seeing more clearly

When I mentioned I had brought my eye perscription because I read that Seoul was a very good place to buy eyewear, Donny said he wanted newglasses too, so we decided to go off togetgher. Grace and Martin were probably very happy to be left behind as my family is known for dithering.  Not because of cost, but because we need to see everything and try everything and think about it to make sure we make the best choice.  I think of it as being prudent and sensible - Martin calls it dithering.  Potayto, potahto.

Anyway, there was joy in my heart to be spending this time alone with Donny.  I don't think I have ever gone shopping with him on our own, just the two of us.  Growing up, we were not the closest sibling pair, probably too similar in some ways but too different in others.  We were both musical (still are!), creative, sensitive, and intuitive, and early emotional hurts bruised us way harder than they should have.  We both dealt with low self-esteem, but in different ways and on different trajectories.  We were rarely in the same city let alone continent for much of our adult years.  Who knew that we would be sympatico here in Korea? 

We zipped down to the Namdaemun Market, a wonderful labyrinth of shops and kiosks and makeshift tables that has operated in Seoul for centuries.  You can get anything here, although, to be realistic, a lot of it is not that well made nor all that inexpensive.  I saw handmade costume jewellry, leggings made in fake Louis Vuitton logo'ed fabric, dark brown traditional Korean soup bowls, plastic toys that buzzed with moving parts, sweets made before your eyes with spun sugar so fine it looked like silk - on and on it goes.  Much of the market is laid out as in the rest of Seoul. All the jewellry was in one area, all the ladies undergarments were in another, all the electronic goods in another, etc. which to my mind seems counter-intuitive.  Why would you want to be placed among all your competitors?  But it does make the shopping experience a little easier for the buyer, with less ground to cover for what you are looking for.

So we headed to the part of the market that sold eyewear.  We started with one well stocked shop and just dove in, looking at every frame in the place, then used our pathetic Korean to try some on.  I became bold in making quick assessments I could never do with someone I didn't know.  "No, not that one.  Nope.  Take your hat off.....hmmmm, no.  Ew.  That one's not bad." etc. etc..

I give credit to Martin for teaching me that direct honesty is not a comment on the person, just the product on the person, and that it saves time to be so forthright. I hope Donny felt the same way!  We powered through frames by the dozen, and giggled at some of the outrageous examples.  We moved from shop to shop, narrowing down the best shape for each of us, and took photos of our main contenders.  We confirmed prices, and completion dates.  The guide books were right - perscription eyewear is one of the few things that are a real bargain here.

It was getting late so we made note of the either/or choices and zipped back home.  Grace and Martin rolled their eyes when they found out that we did not have glasses in our hot little hands, but we defended our positions (happily mutual ones!) and said that we needed them to help with the final decision as they would be the ones looking at our in our new specs for the rest of our days (we may have exaggerated a bit).

Regardless of whether or not we actually get them (Editor's note: they did - two each!), spending those hours with my brother was a memory I will treasure for ever. 

(some of Donny's choices - and two of the winners!)

navigating the smallest room

Now I'm the sort of person who takes photos of food rather than toilets, but Seoul had some very interesting toilets, and I'm not talking about the crouchers - they might still be around somewhere in Korea but not where we visited!

Take this one

It's cute and very small, and quite jaunty with its yellow lid.  Just just fine for my ladylike bottom, but I couldn't help but wonder - were these in the men's loo as well?

And then there is this one:

I mean, look at it - it looks like a flight deck!  What on earth are all these functions?  How on earth do you negotiate them?  What happens if you hit the wrong button or combination of buttons? 

After spending some time in consternation, and in worry about whether my absence from the party would have been noticed by now, I saw that there was a flusher on the outside of the tank just like on a regular toilet.  Which makes me wonder even more - why all the complicated buttons?  Does it make you a cup of tea?  Or read to you????

pomp and secrets

Seoul contains five grand palaces that have existed during centuries of Korea's tumultuous history.  This country has been invaded and held by outside parties so many times. No wonder everyone is polite and patient - they've had to be!

We don't have time to see all the palaces open to the public, so we chose the one that seems the most interesting and that's recommended over all the others, Changdeokgung. It is a truly Imperial palace, where the royal family lived and presided, even down to accomodation, albeit plainly decorated, for the king's concubine.  It was the favoured palace of many kings of the Joseon Dynasty and in accordance with the Three Kingdoms of Korea period, its buildings blend harmoniously with the natural landscape.

Tickets are timed, so between purchase and entry we wandered aroudn the area, which is one of the last containing traditional Korean 'hanok' architecture. I find it interesting that a society that revers old things (including people) has no such reverence for old buildings and if it wasn't for tourists I imagine this neighbourhood would have be replaced by fall buildings by now.  buildings in general are rasied, then demolished and replaced at larming speed.

What a lot of Seoul must have looked like last century

lots of steep stairs in this part of Seoul!

It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997, with the committee that inscribed the site stated the place was an "outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design" being exceptional because the buildings are "integrated into and harmonized with the natural setting" and adapted "to the topography and retaining indigenous tree cover." 

