Curiosity got the best of them…so they bit the bullet and came to visit us in Seoul! A chance to celebrate both of our October birthdays together was further impetus that rallied Mom and Dad to brave the incredibly long journey (over 24 hours in total) from Savannah to Seoul. The site of their faces and warm hugs we shared upon their arrival is a moment I’ll never forget!! We didn’t serve them any Korean cuisine and instead sent them to bed after some simple chicken soup and salad…and they slept through the night despite the 13 hour time difference and Korean mosquitoes which we wager can take down any Maine mosquito!
Ever in search of a deal and usually very adept at finding them, Pops had bought himself a rolly suitcase at Walmart for only $25…and surprise…surprise…it didn’t survive the trip well. So our first order of duty was to find a Rimowa (opposite end of the spectrum from Walmart luggage for those who aren’t brand savvy) store to replace the cheap Walmart bag with one whose handle doesn’t break off quite so easily. We walked down to my Seongbukdong subway stop and I was able to show them some of my local haunts. Sites and smells that are now very familiar to me, like the anchovy and octopus options at our local supermarket, were intriguing/picture-worthy for Mom and Dad and made me realize how comfortable I’ve become in Seoul.
On the subway, Mom and Dad experienced some of the Korean behavior we appreciate here as the car was crowded and yet, several young riders quickly offered seats to them as elderly riders. Much to my 53 yr. old dismay, this happens to me daily too…must be the wrinkles I have that nearly all Koreans “manage” away with skincare! Even though Mom was seated away from Dad and me and out of eyesight, the Korean man next to her offered assurances (albeit in Korean) during the ride so she knew we were still on the subway nearby. Clean, safe and efficient, the Seoul subway never disappoints.
We then meandered a bit through the bustling shopping streets of Myeong-Dong in search of the Rimowa store. Although critical to survival, Google Maps here is imperfect as the Korean Government does not allow Google complete accuracy for security/N. Korea reasons (this issue is in the newspaper often) and so following the little blue dot often involves a bit of patience and extra steps. We finally located the Rimowa store and Pops promptly plopped down some “serious coin” (as Julie would say) for the Walmart-upgrade…a Salsa Deluxe! I did a little pre-birthday snooping and was rewarded a few days later with a nice Rimowa wallet…just love this company’s products.
Next we dropped in to see Bill’s nice office at Citibank. Mom got a kick out of the toothbrush line-up in the ladies’ room versus Bill’s in-office set up. Toothbrushing is a serious activity here as anyone who visits a restroom after mealtime knows well. A good thing, too, given the amount of raw garlic and kimchi consumed by most Koreans at every meal! We ate a yummy Indian lunch, strolled on the Cheongyecheon stream in front of Bill’s office, and then parted ways to allow the banker to “bring home the bacon” while we walked to Gyeongbokgung Palace…the main palace in Seoul.
At the palace we were surrounded by many folks dressed head-to-toe in”hanbok” (traditional Korean clothes) and Mom, costume buff that she is, was naturally quite intrigued. 
Had their visit been longer, I’m sure Mom and I would have rented hanbok and gone for a stoll. It’s a very popular activity in Seoul particularly since anyone wearing hanbok is granted free admission to all palaces, thereby saving roughly $5. Pops was not as interested…nor is Bill. As we climbed up and down rather steep stone staircases to view the various buildings that make up the Gyeongbokgung complex, it struck me how there are no handrails AT ALL in Seoul, and rather a lot of uneven, treacherous stone steps!
Here is Mom by the pavillion at the rear of the palace, looking very Korean except for her hair!
Tired and just ahead of some raindrops we retreated home for a rest before packing up for our weekend trip to Anseong, a small city only 58 km south of the city but which took us 2 1/2 hours to get to in heavy Friday evening traffic. The snooze in the car suited the weary travellers and two teenagers just fine though and we arrived at Lake Hills Resort by 10:30pm. Too tired to take in the LACK of luxury at this “resort”, we all collapsed into our (rock-hard) beds.
The Birthday Boy (84 years young!!) and his bride awoke ahead of the Korean Stantons and bravely found breakfast on their own. We found them waiting alone in the empty lobby trying to read Korean magazines and attempting to get internet…both dead-ends. With really nothing at all on the agenda, they sat with us while we ate a leisurely, but hardly satisfying breakfast in the dining room. As Mom and Dad quickly learned, once out of Seoul, life as a foreigner becomes quite challenging as food is only Korean and English rarely understood/spoken. There were two distinct highlights to the Lake Hills Resort: the puppy outside the front door 
AND the chocolate CHEX cereal served with the “American” breakfast. I’ve never seen Mom and Dad eat chocolate cereal so eagerly!
