Andrea Sees SEAsia: Seoul (p)Layover, February 19, 2017
February 18th didn’t exist, really. I left JFK around 1 am local time, which was 3:00pm in Souel. Put a 14 hour flight on top of that, and that day is lost to movie watching, trying to get comfortable, and sleep on a plane. I will say, though, that sleeping on this plane was MUCH easier than others. It was by far the biggest plane I have ever been on. When I boarded, they checked my ticket and said, “Past the stairs, turn right.” Excuse me? Stairs? There’s an upstairs?? I’ve never seen anything like it. They also equipped us with what I call, KoreanAir Swag: an eye mask, a tooth brush and tooth paste, slippers, a pillow, and blanket. Being that I’m only 5’4, I’m pretty capable of scrunching into small spaces, so it actually wasn’t that bad. The worst was that my ankles really swell when I fly, so I had to alternate wearing a brace on my ankles to keep it down.
When I arrived, it was about 4am local time. The Incheon airport offers free tours during layovers, so I had scoped out prior to leaving which I wanted to do and how to get a ticket for the tour. Once I landed, I found the ticket booth in my terminal, as instructed, and waited until it opened at 6 to get the tour I wanted. I used my KoreanAir toothbrush, freshened up, put on some warmer clothes as it was only 28* in Seoul, compared to the 90* the rest of my trip was going to be. Once the ticket booth opened, I was 2nd in line, and quickly found out I was going to have to roll with the punches, again. The tour I wanted was already booked, which made no sense to me, considering there was no where to pre-book online, and the ticket counter just opened. The lady then informed me the MAIN ticket booth, downstairs, which I was never instructed to go to, is open 24/7, and those who waited down there, booked the trip I wanted. So my goal of going to Gyeongbokgung Palace (the largest of the Five Grand Palaces of the Joseon dynasty built in 1395) didn’t happen, and I ended up booking 2 smaller tours to Yonggungsa Temple and Changdeokgung Palace (one of the most favored palaces of the Five Grand Palaces).
It was about 20 minutes to Yonggungsa Temple. I took some pictures along the way as they pointed out the Incheon Bridge, a cable bridge spanning 13 miles, through a downtown area, and up a mountain side. The van parked and let us out, and I was a little confused. I couldn’t see where the temple was, but I followed the tour guide, Michelle. She first took us to the Wishing Tree, which she said was where a lot of American’s wished to not have Trump elected… Not so sure how well the wishing tree listens… There were also some red clay pots that were used to keep food fresh for 2 years, like their own portable little refrigerator.
Next we went to the Yonggungsa Temple. I was definitely underwhelmed. I was expecting an extravagant temple, high on a mountain, with a lot of ornate detail, but instead, it was a small building, maybe 800 sqft, set in an area that looked like a run down, dumpy trailer park. But when we walked up, there were 3 sets of doors, but only the Monks are allowed to enter through the center doors. We took our shoes off, and entered. It smelled strongly of incense, burning candles, with many lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and Buddha statues all around. The lanterns are hung for those who’d like to be prayed for. People will write names, or family names on them and hang them, and the Monks will pray for them every day for a whole year. Our guide told us we were welcome to walk around, pray, etc. She, herself, was not Buddhist, but both of her parents are, so she got down to pray. Interestingly, she said that only 24% of the population is Buddhist, 24% are Catholic/Protestant, and 44% aren’t religious at all. It was a quick trip out to see the temple, so we headed back and I waited a little for my second tour.
Changdeokgung Palace was up next. On our way we passed the Gyeonhbokgung Palace (which I had planned don seeing), and the Blue House where the president lives. Outside were some guards, and some girls dressed in very nice dresses, almost like a Debutante or their Quinceñera. Our tour guide talked SO fast, and moved SO quickly between the different buildings, I really have NO idea what most of it was. What I did hear, and remember, was that bright colors were allowed in palaces and temples, but every other building had to be plain. I also learned that the grandmothers would choose spouses for the grandsons. At one point, the grandmother chose sister A, but the boy liked sister B. To compromise, she built sister B her own area on the palace grounds and made her a concubine: a woman who he can have a full relationship with (sexual, relational and even cohabitate), but cannot marry. In the end, it didn’t matter much, anyhow, as the king died two years later at the young age of 24. Sister B ended up living until she was 72. Otherwise, the architecture was very much as I had anticipated: very ornate wood lattices, tubular roofing, and bright colors.
One room we looked into was set up like a temple with very ornate details, and the other was like a sitting room, with a silver and rhinestone love seat that they would sit at. It always blows my mind to see how ridiculously extravagant royals lived back in the day. I was able to learn that the temple at the palace was built in 1405, but burned during the Korea-Japan war in 1592. They restored it in 1609 with many of its original features. In 1997 it was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO.
For lunch the group went to Insadong Street, which was filled with antique markets, folk paintings, a mall like structure with trinkets, and other small vendors. We went straight to the restaurant, in which I ordered the Korean Bimbimbop: a bowl of vegetables, topped with rice, and an assortment of traditional Kimchi you could add to it for different flavors. Kimchi used to be made while pickling underground for years, but now they make special machines to pickle the vegetables and store them in. We also received a water based soup, similar to those you might find at a Chinese restaurant. I managed to be complemented by Asian women from Seattle in our group on how well I used my metal chopsticks. Go me!
After lunch we were free to roam the streets. I had become friends with a girl from India, Akashi, who was traveling back to New Zealand after seeing family in India. She was on my first tour to the temple, and while we waited for our second tour, we started chatting. We ate lunch together, and then wandered the streets and markets looking for some trinkets for her friends. After we wondered around for a bit, we headed back to the square when we realized there was some type of ceremony happening so we went to look.
We ended up chatting the whole bus ride back, and even hung out in the airport until her flight left after we returned. The airport had Internet areas, family sleep areas, showers, chaise lounges to relax and put your feet up. We chatted about life, leaving hometowns, traveling, ambitions, and relationships. It was definitely nice to find another friend along the way. It helped the time pass, and I was able to see life through someone else’s perspective. At the end of the day, I had really only slept 5 hours in 48, and was exhausted. Now onto another flight to get into Chiang Mai at 11:30…
More pictures from my (p)Layover in Seoul