace, so we watched the lively event.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was built following the model of our Forbidden City. It is quite large, with layers of halls, but the buildings have been recently restored; the original ones were mostly destroyed by fire. Having seen the Forbidden City, there wasn't much to excite us here, but the palace did preserve some characteristics of Korean architecture, such as heated floor flues and hanging doors. The palace had quite a few visitors, and there were free Chinese-speaking guides. A quick tour took about an hour.

Inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, there were halls like Geunjeongjeon, Sajeongjeon, Gangnyeongjeon, Gyotaejeon, Chagyeongjeon, Gyeonghoeru, and Hyangwonjeong. The names sounded familiar. Korean history is inseparable from China's; they originally used Chinese characters, and the aristocracy took pride in using Chinese. After King Sejong invented Hangul, the nobility still didn't support it. The rear garden of Gyeongbokgung Palace was also not small. Scenic spots like "Emei Mountain" might be hard for us to understand, but going out through the side gate past Sinmumun Gate leads directly to Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House). Cheong Wa Dae was right in sight. We took some photos, but without a reservation, we couldn't visit.

The ticket for Gyeongbokgung Palace allowed unlimited re-entry within one day. We went back inside the palace, then through a side gate to see the Korean Folk Museum. Across the street, not far away, was the Bukchon Hanok Village area.

Following the map, we found the information center. Since the breakfast was too light, my wife was extremely hungry. After checking the route, we went straight to the food recommended in a guidebook. Korean rich kids driving BMW convertibles were queuing alongside us—impressive! First, we had beef ribs, cold noodles, and green bean pancakes, eating until we were half full.

The other half of our stomachs were reserved for the soybean paste soup dumplings across the street. Korean dumplings are more like our large wontons. After eating our fill, we continued on.

Bukchon Hanok Village is a neighborhood here, with houses on winding hillside paths, reminiscent of our old towns.

There were quite a few tourists. We strolled and looked around, and soon arrived at Changdeokgung Palace.

Changdeokgung Palace is one of the Five Grand Palaces of the Joseon Dynasty and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Although it cannot compare to our national historical sites, being a World Heritage site must mean it has some significance! It is the best-preserved of all the Joseon palaces, originally built as a detached palace to replace Gyeongbokgung, and during the late Joseon period it served as the main palace instead. The halls of Changdeokgung were designed entirely according to the natural topography, making it the most naturally scenic of the Joseon palaces. In 1997, it was registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

Since it was getting late, we missed the chance to visit the Huwon (Rear Garden). The rear garden requires a reservation and has capacity limits; you are guided by a tour, which adds an air of mystery.

We could only see the main halls. The halls were relatively old, unlike Gyeongbokgung's newly built structures. But since the Korean-language explanations were incomprehensible to us, and the layout was similar to what we saw at Gyeongbokgung in the morning, we just took a quick glance and supplemented with Baidu searches. At least we could say we've been there.

Leaving the palace, we walked to nearby Cheonggyecheon Stream to get a feel for Seoul's cityscape. There were many police at intersections, due to the recent ferry incident; we were told that protests could happen at any time. The day's walking was quite tiring, so we decided to head back early to rest. We found a barbecue restaurant near the guesthouse. The high-quality Korean beef and pork belly were delicious, a bit pricey but worth a try. The grill's exhaust system was good—after eating, our clothes had no smell at all. Great.

Finally, a sunny day. Worried that we might miss a tour without a reservation, we arrived early at Jongmyo Shrine. There were not many people. At 11:00, there was a Chinese-language guided tour. No unaccompanied visits; you had to join a guided group. We were an hour early, so my wife and I sat in the back garden. It was full of elderly Korean men playing board games or chess—no elderly women at all. Compared to our square-dancing grannies back home, it was quite lacking. After an hour's wait, we finally entered. There were only two Chinese-language tours a day here; most tours were in Korean or Japanese. With just over a dozen tourists, the guided tour was quite comfortable.

The guide's Chinese was mediocre, but the explanations were clear. Jongmyo Shrine is the oldest and most authentic Confucian royal shrine in existence, used to honor the successive kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). It has been preserved in its original 16th-century form. Religious ceremonies with music and dance are still held here, a tradition dating back to the 14th century. The main gate already looked quite old. Korean history is actually long, dating back to the Gija period thousands of years ago, but the guide said regretfully that they only have relics from the Joseon Dynasty; earlier ones, like those from Goguryeo, are all gone—a pity. This site is also a World Heritage site, including buildings like Jeongjeon (Main Hall) and Yeongnyeongjeon (Hall of Eternal Peace). Religious ceremonies with music and dance are often held here, but due to the ferry sinking incident, some performances had been canceled, so we missed out.

