A soggy day in Seoul
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2009
1
5
24
Trip End
Aug 25, 2009
Seoul, Korea Rep.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
My first stop was an old watch tower known as Dongsipjagak.I could only admire it from the sidewalk as it sat in the middle of an intersection. The rain continued so I snapped a couple of photos and then trudged on past a funky sign post reminding me that Toronto was a mere 10 000 km away, north-north east. I walked past the famous Seoul landmark of Gyeongbokgung and that was all I was going to do. It was closed on Tuesdays. I passed a variety of enigmatic art galleries and cafes. All shut up tightly as it was still only 8 am. I had managed to travel around 1 km before the skies opened up and it began to pour buckets down upon me. I tried to hide myself under the very green branches of a tree but it just wasn't working. At this point I had made it as far as the owl museum and I needed to decide upon a course of action. Foolishly, or perhaps stubbornly I marched out into the rain and on through the walk tour. I was now in an area filled with traditional Korean style homes. The sad part was that I didn’t dare risk bringing out my camera in this rain. I did not want to risk another Guillin episode (rain 1digital camera 0).
After about another km I was ready to give up. I was soaked to the skin and there didn’t seem as though the rain had any intention of letting up. I made my way back to the subway stop and tried to get my bearings and figure another course of action. I paced back and forth under ground then eventually popped up at Changdeokgung the Palace of Illustrious Virtue and amazingly the rain had stopped. Did I also notice some clearing in the sky?This palace was open and I was all set to pay my entrance fee and explore the grounds. Then at the ticket wicket I noticed that the only way you could get into the grounds was on a tour and the next English tour was at 11:30. About 2hours away. I took what photos I could and headed off in the direction which I believed would get me to subway line 1. I past a few interesting sights including a fish store with giant aquariums out front with live fish trying to organize an escape. One was relentlessly bashing its head against the metal grate resting on top. I don’t think the fish were going anywhere.
At the end of the street I got distracted by a flashing barbershop’s pole. I headed down the alley lake area and emerged at Jongmyopark. This looked like a good area to explore. Nope. Closed on Tuesdays. And then it began to rain, again. I was now on a major street in Seoul and I opted to try and get some photos which captured a modern Seoul; one that was dominated by umbrella toting locals. I popped in and out of a few small side streets but by the time I made it to the far end or maybe the beginning of Jongmyo Park it had begun to rain very hard and I had to take refuge under an old archway into the park.
Apparently as I stood under this archway, soaking wet, hair dripping water like an overflowing eves-trough, I was now someone to take pity upon. An elderly lady came out of nowhere carrying two umbrellas. When she got to me she tried to give me the large umbrella. I was shocked and thankful all at the same time. I thanked her profusely but refused the offer. She wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer and began to lay the open umbrella on the top of my head. I continued to thank her and refuse and finally after at least 5minutes she relented. I’m sure she said I was crazy in Korean and she ambled back into the unknown.
I waited or was stranded under the archway for almost an hour.It was pouring heavily and there was no way it was going to slow anytime soon.I had decided to alter my plan. This was clearly not the weather to be exploring Seoul on foot. I made my way back to the subway and then headed out to the Noryangin fish market. This was inside a building. When I got to the station I stepped out onto the platform. This subway station was part of the train station and there was no overhang where I jumped out of the subway car.It was really storming now, even the wind had joined in on the festivities. The fish market was on the other side of the tracks and there was only one bridge which crossed it. The bridge was exposed to the elements. I stood at the exit from the subway station and waited. Then I waited some more. Finally it eased up a bit and I made a dash for it.
The fish market was huge. I walked down the stairs from the top level of a parking garage and my jaw dropped at the expanse of this market.ON the ground floor I was able to take in the breadth of this undertaking. I walked down lengthy aisle after lengthy aisle and began to wonder if there was anything left in the oceans. Everything was for sell and most of it was alive.There were shrimps, giant king crabs battling each other in buckets, octopus managing to make daring escapes from one bucket into another bucket, flounder,halibut, rays, tuna, grouper, snails, whelks, clams, oysters, sea cucumbers and an odd assortment of mollusks and fish that I had never seen before. Most were alive and people were all ready to chop, slice and dice the marine morsels into bite sized bits.
It was still considerably miserable out so I decided to cal lit a day. I was exhausted and frustrated with the weather. There was no joy in Mudville. I headed back to the airport where I took advantage of the free showers and wished I had a set of clean clothes to change into. It wasn’t really how I envisioned my day in Seoul would turn out.
Comments
Korea visit
Yep, sounds like my son - determined to the bitter end.
Dad
Thanks for the good reading! Greetings from Sweden.