CHANGE OF GATE GUARD CEREMONY AT THE GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE

     After a hearty submarine sandwich and cappuccino at Quiznoz, we went back to the  Gyeongbokgung Palace just in time for the 2pm Ceremony of Gate Guard Change. The  bright colors of the guards' uniforms were very attractive.

     They seem to be having a drill for the tourists to see before the Gwanghwamun gate which took around ten minutes. The guards marched around and followed commands in Korean. While on their rest position, an officer seemed to inspect their uniforms like what they do in military now. After the drill, everyone was given the opportunity to come close to the palace guards and have their photos taken.

     The guards who perform at the ceremonies are above the average height of most Korean men nowadays which made us check out their foot gear if they're trying to deceive us. But it's unlikely to happen since they're all wearing traditional foot wear. They tower among the crowd when all were trying to get near them for a photo. 

     When the ceremony is about to start, the tourists were instructed to enter the gate and were escorted to the audience area. Luckily, we were able to get a place at one of the best areas for a nice view of the ceremony.

     The Sumunjang led the entrance of the guards at the strike of the giant bells and drums led by the Chwitagun. Symbolic banners, as colorful as the uniforms of their bearers, waved at the cold winds of winter. If not for our modern winter jackets, we would have thought we've traveled back in time. The sound of the guards' traditional boots echoed around the court as they marched despite the snow and mud on the ground.

     The Sumunjang (Commander of the Gate Guard), was the chief military officer during the Joseon Dynasty. He led the gates of the capital such as the Heunginjimun and Sungnyemun as well as the gates of the palaces including Gyeongbokgung,  which is the main palace. The Sumunjang was responsible for the security of the monarch and their family who lived in the palace.

     The ceremony was established during King Yejong's first year in 1479. With careful studies of the sequence, uniforms, accessories and weapons, Koreans and foreigners are now able to see a part of the ancient tradition of Korea for a deeper understanding of their culture. And this is actually one of the most surprising and most beautiful experience I had in Seoul.

     

Rank of the Palace Guards:

• Sumunjang         - Head of the palace gate guards

                               - wore golden yellow with red over garment                                          and red headgear

• Gapsa                 - in charged of guarding the palace gates

                                 - wore white inner garment with red outer

                                    garment and black headgear

• Chabok               - the command and control duty soldier

                                 - wore purple robe and black head gear

• Gisu                    - also guarded the palace gates

                                 - wore aquamarine robe and black headgear

• Sujongjang        - in charged of the management of the

                                 Gwangwhamun bells and drums

                               - wore all red robe and red headgear

• Jongsagwan      - in charged of the management of gate                                          book

                               - wore red inner garment with blue outer

                                  garment and red headgear

• Jeongbyeong      - a regular soldier from the central army

                                - wore indigo robe and black headgear

• Daejol                - guard of the palace gates

                                - wore green robe and black headgear

• Jeollogun            - responsible for the announcement of time

                                   for the palace

                                 - wore light blue inner garment with black

                                   outer garment and black headgear

• Chwitagun           - member of the royal military band

                                 - wore white inner garment with red outer

                                    garment, blue sash and black headgear

     Let's see if you can spot each of them in these photos...

Gate Guard Duty Performance at the Gwanghwamun

Gate Guard Duty Performance at the Gwanghwamun

Gate Guard Duty Performance at the Gwanghwamun

The Sumunjang and Jongsagwan before the platoon

Photo- op with the towering palace guards

Ceremony of Gate Guard Change brochure and the map of the grounds

Entrance of the guards

Parade of colors as the huge drum beats

The guards marched back near the gate

More marching on the slippery and muddy court

     There is a Sumungun costume experience for tourists after the ceremony. You can see a drum on the left side of the gate after you enter.That is the Sumunjangcheong Building where visitors can wear the gate guard's costume and be photographed in it. This is on a first come first served basis which can keep you on queue for several minutes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 How to Get There:

Gyeongbokgung Station (Line3), exit 5

Admission Rates:

