Heart & Seoul: Erin's Adventures in Korea

This weekend was a nice change from the shopping thing, since that's all we've been doing lately. We did briefly go to both Insadong and Dongdaemun, the first because Alicia wanted a keychain she'd seen there, and the second because we'd heard about this area of Dongdaemun that sells animals and that there is some pretty cool stuff there, so off we went.

Pet Alley in Dongdaemun was crazy!! Here are some shots:

But first, a few shots of Insadong.

This little bamboo forest with its cool statues was just off the main street of Insadong. So cool!


And this crazy piano sidewalk was right in the middle of Jonggak. This little girl was loving it.


Now onto Dongdaemun Pet Market! You could seriously buy just about any pet you wanted here, and some that we really had to wonder who wanted them!

Baby turtles!


And a gross snapping turtle!


Hermit crabs (HUGE ones!)


And DUNG BEETLES. WTF a kid actually BOUGHT ONE while we were there!! Who on earth says, "You know what, I think I'd really like a pet dung beetle." SO WEIRD. There were rhinoceros beetles as well, but I didn't take pictures of them.


Bunnies!


KITTENS!!!


And so many puppies!


Just in case you wanted a pet chicken...



There was seriously so many kinds of weird bugs and reptiles and rodents there...so bizarre. There were sugar gliders for $5!! So that was pretty cool to see in the middle of the city. Apparently you can even buy monkeys there, but we looked pretty hard and didn't find any. Oh well...according to Uli you can buy them at Sindang, so we might check that out if we're down that way any time soon.

On our way back to the subway we walked along that river again. Here's a shot of me crossing that little river. Yay!


We took a break to watch the fish. Here's Alicia just chillin'.


After we finished with the pets at Dongdaemun, we headed off to get a bit of culture at Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jongmyo was the royal ancestral shrine of the Choseon dynasty (which reigned in Korea from 1392-1910). The construction of the shrine began in 1394, when Seoul was chosen as the capital of South Korea. The original structures were all burnt down by the Japanese during an invasion in 1592, so the buildings currently standing today are actually reproductions that were built in 1608. The grounds of the shrine are absolutely gorgeous, and peppered with little ponds and beautiful forested areas. Here are some pictures:

This gorgeous little pond greets you as you enter the grounds. The ponds are square and the islands in the centre are circular, to represent the earth (square) and heaven (circular).


The main path through the grounds. The bricked central walkway is reserved for royal spirits.


One of many pavilions, this one was for musicians.


It just wouldn't be a day out in Seoul without Alicia desecrating some national monuments. Here she is, doing the running man in Jeongjeon, the Main Hall. There are no plants in the courtyard of the Main Hall (aside from a few strips of grass), which was a deliberate scheme to better expose the halls to the spiritual energy of the heavens.


The animals of the Chinese Zodiac acting as guardians of the shrine.


Get out of here, headless people. We don't want any of your kind skulking around, and certainly not in royal shrines. You just creep people out.


Some dragon gargoyles on the top of a building.


More of the courtyard of the Main Hall.


There was a cat wandering around all day. I kept trying to take a picture of it, but it ran away every time. As a result, here's a shot of its butt. I found it pretty interesting that there was a cat in there, since Koreans pretty much hate them.


Here's a shot of the courtyard of the Gongsindang (Hall of Meritorious Retainers).


Turns out the cat was just in a hurry to get back to her BABIES!!!


This well was outside of Eosuksil, the King's Pavilion.


I love the tiled roofs of Korean traditional buildings. It's so cool.


The King's Pavilion.


Me inside the gates of the King's Pavilion.


Another pretty little pond.


This one had a lovely little gazebo thing where you could stop to take a rest and enjoy the pond.


These are ritual utensils used for various ritual procedures in the Hall of Meritorious Officials.


Finally, a last shot of the royal spirit walkway. So pretty!


Outside of the shrine there was a park (called "Jongmyo Citizen's Park") where there was a huge Baduk (or Go, for those of you familiar with Japanese games or the anime "Hikaru no Go") tournament going on. I wanted to get pictures of the old dudes playing, but unfortunately due to a rather disturbing journey through the park to the shrine (we counted -- over 36 old men stopped to stare at me, one of them was even so bold as to come up and try to touch me), I wasn't too keen on navigating my way through a bunch of pervy old ajushis. As a result, I also didn't get a chance to see who this is a statue of, but it's pretty huge and cool nonetheless.


Oh, and don't even think about playing your bugle outside of Jongmyo Citizens' Park. Take that horn elsewhere, you Taps-playing hooligan! And get a damn haircut!



Oh! And Alicia finally broke down and bought a puppy! Her name is Sophie and she's SO CUTE. She pretty much just sleeps, but that's probably a good thing.

Alicia and Sophie taking a nap.


She's so little! She's only two months old!!



And now the weekend is over. They go so bloody fast! I think next weekend I might take one day off to just chill out here, rather than going all over the city. I never feel rested on Monday! This week should be fun, though. It's the last week before Chuseok and we also have a field trip on Thursday! Yay!!

But now, time for bed. I hope everyone is well back home!