Friday, 9 November 2018
Koreans love parades and dressing up in the dress of the nineteenth-century Joseon Dynasty Court or maybe they – that is the Korean Tourist Bureau – has discovered that visiting tourists love to see parades and Koreans dressed up in the dress of the nineteenth-century Josean Dynasty. And the costumed exercises are a delight to watch with the colorful banners and performers in the brightly colored costumes, moving in their orderly pageantry. The Changing of the Palace Guard is held in front of Deoksugung, a beautiful Korean Palace in the City Hall district of Seoul. The Changing of the Guard was a fairly lengthy exercise, crowded with onlookers.
The formations moved to the accompaniment of a strong regular drum beat – the drum a beautifully decorated affair – and the drum beat punctuating music that sounded to me rather like Scottish bagpipes. I need to research what instrument was being used.
At the end of this elaborate ritual, the announcer who had explained each of the moves of the troops, the guards, and the battalion commander, invited the audience to come and have their photo taken with the performers. Which everyone did (except me) with enthusiasm. I am not among those photographed with of a Korean Palace Guard.
Deoksugung, like all the Korean palaces, includes an impressive gate and a number of one- or two-story wooden buildings with ridged roofs with wide overhanging eves and many large bare-earth spaces, or courtyards between and surrounding the individual buildings..
Deoksugung was especially appealing because colorful and intricate designs were painted on the underside of eves, around windows, and on the corners of the buildings.
The gift shop displayed silverware in the classic Korean deign and colorful children’s dresses.
Just outside the gift shop was a large pond surrounded by fall trees and plants. And next to the pond, a long vine-covered arbor extended over a pleasant sitting area.
At the far edge of the grounds had been built in 1900 a Western-stye bungalow for casual entertaining, the Western architecture incongruous in its current setting. And near it, a beautiful wooded park with winding walkways.
Across the Street from Deoksugung is the Seoul City Hall and in front the City Hall Sky Plaza.
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In the Sky Plaza, a very large plaza, there was a children’s event being held. Lessons in craft that utilized rice straw and traditional games were being played, and the place was alive with children learning and eating the handouts of traditional Korean treats. I was most disappointed that I was not able to photograph some of these beautiful children; but it was a fun event to witness.
Leaving the City Hall and walking back to leave Seoul, I saw the roving red-vested Seoul information people, who will help with advice on how to get there or find it or whatever. Very helpful, for they also roam the subways, where things are evermore confusing. A clown pasted a smiley face on my raincoat, which later fell off .
And piles of yellow leaves here and there testified to the civilized manner in which Koreans rake their leaves. Never a blower to be heard.
The City and administrative buildings of Seoul are overwhelmingly impressive. Leaving Seoul on a beautiful day.
English language on government buildings occasionally. But Seoul does have live and not-so-live bench sitters.
A back alley in Seoul. Goodbye to wide streets and yellow leaves.
When I reached Incheon Airport, another parade, this one featuring the King and his Queen and the retinue that usually followed the royal couple. Again, an announcer explained what was going on as the royal pair advanced, and the travelers loved it. Goodby Korea.
