Travel guide: Here are a few things a first-timer learns in Seoul
The flight from LAX took about 13 hours. The alphabet had 24 leters, none familiar from my youth. Lunch squirmed on my plate. And an unpredictable enemy waited 35 miles to the north.
Yet Seoul soothed me.
In five January days as a rookie among Seoul’s palaces, parks and marketplaces, I gained four pounds despite walking countless miles down alleys full of people but empty of graffiti and liter.
For two of those days, I relied on translator/ guides for help. Otherwise I trusted Seoul’s multilingualism, which includes subway signs and museum labels in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese. That worked fine.
In fact, for anyone accustomed to Greater Los Angeles (population about 13 million), the hospitality, cosmopolitanism, technological acumen, influential popular culture and relentless tidiness of South Korea’s capital (population about 26 million) are likely to feel inviting, humbling and tranquilizing.
Here are a few things a first-timer learns in Seoul:
Start with a palace. One of the astonishing things about Seoul is that nearly all of it has been built in the last 65 years. South Korea since 1953 has gone from scorched earth to one of the world’s strongest economies, cranking out Samsung and LG phones and Hyundai and Kia cars, along with pop music and TV dramas that entertain millions of people beyond its boundaries.
But the city does have five restored palaces, all traceable to the Joseon Dynasty that ruled Korea from the 1390s to the 1890s.
In those five centuries, the Joseon kings, their civil servants and soldiers created a language, spread Confucian philosophy and built a culture that endured a seven-year Japanese invasion in the 1590s; a Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945; and the Korean War of 1950-53, which killed at least 2.5 million people (by Encyclopedia Britannica’s estimate) and separated Russianbacked North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) from Us-backed South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea).
It makes sense to start with a tour of the reconstructed Gyeongbokgung Palace, where the first Joseon king presided. There are stately tiled roofs. Elaborately painted ceilings. Expansive grounds. And if you can be here at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., you’ll see a ceremonial changing of the guard at the palace’s Gwanghwamun Gate.
Check the mustaches. You’ll know the 20-minute ceremony is starting when you hear the slow beat of a booming bass drum and see sumunjang (guardsmen) in bright colors bearing flags through the Gyeongbokgung courtyard. Notice the scimitars, the spears and the fake mustaches _ a clue that these are re-enactors, not soldiers.
The changing of the guard is a tourism-driven tradition because there is no Korean royal family let to protect. Enjoy it and grab a selfie or two with an unsmiling guardsman.
But also remember that South Korea has a very real, very busy military at work along the Demilitarized Zone 35 miles north and beyond.
Maybe one more palace. If it’s Tuesday, Gyeongbokgung Palace is closed. In that case — or if you’re keenly interested in design — head for Changdeokgung Palace.
This palace (closed Mondays) is bigger than Gyeongbokgung, and many of its buildings date to the 17th century.
Its gardens, where the royal family spent idle hours among pavilions, ponds and foliage, have been singled out by UNESCO for their harmonious design and have their own tour.
But don’t imagine that this palace has always been placid and happy. If you sign on for a tour of the palace or gardens, ask the guide how Jeongjo of Joseon came to the throne in the 1770s and brace yourself for a tale of palace intrigue and filicide as horrifying as any gothic drama.
Sample the action in Myeong-dong. This is one of the city’s foremost shopping districts, packed with hotels, restaurants, food stalls and visitor favorites such as the Nanta Theater, which offers a wordless, kid-friendly musical comedy about a kitchen crew preparing a wedding feast.
A network of narrow alleys between the skyscrapers compresses people, bright lights and food smells in a dramatic way. In the restau- rants, you’ll find kimchi (salted and fermented vegetables), gochujang (fermented bean paste), bulgogi (marinated beef and pork) and bibimbap (rice dishes). Out among the stalls, you’ll glimpse corn, sausage, seafood, fruit, churros, lobster, chocolate and more, sometimes in startling combinations.
The people-watching is top-notch too. (That man in the cat costume? He’s advertising one of the two cat cafes in the neighborhood.)
Or you could just shop. Myeong-dong includes Shinsegae and Lote, two of the country’s biggest luxury department stores.
Chow down at Gwangjang Market, then stroll along the stream. Myeong-dong and other Seoul districts have plenty of intriguing alleys. But Gwangjang is renowned for having the most food stalls, about 200, many offering mung bean pancakes, the market’s signature dish. Two people can dine on a sampler plate stacked with bean, fish and beef cakes for about $10. Take a seat, watch the world squeeze by and, if you can find a common language, shoot the breeze with your cook.
For a change of pace, take a stroll along the market-adjacent Cheonggyecheon Stream, a park (with walkways and burbling waters) that offers a measure of calm in the middle of the city, covering several miles and passing beneath about two dozen bridges.
Check out an old folk village. Glimpses of Seoul as it stood before 1953 are rare, so it’s a good idea to visit Bukchon Hanok Folk Village, a neighborhood of homes from centuries past, ingeniously restored and still occupied. Residents post signs in four languages to discourage tourists from trespassing and urge them to whisper. Which, remarkably, they do.
The main street leads to a hilltop with splendid views of the old tile roofs in the foreground, the modern skyline beyond.
You might want to rent clothes. When you approach a palace or historic neighborhood, you can count on seeing fellow tourists in hanbok — historical costumes designed to mimic fashions of the Joseon Dynasty.
These are especially popular among selfiesnapping young women and families from Asia, but all nationalities are welcome at the hanbok shops that rent costumes by the hour or day; $15-$20 for four hours is typical.
As an American who doesn’t have Korean roots or take a lot of selfies, I wasn’t ready to suit up. But you (or your teenage daughter) might like to. If so, you get free admission to the palaces.
Ascend Namsan. Namsan Seoul Tower, completed in 1969, rises 777 feet above 800-foot-high Namsan Mountain. The result is an unbounded view of skyscrapers (nearly all built since 1969), the surrounding hills and valleys of the city, the Han River and the wealthy, modern commercial district of Gangnam (which means “south of the river” in Korean).
The Namsan Cable Car can take you to the top of Namsan Mountain for about $9 round trip. There’s plenty to see and snack on, but for the biggest views, pay $10 more for the elevator ride to the tower’s wraparound observation deck.