Ruby Ramblings

It takes so long to get anywhere.  I feel the need to plan excursions outside of Bupyeong packed with interesting things to do. as I’m going to be spending at least three hours of my day on the subway, I want to feel like my destination was worth it.  Usually that just ends up with me coming home with really sore feet.  Today I went down (north and east actually) to Samcheong-Dong – an artsy neighborhood that is a great reprieve from the concrete jungle that spreads from Incheon to eastern Seoul.  Most of the two or three floor buildings are glass, wood, or brick, with probably fifty coffee shops in a four block radius.

I walked around, and then couldn’t resist going to the Tibet Museum, even though the outside looked gimicky.  The familiar Buddha eyes drew me, and although the entrance price was steeper than most large Korean museums (at 5,000 wan, which isn’t that bad), it housed some interesting pieces.  The museum was quite small, but some of the artifacts were quite old.  There weren’t any signs in English, so I can’t tell you quite how old, but I enjoyed the displays of traditional dress and the raggedy old prayer wheels.

Their gift shop was a joke.  I was hoping to get some more Tibetan incense, but there was nothing remotely related to the subject matter of the museum.  Some plain leather purses, some really ugly and girly hair ties, and some cheap bracelets.

I saw a sign for a musuem up the hill called The Silk Road Museum, but I didn’t make it that far.  Instead I got distracted by the most lovely tea house.  Nestled in the neighborhood, I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t been admiring the building.  I was just thinking that it would be the most amazing apartment, and then realized folks were sitting at little floor tables sipping something.  I slipped my shoes off at the door, shook out my umbrella and left it in the handy umbrella holder, and found a great little wood table to sit at.  Tea Houses may be my  new favorite thing.  The smiling older woman who took my order was so welcoming.  I ordered persimmon leaf tea, not the most flavorful, but it never got bitter either no matter how long I let it steep.  Each order of tea comes with a three step process:  a thermos full of hot water as you are supposed to use the tea leaves until they are exhausted, a little tiny teapot to brew the tea, a strainer and holding vessel that you strain the tea into, and finally the little tiny cup you sip out of.  I just sat, read, and nibbled on traditional Korean cookies for a couple hours.

The tea house had a garden in the middle.  The building was a square built around the garden, with the interior walls being made entirely of glass so you can contemplate the garden while sipping tea.  Just gorgeous.

I headed out with J. to explore Korea’s official Chinatown today.  The entrance is right outside the very last stop on the #1 line, Incheon station.  It seemed to me to be a tourist area designed for Korean and foriegn tourists to the sanctioned Chinese area of Korea.  I enjoyed it nonetheless.  A good break from miles of concrete highrises, this really small area of about four square blocks is packed with trinkets, restaurants, and molds of chinese-looking statues.

I don’t know if they do this every weekend, or if it was some kind of occasion, but there was a parade with drummers, and the chinese dragon.  The two people dressed as the dragon were on tall wooden beams, and the would jump as a team from beam to beam while doing a dance.

View from the top of a hill down to the docks in Incheon.

East meets West.  Although I know in my head that about 30% of Korea is Christian, I can’t help but find the crosses and churches here out of place.  When I was in Nepal, the most militant missionaries trying to save Nepali souls were Korean folks. 

After a week of relative freedom, I can get back to the real purpose of this blog, which is to share pics and stories with those who aren’t here with me. In the whirlwind of make-up classes and getting into the swing of things, today will be my only day off for two weeks. Our days are usually consumed by prepping, six hours of non-stop teaching (not even to sit down), and catching a midnight dinner with our coworkers. I’ll get to the job and what our housing is like in a later blog. Today was the one and only day I’ve been able to do anything remotely cultural. While I visited some reconstructed old palaces, J. spent the day going to the modern day palace: the shopping center.

First I went to Itaewon to try and met some bookie friends and find out where What the Book is. I was only half successful in meeting who I wanted to, met someone I didn’t expect to, and found what is going to be my haven.

Then I talked my sore feet into doing what I’ve been wanting to do since I got here: explore some old palaces. There are several old palaces in Seoul, little parks and quite spots in the middle of such a loud and busy city. I sent to the two smallest first, saving the big guns for a later weekend when I have more time.

Deoksugung

The entrance:

I came on a cultural day apparently, there were folks in full dress marching and carrying flags, and a concert was being held inside. I tried to stay and watch, but honestly the music was a little too happy and cheesy for me (complete with a white girl in Korean dress as MC doing her best to speak in Korean).

I wasn’t clear on how old this palace is, but was built sometime in the late 1500s, I saw that it changed hands in 1608, and is now a great park right off the City Hall subway exit. The backdrop of all these buildings is one of the busiest intersections in Seoul, huge buildings, and a cool stone wall that surrounds the park.

Heungcheonsa Bell – 1510

Pieces from a Water Clock from 1536.

“Throne-room” of one of main palace

Gyeonghuigung

From my Seoul map, I saw there was another small temple just a short walk away. I asked the people at the gate which direction to walk, and they said not to go there, that it was too small; they didn’t recommend it. I decided to ignore them and go anyway. It was a great walk down a back street, half of which was along the wall of the park. The rest was a great collection of little shops, art galleries, and cafes. I enjoyed this palace even more than the first. It was a maze of buildings, and had a wonderful mountain backdrop and some trails where the trees almost drowned out the sound of the city. There were very few people there; it was the complete opposite of the rest of my experience here.

It is quite, free to enter, and although there are still several restored buildings here, it used have over 100, most of which were destroyed by the Japanese.

On the walk back to the subway, I popped in a little art gallery featuring some fantastic contemporary artists. Coming from the perspective of a country that is developed, and seen the downside of endless growth and greed, I’ve been concerned about Seoul’s seeming complete embrace of consumer and material culture. It was refreshing to go to this gallery, and see that at least on the art scene, there is a dialog about traditional vs. modern, the impact of pop-culture on society, and commentary on materialism. My favorite pieces were by an artist who was taking images of modern Seoul – huge skyrises, barges full with cargo, and juxtaposing them with cutaways of the underbelly of Seoul revealing dinosaur bones. I might be wrong on my interpretation, but to me they were saying that even with how fast it is all growing, there is so much more history and life here then what may be apparent on the surface.