Free

Schedule:

Sumunjang Changing Ceremony

10am, 1pm, 3pm (20 minutes per ceremony)

Gwanghwamun Gate Guard Duty Performance

11am, 2pm, 4pm (10 minutes per ceremony)

NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM OF KOREA

tunnel from the subway to the museum

     Subway Line 3's Gyeongbokgung Station is directly connected to The Gyeongbokgung Palace. The tidy bricks, posters that look like real paintings and pillars of the tunnel from the subway to the palace will make you feel like you're in a museum. This is because at the end of the tunnel is the National Palace Museum of Korea. I was very impressed with their idea of making the tunnel look like it's already a part of it.

     Across the entrance of the museum is the breath-taking view of the Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance. It's like I'm dreaming the moment I saw it. I also expected to see this in 2012 but it didn't happen. I was so into the moment that I nearly lost the feeling of wanting to go into the museum. Good thing my husband poked me to wake up and start our museum tour.

     Inside the National Palace Museum of Korea is a huge collection of about 900 artifacts from the 500-year history of the Joseon Dynasty.

     Tour starts from the second floor, where the lobby is, then to the first floor and the basement.

     On the second floor are artifacts related to the history and records of Joseon Dynasty and household items that show the private lives of the Royal Family.

     I have this knock of describing things in a quirky and hilarious way especially when I'm with people I'm close to, so let me describe what I first saw. I saw a lot of square items which look like a block made of brass or jade with carvings of animals on them. Each are attached to a long, thick cord with a tassel. So, I dumbly said to my husband, "Those medallions are ridiculously huge! How are they gonna wear them?" Good thing nobody around understood what I said (or that's what I want to believe), because, guess what they actually are? They are the official seals of the Royalties! I was so humiliated even to myself. My brain often drops on the floor when I'm hungry. The seals on the photo are smaller than the other seals made of brass.

     We passed by a throne with a lot of intricate jade carvings 
which looks small to be a throne. I'm just not sure what the height of the Royalties were. The Royal Library is very simple with its shelves that look like racks, but it's impressive with its documents and scriptures on them. It's like we're walking in a Korean Drama set. There are paint brushes on it's rack, small tables for painting and a lot of furnitures that were used by the Royal family.

The Royal Throne

Royal Library

     Artifacts from different parts of the palace are also exhibited. The stone sculpture on the roof, marble stones and sculptures on the stairs and the carved ceiling of the palace and the throne.

     In the adjacent room are fabrics used for the clothing of the Royalties and their actual traditional attires. The large collection of accessories, extravagant robes they use for different occasions, even the Royal Childrens' clothing are all there. The blue robe with pheasant pattern, which is the most attractive and most royal-looking among the collection, is the ceremonial robe worn by the queen and crown princesses during the most important ceremonies. This was the highest ranking ritual vestment of a woman. The children also wore very colorful and embroidered  robes and socks even during their playtime.

Ceremonial Robe

Royal Childrens' clothing

The queen's hairpins

     The collection of hairpins is surprising because I thought the queen gets to pick which one to use each time, until I read the description that they were all worn at the same time! That's a lot of hair accessory to wear!

         

     Next are a lot of "girly" items for the royal women.These made

Vanity mirror and jars of powder
and blusher

me smile seeing that even at that time, women cared a lot about their looks. There is a vanity mirror with small jars of what they used as pressed powder and blusher that time and different kinds of purse which are very unique. I have to say, I love these angular purse! There is also a separate purse for their perfume. They look like the chinese purse that tourists buy for souvenirs from the souvenir shops in China and Hongkong.

But they are so small which made me think of what they put in them.

perfume purse for the royal women

angular purse for
the royal women

     Another item, which is not too girly if you ask me, is this big headdress worn by the queen. I felt sorry for her when I saw this. I wonder how heavy that was! It looked like it's made of wood with a long braided wig. I guess that's one of the sacrifices they had to make as royalty.

