SEOUL VACATION - GYEONGBOKBUNG PALACE

GYEONGBOKBUNG  PALACE

Gyeoungbokgung Palace was the royal and governmental center of ancient Seoul. It was where King Sejong ruled and ran his kingdom.

Gyeongokbung was established sometime in the 1300’s but parts have since been destroyed, reconstructed, burned, and resurrected several times. A lot of this was perpetrated by Japan in the 1500s – 1700s. 

Gyeongokbung, as a location, has a lot of history. Most notably it is the site where King Sejong created the written Korean language called “hangul” that is still used today.

Where hangul was created

 It is also the site of where Japanese assassins broke in and murdered Korean’s monarch, an empress, as part of a government take over.

Most the Gyeongokbung grounds had been rebuilt to its current state back in the 1850’s, but it did sustain some damage in the Korean War.

Regardless, the palace grounds are similar to many palace grounds: this is where the government administrative offices were, this is where they would meet for meetings, this is where the kings mistress’ lived, this is where the king bathed and would spa, this is where the king would do his thinking, this is where the king’s mother stayed.

Most notable was the well in the back, which supplied water to everyone on the palace grounds.

 

KOREAN BASEBALL

Jamsil Sports Complex is home to many arenas and stadiums in Seoul, notably the stadium from the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The stadium is mostly used for big concerts now. The day I went to this game there was a big EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival happening there featuring such big name acts as Steve Aoki, Duck Sauce and Tiesto. Eminem just played there today actually.

Seoul Olympic Stadium

The baseball stadium I went to neighbors that stadium.

The instant I got off the subway it was crazy busy with excitement. I bought my Thundersticks in the subway and headed up the stadium.

Thundersticks. Check.

Outside the Stadium 

It was a very exciting and busy atmosphere with all sorts of vendors selling all sorts of things. Flattened, dried and spiced fishmeal jerky; squid jerky; uncooked octopus tentacles, gim-bap (which is Korean sushi with ham, egg, and pickled radish and carrot) and hard boiled eggs. Oh and lots of beer and soju, that you are allowed to bring into the stadium.

Squid Jerky

Dried squid, dried and spiced fishmeal jerky

Uncooked octopus tentacles and soju

 I bought my ticket for about $8.50 USD and made my way up the ramp. It was very hot and very crowded. On this day I had packed 3 sets of clothes for fear of sweating through my clothes. Turns out I needed all three sets. Again it was very humid and close to 100˚.

Up the ramp

I tried to find my seat, but couldn’t make sense of my ticket so I sat wherever I wanted and nobody said anything to me. At first I was unknowingly sitting in the opposing teams section. In Korean baseball they split the stadium in half. One side is for the away team’s fans, the other is for the home teams fans.

Seats 30,000+

Kia Tigers fan section

Another thing about Korean baseball is their teams are named after the company that sponsors them, not the city that they are from. I saw the KIA Tigers play the hometown Doosan Bears. Seoul has 3 teams, two of which share this stadium. The LG Twins are like the Mets and the Doosan Bears are like the Yankees.

The game itself was a different kind of baseball. Base stealing is very big as is a pitcher's concern with preventing base stealing. Lots of small ball. Moving the runner through sacrifices etc. Each runner is very precious so they try to maximize any time they get someone  on base. They also list walks where the list R, H, E; its listed as R, H, E, B.  Also "strike", "ball" and "out" are all the same in Korean as they are in English. The quality of play is a little inferior to American ball, at least in the game I saw. It’s pretty rare to see a missed throw to first in MLB. I’m knocking Korean ball. I’m just telling you what I saw at this game.

They have the 6^th inning stretch instead of the 7^th innings stretch. And it actually is a stretch. Baseball players from both teams get on the field and stretch, whereas the American connotation I believe derives from stretching and getting up for a bit because you’ve been eating nachos all day. Also, they do not sing "Take me out to the Ballgame." But they are always cheering and singing anyway, thanks to the help of their cheerleaders. Each team has cheerleaders. One of the night’s highlights was watching the Doosan Bear’s mascot do the "Gangnam Style" dance to the song especially because the stadium is in Gangnam (South of the Han River). 

The biggest highlight and the strangest thing I saw was a guy in a Doosan Bears uniform wearing a mask from the movie Scream firing a T-shirt canon into the crowd.

The Crowd

First of all there were probably an equal amount of KIA Tigers fans as there were Doosan Bears fans. So this stadium was rocking. 

KIA Tigers fans

They have sing-songy cheers and chants. What’s interesting is each side take turns. They only cheer and chant when their team is hitting. Mr. Park later explained that they want to stay quiet while their team is on defense so they can concentrate better. They also cheer and chant regardless of what is happening. Here is some background on the video clip below: it’s the 3^rd inning, nobody is one base and there are no outs, also, these are the fans for the opposing team.

The crowd was also very easily excited. Routine plays and foul balls were met with heart abreath inhalations. There would be hits that were can of corn pop flys, but amongst that crowd there was a collective inhaltation (is it going to be a hit???? definitely not) followed by the sign when it predictably caught (awwwww). This would also happen for ground balls down the foul line that were never ever even in the field of play, it was foul the moment it left his bat, but still that: is it going to be a hit????; awwwww.

