Autumn in South Korea: Part 2
Being a Catholic Christian myself, visiting Myeongdong Cathedral has it's special meaning. It's really intriguing for me to see a Church in the middle of a city with so many eastern religions in place. Walking up the plights of stairs towards the Cathedral, we saw nuns in their "religous habits" walking around. I think there's a convent nearby but I can't really say. Anyway, if you're looking for a place to rest and contemplate for a while. This is the place to be. There's also a small grotto in the back that has the Virgin Mary's statue in it. We offered some candles and prayed.
Having built in 1898, it is said to be the first ever Western- style brick building in whole of Korea. It offers English mass at 9AM every Sunday. It is also just a walking distance from Myeongdong Station (use Exit 8) Line 4 or Exit 5 of Eujiro 1 (il)-ga Station, Line 2. And, it sort of gives us a hint that South Korea are very open when it comes to choosing Religions. We even pass by a Pentecost church that we thought was the Cathedral because it has similar architectural design.
I hope I could share more pictures with you when we also visited Changdeokgung Palace and Namsam Tower, but, unfortunately, most of the pictures that we took when we were in South Korea got corrupted =( . And, most pictures that I've got left are mostly taken during our visit in Gyeokbukgung palace.
But nevertheless, I still want to tell you all my experiences when we visited Changdeokgung Palace, which is is a few steps away from where we're staying, and it is also a sight to see. It is a smaller palace compared to Gyeokbukgung. So, they are particular in controlling the number of tourists coming in. Everyone is being assigned to a tour guide so even if you bought your tickets already you can't just walk in. And, you can literally see people closely monitoring the batches that goes in and making sure everyone is sticking to their group.
They let us to join a group of foreigners that came on buses. We were led by an English tour guide which I was impressed with. Having the perfect American accent, our batch were led to the different courts with divided rooms and shown how they heat up their baths and floors during winter (which reminded me our cold room back at Yim's house).
The picture on the left is from Gyeokbukgung's inner courtyard that holds a similar look on the rooms and courts at Changdeokgung. The colors are not that intense as compared to the Chinese' palaces we've visited, made me realized that Koreans during the early times are more conservative than the Chinese people.
Whenever night falls, Dennis and I, usually take short walks to the numerous malls around the metro to buy food, shop around or sometimes just people watch and look around to see what the city night offers. The clothes are really really cheap, and the shoes too. There are a lot of improvised stalls at night, similar to our (Philippines) Divisoria (although not that rowdy not to mention cleaner) that sets up in the sidewalks selling street foods, clothes, shoes, mittens, socks, etc. We bought a couple of socks because the temperature keeps dropping especially at night. But there is one thing we regret not trying though, that is, to drink the famous Soju, which is like the San Miguel beer of Korea. However, it is said to comparably taste closely to vodka rather than to a beer. Anyway, we already have Soju here in the Philippines (with so many Koreans visiting us, it's about time it is offered here) so we would probably be drinking one of those soon. :) What can I say about Koreans at night? Oh boy, they love to drink. Don't be shocked if you see 3 or 4 drunks at night on their american suits, wearing ties and leather shoes slumped in the corner somewhere. I guess they work hard in the morning and party harder at night (?) hehehe..
One of our nightly rendezvous led us to Cheonggye square which at the time is the venue for the Seoul Lantern Festival, and the starting point of Cheonggye stream. We have no idea that there was such an event but we were eager to check it out while we walk along the historic stream of Cheonggye. There are many people around ---- mostly families with their kids, couples holding hands or group of friends joking and walking around, taking pictures and just enjoying the view; we did the same and enjoyed ourselves with the rows of lighted figures floating in the middle of the stream while checking out the monuments and man-made bridges above us. We even joined a crowd of people signing up notes and names to the numerous lanterns line up in the wall.
There are a lot of history involve with Changgye stream. It is said, in the olden days, the stream has actually been set as a divider for the people in Korea. Those born of noble families and those that holds offices in the government were settled in the Northern part of the village while the poor and common people settle in the Southern village, with the stream being the boundary. It is actually sad to think that long before there is North and South Korea, the country already had a history of division among its people. On the brighter note, if you walk farther, you will see another symbolic monument that consists of thousands of signatures who wrote their dreams and hopes.
The Wall of Hope. It stands 2.2 meters in height and 50 meters in length. And the pictures depicted that of love and hope for peace.
