Is there anybody out there? Traveling through quiet Seoul.
Liberation Day, also called Gwangbokjeol in South Korea, literally means ‘Restoration of Light’ day. It is celebrated each year on August 15 and commemorates the Allied Forces’ prevailing at the end of WW II, which subsequently liberated the Korean peninsula from decades of Japanese occupation. It is the only Korean public holiday celebrated by both South and North Korea.
Ordinarily, we might have looked for some public celebrations over the weekend, but with COVID circumstances being what they are, it seemed like the city of Seoul was really discouraging any event that might draw a big crowd. There was a huge political rally downtown despite the warnings, but we stayed far away from that.
Because the holiday fell on a Saturday, it was observed on Monday. As you might expect, many Seoul-ites seem to have taken this long-weekend opportunity to get out of the city, leaving it nice and empty for us. In celebration of the holiday, many of the historic sites we wanted to see were offering free admission. Bearing in mind that it was so hot on Sunday we didn’t even make it through a full day of sightseeing, we still took advantage of the opportunity!
We started our empty-Seoul Sunday at Seoullo 7017. Similar to NYC’s High Line, it is a former highway overpass that was converted into a park and pedestrian walkway. A lot of the cool things – like fountains, foot-pools, and a couple of outdoor pianos – were not operating. However, the landscaping was very nice, and it was still an improbably lovely place to walk in the middle of a busy highway.
Using Seoullo, it was easy to walk to Namdaemun Market, which we now know was very quiet because many vendors are often closed on Sundays! Oops – bit of a tourist miss on that one. There were enough shops open for us to sense the overwhelming volume of products on sale here. Anything from shampoo to whole fish was available, and we saw only a fraction of what is normally happening. We were glad not to be in a crowd anyway. We’ll go back another time to see it ‘for real.’
Staying downtown, we were just in time to see the changing of the guard at Deoksugung Palace. Hearing the instruments played and watching the colorful uniforms on display was really fun. The palace grounds were also a beautiful place to walk around and sit on a bench in the shade for a while.
Having covered some history, we returned to modern Seoul with a visit to Seoul Plaza at City Hall. Notice the enormous banner on City Hall encouraging citizens to wear masks! The “I Seoul U” sculptures represent the city’s motto and symbolize people from all different places coming together. There are many of them all over the city.
Still with the city pretty much to ourselves, we continued along the Cheonggyecheon Stream, a large park that runs through much of the downtown core. Its creation was part of an urban renewal project in 2003, which removed an elevated highway built during the Korean War and uncovered the stream.
We had hoped to walk through Insa-Dong at this point, a neighborhood known for having lots of galleries and local crafts. Unfortunately, it was just too hot to keep walking. Another time, Insa-Dong! We stopped for lunch on the outskirts of the neighborhood at a randomly-selected restaurant (Xiao Bao Beef Noodles) where we ended up having delicious Chinese hand-made noodles. (We could see them being made in the back while we were eating!) We later looked at reviews online and learned that this restaurant normally has a line out the door, but we were there with only a handful of other customers.
Our limited Hanguk-eo and the server’s limited English made for a challenging combination, but lots of pointing and gesturing enabled us to order successfully. Thank goodness a lot of menus have pictures of the dishes.
select your noodle thickness from 1-8 mm
I really am trying with the language, but sometimes I am not doing well enough to be understood clearly. Hopefully I will find someone soon who is brave enough to correct my mistakes and help me improve! Mostly, I want to convey that I respect the culture and my place as a visitor. I was able to learn Hangul, the written language, pretty well before we arrived. That knowledge has been super valuable and has helped a lot with sign and menu-reading.
We had enough steam left for one more stop after lunch, when we visited the Jongmyo Shrine, one of several UNESCO World Heritage sites in Seoul. The buildings look very simple from the outside, but they house the royal ancestral tablets of the deceased monarchs of the Joseon Dynasty. An ancient Confucian ritual honoring the ancestors is performed at the shrine every May. It is thought to be one of the oldest and best-preserved ceremonies of its kind.
A sign on the stone pathway through the complex asks visitors not to walk on the central path as it is reserved for the spirits. It was easy to walk through quietly as – you guessed it – we were basically alone there.
We’ve been saved several times already by the ubiquitous presence of air-conditioned convenience stores with cold drinks on every corner in Seoul. Very useful in August! However, even a convenience store rest stop was not enough to keep us going on Sunday. Having survived as much heat and humidity as we could tolerate, we gave ourselves a break so we could come back out on Monday.