I learned the term for “bullshit,”: “Myle-doe-andooay!” which is actually just “this doesn’t make any sense.”

I later on moved to the Doosan Bears section.

Doosan Bear fan section

I got to cheer them on as they won in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off victory. It was a very exciting game, one of the best I’ve been to in a while. Here is some video from the bottom of the ninth:

At the end of the night I sat and drank soju and beer with some Koreans and chatted for a bit. My Korean stinks and most people’s English isn’t great, but with thos two pieces alcohol kind of helps fill in the cracks and makes for something that’s like effective(ish) communication. I made some Korean friends and even made plans to go to Busan together. They ended up being unable to, but we’re friends on facebook so we can try to meet another time.

I have since be to Changwon’s minor league team’s game which had a much less chaotic feel. (Check back in a week or two for that one)

SEOUL VACATION - A MODERN CITY

SEOUL VACATION – A MODERN CITY

Seoul is a rapidly expanding 21^st century metropolis. Home to modern architecture, it is a city that is culturally connected to the rest of the ever globalizing world.

'Prometheus' ad in the subway

Artwork under an underpass

I took an unofficial architecture bike tour through Seoul.

This is a statue of King Sejong in the main square He is also known locally as Sejong the Great. 

King Sejong

Here is what Wikipedia says about King Sejong:

“Sejong the Great (May 15, 1397 – April 8, 1450, r. 1418–1450) was the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. During his reign, he reinforced Korean Confucian policies and executed major legal amendments (공법; 貢法). He also used the creation of Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and the advancement of technology to expand his territory.”

He is said to have created a sundial and a water clock. 
Basically he was Korea’s King David.

Also in this main square, it’s kind of like Paris' Champs Elysees, you have some fountains, the nearby American embassy, where there are many guards constantly roaming, and it is also home to their newly remodeled city hall. There is an expansive addition that has been added behind the original city hall building reusing the past building and creating a 21^st century addition behind it.

City Hall. Old building in front, new blueish behind it

Side view of the new City Hall addition

There were lots of kids running around in the fountain because it was like 100 degrees and very humid. This is still along the main square akin to the Champs Elysees.

Samsung Securities Building

Haechi welcomes you to Seoul!

I got hungry doing all this site seeing so I stopped in for a burrito. Not an easy thing to come by in Korea.

Come to me Chorizo Burrito...

Along the Han River there are these manmade islands simply called The Floating Islands. They are viewed as pointless by the locals because the remain not in public use for most of the year. The Floating Islands are used for conferences, expos, special performances, weddings and etc.

The Floating Islands

The Floating Islands

The Floating Islands

The Floating Islands

After my little biking tour I set off to go to the Doosan Bears baseball game...

SEOUL VACATION - GETTING AROUND & HAN RIVER

SEOUL VACATION - GETTING AROUND & HAN RIVER 

I must have put on at least 40 miles biking around Seoul. On my first day I biked the Hongjecheon Stream up to the World Cup Soccer stadium. I then rode along the Han River for a bit and saw the sunset on the Han River.

Old men playing go under an underpass along the stream

World Cup Stadium in the distance

World Cup Stadium

The Han River is the river that splits Seoul in half, the north part from the part. The southern part is a little newer and more affluent and features Coex shopping center, Lotte World (an amusement park), the Olympic stadium and park and Seoul’s tallest building the 63-story building aptly named 63City (known by my Hagwon students as the most disappointing field trip ever: You just get to the top and that’s it!). 63City had to be built outside of the downtown area, because there are regulations about the height of buildings in the main downtown area presumably having to do with a possible wartime emergency. Also south of the river is known as Gangnam (South of the River) as in Psy’s summer smash song: “Gangnam Style.”  If you haven’t seen this video, treat yourself. It’s the summer smash hit that is everywhere here- hilarious video!

Han River Bike Trail

Han River 63City in the background

Han River Bike Trail63City in the background

63City

Han River Bike Trail

I biked all along the Han and biked past Seoul’s many bridges. The Han River has an excellent bike system with convenience stores that follow the bike paths, several geriatric work out stations and lots of bathrooms (on the bathroom picture that is Haechi, Seoul’s historical mythical winged lion creature mascot given a 21^st Century Super Mario Brothers revamp.) From the Olympic Stadium to where I was staying in Hongdae it was roughly 20 miles (I learned the hard way).

Bathroom; Seoul's Mascot Haechi

Han River

Han River

Han River

Han River Bike Trail

Aside from my first follies with the subway system, once I got a map it was smooth sailings. The subway is easy to get around, it’s cheap and mostly in English. It goes everywhere and the folding bike worked perfectly. And you get 500 Won (about 50 cents) when you put the card in a machine after you're done with it so it can be reused. Some interesting information: some subway stations have these cases full of gas masks ready to use for the public in case of some kind of attack. They run videos of how and when to use them in the HD TVs on the subway, featuring actors running away from a suitcase that is post-productionally smogging.

Gas masks

Also at some of the subway stations they have underground art galleries for people to enjoy.

Underground Art Gallery

All in all though the subways are fantastic and easy to use and get around on.