And it is peaceful.  Entering the palace takes the visitor to another time. Each large building is set prominently in its separate location, each housing a separate function, with smaller buidlings attached and acting as separate rooms. Decoration is exuberant and colourful, with replaced sections made to look as they were originally. And there have been many replaced sections. This place has seen more than one fire, and of course more than one occupation. It was burned to the ground in 1592 by the Japances invasion and particularly impacted by the occupation of 1910-45, with most of the infrastructure destroyed and rebuild since.

intricate carvings and designs decorate the eaves

Imagine painting these ceilings!



Plainer style for the concubine's abode, which I actually prefer!

One of the key drawsto this particular palace is the secret garden, or forbidden garden, so called because only the king may enter or those with his permission. It's a beautiful mix of water, forest, and pavilions mixed sensitively to the landscape itself. There are over 26,000 trees, with over 100 species represented.  soem of the trees themselves are over 300 years old, their branches propped like an old man with canes.

It was lovely in the last days of autumn, with a hint of the brilliance it must have been a few weeks ago. 

Paster Don

Okay, this is where it gets a bit bizarre.

A Korean friend of Donny and Grace just got married and, Korean weddings being what they are (i.e., short and identical), he asked both of them to take part in the ceremony.  And he welcomed our presence as visiting guests.  Our first Korean wedding!

The wedding business resembles a factory here.  Everyone arrives at some huge building which has a hall on each flour. White covered chairs and beflowered candles are lit, everyone sits down, and the first thing to happen is the mothers of both bride and groom, walk down th eaisle hand in hand, both wearing traditional dress.

The Mothers prepare to walk down the aisle

The aisle they walk along is one long photograph of rose petals, lit from beneath, and spotlights from sparkling chandeliers follow them from above.  Two attendants dressed military style in white and gold place them this way and that way for photographs then hustle them to their seats.

Next up, bride and groom, followed by two photographers who exhort the couple to smile or look this way or that, as they walk.  Actually it seems to be "their" day,  as they strut up and down the aisle, stand in front of their subjects and then right behind them, thus blocking them from everyone's view

Donny, who was asked to make a speech in both English and Korean (learned phonetically) is there, and is now asking each if they wish to become bride and groom.  That's right, my brother married them!!!

Yes, that's Donny up there at the altar!

Usually this is it, but the groom wanted his wedding to be a bit different, so asked three friends to perform.  A Korean male friend, and an American female friend each sung a tune, and then Grace dances beautifully to Bruno Mars. 

Graceful Grace

Suddenly the as yet unheard musicians (piano, base, sax) are playing the Wedding march, and the two attendants grab brass trumpet-like blunderbusses, crouch and take aim, then fire gold confetti at the married couple's back, before rushing forward to clean it all away. 

The group photographs take longer than the service, and  then everyone is turned out as the next wedding gets ready for the same treatment.  We all get shuffled to an adjoining building, which has buffets on each floor.  We go to floor #2 and have a meal full of Korean and western food, everyone eating as fast as they can, toasting each other with mixure shots of sochu and beer ('so-me'), then it's up and out, the entire affair taking barely 2 hours.

And I'm still blinking with the thought that my brother performed the marriage service, and in Korean!!

A couple with the most remarkable set of talents and skills

A couple of very lucky wedding guests

 

Random signs and sayings and graffiti around Seoul

soda, chocolate and your future

Fortunetelling is not a lost art, at least here.  There are lots of little temporary huts and kiosks that contain red curtains, candlelight, and a tiny lady reading to read your hand or your tea leaves or perhaps something else of which I am not privy.  I quite liked the look of this machine that will read your palm if you dared place it in the mask's mouth.  If I had had a spare coin and more time as I passed by, I think I would have dared!

Kitty Cafe

In Hongdae, a young,hipster place that comes alive after dark, there is a place for those of us who love kitty cats but can not have one as a pet.  Not because our landlord forbids it (our landlord is a paragon of virtue!) but because we are both allergic to cats, as well as dogs and horses, so no horses in the house either.

Up the stairs we go, into a closet between glass doors where we exchange our shoes for slippers, get our hands squirted with anti-bacterial gel, and enter the most cheerful little coffee house you will ever see.  For a rather expensive beverage and an inexpensive dish of soft morsels, we are let loose to spend some quality time with a bevy of kitty cats.

We see them sleeping and lounging and hanging and running and yawning and licking and scratching eating.  They sometimes come to be stroked or played with but to be honest they mostly come for the food.

There are humidifiers dotted around no doubt to remove the static that would wreak havoc between cat fur and Seoul's dry, cold air.  soem cats are friendlier than others, and we've been told not to stroke certain cats as they tend to scratch!  There is a huge vaariety of breeds, colours, ages and personalities, and we spent an hour cajoling and exhorting and thrilling to touch, scritch and nuzzle animals that are no doubt so overstimulated that they do not purr.  In fact most of them just sleep, and they resemble fluffy pillows dotted about the place.

Oddly enough, the cafe does not smell of cat at all and we wondered where they went to 'do their business'.  Thankfully, that is one element of kitty care that we did not feel the urge to do. 

Other patrons were mostly young Koreans, many on dates (and many in matching clothing, a romantic Korean exercise!). Some come on their own and just sit working on their laptops or reading, seemingly oblivious to the felines in the room, but perhaps they are students homesick for their pets miles away.