A Saturday Outing in a Near-by Park

A Saturday outing 

For various personal reasons, I find myself in a downward spiral of despair these days. There are three things that tangentially touch the spiral and retard it: spending time with my faithful friend and comrade Ian, teaching my wonderful students (my 3pm class in particular), and receiving emails from loved ones--thank you all! Today I had a physical up, however, as Ian and I went to a mountain-top park not far from where I live. This evening, Ian and I went to Seoul National University. Some of his students had told him the architecture was better than Yonsei's. Neither one of us agreed. We spent a lot of time walking to and from the campus, which is far away from the nearest subway stop.

In the early afternoon, however, we had a more interesting time, as we ascended the road and path behind my place until we came to the top of a small mountain. From different points on the mountain, one could see in many directions. A few people were sitting on the wall, which runs along the top of the ridge. The day was hazy today, unfortunately, but you can still get a glimpse of the view, nonetheless. I thought of my old hiking buddy while we were up there. For those of you who don't know him, he passed away a few years ago after a full life. He was my best friend when I was a young man in high school and college. The wind was blowing perfectly today, and the sun wasn't too hot. My good friend Ian was with me, and so, in a way, was old Mr. Radandt. It was an altogether peaceful moment outside of time and cares.

And, my thanks to Mom, Brian, Rob, Sylvia, Gary, and Dr. T. Power (a librarian in the UofT consortium of libraries) for their emails!


An old wall runs up the mountain. 


It's hazy, but you can still see the density of the city. 

Changgyeonggung Palace

Ian and I went yesterday to Changgeonggung Palace, one of Seoul's grandest palaces. This is the one closest to me; it's about a 15 minute walk from my apartment. Right now, Changgyeonggung is undergoing renovations, but is still a beautiful place, even if there is no one to open up the souvenir shops. Admission was free, although the normal price is a pretty nominal 1000Won (approximately: $1, US, rather than CDN).

This is a very large palace. Now, when I say "palace," I'm including the palace grounds. The buildings are built to normal, everyday dimensions as far as height and width are concerned (there's nothing here to match the cathedrals or castles of Medieval Europe). (They can be long, however, and twist around an inner coutryard, which is not to be confused with the larger courtyard after the gate). However, the accompanying "garden" (including, usually, a little forest) can be described as grand. The pond here could be so described also.

I'm starting to get a feel for the palaces. They are all made of wood, with stone walls around the perimeter. They all have a main gate through which one must enter (except for Deoksugung Palace, which has had its gate moved), a courtyard, a rectangular throneroom, and smaller buildings, as well as a large garden (again, except for Deoksugang, which still has a small garden). This palace also has a modern greenhouse, which we went in, of course. (Thomas may remember how much I enjoyed our outing to the Allen Gardens in Toronto.)

I learned that the silk screen I mentioned previously was the screen in this palace before the design was used in Deoksugung. On the palace grounds are pagodas, a sundial, a wind-pole, a stone bridge, a platform for observing the stars, and a stele commemorating the burial of a princely placenta! The term for this kind of marker is a "taeshil." Ian had a commitment in the evening, so we couldn't stay as long as we wanted at this palace, and consequently, I have no picture of the princely placenta marker. Hopefully you'll like the other photos, however!

Ian and I were prevented from getting a close up view of the throne room because of a drum festival taking place directly in front of it. Oh well, now we can say we've seen a traditional drum festival!

Oh yes, one other point of note: we passed a side gate out of which was chased a king during a palace coup d'etat! The signage, as you may have guessed, continued to be in English, Korean, and Chinese. The English in this palace was professional, and showed an awareness of architectural terms and issues.

And this post gets dedicated to Ian, my buddy and comrade in arms. Ian, you're a great friend!


I was delighted to find this small view through the trees, and to capture this Study in Contrasts. 


Myeongjeonggeon, Seoul's oldest throne room, dating to 1616. 


The fountain in the garden. 


Botanical Garden on the palace grounds


Who's that guy there? ;-) 

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UPDATE: A second post, with more pictures, on Changgyeonggung is here.

Yuck! & Whew! (as in, What a Relief!)

At six am this morning I heard some hammering at 6am and woke up. The hammering startled me, and I made sure I had the chain on the door (ever since Eye Gouge Man episode 2, I keep a chain on at night). Then I checked my email and the responses to something I had posted on the Star Wars.com website. And then I felt something crawling around under my PJ's on my upper right leg! It turned out to be a bug that looked like a cockroach! I looked at some pictures online, and then started to wonder if it was a bedbug. But, as I have no bites (except for some mosquito bites on my face), I wasn't sure. After looking at some more pictures, this time of bedbugs, I realized that my bug was much too big to be a bedbug. His appearance wasn't quite right, either. He was also too small to be a fully grown cockroach, but that was cold comfort! Around 10am I phoned my landlord, who was very concerned (not just for his apartment, but for me, too; he's such a nice person).

After doing an even more thorough floor vaccuuming job then I did yesterday, and taping up some little cracks in the floor border (I don't know what else to call it), I happened to run into my upstairs neighbours just a few minutes ago, and we happened to see several identical bugs in the stairwell. They told me they're just normal Korean bugs! They can be trusted, as they've lived in South Korea for several years, and hate cockroaches as much as anyone.) I can't describe what a relief this was! I feel like I've got a whole new lease on life, quite literally! ;-D

Oh yes, "What was the hammering," you ask? My upstairs neighbours locked themselves out of their bathroom. The knobs in the rooms here have require a key to get in if they're locked. So my poor neighbour had to hammer the door in to go to the bathroom! I told them they can wake me up and use mine in the future; they've certainly been kind enough in letting me use their phone for short local calls.
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And I'd like to dedicate this post to my buddy Brian--Brian, thanks for your emails!