Jongno 3-ga: Jongmyo & Changgyeonggung

Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine is a short walk from Jongno 3-ga subway station (Lines 1, 3 & 5). To get there leave the station by exit 11 (exit 8 if you arrived on line 3 or 5, which I didn’t) and walk straight ahead for a few minutes until you see a little park on your left. I don’t know what it’s like at the weekend but on a week day an unbelievable number of elderly men hang out there.

Walk straight through the park towards the statue of the patriot in traditional Korean costume. At that point the entrance to Jongmyo shrine is within sight. A 1000 won ticket lets you into one of the best tourist attractions in Seoul.

To this day Koreans honour their ancestors by offering food and burning incense. Ceremonies are held on special dates like the anniversary of the ancestor’s death, Chuseok (autumn festival) and the Lunar New Year. According to the leaflet I picked up at the shrine:

“Jongmyo is the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) where the spirit tablets of its kings and queens are enshrined and memorial rites are observed in respect of time-old confucian tradition.”

The doors on the main shrine buildings were closed to protect the tablets. I assume it is always like that, but there’s plenty to see outside. I liked the stone road running through the complex and the spacious courtyards paved with stone and slate. For me the best thing about the Jongmyo shrine was the heavily wooded grounds which currently look lovely with the spring growth. It was hard to understand why all the old men were hanging around outside in the park.

I knew that there was a way to get from the shrine to Changgyeonggung palace just behind. I was anxious not to miss the entrance so I took a circular route around the grounds. Eventually I found a wide path going up a leafy hill. It took me to a footbridge over a busy road and straight into the palace gardens. The palace and shrine were both covered by the same 1000 Won ticket.

The palace grounds are beautiful and even better than the shrine. I felt as if I was in a garden to equal anything you might find around a stately home in England. I particularly enjoyed the twisted old trees and the trees on an island in the centre of a pond.

When you’re in amongst the buildings you’ll notice a steep flight of stone steps leading up to a terrace. As in many historic sites in Korea the steps require big strides and there are no rails to hang onto. (I’ve noticed that Koreans have stronger leg muscles than Westerners as a result of not using chairs as much as we do. It’s possible they don’t find these kinds of steps at all daunting.) I almost didn’t go up them but I was afraid of what I might miss. I later found that it was possible to get up there by following a gentle path.

I was glad that I braved the steps because the view from the terrace was fantastic. It was just the right position to appreciate the balance of palace buildings and strategically planted trees. It was simple and harmonious. I didn’t have a camera with me. Make sure you don’t forget yours!

Another must see at the palace is the antique wrought iron glasshouse with its bonsai trees and an artificial water course circulating around the middle. Nearby there’s a “plant study room,” a garden planted with Korean species so that city children can learn about ecology.

I didn’t measure how long it took me to see both sites but it might have been a couple of hours. If I’d had company with me I’m sure I could’ve made the visit last all afternoon.

I made the mistake of exiting from the palace and then having to walk along busy roads to get back to Jongno-3 ga. It would have been better to cut back through the shrine.

If you have serious mobility problems a wheelchair might be the best way to enjoy the shrine and palace grounds properly. There were a lot of toilets but no cafes.

I intend to go back soon with a camera.

Both sites are closed on Tuesdays.

Read Korean Fiction

If you live and work in Seoul the chances are that you won’t have time to roam the subway every weekend. People in South Korea work long hours and days off easily get used up with household chores. I’m having a bit of a fallow period myself so I have no subway trips to report.

But still, when we can’t travel in person we can still see Korea in our minds. A couple of weeks ago I bought a selection of Korean novels in translation. They’re not difficult to find. This website gives the low down on bookstores in Seoul that stock foreign books. I’ve been to Seoul Selection, the Kyobo bookstore, Young Poong and Bandi & Luni. I haven’t been to any others on the list so I don’t know how up-to-date the information is. As the website says, Seoul Selection is probably the best bookshop for titles about Korea in English. (It also has a second hand section where you can buy western novels at very low prices.)

Incidentally, SOBICS bookshop in the big shopping centre next to Yongsan station also has a very wide selection of foreign books. I wasn’t terribly impressed by its selection of books about Korea, but it has a good range of the sort of books you’d expect to find in a store in the UK.

