Korea Blog 25th of July 1996

Watched a few hours of the Olympics last night. Getting into this judo. Even picked up a couple of Korean words. Went to Chongmyo (Royal Shrine) today. It has the longest wooden building in Korea, 19 Kan. Kan being a traditional length of measurement between two columns. Our 300 Won ticket also allowed us into Changgyeonggung (Palace). Lots of buildings and a new greenhouse. All day we were looking for a Lotus lantern which was on the map when finally we came across it only to find it to be Lotus Lantern International Buddhist Centre. Bummer. Next stop was Kyeongbokkung (Palace). Pic of Coronation Hall. We listened in on a heap of Japanese tours. Wayne is quite handy to have around as he speaks Japanese and they wouldn’t suspect that he could understand what the guide was talking about. Free tours. I recommend them. An older fella spoke to Waye in English as he was an English teacher. He then turned to me and said, “I’ve been to America two times.” As if I really care, not being an American myself. [Author’s note: Koreans expect all white people to originate from America.]

At the time that we were photographing Hyangwonjong (Pavilion), two 11 yr old girls wanted to talk to us. Had quite a conversation using our phrase book to tease them with questions such as “Are you married?” and the like. They spoke some English and some Japanese. Then we couldn’t get rid of them. They followed us everywhere. Four guys wanted their photo taken in front of the large pagoda and then wanted to talk to us. They were doing their military service in the police force. Caught the subway a little bit past where we planned to go but backtracked to the statue of great Buddhist, Ven Samyeong. It was there that we found Wayne’s PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) broken. That could cause more than a few problems. Took subway back to home base and met Christian from Pennsylvania. Funny guy and we spoke to him for an hour.

Pics - Artwork, King's Retreat.

- posted by Hammy @ 8:30 am