     Moving to the first floor, we immediately saw two royal vehicles. These were the Queen's and Emperor Sunjong's vehicle, produced by General Motors from U.S.A. by special order, which is the fanciest vintage car I ever saw yet. 
     The first room we checked is a little  solemn, nearly all beige, cream, light gray and white in color. We saw a long display of urns and big structures which look like tombs. From the posters and labels, we've read that they're all part of the State Rites of the Joseon Dynasty.
     Emperor Gojong's portrait is on the second room we went in. Emperor Gojong is the 26th Joseon King, the first sovereign of the Korean Empire and the father of Emperor Sunjong. This room shows the evolution of the Korean Military from their  uniforms to their weapons.
       The third room amazed me. There's this big glass window that gives you a view of a very colorful, huge and intricately designed device which looked like an ancient house or storage for me. I immediately checked the museum brochure for directions on how to go there and see it closely. The device is on the basement, where tourists can view it closer and check on the touchscreen monitor about what it does and how it works. 
     When we approached it, it got even more sophisticated, in my opinion. The details are amazing! It even has a balcony, has jars of different sizes, dolls on the other side, stairs and a small window. The monitor says it's a water clock. Such a humongous clock! And how can water be it's source of power?
     A few clicks and we found out. This was closely attended to so as to check the water levels on the jars. The drops of water continuously travels from the jars to the middle part of the clock on the containers, travels up the vertical wood and back down, then to the anterior part. That's why there is a slant platform. When a specific amount of water is received inside, a small doll will come out of the window and show how much time has passed during the day. The small statues you see up the platform create sounds or chimes which correspond to the doll. This could have been the inspiration to the grandfather's clock, just a thought.
     

Water Clock

Water Clock

     This, by the way, is a restoration of the original self-striking water clock of King Sejong.

     On this level are a lot of significant paintings. The folding screen of the Sun, Moon, and Five Peeks is here. This was placed behind the throne of the Joseon King.

        Interesting carriages and percussion instruments are also here. 

     The carriages are quite small similar to the throne we saw on the second floor. Two of them doesn't have any protective walls nor roof like the others that royalties used during travel. These only has a chair and long wooden handles. These were used by the royalties during wars when they join the cavalry.

      Some of the percussion instruments will make you wonder what they are from their appearance compared to the traditional drums we see on T.V. One is very colorful like most Korean artifacts and even has a crane wood carving on top. The other is shaped a container with a cover with a hole at the middle.

percussion instrument

percussion instrument

     The chimes are of different materials but the ones made out of jade are more popular among tourists since we usually see bells and chimes made of metal. Jades were used because they are not affected by temperature changes, making them efficient tuners for all traditional Korean instruments.

     Cameras are allowed inside the museum but flash photography and tripods are prohibited.

     If you happen to starve after the tour, there is a cafe on the 1st floor but we preferred to go around Gwanghwamun area and explore a little while looking for something else to eat. We ended up having lunch at Quiznoz with other foreigners in a building just across the south gate of the palace. We had a nice sub and, of course, a cappuccino. A nice tour is always paired with a good cup of coffee.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 How to get there:

Gyeongbokgung Station, exit 5

Admission Rates:

Free

Operating Hours:

9am to 6pm

     *closed on Mondays, except on National Holidays

VALENTINE'S DAY IN KOREA

     Fish-shaped bread sold along the streets in South Korea makes me curious every time I see them in Korean dramas.  It was disappointing not to find one on my first visit back in 2012. Who'd have thought that I'd get some as Valentine's gift?! 

    My husband handed me a cute, white paper bag on the eve of Valentine's Day. "An advanced gift", he said. He always know how to make me smile. I almost jumped out of excitement when I saw what's inside! Three bungeoppangs!

