A Private Tour Of Changdeokgung Palace and VIP Dining

When we arrived for our tour of the Changdeokgung Palace’s Secret Garden, we were welcomed by this sign:

We had booked our tickets in advance after reading that it can be very difficult to get a tour, especially if you want the English-language version. Well, just prior to Seoul’s COVID shutdown our tour looked like this:

Don’t get us wrong – we do not wish a COVID outbreak on any country for any reason. However, in the ‘making lemonade out of lemons’ category, the current situation here has meant that anything open is also empty. If we can see it outdoors in relative safety, we’re going while we can. For 8,000 KRW (about $6.70 USD), we got our private tour of the Secret Garden (huwon) at UNESCO World Heritage Site Changdeokgung Palace.

The Main Palace

This palace was built during the Joseon Dynasty in 1405. If you’ve been following along with our adventures, you might be getting by now that South Korea is very into the Joseon Dynasty! Most of the major heritage sites date from that very long and important period, which lasted from 1392-1910. Changdeokgung initially was built as a secondary palace to the “big palace,” Gyeongbokgung, but after all the palaces were mostly destroyed during a Japanese invasion in the late 16th century, Changdeokgung was rebuilt and used as the primary palace for 270 years.

There are two stories about why a secondary palace was built in the first place. King Taejong, who built Changdeokgung, explained that he needed a second palace because Gyeongbokgung was not arranged auspiciously. However, scholars suspect that Taejong wanted to leave the primary palace after assassinating his half-brothers there in order to seize the throne. Guilty conscience, perhaps, or fear of having created some unhappy spirits?

The first large building you see when entering the palace gates is Injeongjeon, the throne hall. In 1908, it was modified to include some Western features such as glass windows, curtains, and chandeliers. Quite a combination! We had to stand at the doors for a while just to take in all the details. The ceiling is especially impressive, don’t you think?

We wandered through Huijeongdang, the king’s residence, and Daejojeon, the queen’s residence, on our way to the Secret Garden.

The Secret Garden (Huwon)

In contrast to the large structures and formal stone pathways of the outer palace, the garden feels calm and intimate. The design is said to accentuate the harmony of nature and to have disrupted as little of the natural setting as possible when it was built. It was created to be the private retreat of the king, and others – even members of the royal family – were allowed to visit by his invitation only. For most of its history, it was a place for royal study and contemplation, although the king also hosted parties here for special occasions.

We spent the most time in what’s known at the heart of huwon, the buildings situated around a pond called Buyongji.

My favorite feature of this section is the library (Juhamnu) that is built on the hill overlooking a square pond. The king often would meet with his ministers in this building. The gate leading up to the library, called Eosumun, literally means “fish cannot live without water” but is usually understood as “the ruler should always put his people first.” Pretty good reminder for the king as he attended his meetings, no?

Also overlooking the pond is Yeonghwadang Pavilion, where the king sometimes hosted dinner parties. From this vantage point, he also oversaw special state exams that were held in the adjacent courtyard. We felt pretty special to sit inside for a while as our tour guide told us there usually are 50-100 people packed into the pavilion at the same time! Definitely standing-room only.

We entered one courtyard through Bullomun, which literally means “Gate of Everlasting Youth.” You’ll have to let us know in 10 years or so how it seems to be working!

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Our last stop in the garden included the living quarters that were sometimes used to host special celebrations and political gatherings. The separate men’s and women’s quarters surround a common courtyard, an open area where ancestral rituals and other ceremonies could be held.

August Showers Bring…?

Our private tour at an end, we had just enough time to see one more section of the outer palace before the weather stopped cooperating. Nakseonjae was once the quarters of the crown prince, meant to be a place for him to relax and study. The wife of the last crown prince lived here until 1989!

Luckily, we were able to shelter on a porch while a major thunderstorm opened up, and it rained, and rained, and rained! The lightning was also more impressive than we really hoped to see up close. Of course, this did not stop the photographer…

Understanding that travel is often about flexibility, we found the silver lining in these clouds. Since it was lunch time, we took advantage of the temporarily cooler temperatures to walk over to the next neighborhood, where we had been told there was a famous samgyetang (chicken ginseng soup) restaurant. What could be better on a rainy day than a bowl of chicken soup?

VIP Dining at Tosokchon Samgyetang

At Tosokchon Samgyetang, there apparently is usually a line out the door. The restaurant is so well-known for its specialty dish that previous South Korean presidents have dined here, and the place seats over 400 people. Not on this day! We were all VIPs with a nearly private dining room. Along with the few other diners, we enjoyed our specialty chicken soup along with both radish and cabbage kimchi (both excellent!), and a side of yachaejeon – vegetable/egg pancake.

Because we’d already had white chicken samgyetang, this time we tried the black chicken (ogolgye) version, made with a special variety of chicken that has both black skin and bones. The chicken is stuffed with rice, garlic, chestnuts, ginseng root, and jujube (Korean dates) and is served in a light broth with green onion. Gotta say, we didn’t think the ogolgye version tasted much different from the original, but we got to try a thing we’d never before eaten, which usually is our goal!

Few travel experiences can be as humbling as attempting to eat a traditional food that is served on a table filled of dishes – some full and some empty – and trying to figure out what they all are for. Add to that the need to politely pick chicken bones out of your mouth with chopsticks, and you have a recipe for humility! I also had a really funny language miscommunication. I was very proud of myself for ordering the food and later asking for a glass of water in hangugeo. Imagine my surprise when instead of a glass of water, the server came back with a bowl of broth that she poured into our nearly empty soup pot! Someone with better cultural and language knowledge than mine can let me know what I did wrong. Anyway, no harm done and we got a good chuckle at our own expense.

We were also given tiny glasses of ginseng wine, which was… different. It tasted a little more like medicine than like a cocktail, which might not be an accident. We learned that in Korean culture ginseng is considered more medicinal than cuisine, so when you’re eating samgyetang you’re really taking medicine as much as you’re eating a meal. We took all our medicine at Tosokchon Samgyetang gladly!

Our private tour and our VIP-style meal accomplished, we hopped onto the very ordinary subway and got ourselves out of the rain.

Want to see full-size versions of these photos and more? Visit Peter’s Flickr album.