Considering I've been in Korea for three weeks now I decided to make a day trip into Seoul. My goal was to check out a palace, get used to the subway system, and meet up with a friend from university who is also living abroad. The great thing about Korea is the scale of their public transportation system. I live in Gimpo City, which is roughly twenty minutes from the outskirts of Seoul and therefore not part of the city's subway network. However buses are very frequent and the payment method is more advanced than back in Canada. Many Korean's use T-money, which is basically a small 'proxy-card' device that you use to pay for all buses and subways. All you need to do is press the card to the reader on the bus or the entrance of the subway and it automatically makes the payment as well as showing you the remaining balance on your card. Fortunately my roommate Michael has been in Korea for over a year and knows the routine, so he hooked me up with a card and has told me which buses to take into the city.
I left Gimpo around noon to meet up with my friend Marivn in Seoul. Marvin took me on a tour of the Gyeonbokgung Palace which seemed to be a very popular destination for both tourists as well as locals. It was an interesting place and much of the palace has been restored, but there are still some original stonework and the layout hasn't changed. There was the typical large courtyard for the king's guard, a throne room, living quarters, etc. Different from European castles though was how spread out and open the design is, making the entire compound quite large. There was also a very scenic pond that is supposedly a popular location for couples to visit and have their picture taken. After touring the area we went to visit the on-site folk museum. It had many displays about traditional Korean life that were interesting to see, but we didn't spend too much time in there.
People say that once you see a palace in Korea then you've seen them all. I suppose there is merit to that but I may check out one or two more while I'm here. It felt good to get out and do the tourist thing though. I don't know why, but feel like I accomplished something by visiting a palace.
1 comment:
sweet pics dave! thats awesome tht marv is out there too! i forgot he was out there.
in egypt when you get on a bus you sit down and pass your money up to the front of the bus via other passengers who then add thier own money and or make change for themselves... i never knew f my money actully made it to the driver.. oh well.
take it easy dave!
matt
Post a Comment