A Busy Weekend

With just a few weeks left before our great East Asian adventure, J and I made a list of things we'd still like to see or do in Korea.

1. Seoraksan National Park

2. Mud Festival

3. Palaces (other than Gyeongbokgung) and the secret garden

4. National Museum of Korea

5. Busan

6. DMZ

Since Seoraksan National Park is about 3 hours away and would probably take up a whole weekend, and a DMZ tour necessitates an appointment, we thought we'd tackle the palaces and the National Museum of Korea last weekend (we'll see Busan on our way back from Japan).

J and I have been to Gyeongbokgung Palace, three times now, however, when J's uncle was visiting, he told us that he went to see another palace, Changdeokgung, and a secret garden in it. We were intrigued. Unfortunately we missed the last English tour of the day and so followed around a Korean tour and pretended to know what they were saying. It was a really nice palace, and because it is smaller than Gyeongbokgung, there weren't as many people there. Both the palace and the secret garden are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and it was pretty clear why.

Afterward, we took a tour of the secret garden (also in Korean). We were surprised at its size.

On Sunday, we headed to the National Museum of Korea. It is located in a huge building and spans three floors. It's also free. J and I were both impressed by the collection of armor.

Shoes of soldiers- why are they spiked? Dunno. Traction maybe?

Coffin

Foot rest

Horsey armor

Tiny shoes

I finally figured out how to add captions! Yay!

Gong

We now have less than two weeks of teaching left before our great Asian adventure. Let's hope someone takes over our leases soon!