Chuseok - Part 3 - Tuesday
Tuesday!!!
Tuesday was the actual day that Chuseok was celebrated. For us, this meant that we could tour the palaces for free! And play traditional Korean games.
We started at noon at Deoksugung Palace, which is in the heart of down town Seoul, across from the City Hall. The Palace was incredibly beautiful, and that fact that you could see Seoul's skyscrapers behind it made it even more awe-inspiring. At this palace, we first played the Korean games. One involves standing on a board and trying to knock the person across from you off (like a small teeter-totter). The others played the game first and by the time it was my turn, there was a huge Korean audience watching. I later found out that this wasn't really a game that was played but...back in the day, women weren't allowed to go out into the streets, they had to stay confined to their house. By doing this outside, the women could catch glimpses of the outside world. We also played a dart throwing game that was rather entertaining. Another traditional game involved a top and a whip, but it looked way to complicated to try.
Then we went off to look for another palace (Changbukgong, I think), but this one was quite difficult to find. We stopped for lunch first (unfortunately due to the holiday, McDonalds was the only thing open that we could agree on). After lunch we started looking for the palace. After walking in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, we found a map and realized we were lost. Eventually we got our sense of direction back and headed to the palace. On the way to the palace we found a street festival going on to celebrate Chuseok.
At the street festival, they had men making bread the old fashioned way (my pounding it with a large wooden mallet), and women making grain the old-fashioned way. We also got the opportunity to play the dart game again. The Korean people there wanted us to stay and watch the rest of the festival, but we were determined to find the palace.
Well...once we got to the palace, we saw a bunch of people outside. While trying to figure out what was going on, Alicia and Liz found the board game again and tried to play it. I went to the ticket booth and saw that they wre still charging and entrance fee... we were pissed 'cause it was supposed to be free, so we decided to leave and head back to the street festival. Once we got back to the street festival, there were things going on on the main stage. I got to see a traditional Korean arm wrestling tournament (ok...don't know how traditional it was, but it involved a lot of really drunk old guys). It was hysterical. One guy was sooo drunk that he had to be dragged off the stage. We later saw him peeing in an alleyway! We stayed there for about an hour, then decided to check and see if the bookstore was open. We tried to go to the Kyobo bookstore (one of the biggest bookstores in Seoul), but it was closed for the holiday. So, we pretty much got off the subway, walked to the bookstore, then continued walking to the next subway. We did get to see a statue in the middle of the street and a cool building in downtown Seoul though (I took pictures, they'll be up on my photo website soon). Then we took the subway back to the hotel. The search for food didn't look like it was going to be fun, as most things in our hotel area were closed. Not wanting to be forced to resort to McDonalds or Burger King, we decided to hunt around. Luckily I remembered there was a sandwich place not far from the subway station---and it was open! We decided to eat there. I also ordered some cheesecake - which I then proceeded to drop on the floor. So alas, no cheesecake for me. We then went to the Family Mart so I could by some M&Ms (to replace my cheesecake) and some soju and beer. Then it was back to the hotel to watch more movies.
Tuesday was the actual day that Chuseok was celebrated. For us, this meant that we could tour the palaces for free! And play traditional Korean games.
We started at noon at Deoksugung Palace, which is in the heart of down town Seoul, across from the City Hall. The Palace was incredibly beautiful, and that fact that you could see Seoul's skyscrapers behind it made it even more awe-inspiring. At this palace, we first played the Korean games. One involves standing on a board and trying to knock the person across from you off (like a small teeter-totter). The others played the game first and by the time it was my turn, there was a huge Korean audience watching. I later found out that this wasn't really a game that was played but...back in the day, women weren't allowed to go out into the streets, they had to stay confined to their house. By doing this outside, the women could catch glimpses of the outside world. We also played a dart throwing game that was rather entertaining. Another traditional game involved a top and a whip, but it looked way to complicated to try.
Then we went off to look for another palace (Changbukgong, I think), but this one was quite difficult to find. We stopped for lunch first (unfortunately due to the holiday, McDonalds was the only thing open that we could agree on). After lunch we started looking for the palace. After walking in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, we found a map and realized we were lost. Eventually we got our sense of direction back and headed to the palace. On the way to the palace we found a street festival going on to celebrate Chuseok.
At the street festival, they had men making bread the old fashioned way (my pounding it with a large wooden mallet), and women making grain the old-fashioned way. We also got the opportunity to play the dart game again. The Korean people there wanted us to stay and watch the rest of the festival, but we were determined to find the palace.
Well...once we got to the palace, we saw a bunch of people outside. While trying to figure out what was going on, Alicia and Liz found the board game again and tried to play it. I went to the ticket booth and saw that they wre still charging and entrance fee... we were pissed 'cause it was supposed to be free, so we decided to leave and head back to the street festival. Once we got back to the street festival, there were things going on on the main stage. I got to see a traditional Korean arm wrestling tournament (ok...don't know how traditional it was, but it involved a lot of really drunk old guys). It was hysterical. One guy was sooo drunk that he had to be dragged off the stage. We later saw him peeing in an alleyway! We stayed there for about an hour, then decided to check and see if the bookstore was open. We tried to go to the Kyobo bookstore (one of the biggest bookstores in Seoul), but it was closed for the holiday. So, we pretty much got off the subway, walked to the bookstore, then continued walking to the next subway. We did get to see a statue in the middle of the street and a cool building in downtown Seoul though (I took pictures, they'll be up on my photo website soon). Then we took the subway back to the hotel. The search for food didn't look like it was going to be fun, as most things in our hotel area were closed. Not wanting to be forced to resort to McDonalds or Burger King, we decided to hunt around. Luckily I remembered there was a sandwich place not far from the subway station---and it was open! We decided to eat there. I also ordered some cheesecake - which I then proceeded to drop on the floor. So alas, no cheesecake for me. We then went to the Family Mart so I could by some M&Ms (to replace my cheesecake) and some soju and beer. Then it was back to the hotel to watch more movies.
posted by Elissa @ 11:06 AM
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