(Hyangwonjeong Pavilion and pond of Gyeongbuk Palace)
Just as the leaves in Seoul were quietly transforming their colors, I sneaked into the Gyeongbuk Palace on the day I thought would be cloudy.
That morning, I checked the weather forecast and rain was expected. But then I realized, if it rained, the colored leaves would be gone the next day. So I had to go! And quick!
Just as it was spectacular looking down at the colorful Deoksu Palace from the Seosomun Observatory near the City Hall, Gyeongbuk Palace was also spectacularly awashed with yellows, oranges, reds, browns, and the mood the fall season brought.
Although the autumn leaves in the gardens surrounding the Palace were the perfect complement for the architecture and history of the place, what caught my attention that morning was another character in the scene: visitors wearing hanbok! 😍
Wearing hanbok is especially popular among fans of Korean dramas, and hanbok shops in Insadong and the nearby area are cashing in by renting out their hanbok to these fans.
Having your photos taken while wearing the Korean traditional costume and immersed in a Korean character from a drama is probably in every fan's itinerary when in Korea.
And since Gyeongbuk Palace gives free entrance to everyone wearing hanbok, the palace becomes a drama set! (While I had to pay KRW3,000!).
So, instead of taking photographs of the autumn foliage, the visitors in hanbok became my instant theme! I didn't actually sneak up behind them; I just lazily walked around the palace grounds and they were just everywhere!
And it was colorfully clear why!
Their colorful hanbok blended perfectly with the architecture of Korea's premiere palace. No need to set up props! They only set up tripods!
I noticed that the couples in hanbok were mostly international visitors, while girl groups were locals and international visitors. Armed with their cameras and smartphones, they were all enjoying the experience of wearing their rented costumes while roaming the palace gardens as they were being bathed with the season's colors.
I have only visited the Gyeongbuk Palace a couple of times before. Then, I measured my tour with the sections I visited. That day, I measured my visit (and my route!) with the photographs I took of the visitors in hanbok.
I then realized that my discovery of the third 'character' in the Palace that day turned my visit into my most enjoyable visit ever (the palace was the first 'character'; autumn foliage second). Just as these visitors were enjoying their time in hanbok, I was just enjoying how they brought the corners of the historic palace back to life!
My friend Fay, who used to live in Seoul, is one big fan of the colorful hanbok. To her, it is the most beautiful of all the national costumes.
And that day, I could see why. The pastel colors of the traditional costume blended well with the autumn background, and the presence of the ladies with braided hair and ribbons, walking gracefully in a very feminine costume brought drama and authenticity to my visit!
And aside from the traditional hanbok designs, a few girls wore the modernized hanbok with all the gold ribbons, loud colors and bolero-type blouses. And perhaps underneath the billowing skirts they wore high heels to complete the modernity?
As I was leaving the palace grounds through the Insadong-side exit, I saw a few more girls in hanbok entering, about to have fun wearing the Korean costume for the rest of the day.
(The beautiful gardens around
Hyangwonjeong Pavilion and pond)
The next time you visit Korea's palaces, make sure you enjoy the other 'characters' on your visit like I did, as sometimes, we tend to overlook what's obviously unique and interesting.
I was glad I went that day and got rewarded for it.
With the jewels at Gyeongbuk Palace.😎
Autumn is the season of the year when the trees in Seoul turn to yellow, orange, and red before they fall.
And if you want to enjoy the fall colors from the ground, you can just walk around the palace gardens and the surrounding hills and mountains.
But if you want to enjoy the colors from above, one spot that would certainly give you a spectacular view of autumn is from the Jeong-dong Observatory!
From here, on the 13th floor of the City Hall's Seosomun Building, you can look down on Deoksu Palace while having an iced cafe mocha!
(A spectacular view of the palace
while sipping iced cafe mocha!)
Yes, there's a café at the Yeongdong Observatory, where you can sit, sip, and see!
The view is breathtaking and probably the best view of any palace in Seoul while being bathed in beautiful fall colors!
The best time to go up there is when the trees are on their best fall colors, and during noon time when the sun is at its brightest and is bathing the palace and its gardens with a colorful glow!
The Jeongdong Observatory is on the building left of the Deoksu Palace. Just take the cobblestone street on the left side of the palace walls, and go inside the first government building you see on your left. Once inside, enter through the right turnstile. There's an elevator going up to the 13th floor.
I hope you'll find the Jeongdong Observatory when you're in Seoul and enjoy the fantastic autumn view like I did!
Now that the autumn leaves in Seoul are falling, somebody has to help clear the sidewalks of these leaves.
And here in my neighborhood, the gingko trees along our main road are shedding their yellow leaves, turning the sidewalks into a yellow carpet that needed sweeping, not vacuuming.
