Between quarantine and my first full day of teaching (3rd January) was actually my school’s winter break. So apart from a little bit of training, I actually had a few days of freedom, time to explore and time to be a tourist in my new city before starting my new job. One of the first things on my list was to visit one of the grand palaces, so I started with the largest one: Gyeongbokgung.
The ‘five Grand Palaces’ were built during the Joseon dynasty, Korea’s ruling family for over five centuries (from 1392 – 1897). A lot of Korean culture, etiquette, attitudes and language come from the culture and traditions of the Joseon. Over the 500 years of Joseon rule, many aspects of society flourished from arts, culture, politics, fashion and technology. The dynasty was ended in 1897 due to Japanese occupation – technically the Joseon dynasty still ruled but they became the Emperors of Korea instead. The family still exists and gets a bit complicated. The current Crown Prince of the Korean Empire is a Korean American businessman. But back to history and the palace….
Gyeongbokgung was built in 1395, just next to Mount Bugak. Now it’s in the north of Seoul, but then it was the centre of the city. The palace was actually burnt down in a Japanese invasion in 1592 and left in ruins until the 19th century, so actually its history as a royal residence is fairly short. It was rebuilt in 1867 and the royal family lived there until 1895, when Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents. The royal family left the palace, and it was once again destroyed during Japanese occupation in the 20th century. The buildings you can visit now are restorations built since 1989. This is why the colours on the buildings are so bright and beautiful.
I pottered around and poked my head into various buildings, including the throne hall (Geunjeongjeon), various pavillions, halls and quarters for kings and queens. There was some information on a leaflet but not that much around and about, and many of the buildings were shut and only visible from the outside. For the most part, however, it was very quiet with not very many tourists.
To be honest, so far in Seoul I’d been feeling a little odd. Of course the language barrier was tough, I didn’t know anyone here, and I’d left my family, friends, boyfriend, cat and flat 9000km away to come and live in a tiny flat where I couldn’t even fully work out how to turn on the heating. But I had a moment, standing just near the Gyeonghoeru/banqueting hall, as I looked at the beautiful blue sky, beautiful buildings, beautiful grounds and beautiful mountain in the background, when I thought “I’m here”. This is what it’s all about, seeing beautiful things, challenging myself and having an adventure.
The weather was pretty cold on that day (around -1°C) – you might be able to tell that the lake around the banqueting hall is frozen!
I’m sure this is why there were so few people wandering around. Plus it was a Thursday afternoon during a normal working week for most Koreans. It’ll be nice to go back when the water has thawed and the leaves have come back to the trees. Plus the entry is only ₩3000 (less than £2).
Although there weren’t many people at the palace, some of the people who were there were wearing Hanbok, traditional Korean dress. There were several groups of teenagers and a few couples, who had each gone to nearby Hanbok rental shops to put on these beautiful outfits and walk around the stunning historical buildings and pose for pictures. It was very cute and quite atmospheric as occasionally the only people I could see walking around the palace were girls in the big skirts and little jackets. On the last Wednesday of each month, entry to the palace is free if you’re wearing hanbok. It would be nice to go then as I can imagine there’s even more people dressed in these gorgeous outfits then.
In exchange for taking a picture of these two friends together, I asked if I could take a picture of them on my own camera. They giggled quite a lot but said yes!
There were also guards in historic outfits at the palace. I hope their outfits were keeping them warm. It looks like they have lots of layers! They looked a bit frightening too, I didn’t want to get too close!
For more pictures from the palace, you can look through the album on my Flickr account for Korea. I’ve called myself ‘Sopi’ because there’s no ‘f’ in Korean, so that’s what I get called here!
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