Trip to 경복궁

Today I ventured to Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) palace. It was a rocking good time. I got to see some awesome historical monuments, some dudes taking pictures of ladies in hanbok (한복) which seemed like it was for a calendar or catalogue or something, a folk museum, and some people doing a Taek-kyeon (택견) demonstration. It was totally awesome save for the frigid temperatures and fact that my camera's battery died in the midst of my siteseeing adventure. I did learn some random vocabulary words while on the trip...gat (갓) is a traditional hat for men, made of horse hair. The second was um (움) which was a dugout hut used for storage. There would be different huts for storing different junk (ie. a kimchi um, a potato um, and so on) at least that's what the sign told me. That's about it dudes.


Here's another palace that I visited, Gyeongbokgung. This one was a lot larger than the previous castle I had been too. I had an awesome time here, save for the arctic temperatures that were going on.


This statue was part of Gyeongbokgung. I thought it was an ugly guy with man boobs, but some Korean mother told her son that it was "원숭이" (monkey), so based on this mother's expert knowledge of Gyeongbokgung's statuework, I assume this is a monkey.


Here are some ladies I saw at Gyeongbokgung. They were clad in hanbok and some professional photographers were taking their pictures, so I took some as well.


I took this picture at Gyeongbokgung. She and several other ladies were modeling hanbok and having their pictures taken by photographers, so I didn't think it would be a big deal if I took their pictures either. It's a pretty beautiful picture, save for the skyscrapers in the background...that's Seoul for you.


I think this thing was an area to chill out in the summer time.


Here's a picture of a palace, a frozen pond, a willow tree, and a mountain. Thanks digital camera for such a tourist book photo!


I just had to put this up here. Look at the picture of Osaka Castle on my Japan Trip page...now look at this. Man Japan you have some boring looking castles. This thing is totally awesome...like something a Grateful Dead fan would enjoy living in. In all seriousness it's grand.


Here's a picture of a big pot that I took at Gyeongbokgung. It was really big.
나는 경복궁에 이 큰 항아리의 사진을 찍았어요. 그것 정말 컸어요.


This was a reading room or study found in Gyeongbokgung. That one room is bigger than my entire apartment.


I took a picture of this stone totem at the Folk Museum. I have no idea as to what the purpose of such a thing is however. I must research such things and edit this entry so I look intelligent.


Here are some totem poles that were on display at the National Folk Museum, which was either part of Gyeongbokgung, or just conviently located nearby. Either way I went there on the same day I went to the castle. I'm not sure what function these serve (my guess is keeping evil spirits out of villages or what have you), but they look totally awesome anyway.


This is the precursor to a demonstration in taek-kyeon I witnessed while in Gyeongbokgung. This picture was taken prior to my camera's battery dying, so you don't get so see any of the really cool stuff. For those of you who don't know what it is, taek-kyeon is a martial art that is somewhere between taekwondo and dancing. It was pretty awesome and was all about running up people's bodies and kicking them in the face.


Here's a picture of a diorama of a Neolithic Korean settlement. I took this picture inside the folk museum attach / adjacent to Gyeongbokgung. After I took this picture I saw a sign proclaiming flash photography was not allowed. Therefore this was the first and last picture I took.