So, who will sweep all these leaves? Well, as I was walking through the neighborhood one morning, I spotted a hardworking ajumma, dutifully clearing the sidewalk of the gingko leaves one stroke of her broom at a time.
Perhaps, on all the other sidewalks in Seoul, countless hardworking sweepers out there are also busy cleaning up the autumn mess these trees are leaving behind as they all prepare for their winter hibernation.
As I pay tribute to her and to her co-workers, she is my person of the day.
Yellow seemed to have been the color scheme of my neighborhood lately. And nobody's complaining. Maybe only the street sweepers.
Just like the gingko trees on that road snaking around Namsan, the gingko trees in Hannam-dong have turned over their yellow leaves, joining the thousands of gingko trees around Seoul in their annual farewell before their winter hibernation.
And as I observed during the previous year's autumn, the trees don't exactly synchronize their changing of color. It's because the trees don't get the same sunlight at the others, especially in this city where buildings impose their shadows on the trees around them.
But synchronized or not, at least they all agree to one color: yellow!
There used to be a popular Korean drama, Jewel in the Palace. I haven't watched it, but I recognize the lead actress whom I recently saw on a TV commercial. She's no longer cooking for the king; she got promoted. She fixed her nose and now endorses a kitchen appliance.
But speaking of jewels and palaces, I was able to capture the Deoksugung Palace in Seoul, Korea, surrounded by its jewels of autumn foliage, bathed with warm sunlight on a cool day amidst the chaos of a busy city.
With all the yellows, oranges, reds, greens and browns, the foliage surrounds the palace, with all the surrounding office buildings guarding close by.
What makes autumn everyone's favorite?
Well, it's the cool temperatures after a scorching summer. And of course, the yellows, oranges, reds, greens, browns, and everything in between.
It has been a rained out weekend. I wasn't even been able to spend a minute on the tennis court!
After Marlu and I walked in the rain through Cheonggye Stream last Friday night to check out the Seoul lantern exhibition, we thought the weather would turn out to be better the next day. Marlu and her husband were in Seoul for a few days, and they deserved an enjoyable weather to welcome them to another Korean autumn. But sadly, the whole weekend was all about chilly temperatures and wet roads.
But as we start a new week, it's good to see this morning that the sun is out (although temporarily), the umbrellas are stowed away, and the fall colors of yellow and orange are back on center stage, brightening up the roads in my neighborhood, and Namsan, too!
"I can see clearly now the rain is gone...
I can see all obstacles in my way...
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind..
It's gonne be a bright, bright sunshiny day".
Yes, you can almost hear Johnny Nash' song when you see the clear skies over Seoul today. Clear skies, literally and figuratively.
Now, that the tensions at the border with North Korea have evaporated, and the typhoon has passed, Wednesday morning in Seoul is all about some sunshiny day.
As most locals would say to you when you leave an establishment no matter what time of day it is (yes, even at night you'd hear this):
"Have a nice day!"
War is cruel; we all know that. And today, Memorial Day in South Korea, at 10AM, the siren wails all over the country for everyone to pause for a minute and remember those who died for the country.
And at the Seoul National Cemetery in the Dongjak District, the fallen rest eternally on a plain and on the hills surrounded by a forest of as if to guard them as they lay in their eternal slumber.
This place is very quiet, especially on ordinary days when you can only see a few people strolling around perhaps to visit the graves of their family members who died during the Korean War, or just to walk around the place and absorb its tranquility.
Rows and rows of thousands of headstones marking each grave line up in perfect geometry at the national cemetery, looking like lines of battalions of soldiers ready to go to war. But sadly, they all had fought their last battle and had made the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
On Memorial Day, the cemetery is visited by thousands of family members and ordinary citizens paying their respects and honoring the memories and lives of these soldiers, policemen, martyrs and other unnamed heroes, who all are forever remembered and honored in this cemetery.
And as I roamed the Seoul National Cemetery for the first time on one cool autumn day, I was able to also pay my respects, not only for the heroes and soldiers whose remains were identified, but also for those unknown.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization website, there are 165,000 remains of soldiers, policemen, martyrs, reserved officers and meritorious citizens entombed here. At the Memorial Tower, memorial tablets for 104,000 soldiers who bodies were never found, and about 7,000 for unknown soldiers whose remains were not identified. Although their remains are missing, or unidentified, they are still accorded the honor and respect of a fallen hero.
Today, there may be memorial services for these heroes. And if you have time and want to visit the Seoul National Cemetery, it's at the Exit 8 of the Dongjak Station (Line 4 or 9). I was told nobody is allowed to hold picnics here as this is a sacred ground. But if you want to pay your respects and enjoy the serenity in the middle of the city, I highly recommend you join the thousands of citizens heading there today.