     An ahjussi (old man/ uncle) opened his bungeoppang shop just near our apartment. It's only 2,000 Won for 3 bungeoppangs. Finally, I got to see and sample them. They are actually waffles with bean paste filling, best consumed while still hot...perfect during winter.

cute bungeoppang wrapper

bungeoppang

     Come February 14, everything sweet went up a few thousand Wons. I went to Daiso and M-Mart to get something for my Chagiyah (sweetheart). I spent less than 10,000 KRW for my gifts- cute chocolates, picture frame and some colorful paper for my note.

picture frame card and "kyooti" chocolates

     The supermarkets and stores were packed with girls buying chocolates, cards and candies. This lovely picture frame card and chocolate lollipops caught my attention days ago. I just couldn't buy them in advance because he might see them before I get to give it to him.
     I placed a note in the picture frame card instead of putting our picture since I didn't bring any photo of us from Manila. I could hardly wait to surprise him... but I was just as surprised when he got home and got me another gift. Chocolates in heart-shaped box and more! 

     He told me later that he dropped by M-Mart, too, to get me something, that he wouldn't let the day pass without giving me something. Probably because this is our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife and we're not sure if we'll both be in South Korea next Valentine's Day. He also said that the Atlas chocolates were gifts from the ahjummas (old ladies) in the company. Oh, sweet ahjummas. They fancy my husband like a nephew.

sweets from my sweet!

     I didn't touch the chocolates until after 2 days. A day short of its first week on our desk, he noticed it wasn't Ferrero! Haha...
     His heart sank and I pitied him so much. He was going to get me a Ferrero but got fooled by the grocery shelves' arrangement because the chocolates with the same packaging were all mixed up at the same rack. Bad thing was, it's as the same price as the original Ferrero Rocher with 80% less of the quality. This Free Romance chocolate is not a Korean product, though. Almost all of the Korean snacks and chocolates I bought from the grocery are good.
     Watch out for my blog on my favorite Korean snacks.

How to Count in Korean

     While waiting for the next weekend, I brushed up a bit on my knowledge on Korean numbers. My husband works from Monday to Saturday except on Holidays so I have to go to the grocery by myself most of the time. That why it's important that I know how to count especially how to count money!
     First time I learned this was in college when I asked my Korean friend to teach me how. There are two sets of numbers in Korean, the Sino-Korean System and the Native Korean System. She wrote the Sino-Korean System in my notebook which is why I still remember them.  My husband, of course, is a big help every time I forget something. This system is what they use for monetary value.


Sino- Korean System

• il         1
• i          2
• sam     3
• sa       4
• o         5
• yuk     6
• chil     7
• pal      8
• ku       9
• ship     10  

     * After the number 10, add "il" after "ship" for eleven, "i" after "ship" for twelve and so on, meaning ten plus one equals eleven, ten plus two equals twelve and so on...

• ship-il          11
• ship-i           12
• ship-sam      13
• ship-sa         14
• ship-o           15
• ship-yuk        16
• ship-chil        17
• ship-pal         18
• ship-ku          19
• ee-ship (i-ship)20

     * Twenty is i-ship, meaning two tens, thirty is sam-ship, meaning three tens and so on.

        Twenty-one is i-ship-il, meaning, two tens plus one. 

        Is it getting confusing now?

• ee-ship-il      21
• ee-ship-i       22
• ee-ship-sam 23
• ee-ship-sa    24
• ee-ship-o      25
• ee-ship-yuk   26
• ee-ship-chil    27
• ee-ship-pal    28
• ee-ship-ku     29

• sam-ship     30
• sa-ship        40
• o-ship          50
• yuk-ship      60
• chil-ship       70
• pal-ship        80
• ku-ship         90

• baek        100
• ee-baek    200 *meaning 2 x 100 = 200
• sam-baek 300

• cheon         1,000
• ee-cheon     2,000 *meaning 2 x 1000 = 2000
• sam-cheon  3,000

• man         10,000
• ee-man     20,000 *meaning 2 x 10,000 = 20,000
• sam-man  30,000

• ship-man        100,000
• baek-man     1,000,000
• cheon-man  10,000,000
• eok           100,000,000
• jo           1,000,000,000

     If you ask for a price of an item and the attendant tells you, ee-man-o-cheon-on, it means that the price is 25,000 won. Won is not pronounced as won, instead, it is pronounced as "on" at the end of the number.

