Changdeokgung Palace

So Tim and I met up with Johanna, another UT exchange student, for another adventure. Without any real plans, we went to the nearest subway station and looked at the little tourist info stations. We ultimately decided on seeing Changdeokgung (창덕궁) Palace, a relatively close distance to our north. The palace was originally built in 1405. It has been restored several times of course. It's a very large complex that includes a very large "Secret Garden" that kings and royal family would use for R&R. When we arrived, a secret garden tour was starting in 5 minutes so we went to that first then toured the rest of the palace.


Chilling in the loby of our hotel.
This is the ultra-classy lighting fixture, complete with one burned bulb.

Check out this classy bear with a cigar (I think it's a cigar?). We saw him on the way to the palace.

This is the Changdeokgung main entrance. Tours are scheduled in several languages, and there are two different parts of the palace to get a tour for: the main complex and the secret garden.

Upon arriving, I immediately regretted not bringing my camera bag and my wide angle lens. (I only had a 35mm on me). The main gate was so huge that I couldn't get far enough away from it to fit it entirely in frame without stepping into the busy street behind me.

Here's some height perspective.

No time for pictures of the palace, gotta go to the Secret Garden tour.

First stop, a frozen pond with an island in the middle. [Again, wishing I had a wider lens.]

The library right next to the aforementioned pond.

The very small house next to this pond showcased an ancient (replica) sundial. According to the tour guide, it's spherical design is a signature of Korean design. More surface area => greater precision.

This is the patio of the house. Visitors were not allowed to step inside without removing their shoes first.

One of many doors on the complex, all decorated accordingly.

Miles of wall created the shape of the complex.

The writing on this gate roughly translates to "gate of never getting old." Kings would pass through it to extend there life.

A pavilion on the edge of a frozen pond.

Most doors had long cylindrical locks on them.

This step aided in mounting and dismounting of horses. Cuz... you know.... Asians.

This guy had awesome pants.

The gardens topography was preserved when all the pavilions and houses were constructed. Preserving the harmony with nature was very important.

We arrived at a pavilion and study that were built for a crown prince. He would study with over 20 private teachers in order to become competent enough to be named King.

This is the ceiling of his pavilion, also located next to a pond.

The roof line.

Edge railing and the pond beneath.

The trees are bare, and very little wildlife can be seen. The tour guide recommended visiting in the spring or summer.

Nobel men would play a drinking game at this stream.

Everyone would drink 3 cups of wine. The man that became the most drunk would have to do something.... Sorry can't remember. I just thought it was silly that there was a finite amount of drinking. American drinking games usually involve more drinking depending on how long you play.

Found some running water.

I'm not sure what kind of trees these are, but every one's bark had this texture.

The tour was basically over. We were heading back to the palace area. You could see Seoul over the wall.

There was a really cool, 300-year old tree that I wich I could show you, but once again, my 35mm lens wouldn't let me fit it in frame.

Back at the palace. I love these little statues.

Countless pillars.

Gate into another area.

Another cool statue.

Numbered stones.

Don't you just wanna pet it?

ㅋㅋㅋ

Carved stone plate. Lots of "Do Not Step" signs around it. Guess what I did.

Didn't step on it.

Without a tour guide I can't tell you what this room was for, but it seems important.

Tea room maybe.

Ceiling of the "tea" room.

Stair railing

Almost forgot to take a picture of my ticket.

I figured maybe I should take some pictures to use as desktop backgrounds on my computer.

Here's a window cover.

Koreans use an under-floor heating system called 온돌 (on dol). A heat source, like a fire, heats air under the floor, which in turn heats stones under the floor. Modern 온돌 systems use gas heated water that runs through the floor. I have to say, it's pretty sweet. This door leads under the house where the fire would be maintained.

This was on the floor. It's a well cover of some kind. I thought it would make another cool desktop background. By the way, if you want any of these pictures in full resolution, just ask and give me your email address. 

We left the palace, grabbed lunch, and stopped to figure out something else to do with our day. We stood at the entrance to a subway station while we thought about it. this is the grating on the hand rail.

With "Let's get lost" in mind, we picked a street and walked. Donald duck was on a shop window.

We were traveling north. Altitude generally increases as you go north.

Trinkets for sale 

I'm a Barbie girl at heart. Did anybody else buy the Aqua CD?

Street art

Korean graffiti is so happy! ^_^

Johanna wanted to get to a mountain that was visible in te distance. Heading in that general direction took us through some residential areas.

We found ourselves near the Blue House. Several police offices stopped us from going any further while someone important was entering/leaving the complex.

In the background is the mountain johanna wanted to climb.

Middle of the road. Danger is my middle name.

A phoenix statue

walking uphill towards the mountain, not really sure where we are going.

Realizing how high up we were. Seoul was far behind us.

We eventually made it to where we could go into an area to hike up the mountain, but the guards there said there was too little time. I think it was only about 15:30, so I had a feeling they were just keeping the foreigners out, especially since they were laughing about it.

Since we couldn't go up the mountain, we went under the gate ate the base of the mountain and continued north into the rest of the city.

The ceiling of the gate was beautifully painted.

back in a kind of urban area of northern Seoul. Little bakeries and other shops were all around us. This bear was trying to sell us chicken and beer.

A cupcake shop made me think of my friend Sandy. That girl is obsessed.

We were pretty tired from the day's walking. I'm not sure how far we travelled.

We caught a bus to the nearest subway station and went back to the hotel.

It was about 17:00 when we got back.

I crashed.

I slept all night actually, so I think I'm over my jet lag.

I'm doing my best to keep this blog up to date, but I'm averaging over 200 pictures per day. It's a lot to sort through. Let me know what you think in the comments, and thank you for following my adventure.

~Let's get lost. 잘가