Using my limited Korean with the nice folks at the front desk, google translate and our less-than-perfect GPS, we set out to find what we thought was going to be a farm with dairy cows that produced cheese, a rarity in this country that only has beef cattle and a soybean-based diet. Here’s what we found instead…a children’s petting zoo! 
Fortunately we all were able to laugh off this glitch in the sightseeing itinerary and piled back in the car in search of site #2…Chiljangsa Temple. Just being all together in our Hyundai Santa Fe SUV was memorable as we bantered and teased each other as only family members can do. Thinking we’d arrived at the temple, we all piled out of the car and walked in mud past construction workers and an active backhoe to what turned out to be not only the WRONG temple, but also a SILENT one that was undergoing major renovation. 
In true Korean form, a nice man who spoke some English quietly approached us to explain how very “off the track” we were and to kindly direct us to the correct temple further down the road. We were not met with any harsh words, criticism or ridicule despite our obvious ineptitude and trespassing. I very much doubt this would have been the case in the States had foreigners made a similar mistake.
Surprisingly (not!), the cocoa Chex breakfast didn’t sustain us for long and all of scanned the roadsides for Western-style restaurants/stores that might have had recognizable, palettable luncheon fare. We failed and thus arrived at Chiljangsa Temple quite hungry so quickly purchased some food for sale outside the temple (jujube dates, unroasted peanuts) that is meant to be left by the altar as an offering to Buddha and the monks, but which we scarfed down in desperation. This, by the way, is one of several reasons why Dad lost 8 pounds in just 9 days in Korea (!) and why perhaps Korea should be a weight-loss spa destination for Americans?!
Revived somewhat, we hiked up to the temple and stumbled upon a procession of monks and worshippers attending a special ceremony. Offerings of elaborately wrapped paper packages were ceremoniously being burned by the monks while musicians played and monks chanted prayers.
From the minimal signage in English we were able to determine that the temple and its 12 surrounding buildings were constructed in honor of a great Buddhist monk, the oldest of which dates from 1308. Why there was a special ceremony taking place or what it meant remains a mystery to us but did not deter our exploration. The temple is nestled into a lovely hillside and we leisurely strolled through its grounds, taking in the clear blue skies and early autum foliage, all of which was a welcome break for the “big-city dwelling Stantons! Here are a few shots of our peaceful time at Chiljangsa Temple.
Our final sightseeing destination for the day proved easy to find and we arrived just in time for the Anseong traditional music and dance performance. As we learned afterwards, the dance troupe is a UNESCO-designated cultural asset in Korea since it celebrates traditional folk performances performed during the various dynasties in Korean history. The venue was packed with Korean families all of whom seemed to thoroughly enjoy the loud (often strident) drums and wind instruments; Mom, on the other hand, stuffed tissue in her ears to dampen the din a bit! The entire performance was in Korean and we couldn’t understand much of what was going on, but we all enjoyed the spectacle and chance to sit.
With its clowns (which we couldn’t understand), acrobatic feats (tight-roping walking along a rope laid down on the ground?), spinning plates (made out of cloth and therefore unbreakable), and puppets (just plain odd!), the whole thing felt like a Korean version of Cirque du Soleil…gone bad! Memorable though, certainly.
After a quick rest/re-fresh/shower at our “resort” which under closer inspection in broad daylight was found to be quite lacking with only hand towels for bath towels, offensive perfumed room fresheners and several little step-ups that one could easily trip upon when moving around the room, we headed out to BIRTHDAY DINNER! Silently, all of us were quite apprehensive about what kind of restaurant Bora, Bill’s assistant, had booked for this important occasion since we hadn’t seen anything remotely appealing all day, but she SCORED! The restaurant had chairs, cloth napkins and offered a course dinner versus rapid-fire, multi-dish Korean style dining. The food was definitely Korean, but “friendly”….with hamburger steak and short rib stew options. Our waitress, with the help of Google translate, could communicate with us and we had a really nice family birthday dinner. Here’s the Birthday BOY showing his true age….
