Sunday morning we were up and ready to go into Seoul around 11am. We were lucking out with weather and Sunday brought another bright and sunny day. We boarded the bus and set off for our afternoon in Seoul.
Our first stop was Insadong Road. This is a quite a popular road/area in Seoul. It is filled with loads of shops, tons of food, and occasionally traditional Korean dancers going up and down the road. I have spent plenty of time and a great deal of money in Insadong since I have been here and I knew my parents would enjoy it. We took our time walking down the street and in and out of stores. They bought a few souvenirs along the way, tried some of the roadside treats, and just took in all there is to see. It can be quite over whelming but they really enjoyed it and found some goodies to remember Korea by.
After Insadong we headed to the Jogyesa Temple, which is right around the corner from Insadong road. Fortunately mom and dad were here during the Lantern Festival or Buddha’s Birthday celebration. During the Lantern Festival thousands of paper lanterns decorate all the temples around Korea. We had already seen the temple in Gyeongju decorated for the festival and now we got to see the Jogyesa Temple decorated. I had been to this temple many times before but I had never seen it how we saw it that day! It was incredible!! The lanterns made a canopy over the open area outside the temple and there were hundreds of people enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival. It was definitely something that we don’t see every day in Seoul and I was happy mom and dad could experience something so different and unique to Korea.
Even though the sights were amazing at the temple, the crowds were becoming a bit intense so we decided to head out of the temple and on to see the rest of Seoul. I wanted to show them where the Seoul Marathon started since I have run it the past two years. The starting line is in the center of Seoul and surrounded by statues and a great view of Bugaksan Mountain, which is right behind Gyeongbokgung Palace (I promise those are real words). One of those statues is of King Sejong. King Sejong is the one who invented the Korean language or Hangul. Under the statue, there is a huge museum dedicated to the King, which I had never seen before. Jared had ran across the museum some time ago and suggested we take a look. We ventured down and I’m glad we did, it was a very cool place and it showed all the things King Sejong had done for Korea. It was also a welcome break from the warm spring sun.
Once we learned all we could learn about the King we set off to see a bit more of the city before heading back home. As we walked through the city, there were several other festivals and celebrations going on. We went through a Friendship Festival, which was a festival that honored the many countries of the world. Mom and dad stopped in the Iran booth to see what the country they had called home for two years had to offer. They enjoyed looking at the art and handmade pieces they had to offer. After the Friendship Festival, they saw where I sat and watched the World Cup Soccer games last summer. It was so much fun to show them the places that had been a part of my life for the past year.
As we headed away from all the action that Seoul had to offer that day, it was getting a little late and we were getting tired. We had one last stop to make before we headed back home. We were heading to Namdaemun Market, which is an open market in the center of Seoul. Namdaemun Market is one of the oldest continually running markets in South Korea, and one of the largest retail markets in Seoul. This is a true market street, much unlike Insadong which is targeted to tourists. Namdaemun has very few foreigners and is still frequented by Koreans. It was fun to show mom and dad some very true Korean places.
After a stroll through the market, we were pretty tired and we decided to head back to Bundang for some dinner. We got back around 5, got cleaned up, had a pre-dinner drink and headed off to dinner. Dinner Sunday night was another new Korean dish to try. This one is called Duk Galbi (닭갈비). It is essentially chicken and cabbage in a huge stir fry pan. But it is much different than what Americans would think of when they think of stir fry. The sauce is amazing and makes the dish what it is. It is also quite spicy but by this point in the trip, mom and dad were getting more used to spicy food. Even though Duk Galbi is quite delicious as it is, we tried something a bit different, pizza duk galbi. It is still traditional duk galbi but they add peppers, olives, onions, and cheese to the top to make it look and taste like pizza. It was a new dish for me as well and I truly enjoyed it. And Korean food is just not the same without a little soju to cheers to the day and the fact my parents were there. We enjoyed the dinner, drinks, and company and after we were all stuffed, we headed home for a good night sleep. The next day mom and dad were coming to school with me to meet my kids and see me in action. I was very excited for them to see the kids and where I work. Stay tuned for their day at school...
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