Seoul

Seoul is actually pronounced as a two syllable word (So-uul), not like the English word 'soul'. And it is absurdly huge. The greater Seoul area has a population almost as large as that of Canada, the second largest country in the world. The city is rather blade-runner-esque, except that there are also old East-Asia style buildings thrown into the mix. I arrived in Seoul on Friday night on the slow train and stayed at the same spa as last time. In the morning I went to Gyeongbokgung, the old imperial palace. On the way I stopped by a park that contained an ancient pagoda and this weird ancient turtle grave marker.

The park also had a nice view of one of the most architecturally interesting buildings I've seen in Korea (although it isn't really my style, it is at least not the usual big rectangle).

In the same neighborhood was a Buddhist monastery that provided another odd contrast with the skyscrapers.

On the way to the palace I also saw more police officers than I had cumulatively seen before in my life. Apparently a protest was planned to take place in front of The Blue House where President Lee Myung-bak lives, and so the police were out in force with full riot gear in preparation.

The actual palace was originally built in the 1300s but was razed in 1592 during the occupation of Japan. It was destroyed by Koreans who were angered by their rulers who abandoned them. The complex was rebuilt in the mid 1800s. The most interesting part of the tour was the politics of living spaces. The king's living area was a building with ten rooms for sleeping. Only the most trusted servants knew where the king was each night, which was a precaution against assassination, at least against assassins who weren't arsonists who would take out the whole building... The queen also had a building, which was essentially her prison. She had a garden outback that let her know what the season was because she wasn't really permitted to leave her house. Also, even portions of that building were limited for her. The Queen's quarters contain a room that was only used when the king came to stay the night (about once a month), and a delivery room in which she gave birth to princes and princesses. Things got significantly better for the queen when her husband died and one of her sons became the king. The queen mother had some actual power, including the power to choose her son's wife and concubines. The concubines had quarters on the far side of the queen's from the king's, which I imagine was rather awkward for the queen to see the king go past her house to get to one of the concubines. The queens knew better to complain, though, since the queen mother demanded that the queen and concubines get along. Also, the queen was ensured of her position as queen mother since even if she bore no male children she would adopt one of the concubine's sons and raise him as her own.

Other cool things at the palace: statues and paintings of animals and dragons, and tripods(!):
Behind the palace are absolutely gorgeous mountains, which would be even better looking without the smog (I've seen smog hanging above cities many times before, but Korea is the first place I've been where the smog is visible even at street level).
Outside the palace was a folk museum that demonstrated old Korean clothes, etc. Outside of it were these fantastic zodiac statues (the one next to me is an ox, in honor of my birth year and this year).
On Sunday I wandered around Insadong, a neighborhood of old-style buildings, antique shops, and this fantastic multi-tiered shopping building.
The stairwells and the rooftop view were particularly noteworthy:
Insadong also contained a restaurant with intriguing menu entries:
While I was there there was also an outdoor concert with drums and a horn that sounded like a dying duck (in the background you can see a building owned by YBM, my company) and a weird promotional thing where people walked around with boxes on their heads (I'm sad that I was too slow retrieving my camera to capture the boxen making out).
This is also a good time to showcase Korean streetfood vendors, who sell things like dried tentacles:
Obviously I only saw a small portion of the monstrously large city, so there will be more on Seoul in the next few months.