Seoul - Temples and Palaces

Today we spent the day at a few temples, a palace and a hanok (traditional old house) village  in Seoul.  The weather started off cloudy but by mid afternoon there were some peaks of sunshine and the fall colors are out in force!

First stop, Joyesa Temple near Insadong.  It's an active temple famous for Zen Buddhism. This is David's first Buddhist Temple and it was pretty impressive for him.  The colors are so bright and the Buddhas are giant.  It's really interesting to see all the people going through prostrations as they pray, just don't forget to take off your shoes!

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Buddha

Jogyesa Temple

From Jogyesa, we went up to Gyeongbokgung, an old Joseon period palace (one of a total of 5 palaces in Seoul) just through Gwanghwamun Gate.  The gate itself serves as a popular image for the city of Seoul, with the city's mascot, Haechi, often depicted with Gwanghwamun.

Gwanghwamun Gate, in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung Grounds

Gyeongbokgung Grounds

Gyeongbokgung Pagoda, with bonus monk

From Gyeongbokgung we made our way to Jongmyo Shrine to check out this Confucian UNESCO heritage site.  Jongmyo requires you to join a tour to enter and visit the grounds with a guide.  The Shrine was built for the worship of Joseon Kings after they died.  There are two main areas, each with a room set up for a King.  The living King was required to visit Jongmyo 5 times a year (once per season and on the lunar new year) to offer up food to the former ancestor kings.

Jongmyo Shrine

Jongmyo Shrine - Ceremonial Rooms

We took a stroll through Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an area full of historic houses. Seoul used to be full of these traditional one-story dwellings. By this point our feet were killing us (too much walking!) so we sat and had some coffee and tea before heading back to Megan's place on the subway.

Random kid fell asleep holding flowers

Next on our plate (ha!) was a delicious dinner of Suwon galbitang, which are beef ribs with a special marinade that are grilled at your table. Suwon is a city just south of Seoul that is famous for this particular type of beef.

Suwon kalbi!

Even though we were dead-tired at this point, we decided to go check out Dongdaemun gate. This gate used to be a part of Seoul's city wall., which is now mostly gone. From the gate we strolled along Chonggyeocheon Stream again, to see the lantern festival at night. The lanterns were beautiful. Also, there may or may not have been a giant peacock lantern  with flapping wings that shot flames from its mouth.  Apparently, the phrase "tone it down" doesn't translate into Korean.

Seoul Lantern Festival

Seoul Lantern Festival