Night and morning in Seoul

betaben

681 Posts

May 05 2009 14:56 GMT

Hello,
A while ago I found myself in seoul for an overnight stop, without really knowing what to do; I posted in a blog to get ideas, but most of the ideas I had done before (eat korean food), and I did not want to go to a bar because, essentially, I was on my own and it would be no fun. Unless I got steaming, but then I would not find my way home. So this is what I did, incase it will be useful
for others who find themselves in my position in the future. It's quite boring, sorry.

Looking on a website ( http://ask.metafilter.com/27208/Stuck-in-Incheon-for-15-Hours ), I decided I wanted to see the night Market at Dongdaemoon; I decided I would also like to buy some korean script at Insadong ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insadong ), and see some shrines (I decided I would like to see shamanistic shrines at Guksadang ( http://iguide.travel/Seoul/Sights/Temples_and_shrines ) ).

So those were my plans, although I did not know how long it would take to get to/from Incheon airport, and how much time I would get. Luckily for me, Asiana airlines had booked me in a hotel in Myeong-dong, right in the centre of Seoul. They had also bought me dinner, so I sat down to eat this with fellow overnighters before setting out at 9:00pm with my camera. The trains stop at midnight, I think (I might be wrong).

My plan for that night was to get to night Market at Dongdaemoon, and find my way back. Nervously walking from the hotel, I saw an amazing table of food on the street - it was awesome. There were all kinds of squid, some tentacles as long as my legs. I got out my camera and was fiercely discouraged by the stall owner. He was very angry, I did not know why. So, thinking "wtf? what did I do?" I walked off for Myeongdong subway. I was to learn that all the other food stall owners on the street had the same reactions and dirty looks for me when I tried to take pictures. I don't know why; from then on, I was fearful of taking pictures when anyone was around.

So with a small map, I found the station, and, with hand gestures only bought a travel card from a very forgiving ticket girl. It was Saturday night and everyone was going home. There was a huge que behind me by the time I had finished.

I took the blue line from Myeongdong to Dongaemun. I stood for most of the journeys, but when I did sit, I noticed many empty seats next to me. I very much felt foreign. Dongaemun was not quite as I expected it. There is a very impressive gate, but the market had packed up. It was dark, with deserted stalls, and only a few groups of teenagers. There was a police van with about 10 police men in body armour. I hopefully peered down some pitch black backstreets before regretfully finding my way back home at about 11:30. So, not really a very successful trip.

The next morning, I needed to catch the bus back to the airport at 10:30am, so I set out at 6:20am. My plan for today was to get to the Guksadang shrines near Dongnimmun. I'd try to stop on the way back at insadong. On the way to the station, I realised that the previous night's foray was not completely useless, as I had a full travel card and could confidently find the station, and knew how long it would take to get there and back.

I could not remember a lot from the website, so I took a few wrong turns on may way out of the station. Admittedly, I did not really know what I was looking for as I had seen no pictures, so initially I set out for mt. Ansan. One thing beginning to dawn in my head at this point was that in seoul I had often to travel though a few dodgy unlabled backstreets to get to my destination (- this was to catch me out later); I began to wonder if I had missed the night market by just not being brave enough.

Still, I found my way to the shrines quite easily after I got my barings. There is an obvious large gate, surrounded in a pool of rough concrete. It seems the people of seoul are quite happy with raw concrete. The steps up to the shrines are all made out of quite unkempt concrete, the higher shrines themselves look a bit rough, the are mainly made out of bricks, a bit like a makeshift barbeque, with some candles below them; they were surrounded by tubs of water, presumably for drinking.

On the way to the higher shrines are a few temples, but they are very densely packed, and it is not clear how to get to them all. I took a wrong turn trying to get to one of them - it took me a couple of minutes to realise I was in someone's back yard. Lucky they were not yet up. Just further up from a large bell there is a Larger temple, which was in the process of being cleaned out. I gestured to one man with my camera to the temple, the answer was a clear "NO!", but, getting a bit more of the hang of things, I re-gestured to another man that I wanted to take a picture of only the outside, which he kindly agreed to, closing the door such that the inside would remain invisible. This made me fearful of taking pictures of the shrines, so my pictures are mostly of the view.