Recently I’ve read the following:

The Last of Hanako & The Gray Snowman (in one volume) Link

The Land of the Banished Link

Trees on a Slope Link

I’m currently reading Samguk Yusa.

Trees on a Slope and The Land of the Banished deal with the impact of the Korean war (1950-53) on male psychology. The first is a full length novel set in the 1950s and following the lives of three soldiers. I enjoyed it although it could be described as a little stark. Banished is a 90-page novella about an old man who can never return to his village because of the crimes he committed there as a communist collaborator during the war. It sounds depressing but I thought it was very vividly written.

Hanako and Snowman are set later, in the 1970s. Hanako is about a group of male friends and their relationship with a young woman nicknamed Hanako “the nose.” If you’ve ever been in a situation where you find that you know nothing about a longterm friend, this short story will appeal to you. Snowman is about a young woman who falls in with a group of dissidents during the Park dictatorship. She works for them because she is lonely. They have their own unscrupulous motives. I enjoyed both stories.

Samguk Yusa is a different kettle of fish all together. It was written by a 13th century monk and is a mix of folk tales about ancient Korea. Some tales last for a paragraph, others go on for several pages. Kings are born out of eggs, 75-foot long women are found by the seashore and ghosts protect the living. If that sounds like your kind of thing, go for it. I like it because I can imagine the Koreans of a thousand years ago telling these stories to one another. It’s a great way to get in touch with this country’s heritage.

Sunshine: Buy Popcorn Tub to Hide Behind

This afternoon I went to see Sunshine at the CGV cinema next to Guro station in Seoul. It’s a science fiction suspense film about a group of astronauts heading towards the dying sun. Their ship, the Icarus II, carries an enormous bomb which they hope will detonate inside the sun to create a new star and bring summer back to Earth.

A lot about this film will be familiar to science fiction fans. The ship has long corridors for chase scenes, an oxygen garden and a computerised voice. The crew are attractive, slightly grimy looking and have disagreements. There is even the obligatory visit to an abandoned spacecraft. But familiarity isn’t a bad thing. When so many science fiction films, tv series and books feature the same elements it creates a shared vocabulary of the future. It makes it easier for the viewer to feel that the world they’re seeing on screen is real, and not some mumbo jumbo cooked up in a film maker’s mind.

I was impressed by the make up of the crew. There were three East Asian characters: the captain, the oxygen garden specialist and a guy who seemed to be some kind of navigator. The female characters are depicted as normal human beings. They’re not passive, screaming or sex objects. They’re just active members of the crew. My only criticism is, why only two women in a crew of eight?

I enjoyed the film. I didn’t feel tempted to look at my watch once. I was glad that being a greedy guts I’d bought a large box of sweet popcorn. Some parts of the movie were quite frightening (but not gory) so it was useful to hide behind.

Whilst we’re on the subject of films, I rented The Prestige and Ultraviolet on DVD last night.

The Prestige is set at the end of the Victorian era and tells the story of two rival magicians. I thought it wasn’t as good as The Illusionist, another film about a magician that came out around the same time. The plot of The Prestige is much slower and has far fewer twists and turns. In the beginning I was even a little bored. I like historical dramas usually, so that’s a harsh criticism coming from me.

Ultraviolet doesn’t have much meaningful dialogue and the plot could be written on the back of a shop receipt. That’s unsurprising as it is apparently based on a video game. It makes up for everything with gorgeous cinematography, set and costume design. Milla Jovovich stars as the usual kind of slim attractive heroine with long swishy hair and the ability to fight ten men single handed and kill them all. I enjoyed it far more than The Prestige.

Pictures from the Seoul Motor Show (9/04/07)

Advertising is All Part of the Show

New Concept Cars

Hybrid Engine

The Seat Comes Out of the Car!

Read more about it here.

Ichon: A Museum, a Park and a Garden

Wooden Figurines at the National Museum

Make the most of a spring day by catching the train to Ichon station (line 4) in Yongsan-gu. The National Museum of Korea is a short walk from Exit 2 in the direction of Yongsan Family Park.

Entrance to the museum is a mere 2,000 Won for adults and 1,000 for children. (It is closed on Mondays.) Although the enormous size of the building makes it look as if there isn’t a lot on display, there is too much to see in one visit.

