Penultimate Post

rather a nice pic, don't you think?

It's the end of a very long Sunday here in Seoul and I think we are both just about done if not done in! And still people are ringing up to see if we have time to meet! Answer - a firm no. And we have several bags of presents that need packing and other presents that are not going to be packed but donated. The Korean philosophy of gift giving is that once the gift is given the giver has no more interest in the gift and if the recipient chooses to give it away so be it! Our excuse is that we are only allowed 20 kg of luggage each and I was certainly on the limit coming.
So how did we spend our day? Well, Tim set off on his own to Seonyudo Park, the site of a former water treatment plant on an island in the Han River. It seemed like a good idea at the time. No he enjoyed it - and it was either that or bring his comic books to church!

bamboo growing on island

Mother of course went to church. Actually rather a special church started by the much loved and former leader of Scripture Union in Korea. He had an untimely death while snorkling off the coast of Florida and is hugely mourned and missed. I was surprised at how much I understood and did better than my friend who kept nodding off during the sermon (45 minutes) - she being Korean and all.

Mrs Yune, widow of aforesaid person and Dr Kim

We were whisked off to lunch with the elders of the church and a car was dispatched for Tim, now returned from his outing.  There was to have been a picture of me with the elders but it seems the restaurateur did not push the button for it wasn't there. But a nice lunch all the same. We were joined by Doh Moon Gap and his wife being firm and fast friends from times past.

Doh Moon Gap and Mrs Doh

And so it was that our Sunday was taken over for a whole party of us drove down-town to the palace known as Biwon, meaning Secret Garden, except we couldn't get in to the secret bit. The kings were keepers of courts of order and dignity, with only the king allowed on the raised pathways and the women kept to their own quarters except when summoned by the king. He had a throne and here it is.

throne of king

ceiling of king's throne room for looking at when tired of sitting on throne and lying on back

note centre raised walkway for king only

Mr Doh and Tim discuss plans for political coup

very impressive roof of throne room

quiet corner of palace grounds

Actually Korean palaces are graceful and beautiful and of course we took many more pictures. Hard to know what to include but if any of you have half an hour I am sure either Tim or I would be pleased to show you our extensive collection. We were not the only visitors this Sunday afternoon as the weather was exceptionally lovely and balmy and early autumnal.

visitor to palace with bird's eyer view

We may not have been able to get into the actual Secret Grden but we did have access to a concert of traditional music in the palace grounds. Personally I would have opted for the Secret Garden but ah well, beggars can't be choosers. We found a nice spot on the grass only to be moved on. Then we found another suitable viewing spot only to be hassled away, whereupon our place was taken by others who were not sent off! Tim found a rather large spider in the meantime but deleted the pictures he took of her (Charlotte).

You either like it or you don't and on the whole we didn't but we dutifully sat through the whole performance.

Korean pipe player looking thoughtful

Korean singer getting ready to sing

Korean dancers poised to dance

Well, there are some compensations for being foreign. Here was a bookstall offering free books to foreigners, much to the chagrin of the Koreans who found it discriminatory! We never did find out quite who they were but we do have several free books. They wanted to give Tim a whole set to take back to the British Library but Tim cried off because of the weight. We discovered over supper that there are already over four million foreigners living in Korea. Like UK they need people from Vietnam and China and other parts to do the work young Koreans know longer want to do - the sort that gets your hands dirty! It is predicted that in another 20 years 10% of people living in Korea will be foreigners. This is extraordinary for of all the Asian nations Korea was the most resistant to letting foreigners put their feet on their soil.

purveyor of tradtional Korean culture and values

And so to supper - another buffet and the end of another day. Tim sat with a young Korean couple called Alex and David pictured below - both with excellent English so my boy finally got to have conversation with people his own age. Absolutely modern in every way, they chatted about work and play and possible plastic surgery options (not for Tim I hasten to add) and ambitions of many kinds.

modern Seoul coffee shop

modern Seoul couple - David and Alex Doh

And as I finish this blog at the end of this long day, Tim is contemplating packing and I must do the same. But we do not take off till midnight tomorrow night so who knows, there may be one or two more pictures and we are not going to answer the phone. There are over 60 million mobile phones in Korea - another happy statistic for the Land of Morning Calm.

Talking of Morning Calm, our shower room door can only be opened from the outside requiring two people to be in the flat at the same time. Tim warned me "Be careful Mum" Don't shut the door, I am not going to be here to let you out ... All was well and I remembered but the needed something from the bedroom and yes, I shut the door. It took me ten minutes and near panic to finally barge my way out and the already broken door is now wrecked! Well it is still on its hinges and at least now maybe the owners will do something about it!