The two halls house spirit tablets of different Joseon kings and queens. Descendants of the royal family still perform ancestral rites every year. It is said that more than half of South Korea's population agrees with restoring the monarchy, claiming it would benefit tourism.

The main hall was grand and imposing, quite striking. With few people around, the serene Jongmyo Shrine, with its ancient architecture and mysterious spirit paths, felt very peaceful.

Leaving Jongmyo, we again took the subway to the National Museum of Korea.

It is said to be the sixth largest museum in the world. We had lunch and then entered. The audio guide with video was quite advanced, and the key thing was that it contained a wealth of information! Almost half of the exhibits had commentary. The first floor presented a history of Korea, from ancient times to the Joseon Dynasty. Since Korea is not vast in territory or resources, the history was quite detailed, and the exhibits were numerous and some quite exquisite. The majority of visitors here were not tourists but students. A teacher would take five or six students for an afternoon, and they would sit on the floor at any time, drawing and talking—various states of activity. Therefore, the museum had many cleaning ladies driving floor scrubbers around.

The museum was indeed large. The upper floors had Buddhist art and ceramics, with quite a few fine pieces. Surprisingly, there were also some collections from the Astana Tombs in Xinjiang and Kizil Caves murals. Visiting a museum is physically exhausting.

Eventually, I noticed that the collection had a grading system: National Treasures were the highest level, with numbers; Treasures were the second level, also numbered; the rest were ordinary items. We were so tired that we ended up just focusing on the National Treasures.

Leaving the museum, we went directly to Namdaemun Market. The knife-cut noodles suited our taste—not too spicy. The owners were all middle-aged women from Jilin, Northeast China, who spoke fluent Chinese, making communication smooth.

The market information booth gave us precise directions, and we easily found the only samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) shop in the area. We didn't dare to queue at the famous Bukchon Samgyetang, so we settled for this one in a small alley. There was no staff, just an elderly woman owner. She didn't speak English, but that didn't hinder our communication. The samgyetang was delicious, with sticky glutinous rice. My wife really liked it.

Braised beltfish was too much for us; we went back satisfied.

After eating, we walked to Myeongdong, planning to check out Lotte Duty Free Shop. Floors 9 to 11—three floors. Not bad until you get off the elevator—absolutely terrifying. It was packed with people, all speaking Chinese. No wonder the day before at Gyeongbokgung, a Chinese girl had said, "Where are you going to play?" "Not really playing, just shopping. Spend $3,000, and they give you a free ticket to Lotte World or something." People were queuing to pay for all those legendary goods, getting them packaged and sent straight to the airport for final pickup at the airport. The assembly-line service was horrifying. The three floors covered almost all major brands, and it was just unbelievable. Even LV had crowds, with no sense of luxury at all.

My wife and I were too exhausted to fight the crowd, so we just treated it as a sightseeing tour. After taking in the spectacle, we went straight downstairs and retreated.

The last day of the trip was also fine weather. In the morning, we said goodbye to the guesthouse landlady. Her small frame gave my wife a hug. Then we moved on to Gangnam District, crossing the Han River. My wife had to go to work. For the morning hours, we planned to visit Jeongneung and Seonjeongneung (Royal Tombs) in Gangnam. These are also World Heritage sites—the burial grounds of two Joseon kings and one queen.

Unfortunately, Monday was a day off, so we couldn't visit. We could only look around at the entrance and read the descriptions. Perhaps fate didn't bring us together. My wife and I strolled along Gangnam's streets and had some Korean bibimbap, which was absolutely delicious. Carrying my luggage, I left first to head home; my wife still had to continue working. I said goodbye to her and began my journey home.

I took the subway to Seoul Station, then transferred to the train to Incheon. Everything went relatively smoothly.

The airport duty-free shops were still terrifyingly crowded. I specifically went to see the Lotte pickup area. There were mountains of bags—all carry-on luggage! At check-in, I had already seen countless Chinese compatriots with overweight luggage. Well, at least we returned fully loaded.

The plane was on time. Shanghai is really not far from Incheon. With the one-hour time difference, it took only an hour. Shanghai arrived...