Inside the National Museum

Don’t go there expecting dinosaur bones or models explaining photosynthesis, this institution is dedicated to the history of the Korean people. Except for the artefacts in the Asian Arts Gallery and some items in the Donation Gallery, everything on show is Korean.

For me the highlights of the collection are the maps and prints in rooms 116 and 113 of the Historical Gallery, plus the paintings in rooms 202 and 203 of Fine Arts Gallery I. There is much more to see than that, including intricate metal ornaments from the three kingdoms period in the Archaeological Gallery.

Three Kingdoms Period Crown

There are English signs throughout the museum and the history of Korea is outlined in one of the galleries. However, doing a bit of light background reading beforehand will undoubtedly enhance the visiting experience.

The 11 Thousand Plus Combinations of Hangul

There is a Food Court and a Korean restaurant, but we didn’t stop at either, preferring to buy ice creams from the convenience store in the museum grounds.

On a fine spring day it’s worth spending a couple of hours in the museum gardens and Yongsan Family Park just next door. Flowers, mostly fragrant pansies, have been planted in tubs all the way up the street from Exit 2 of Ichon station to the museum.

This makes a very pleasant change from the usual in a city like Seoul.

The gardens have been landscaped with skill but in 2007 the planting still looks immature. The trees need time to grow and some flower beds are a little bare. This doesn’t matter though because there is so much to enjoy. Paths have been laid with interesting materials like slate and stone. There are little walls built in a Korean style, and historical artefacts — including two 10th-century Buddha statues — set by the paths. There is also a large pond which, to my eyes at least, has as much grace in its contours as anything you might see in front of an old French chateau.

An Unusual Wall in the Museum Grounds  (I’ve just found out these are chimney stacks)

Yongsan Family Park is separated from the museum grounds by a green fence. If you can’t find the gate in the fence you will have to go out onto the street and walk a couple of minutes to get to the park’s main entrance.

Some parks in Seoul are a disappointment to Westerners because they have a lot of concrete paving and seem very artificial. When we go to city parks in countries like Britain, we expect to see a natural environment. If that’s the kind of park you like too, you will love the one at Yongsan.

Yongsan Family Park

There are trees everywhere and they are full of birds. The artificial surfaces are largely limited to the paths, and even some of those are simple bare earth. The park has flat parts but there are also hills and mounds, which divide the area up very nicely. Children of all ages will appreciate the duck pond. However, they might not like some of the sculptures that are scattered here and there. I thought a few were rather creepy and preferred to admire the tree blossoms instead.

I don’t know how long the tree blossoms last in Seoul. This weekend there were still a lot to see, so catch them while you can.

Replica of the Throne

Jonggak Station: Lectures on Korea at the RAS

There is plenty to see and do within a stone’s throw of Jonggak subway station (line 1) in central Seoul. For one thing, the station’s underground arcade leads directly into a Bandi & Luni bookstore, which has a satisfyingly large selection of English language novels.

Above ground there are several significant historical sites within easy walking distance, but let’s think about those another day. This post is about the Royal Asiatic Society – Korea Branch, an organisation that exists to teach foreigners like you and me about Korea, its culture and its history.

Open lectures are held (free of charge to the general public) every couple of weeks or so at the Somerset Hotel close to Anguk station (line 3) and a short walk from Jonggak.

If I were you I would come via Jonggak. Leave the subway by exit 2 and walk straight ahead on the left side of the street. The Somerset Hotel is a tall building and easy to spot on the left when you reach the junction at the far end.

This is a route worth taking because before you reach the junction you must pass the brightly decorated Jogyesa temple complex. Royal Asiatic Society lectures are held in the evening at 7.30 pm, so except in the summer months your first sight of the temple will be a glimpse of its golden lit interior as you stand outside in the dark.

The Society lectures are held in a comfortable conference/dining room on the second floor of the hotel. Signs are placed by the stairs and on the second floor so first time visitors can’t get lost. There is a McDonalds before you pass Jogyesa temple and a Starbucks on the first floor of the hotel, so you’re well catered for if you want a quick western snack before the talk begins.

The lectures are given in English by visiting speakers who are experts in their field. Today on 10th April, 2007 Dr. Michael Shin of Cornell University spoke about Mujong by Yi Kwangsu. Published in 1917, Mujong is widely considered by scholars to be the first modern Korean novel. It has a love triangle, plenty of melodrama and lots of gore, so it sounds like it’s worth seeking out the English translation published by Cornell University.

