Oh-pzy: Day 6 in Korea, Seoul (Part 1)

5th December 2010

I came to Korea during winter to see fluffy white snow. It's already Day 6 but I haven't got any chances to see snow. Every morning, I would stare into bf's eyes whining about how much I wish to see snow. He would always gave me a pathetic look because he can't make it snow in the city. Anyway, we'll see how things went about later on.

Our destination for the day shall be Gyeongbokgung Palace. It's a palace from the Joseon Dynasty. I love history, especially historical events about famous people. Unfortunately, we don't get to major on that in Singapore. I did some researches and I will share with you guys later on. It's really interesting; well, at least to me.

I guessed I'm getting used to the chilly weather. I can go on street without any scarf around my neck. It's chilly but I considered it as tolerable. Bf was cold forever and ever. He wore ultra thick scarf that can fight the thickness of a towel and he still complained that he was cold. The funny part was, he wore thermal pant. Oh no no no, it's so funny and disgusting. It looks like some legging that fit tightly onto your skin. Wow, sexy and feminine of him. Oops.

This is a gate to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Definitely, it's not the actual and real one. It's a rebuilt version. There was a legend saying that you will never grow old upon passing through the gate.

It's lunch time again. I'm freaking hungry like crazy. Most of the time, I am. Haha. We decided to settle for lunch at one of the restaurants in National Palace Museum.

This restaurant serves cuisine that origin from the Joseon Dynasty. That means, the cuisine had been served to the kings and queens in the olden days. In the olden days, cuisine that had been served to the royalty must go through strict quality checks. They would ensure sufficient nutritious value and healthy choices of ingredients.

Oh, I missed out one important issue about the cost. They are sooooo expensive. Every single dish cost nearly 20, 000 won. Mmm, it's roughly about SGD20 plus. Well, since they had been taken by royalty of the past, I wanna try them out too.

Their kimchi looks a little different but tasty afterall. Oh, did i tell you?

I hate pickles.

We ordered one Bibimbap and one Mushroom Stew. Yums.

I called it a vegetarian Bibimbap. They had no meat except fresh veggies, beansprout and shrooms.

Oh btw, I'm a shroom lovers. I love to eat shrooms the most. Bf don't like Mushroon Stew and I ended up finishing the entire bowl. It's fucking delicious, but he just don't appreciate it. Fine fine fine, it's my fortune to enjoy the good food ALL BY MYSELF then.

Yummilicious Glutinuous Rice.

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The king and empress really had an enjoyable good life. I always thought they travel from one place to another in a sedan chair, or whatever you called it. I always thought it's the best royalty privileges. Just imagine, people carry you around and you don't even walk on your feet. How nice it is?

In fact, they lived a much more splurging life than what I thought to be. See below for more. That's the vehicle they travelled in from the past. It's just so cool. I love the vintage look of the vehicles.

At the entrance of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

You will get to watch traditional performances everyday. The officials would change shifts to guard at the entrances. Their uniforms come in many colours, design and printings. They would hit the drum and play traditional music as they parade across the field.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is the main palace of Joseon Dynasty. To me, I called it the root of South Korea. Let's get started with some historical knowledge of the palace. There were 4 famous king during Joseon times. The great king was known as King Taejo. It was King Sejong who invented korea languages.

Politics during Joseon times was chaotic. The royalty stooped low and murdered their closest kin to get the the throne. It was till King Sejong times, everything got better. It's a tradition that crown prince gets the throne. King Sejong was not the crown prince. He got 2 brothers above him. His eldest brother knew that he wasn't cut out to rule the country, so he decided to withdraw. His second brother was really happy when the eldest brother decided to withdraw. He thought he would be the future ruler. His eldest brother always knew that King Sejong had the best criteria among all. He was well verse in studies, martial arts and loved his people. Finally, the eldest brother managed to persuade the second brother to withdraw. It was then, King Sejong acceed to the throne officially.

Indeed, he was a good ruler. Because of him, korean language was invented.

Do you know where his inspiration of korean language came from?

It came from windows and shadows of windows.

I love their building sculptures. They got beautiful colours and paintings on their pillars and everywhere.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is really big. You might need a few hours to walk through thoroughly. Anyway, you can always join the language tour to know more about the histories. They are pretty interesting.

Our very next stop is National Palace Museum. I'm always into histories, so we went to the museum. You can see interesting sculptures or traditional costumes of the past. They displayed writing tools and script that had been preserved from the past.

Potraits of the king.

All the kings during Joseon Dynasty will have their potrait drawn. Their potraits were important and symbolize important meanings. The portrait represent the existence of the kings. Even if the king had passed on, as long as the potrait was presented, it means kind presence. Everyone must bow to show loyalty.

In the potrait, King must sit in upright posture, leg wide and balanced shoulders. They were not allowed to put on a smile to display their strictness and fairness. A smiling potrait was believed to bring misfortune and disrespect to the people.