Tourist on Weekends: 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.