Before we left Seoul, our landlord who lives next door gave us a cake to welcome Mom and Dad without knowing it was Pops’ birthday. A surprise amenity of the Lake Hills “Resort” was the fridge and mini-kitchen in each room which enabled me to keep the cake refridgerated for our post-dinner American celebration. No candles but some glorious singing and lots of good cheer in honor of Pops!
When we met for breakfast on the second morning, the dining room was full of young Korean families all eating Korean breakfasts (beef or fish soups, kimchi..the works) whereas the day before we hadn’t seen a single other guest. Lake Hills “Resort” does have a golf course and, as we discovered, many eager Korean guests who were out early hitting the links in the nice Fall weather. Much to our dismay, we were informed with hand signals that the “American Breakfast” was not available?! After some negotiation and rudimentary Korean on my part, I was able to get us all bowls of Cocoa Chex and some coffee. Disaster narrowly averted!
We set out to see one more temple on the way back to Seoul and thankfully found it after only one missed-turm. Much more recently built, the Waujeongsa Temple was established in 1970 by a monk who was displaced during the Korean War. It is also home to over 3,000 Buddhist statues, including the most famous 8m-high Buldu (Buddha head) pictured below:
This Buldu is the registered in the Guiness World book of Records as the world’s largest wooden Buddhist sculpture. In addition to the Buldu, Waujeongsa Temple has largest several unique features which we enjoyed exploring for a few hours. The 12-ton Bell of Unification was rung during the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the Pagoda of Unification was constructed of stones brought by visitors from various holy sites all over the world. All over the temple grounds there are a wide range of Buddhist statues from many Asian countries. In the pictures below, you can see why we savored our time here…as well as why Pops lost a few pounds in Korea!
The trip back to Seoul was relatively easy and we feasted on familiar food upon our return. It was nice to get out into the country, but equally as nice to realize we liked our own “resort” much better than the one at Lake Hills!
Mom and Dad laid low on Monday as the jet lag caught up with them. Bill went to work, the girls to school and I went to my Korean and pottery classes. Unfortunately, Pops was still feeling punky on Tuesday so Mom and I left him to rest while we toured Changdeogung Palace and its famous Secret Garden. Although it was too early to witness the spectacular Fall color here in Seoul, we did enjoy our tour of the second palace and learned a fair amount of Korean history from our lovely guide…dressed in “hanbok”, of course! 
The Secret Garden is large, not heavily landscaped but instead celebrates the assymetry, ups and downs and curves of nature. We toured the Secret Garden for an hour and a half , walked through the gate of Longevity (see below) and promise (OR “threaten” à la Grammer Gummey!) to do live a Long Life!!
Later that afternoon, we visited an absolutely precious museum right nearby in Seongbukdong…the Korea Furniture Museum which was founded by a relative of the Lotte chaebol family who collected furniture and remnants of palaces that were destroyed during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea. Here, we were learned all about traditional Korean furniture and Hanok houses, akin to the very special one in which we are fortunate to live. On our tour we were accompanyied by several friendly Korean teachers who insisted upon our inclusion in their photos. Can you tell which two don’t belong?
Here’s mom trying to get a double-whammy by walking through another gate of Longevity like the one in the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung Palace. I think it’s working!!
After a brief rest for weary Mom, a quick turnaround for the high schoolers (I’m beginning to understand why my nicknames are “Demanda” and “Commander”) and a pit-stop at Citibank, we braved Seoul rush hour traffic again to head to Gangnam to Mingles, a renowed Asian fusion restaurants we wanted to share with the family. It was hard to leave Pops, our “foodie” behind, but also very clear that he wasn’t up for the culinary adventure.
The 7-plus course meal was beautifully presented, delicious (though Daphne may argue that the abalone or distilled shot of vinager with smoked eel were NOT the best) and prolonged…3 amuse-bouches and 5 courses!
A bit too lengthy for the banker, weary tourists and students, but it was a wonderful dinner nonetheless. Mom’s dating stories were undoubtedly the “piece de resistance”!
Pops was “up and at ’em” eating eggs and toast when I emerged Wednesday morning, ready to make up for the lost day. He joined me when I drove Bill to work just to check out Bill’s morning commute and take note of various logistical details. After a bit of Hurricane Matthew and Trump/Clinton CNN news watching, we hatched a plan that allowed me to attend my Korean class (critical given the language’s difficulty and/or my old brain?!) while Mom and Dad visited one of Seoul’s finest museums…The Samsung (of course) Leeum Museum of Contemporary Art. I escorted them to the museum and showed them a “safe” spot to eat lunch, and let them loose in Seoul! Although Pops had his phone, I knew he had no service and would only use place an expensive long-distance call in a true emergency. Silence was truly golden during the 3 hours I left them alone to wander on their own.