More examples:

o-baek-(w)on   =   500 won

ku-cheon-sa-baek-on   =   9,400 won

ee-ship-man-ku-cheon-on   =   209,000 won

man-cheon-o-baek-on   = 11,500 won

     Practice a lot and enjoy shopping!!!

     

NAMSAN PARK (Part II, N Seoul Tower)

bus to N Seoul Tower

     From the Namsangol Hanok Village, we walked straight to the main road and took an eye catching bus to Seoul Tower. We opt to take the bus and walk to the tower instead of  the cable car. A lot of Asian and European tourists indulging in their cup of coffee boarded the bus with us.

Not more than fifteen minutes and were almost at the tower. A short hike should take you there.  Good, comfortable shoes is a plus in this steep, tiring trek to the top and stopping for a shot is a good excuse to catch your breath. Like the previous year, I was desperately gasping for air when we got to the tower.  We went there a little late on purpose to see the tower's colorful lights since I didn't get to see it like that, the first time I was there.

     First thing we had to do was grab some food! So we went into the very packed cafe and tried to get us a table while my husband was ordering food. I was lucky to get a table with a good view of the wall with the Love Tiles. These tiles are sold at the souvenir shop adjacent to the cafe. Couples buy these, write their messages and stick them to the wall. Some even put picture stickers on them. While waiting, the grizzly bear mascot passed by and mingled with the crowd for a while.

the grizzly bear mascot and the
love tile wall

                                               

the love tile wall up close

     After several minutes, our food arrived. My husband ordered

our dinner

some spicy franks, fries and cappuccino. My coffee addiction is now rubbing off on him. He paid around 30,000 KRW for these, if I remember it right. Forgive me for the blurry image as a result of some arguments about the camera. And I lost the energy to take another shot out of extreme starvation.

     We headed to the view deck after dinner to take a look at the

city lights and the famous padlocked fence. Couples who visit write their names on locks and put them on the fence to signify that their love is locked forever. But now they put a lot of items with it from key chains to cellphone covers to plastic mugs.
     

     Another attraction on the deck is this cutesy bench which draws lovers together and a huge metal heart which also has a lot of locks inside. People put a lot of effort just to have these locks on the deck, huh?

     We agreed not to go to the tower's observation deck since we've both been there before on different occasions. But if you wish to  experience a very futuristic elevator ride and get a view of Seoul 1,574 feet about the ground, all you have to do is pay 9,000 KRW for the entrance

     After more photos around, we stopped a few minutes to get a glimpse of the city. Then we headed back to Chungmuro Station, via the Namsan tour bus we took earlier from the Hanok Village to the tower, for another long journey back to Pyeongtaek.

a view of Seoul on a winter night

waiting for our train at Chungmuro Station

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to get there:

Chungmuro Station (Line 3 or 4) exit 2 or 4, take bus #02 or #05

Itaewon Station (Line 6) exit 2, take bus #03

Admission Rates:

Adults- 9,000 KRW     

Youths and Seniors- 7,000 KRW    

Children- 5,000 KRW

Children under 3 years- Free

NAMSAN PARK (Part I, Namsangol Hanok Village)

         Last stop for the weekend (February 10, 2013), Namsan Park.

     Unconsciously getting through the wrong exit in Chungmuro Station instead of exit 3 which is right in front of the village made us go through unfamiliar, steep alleys. I could hardly catch my breath and keep up with my husband's pace. I was already getting a hunch that it's going to be a bad day for us until we got lost again uphill looking for the Seoul Tower and the Korean Folk Village. It's not all bad that we got lost. We realized we went up the opposite side of the mountain as we saw the Namsan Tower and not the familiar Hotels I saw a year ago.We stumbled upon some places in the mountain that we both haven't seen before. There's this neat looking house which seems like a restaurant, or atleast what my husband thinks it is. There's this shrine which has a sign that reads Waryongmyo. After a lot of searching and long trek, we found the Namsangol Hanok Village.

