Day 30: In Love With Korea

Today was Day Two of 'the best weekend ever in Korea.' Brad and I slept in fairly late, and then Andrea, Steve, and their other friend Pauline came by (Amy had other plans.) The five of us decided to go for a little hike so we got our day-bags packed up and took the bus to Bukhansan National Park. Seoul is blessed enough to be surrounded by some pretty spectacular mountains, most of which are contained in several stunning national and provincial parks. Bukhansan is one of the larger parks and is located right inbetween Ilsandong and the city centre. Hiking is very popular in Korea, and so the parks are unbelievably packed with hikers on the weekends.

This particular Sunday was very busy, but not nearly as bad as it could be (or so I'm told.) Bukhansan is an amazing park - stunning jagged brown-coloured granite peaks rising high above forested valleys, with incredible views of the sprawling city below. We chose a shorter hike that was took us on a less-popular trail only part-way up the mountain. At the top of this trail is a small Buddhist temple with a very large statue of Buddha, arms gesturing out towards the city way in the distance. It was a little strange to see a large Buddha statue in the middle of a forest on a mountain, but hey we're in Asia right? We contined on past Buddha and came to these smooth, bare granite slopes. We sat and rested and enjoyed the view - stunning jagged peaks, a thick forest of Asian pine trees, the Buddhist temple off to our left poking out between the trees, and we could even hear the sound of Buddhist monks chanting from down below in the valley... An absolutely amazing moment and it just felt about as perfectly 'Asian' as a moment could be.

We walked around on the slopes for a while, which was a strange experience in itself... The slopes are at least a 45-degree angle, but the surface is very rough (almost like sandpaper) and so your boots stick to it - a perfect friction allowing you to walk up, down, and across these crazy slopes with ease- it was like defying gravity! More silly photos on the slopes naturally ensued. After that we meandered back down to the valley below, where we sat in a dry riverbed and had another picnic lunch. A warm beautiful day in a spectacular setting! It's wonderful to have such an oasis of nature right next to such a busy and chaotic megacity.

It was late afternoon at this point, and Brad, Andrea, and Pauline were feeling tired so they decided to head back home. Steve and I were still feeling energetic so we headed back into Seoul to check out some more sights. We made a b-line back to Gonjeongjong Palace, and made it in time before it closed. This turned out to be probably the most amazing part of my weekend. This palace is so stunning and incredible and mystifying it's hard to describe in words... It's a gigantic ancient palace located right in the heart of Seoul - a many-century old royal home surrounded by modern-day crazy-shaped skyscrapers with neon and giant big-screen TV's the sizes of houses hanging off them - such a strange juxtaposition!

Like most of Korea's great monuments, this palace was partially destroyed by the Japanese when they invaded, (some from wars with Japan centuries ago, and some burned during the more-recent Korean War) but has since been rebuilt and restored. Walking through the palace grounds really does feel like stepping back into time. The buildings are so large and so graceful - massive curved, peaked rooves, with the underlying wooden supports painted in the most ornate and vivid colours that you can imagine. The courtyards are made up of perfectly crafted stones, and there are gardens, ponds, moats, giant rock pillars, trees, and statues spread out amongst the perfectly-designed grounds. Every single building and tree and pond in this whole complex (the size of a small town) were laid down following the rules of geomancy, to harness the flow of the universe, and just to walk through them is like a spiritual experience in itself. Absolutely breaktaking!

It was one of the moments that I wish I could snap my fingers and have all my family and friends from back home right there with me. You guys would have absolutely loved this - you would have been blown away with the beauty of this ancient palace and I wish I could have shared that moment with you all. I took several photos and will pass them along when I get them developed, but believe me when I say that they won't do it justice! I AM SO LUCKY TO BE HERE IN KOREA SEEING SUCH INCREDIBLE SIGHTS!!! I'll never forget it as long as I live. And what's even more amazing is that there's supposed to be like another three or four other ancient royal palaces in Seoul, just as amazing as this one. I can't wait to see those ones!!!

After Gonjeongjong Palace Steve took me over to Insadong - this is a very popular street in Seoul where locals and tourists come to browse through hundreds of stores selling uniquely Korean crafts and artwork. There are stores selling paper products, lanterns, candles, statues, tea sets, clothing, and all other kinds of beautiful art and crafts hand-made my Koreans. It's the kind of place where one could spend a whole day just wandering and browsing. It's definitely where I'll find the cool gifts to send friends and family back home a little piece of Korea! Steve and I took a break in one of Insadong's famous tea shops - these little hideaway cafes that sell only tea, but the most unique and rich flavours in a beautiful ambience. We both had 'jujube tea' which was made from dates - hard to explain, but very warm and so tasty. Mmmmmm.....

After that it was quite late and Steve had to be getting home so he ventured off to catch the bus while I explored around a little more. I had some dinner and then was excited when I came across Musicland - one of the largest music stores in Korea and one of the places that I had been searching for last week when I failed to find Tower Records (which I found out has actually closed! No wonder I couldn't find it!) I browsed through Musicland and ended up buying myself a CD - Travis' The Invisible Band and man is it ever good!

I'm sitting at home listening to it now and just recounting all the great times I had this weekend. I was only gone one night but it felt like I was gone for several days! Well I guess with all the stuff we packed in - prison tours, hiking in national parks, dinners out, long rides on busses and the subway, shopping in Insandong, browsing through massive bookstores, silly random photos, and of course The Gun Of Love, it's no wonder! It was definitely my best weekend yet in Korea and I had so much fun and got to see so much! There's so much to explore in this country!!! Korea offers such a wide variety of activities, I don't think I'll ever run out of things to discover here. I really am lucky to have such a great opportunity to really see so much of a foreign country - I am feeling particularly blessed these days. And I don't ever want to take a minute of this experience for granted. (please kick me if I do!) :-)