On 24th April the speaker will be Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, a physician and campaigner for the human rights of North Koreans. The list of scheduled future lectures is regularly updated on the Society’s website.

The Society also runs ticketed tours of Seoul, South Korea and elsewhere in Asia.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is still playing at cinemas in Seoul. It’s been out for some time now so this week may be your last chance to catch it on the big screen.

The film is based on Patrick Suskind’s novel of the same title. It tells the fictional story of an 18th-century Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who is born with the best sense of smell in human history. His nose is so powerful he can even “see” what people are doing when they are out of sight.

Grenouille’s gift turns into a curse when  he becomes obsessed with the lost scent of a beautiful young woman. From that point on he dedicates his life to recapturing and preserving that smell. It is a quest that leads him to mass murder.

The film is a fairly close adaptation of Suskind’s novel. Sections of the story were abridged  or tidied up for the sake of running time, but there were no gratuitous deviations from the plot.

Having read the book before seeing the film I was a little bored in the cinema. The cinematography was nothing out of the ordinary and so didn’t make up for knowing how it would all end.

What I did like was the griminess of the makeup and costumes. This is one of the few period films I’ve seen in recent times that suggests what life was like before people owned more than one suit of clothing, used deodorant and had daily baths. In this the film makers were also following the lead of Suskind’s novel.

Seoul Motor Show 2007 at KINTEX

Up to and including April 15, car enthusiasts will have the chance to see the Seoul Motor Show 2007 at the KINTEX exhibition centre in Ilsan. Information about bus and road routes is available at the KINTEX Web site.

KINTEX is one block from Daewha station at the end of line 3. A brief outline map of the area is available here. Also visit the Goyang city Web site and run your cursor over the far left of the map until the word Daewha is magnified. As the illustration shows, you need to walk down past Goyang stadium to get to the street where KINTEX stands. It is a large grey structure built in a modernistic style and can not be confused with any of the nearby apartment blocks.

Tickets to the show cost 9000 Won for adults (no student discounts) and are purchased from booths outside the main entrance. Expect long but swiftly moving queues. The exhibition opens at 10 am and closes at 6 pm.

The list of exhibitors includes Leozone, Renault Samsung, Ssangyong, Kia, Hyundai, GM Daewoo, Tata Daewoo, Volkwagen, BMW/Mini, Ford/Lincoln, Infiniti, Lexus, Cadillac/Saab, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge, Porsche, Audi/Bentley, Peugeot, Volvo and Jaguar/Land Rover.

A visit to this show really does feel like a glimpse of the future. An encouraging number of displays focus on green technologies and there is a hydrogen fuel cell city bus. There are also new concept cars with rear ends, roofs and side doors that break away from automobile design tradition.

Even if you’re not very interested in cars, a visit to the motor show makes for a pleasant and slightly strange afternoon. Quite a few of the vehicles are draped with tall slim Korean women in costumes that range from elegant ballgowns to the downright tacky. If you watch each woman for more than a few minutes it becomes clear that posing is a tiring job.

At intervals throughout the day there are acts by Korean magicians, musicians, singers, and dancers. There is even a fashion show.

Modern marketing is an art to rival anything Charles Saatchi might buy. Some of the car displays are enjoyable to watch because of the clever combinations of video, audio and exhibition decor.

Guro Station: Food, Film and Shops

Aekyung Department Store is attached to Guro station (line 1) by a covered pedestrian bridge. Traders, often quite elderly, have set up little stalls on the bridge selling traditional Korean snacks, cigarette lighters and other knick-knacks.

Cross the bridge and you see Seoul’s other face, a shiny modern shopping centre with a food court in the basement, more restaurants on the ground and top floor, a video game arcade and a multi-screen cinema. It’s easy to spend an entire afternoon there.

If you’re a young woman and larger than the average Korean, shopping for clothes at Aekyung can be a frustrating experience. Ignore the young women’s fashion section and concentrate on sportswear, men’s clothing and older women’s clothing. It’s not too difficult to find something simple that can be passed off as an ageless or unisex classic.

