It’s hard to get out of bed after the long day of school and travel yesterday, but tours await us.  We get rolling, aided by our respective caffeine kick (diet coke for Judy, coffee for me) and some fresh pastries from a lobby shop.

We’re picked up by a small bus with a few other tourists on board and drive into downtown Seoul, about 10 minutes away.  We pick up a few more tourists, and head to our first stop, the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple.  We’re told that today is the biggest holiday in Korea, their “Thanksgiving Day” and a time for reunions and memorial services for families.

The temple is very large with 3 large statues on the inside.  There are many people leaving gifts in memory of family (water bottles, money, flowers).  There are also many people in prayer, combined with bowing.  The grounds are full of visitors, some in traditional Korean attire, celebrating the holiday.  As you see some of our pictures, you’ll see what I’m talking about with the clothes.  The small children are really cute.

Jogyesa Buddhist Temple

Baby Buddha with gifts

We travel next to Gyeongbokgung Palace, one of the homes of the Joseon Dynasty, the rulers of Korea from 1392 to 1910.  There is a very elaborate “Changing of the Royal Guard” ceremony in traditional uniforms, complete with a small group of musicians with drums and horns.  The grounds are huge with very ornate and detailed buildings.  We lose two of the people from our tour while walking through the grounds.  It’s very crowded.  Our guide knows her information pretty well, but the handling of the group is not so good.  She tends to stop in gate entrances to begin her explanations, blocking entry for everyone else, and creating a lot of jostling as people try to squeeze by.  After traveling with large groups for so many years, I seem to pay more attention to the tour logistics than to the actual sites we’re supposed to be observing.

Gyeongbokgung Palace Entrance

Changing of the Royal Guard

The “Blue House” – the home of the Korean President, similar to the US White House. During the 1980’s, 35 North Korean special forces attacked this building trying to assassinate the Korean President.

Our next stop is the Ginseng Center.  Similar to the Jade Factory in Beijing, this is a “required” stop for tour groups.  There is an explanation of the benefits of Ginseng to the body (it seems to cure everything), and then how it is grown (it takes 6 years).  After the explanation, we’re walked into a “sales” area.  The door is closed behind us as we enter, and the sales staff has a captive audience.  We get to try some Ginseng tea, and all the sales package possibilities are discussed, and then we get to leave.  There are not many sales in our group, but we saw other groups exiting with large boxes.

We have lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant.  Judy has a rice/vegetable dish she loves.  I have a Korean BBQ dish that is equally good.  The chopsticks are metal, and tougher to handle than what we’ve become accustomed to.

Bulgogi – Korean BBQ

Bibimpap – Rice and vegetables

After lunch, it’s off to Changdeokgung Palace, considered the best preserved of the Joseon Dynasty palaces.  The architecture seems similar and the grounds are huge.  These palaces had to be rebuilt after WWII because the Japanese burned them to the ground during the Japanese Colonial Period, 1910 to 1937.  As our tour guide said early in the tour, “the relationship between Korea and Japan is complicated”.  I think that was PC tour guide talk for “intense dislike”.

Changdeokgung Palace

Judy thought there was a resemblance?

We finished off the day with trips to two of Seoul’s most popular markets.  Both had street food available and you could bargain for items if you wished.  They were not nearly as aggressive as the markets we’ve visited in Beijing.

Insadong Market

I’m always checking out the street food in the markets. Look close for the octopus. Yum!

We napped some on our return to the hotel, and finished off the day with a great meal in the hotel restaurant.  We enjoyed getting back to some “western” food like mashed potatoes and gravy (speaking for myself).  We’ll be refreshed and ready for the DMZ tour tomorrow.