Zofona > Zofona Seoul > Stories: English and Dutch > Reisverslagen bezoekers > Coen, Aug 05 English > August 16, 2005 Visit to Deoksugung Palace and Gyeonbokgung Palace in high temperatures

August 16, 2005 Visit to Deoksugung Palace and Gyeonbokgung Palace in high temperatures

august 16, 2005
Visit to Deoksugung Palace and Gyeonbokgung Palace in high temperatures

The next day, after a good sleep, i was awake at 10:00. Yep, people who know me know that I'm an early bird, carpe diem is my motto. I walked to the nearest subway all down hill, again high temperatures and very humid. I decided to go to City Hall by subway, and walk to the Deoksugung Palace that is nearby. It's around 11:00 when I'm there and there is no line to get in.

Almost no people are visiting the Palace, and no wonder, because it's to hot to be ouside... The Deoksugung Palace is a temple complex and it was the residence of King Gojung consisting of several large wooden decorated buildings. There is a museum at the complex, and because of the temperature it is nice to visit that also to get some drinks. The museum isn't the greatest around, some scale models of Palaces, some traditional clothing and Korean music instruments. But it's good for getting some refreshment and food as stated before. There are lots of museums in Seoul by the way, they aren't expensive to get in, and I will visit during my holiday a lot of them. They are great for cooling down when you are visiting in the heat season, and you will get some idea of the culture of this country.

Because the Deoksugung Palace complex is relative small I decided to walk in the afternoon to the larger Gyeonbokgung Palace complex to the north of the city. Because Seoul is in the top 10 of most crowded cities in the world (it has more then 10 million people living in it) the city is crowded with people and traffic and after walking in one of the streets in noticed the sign of Doctor Kill, the regular visitor of the Zofona blog of course knows doctor Kill from a previous post by Jitze. I thought it was funny that, after being just 1 day in this huge city, I already had located and noticed the office of the world famous doctor Kill. I decided to take a photo from my discovery as proof and souvenir.

After asking some directions to several Korean people in sign language (A lot of, mainly elder people, hardly speak english.

If you have a map of the city, be sure it also has the Korean sign writing on it, otherwise you won't get far. But most people are very friendly and take their time for you I noticed during my holiday, and with some sign language you can get around) I arrived at the Gyeonbokgung Palace complex. Temperatures have risen to a staggering 35 degrees, and I'm one of the very few walking around at the Palace grounds. The complex grounds are huge, just as the palace buildings. It was build around 1395 as the residence of the founder of the Joseon dynasty. So i guess the ruler at that time was Joseon, but I'm not sure about that, look it up if you want to know...

Although being in the middle of the city, on the palace grounds you don't hear any noises and sounds of this huge city, so if you want to escape city noises, go to this place.

On the Palace grounds stand the National Museum of Korea, it is one of the largest of the country, and it's worth a visit. I enjoyed visiting this museum, it's large, and had lot's of intersting stuff like old maps, star charts, old Korean tools, instruments, weapons, pottery and other old Korean stuff. And yesss, and it has a good functioning, cool, air conditioning...

The food at the restaurant is pretty good, nudles and Korean dish. I tried to practice my stick eating overhere.

During may stay at the Palace grounds I also visited some modern art museum. I don't think it was impressive and worth visiting, look at the photos yourself... But maybe you like this type of paintings... or you are looking for a toilet... It that case this is the place to be... and there is also a soda machine to get some cool drinks...

The Gyeonbokgung Palace is worth a visit, it's much bigger than the Deoksugung Palace complex and also because it has the National Museum which I found interesting you can easily spend a day overhere.