Palaces, drums and a quiet night in.

So today was a bit of a late start. We finally dragged our carcasses out of the sketchy hotel around noon, made for the coffee joint round the corner for a wee bit of real coffee. I've been somewhat nonplussed about the coffee I've so far encountered here. It tastes like someone's spiked it with powdered marshmallow. Fortunately though, Starbucks has been globalizing good coffee. I know it's kind of the same thing as Coca-cola, but it won't rot your teeth, it keeps people in poorish regions in cash, some more than others, and it makes mornings the world over just that much more comfortable. I really ought to buy stock in them... If only I could care enough.

Anyway, after we scalded ourselves and my companions devoured various baked goods as a somewhat imbalanced breakfast, not that mine was exactly balanced, consisting entirely of coffee and milk, we hit the subway intent on a royal palace or two. We popped up a mere hundred metres from the inner gateway in a plaza reminiscent of Tiannamen Square, in that there was a gate that looked remarkably like Qianmen opening onto a jeezly great big square. It was unlike Tiannamen in that there were no beggars, you could see mountains in the background and there were no "undercover" police waiting to bundle away meditators, zealots or people displaying backbone. I find I'm developing a bit of a tolerance to old/traditional palaces. I don't know what it is exactly, but I'm far less fascinated by them than I think I should be. I may simply be palaced-out like I got templed-out in Kyoto after seeing so many. I think for me, watching the people and seeing how they live now, their civic buildings, museums, shops and institutions holds more interest for me. If the palaces were still used, I'm sure I'd find them more interesting, but realistically, they're just full of tourists. That's not to say they're not beautiful, but more that one oughtn't to come just for the palaces and temples.

I give you colour!

Within the palace we dressed up in traditional Korean garb and had our pics taken.

Shortly after the Korean garb pic, we ran into a woman doing a masters in international law at one of the women's universities in Seoul. I can't believe how many universities there are here! Anyway, she was almost fluent in English, though she claimed to have never studied it in school. She said she'd done her undergraduate in the history of criminal law, and was proceeding with the appropriate masters. She also spoke Mandarin fluently as well as speaking some Japanese and a bit of French. Impressed we all were. I perhaps moreso as she was fully 5 years my junior. We talked with her for about 40 minutes in the middle of the palace. I thought it the height of peculiarity that we were having an English, Mandarin, French and Japanese conversation with a Seoul native in the middle of a building that would surely have stunned anyone back home. Just sitting there, on the step of the building next to the one where King Jeong-jo created the Hangul alphabet, having a conversation that might occur anywhere.
Anyway, Nigel's friend Tori had to go back to Jeonju, so Nigel, Steve and I decided to wander around the neighbourhood. We happened into a drum concert set in an old more palace much more muted in colour than the royal one. It didn't actually seem much like a palace to me, but more of a nobles house or something. Lovely it was though, with it's peonies, wooden architecture and tiled roof.
The day didn't get much more lively after that. We tucked into a steak, we'd all eaten enough spicy food for a few days, and turned in early. Nice day of walking though.