Seoul Tower on the Background

neat!

Waryongmyo 

     We went in through the rear gate since we got lost and saw the Seoul Millenium Time Capsule. We learned that it will be opened on November 29, 2394, Seoul's 1000th anniversary as the capital of South Korea. 600 items which represents Seoul and the lives of

An old pavilion

the citizens were buried when they celebrated Seoul's 600-year anniversary. We passed by a serene stream and some ponds which are somewhat relaxing after that long, exhausting walk. We saw the an old pavilion where their ancestors used to enjoy the scenery, write poetry and paint, but we sort of missed the Namsangol Traditional Garden since it's winter. The native plants and flowers that I've been wanting to photograph were all covered with hay to protect them from the very cold season. Then, finally we saw the Namsangol Hanok Village.

     A line of tok (traditional Korean rice cake) vendors welcomed

us and and old well. My husband bought me some tok for snacks and we took a picture at the well. The toks are made of glutinous rice and flavoring and bean paste or peanut paste for filling. Some are ok but there are some flavors I can't recognize.

Facts about Namsan:

     Namsan (남산- south mountain) used to be the southern border of Hanyang (present day Seoul) back in 1394 (Joseon Dynasty period), thus its name. At the northern foot of the mountain is the Hanok Village. There were valleys and pavilions in the area during the Joseon Dynasty making it a good place to visit during summer. At present, five Hanok houses were moved at the Namsangol Hanok Village to give the new generation a glimpse into the lives of their Korean ancestors.

Five Traditional Houses:
Carpenter Yi Seungeop's House

     Originally located at 36-2 Samgak-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, was a big mansion composed of eight buildings. But now, only the inner quarters (anchae), outer quarters (sarangchae) and the middle gate remain.

Gim Chunyeong's House

     Owijang Gim Chunyeong lived here during the late Joseon period. This was continuously occupied by his family until his grandson, Gim Hongi who was the last resident of the house. Originally situated at 125-1 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, this was built in the 1890's.

Min Family's House

     What we see here at present is only a part of the house owned my Min Yeonghwi which used to have several buildings.The anchae was moved to the Hanok Village in 1998 and the sarangchae and byeoldangchae were rebuilt. This house was originally at 30-1 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Yun Taek Yong's Jaesil

     Presumed to have been built by Haepung Buwongun Yun Taekyeong, emperor Sunjong's father in law when Empress Junjeong became the Crown Princess in 1906. This house's original location was in 224 Jegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu and was also moved at the Namsangol Hanok Village in 1998.

Yun Family's House

     The original house was at 47-133 Ogin-dong and belonged to Yun Deokyeong, Empress Sunjeonghyo's uncle. It was too old and fragile to be transferred to Namsagol Village, thus a replica was built. The decorative pillars of the anchae indicates that only the upper class can afford this kind of house.

     I often see pictures of these houses from outside which made me very curious about their interior. The details of the furnitures amazed us. And it's quite impressive that they were able to preserve them. We saw colorful fabrics made into beddings, cushions and traditional clothes.

     Outside were kimchi jars and some traditional kitchen utensils. A big, Y-shaped wood caught my attention. It looked like a huge slingshot. We learned that it's something used to pound rice by stepping on one end on a rhythm.

           

     If you wish to have some souvenirs, there's a shop just outside the houses near the well which sells Korean fans made of paper, key chains, cards and other cute replicas of traditional items.

     On our way out, we found some life-size pictures of Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) for the visitors' photo-op. As expected, we took advantage of the opportunity. And we found the supposed to be entrance of the village.

              

                 Village Map

Village Gate

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to get there:

Chungmuro Station (Line 3), exit 3 or 4

Admission rates:

free

Operating Hours:

April to October      - 9am to 9pm

November to March- 9am to 8pm

     *closed every Tuesday