Seoul's Secret Garden

Last weekend I had a visitor in Seoul, My uncle came on business and had the weekend free. In the spirit of showing him what there is to see, and also to tick another thing off my list, I took him the ChangDeok Palace. It's slightly smaller than GyeongBuk Palace, but throughout Korea's royal history it had a few moments in the sun. Various Kings moved their court here and it is the most well preserved of all Seoul's palaces. It is also the only one with a 'secret' garden. It's not really a secret, especially nowadays, but the name alludes to the fact that only members of the royal family could use it. To see the gardens visitors must join a tour, and I have been unsuccessful on two previous occasions and therefore this time I made sure I booked our places online. English language tours run twice daily (which, in my opinion, is quite frankly not enough) at 11.30 am and 3.30pm. Our tour guide was very engaging and knowledgeable and her English was fantastic. The gardens are very pretty and well worth a visit. The rest of the palace is quite nice too and it really is a good place to go, I enjoyed the day even after all the hundreds of palace and temples I've seen throughout Korea and China!

This building supposedly stood out because of it's blue tiles. But I couldn't see much difference!

The Kings former bedchamber, which became his workspace

Our guide

Former Libraries and study places.

Middle door for the King and two side doors for servants (they had to duck through to enter; thus bowing and showing respect)

Pavillion for fishing

A noble-man's house. Notice there is no bright paint decorating the eaves.

A well for the King should he need a drink while he's hanging out here

A really REALLY old tree

Entrance to the King's bedchamber (notice the extra patterned panels)

Western influenced decor (carpets, furniture, glass windows and electric lighting)

It's very unusual to see wooden staircases in Korean buildings

The picture from the Photospot

A little bit of philosophy on the train home.

What I'm looking forward to..

... when I get home.

One of the reasons I realised I was ready to head back to England at the end of my current contract was that I kept thinking about things I miss from home. In my mind I thought, 'When I go home I can... again'. The last few months in Korea have stepped up a gear and I'm finally enjoying what I'm doing here and feeling content. But I still know going home is the right decision for me. In no particular order here are the things (big and small) that I can't wait to have/do/see/buy when I'm back home this autumn:

• Having a view out of my window
• Driving my beautiful car (Not looking forward to petrol prices)
• Museums and art galleries in London.
• Taking my mum for a belated Mother's day/birthday treat here.

This is Sylvia. My Corsa! <3

• Carpet
• Long green grass
• Washing my hair with Aussie products
• Listening to the radio in real time (at the moment I listen to the radio 2 breakfast show a day after it was broadcast)
• Jaffa Cakes
  
• Listening to the radio/music in my car. Particularly when driving down country roads and belting out the tunes at the top of my lungs. 
• Watching TV (not on my laptop.)

Fish and Chips

Garden!

• Non-smoking restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, coffee shops...
• Adverts in English.
• Programme teasers on TV.
• Sitting in the garden
• Pimms
• An oven.

Pimms O'Clock

• BBQs outside
• Cider (apple/pear/mixed fruit)
• Ribena
• Tea with proper fresh milk
• Fish and chips, Shepherds Pie, Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, Indian curry (and peshwari naan), sandwiches, crisps, cheese, Full English breakfast, Bangers and Mash, sausage rolls, mini scotch eggs, hummous, jacket potatoes, beans on toast...
• Being able to use idioms and colloquialisms and be understood.
• Korean not being the default language for my computer/websites.
• Bringing 'lift', 'rubbish' and 'football' back into my vocabulary
• Going into London on the tube
• Bread knives 

• Shopping in Primark, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Matalan and Debenhams again
• Buying a British magazine that doesn't cost £10
• Glasses (or bottles) of wine on the sofa with my mum watching a DVD from the library (she works there)
• A microwave
• Food shopping in Sainsburys or Tesco for products I can read the labels of.
• Avocado and pine nuts in a salad.
• Shoes and clothes from my wardrobe that I haven't seen for 2 years.
• Showering in a separate cubicle to the sink and toilet (although I'll miss brushing my teeth while showering)
• Sleeping in a room without a fridge

My view doesn't look like this anymore, but it's still going to be better than looking straight out onto a brick wall.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with these clowns too...

Springing in Seoul

I haven't posted for a while, but it's not because I haven't been doing anything. Actually the exact opposite; but I've not been taking many photos of things. I've been involved with a few more mannam things recently I finally joined the running club, which I'd been banging on about for ages. I'm now also part of the organising commitee and I participated in the most recent volunteering event at Bukhan Mountain. We went to help out the park rangers wrapping the trees to prevent to spread of disease (Oak Wilt). Last friday I also went to see Lady Gaga on the first show of her current world tour. Chelsea and I booked our tickets only a week before because they were so cheap. It turns out there were super cheap because we were about a mile away from the stage (must remember this for any future event in a stadium!) The show was still good, although for some reason there were no close ups of Gaga on the large screens which means we could technically have been watching anyone! Totally glad I went though, another memory to bore people with when I'm old! With those new activities, still trying to get to the gym, practising for a forthcoming open mic and also making time to catch up with friends I'm barely able to catch my breath (or tackle my ever growing ironing pile). It's all good though! A few snaps of recent doings here:

I bought a new camera and this is me messing around with the modes (and a new lipstick)

Fajitas! Yummmm

Passion-Fruit Mojito

Angie and I found a cool music bar in sinchon

Clowns protesting outside Lady Gaga

Getting into the spirit with the models and the light up bows!

Apparently not this many people have been to an event in Seoul since the 80s when Michael Jackson played

This is how far away we were. That chicken looking thing is a pair of legs. She popped out of them and then played 'Born this way' - get it!?

A beautiful restaurant, on a beautiful day, with some beautiful food and beautiful company!

Glass of wine on a week night? Why not eh?

We're very Korean and share food now