The British clothes retailer Marks & Spencer have a small outlet at Aekyung. Prices are significantly higher than in U.K. stores, but I have been told that it is possible to ask the assistant to order larger versions of the garments on display.

Aekyung’s book shop is disappointing for foreigners because it only stocks a very small number of English novels. If you can’t find the right shelf ask the assistant for “Harry Potter in English.” Harry Potter is so ubiquitous that there is likely to be a copy in stock.

The ground floor is dedicated to shoes, handbags, umbrellas, cosmetics and jewellery. Pizza Hut, KFC and Outback Steakhouse all have branches on this floor. Outback Steakhouse is expensive by Korean standards, but if you want a real western-style meal with a glass of wine it’s a good choice.

On the top floor there are Korean restaurants as well as a Chinese with a beautiful interior, an Italian, and a little curry house. The Italian restaurant is very pretty but on my one visit I thought that its pasta sauce tasted cheap.*

The basement offers a typical South Korean shopping mall food court. If you are looking for a bread-based snack there is a Dunkin Donuts and a bakery. Burgers and fries are available at Lotteria and there are stands selling ice cream and fruit juices. A wide variety of warm Korean snacks, often on sticks, are on offer for a low price.

The fries at Lotteria are crisper and less greasy than the ones in McDonald’s on the 5th floor next to the CGV cinema ticket office. Non-Korean speakers can look at the posters on the CGV website for an idea of what might be on at Aekyung.

Film times are displayed on screens above the ticket desk. If you can’t read hangul watch the screens that display full sized posters with the movie’s English and Korean title. English language films are rarely dubbed in Korea unless they’re animations. The cinema staff are helpful and patient with foreigners so they will probably warn you if a film is in Korean.

Tip: Before buying a ticket get a queue number from the little machine attached to the pillar. Put the film title and time on a piece of piece of paper so that you can show it to the assistant. Tickets are allocated to seats, so if you don’t want to sit near the screen draw a square, write “screen” on one side and mark your preferred location with a cross.

Once you’ve had a meal, done some shopping and watched a film there’s not much else to do at Aekyung. If you walk back through the subway station, down the steps, and through the pedestrian underpass that comes up next to the petrol station, you will arrive in Guro’s machinery and tool shopping centre. It’s grey and grimy but it is a good opportunity to go back to that other face of Seoul you first saw on the covered bridge.

*One subway stop further along, at Guil, there is a nice Italian restaurant called “Pizza U.” I think they serve a much better pasta sauce there. When you exit Guil station walk straight ahead until you come to the pedestrian bridge. On the other side of the bridge there is a 7-Eleven convenience store. If you stand with your back to the store you will see a large white apartment complex on the opposite side of the road. Walk into the central courtyard, turn right at the GS25 convenience store and you will see Pizza U with its yellow frontage, tucked into the far corner.

Eating Near Gasan Digital Complex Station

Gasan Digital Complex station (line 1 and line 7) in Geumcheon-gu is an interesting stop for fashion lovers, foodies and anyone curious about everyday life in Seoul. A former industrial district, the area is now home to shiny new office blocks and a large number of fashion outlets.

Before you hit the shops you may want something to eat, and there are all kinds of restaurants* in Woolim Lion’s Valley Mall, right next to the subway station. If you visit at lunchtime on a weekday it’s a chance to watch Korean office workers taking their midday meal.

When you arrive at the station take the stairs or escalator down to the lower level, where you will exit into the wide underground corridor that separates the mall from an adjacent office building. Going through the doors of the mall you should see a hairdresser’s on your right just before the escalator. If you can see a ski shop you’re in the wrong side and you need to turn round and go through the opposite doors.

Follow the escalator upwards and you will find two (in the future possibly three) floors of restaurants. Many of the restaurants require customers to sit on the floor and the menus are not always easy to understand if you don’t speak Korean. If you want a chair and an easy to understand menu, go to Cobaco on the second floor. (Look for the shop with this sign.)

There is nothing special about the food in Cobaco, but it’s reliable and there’s a wide choice of chilli-free dishes. The menu includes meat and fish cutlets, noodles, california rolls and a beef dish called bulgogi. If you’re looking for a simple no-nonsense meal that will fill you up and won’t leave an aftertaste, the bulgogi is a good choice.

*Most are closed on Sunday.