Further up, there are some strangely shaped rocks known as the "zen rocks", where two ladies were performing a buddhist ritual. On of the husbands was there looking out on seoul, we shared a friendly moment gazing out. I had read to be careful not to take pictures of rituals; so no pictures here either.

By now, if I can remember, I think it was about 8:00 (give or take 20mins). I decided to go up Mt. Inwangsan, where I thought the views would be better. It took me 40 minutes walking around the base, however, to find the route to the path up the mountain. My mistake? The route looked as though it went through a building site, and then someone's backyard.

Eventually, I found my way up mount next to a remade castle wall. I was going as quickly as possible, now quite short of time if I was to get something good at Insadong. When I reached the top, I was very tired, just to find there was another peak further on, not visible previously. I think it was about 9:00, so as I caught my breath and took panoramic pictures, I debated doing the larger peak or cutting and running.

5 minutes later, I was on top of the larger peak. The climb to the top and back had taken 30 minutes of reasonably quick walking, if that is an aid to future travellers.

Take some water though! I was gasping by the time I found an open shop near the bottom. The lady charged me far too much, as I offered her my 10,000 won notes, which she happily took. However, a customer looked angrily at her and gave me more of the shop's produce as she looked on sheepishly. I need to learn Korean for "change".

At about 9:30, I made it to Insadong where I hoped I could get some authentic presents! It was deserted. It struck me that shops were closed on a Sunday in Seoul too.

Not to be beaten, I decided to use the last moments visiting the Palace at Changdeukgung:

and then I ran down to Jongmyo and back.

I arrived back at 10:15, ate the free breakfast, and caught the bus at 10:30. So, not completely a success, but hopefully it'll be a guide to how much you might get done if you have an overnight stop in Seoul.

AzureEye

United States1360 Posts

May 05 2009 15:06 GMT

Your cooking looks amazing

Kennelie

United States2296 Posts

May 05 2009 15:08 GMT

well ur pics aren't showing for me at least but it seemed as you made the best of it.

Edit: I had to right click on the images. Where are u originally from?

R3condite

Korea (South)1541 Posts

May 05 2009 15:52 GMT

On May 05 2009 23:56 betaben wrote:
The trains stop at midnight, I think (I might be wrong).

I got out my camera and was fiercely discouraged by the stall owner. He was very angry, I did not know why. So, thinking "wtf? what did I do?" I walked off for Myeongdong subway. I was to learn that all the other food stall owners on the street had the same reactions and dirty looks for me when I tried to take pictures. I don't know why; from then on, I was fearful of taking pictures when anyone was around.

I began to wonder if I had missed the night market by just not being brave enough.

It seems the people of seoul are quite happy with raw concrete.

Take some water though! I was gasping by the time I found an open shop near the bottom. The lady charged me far too much, as I offered her my 10,000 won notes, which she happily took. However, a customer looked angrily at her and gave me more of the shop's produce as she looked on sheepishly. I need to learn Korean for "change".

yes it does stop @ midnite

buy it if u wanna take a picture of it... it's rude to just take a picture of some1's shop w/o their consent.. taking a pic of a general area should be fine but if u take pictures of ppl specifically, they may not like it either.

yup, most likely. everywhere in seoul u'll have to take alleys to get from point A to point B and alleys in korea r much much muchhh smaller than wat most ppl consider alleys

we <3 concrete... though it does raise some health issues... concrete <3

mmm that woman was not nice... normal u would get change even if u don't ask for it... maybe she watched too many movies where Americans just hand shop owners something like 20 bucks for a piece of gum says keep the change... but most likely she was just taking advantage of u

piece of advice when u buy stuff like that... just buy it first and then wait for the shop owner to say something... usually if they have a counter they will say "That will cost X won" (roughly translated) and then u can pay and get ur change. But if they don't have a counter u would probably have to ask in korean how much that item is, to keep them from taking advantage of u

Chill

Calgary25996 Posts

May 05 2009 15:58 GMT

you should have contacted rekrul.

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