When we met up again, I drove them around the northern ridge of our Seongbukdong neighborhood which borders a Bukhansan National Park and offers gorgeous views of the mountains north of us…and of N. Korea which is a mere 31 kms away! On a whim, we stopped in at the new Stone Museum which a Norwegian friend had recommended. This museum too is a gem and as far as we could tell from the limited information available in English, it was founded by a very wealthy Korean just as the Furniture Museum was. The founder has been collecting traditional stone artwork and old stone statues for over 40 years. Displayed both inside and outside in a lovely hillside garden, the hundreds of stone artworks include Muninseok (stone statues of civil officials), Muinseok (stone statues of military officers), Dongjaseok (stone statues of child attendants) and Beoksu (stone statues of village guardians). The museum also houses seventy stone artworks that were smuggled out of the country during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea and subsequently repatriated. A small collection of traditional embroidery sheds light on the traditonal lifestyle of Korean woment during the Joseon Dynasty. As you can see from the pictures below, we spent a lovely hour in the late afternoon meandering in the garden of the Stone Museum.
Thursday, my 53rd birthday, was another jammed packed day for Mom and Dad who by this time were starting to recognize parts of our neighborhood and attempting to say “Ahnyeong haseyeo” to the guards at the end of our street. Most everyday I find myself walking on or nearby the old city fortress wall since our neighborhood is actually just north and outside of the old inner city fortress wall and so I need to go up and over it often to move around. Mom and Dad were very curious about my “footpath” so I picked a spot that we could access easily…or so I thought! As you can see, the pitch is steep, the footing uneven, the height of steps tall and varied and there are NO handrails or even trees to grab onto for support. AND, there are many steps, going both down…and UP as I discovered when I led Mom and Dad on a little loop I thought would be an easy example of for my daily treks. We did enjoy peeking through the wall at the numerous small kitchen garden plots with leeks, cabbages, and other vegetables and managed NOT to run into any wild boars which are a problem in the Fall as you can see from the banner.
This 20 minute “walk” may have significantly contributed to Pops’ weight loss and it certainly rattled my nerves as images of a big tumble on their last day in Seoul flashed through my mind. Tour guide Amanda gets a poor rating for this decision.
We were hungry for lunch afterwards, though, and had a nice mostly-Western bite in Samcheongdong, a neighborhood we love just south of Seongbukdong. Adjacent to the restaurant was a small exhibit of Anish Kapoor “Vanishing Cloud” sculptures which tickled the art buffs who can never get enough. We strolled down the bustling streets, stopped off at Yido Pottery where I spend a lot of time playing with clay, and made our way down to Insadong which is the neighborhood where we spent our first 8 weeks in Seoul in a hotel. I showed them the underground Nagwon market with all of its bins of peeled raw garlic, red peppers, and other key ingredients to Korean cuisine. 
I was reminded of how terrifying it was to descend into this foreign environment when I was new to Seoul, and how for the most part, I am a quite comfortable now. I’ve yet to buy any fresh eel, octopus or other fish however….
For my birthday dinner we went to a Korean BBQ place (a necessity when visiting Seoul!) near Bill’s office. Always yummy, the BBQ did not disappoint and Mom and Dad even sampled some of the various “banchan” (traditional Korean sidedishes that accompany every meal and always include kimchi, seaweed, bean sprouts, whole garlic cloves in red pepper paste, etc.
I opened lots and lots of birthday presents, including ones from Julie “sherpa-ed” from from the States by Mom and Dad. So spoiled…
After a rather rushed dinner, and not-so-subtle resistance from Bill, I “COMMANDERED” Mom, Dad and Bill to attend “Roberto Zucco”, a play written by a legendary French writer Bernard-Marie Koltes which I THOUGHT was to be performed in French with English subtitles and would therefore appeal to those of us who speak/understand French. As is often the case here in Seoul, I got it a little wrong; the play was in Korean, not French, but thankfully did have English subtitles displayed on screens to either side of the stage. The acting was terrific…but the play was DARK, DEPRESSING AND VIOLENT. Bill outright hated it, and perhaps Pops did as well, though he was more diplomatic in his critique. I don’t think any of us will forget the evening and I certainly won’t ever my 53rd birthday in Seoul with my parents. Truly so special.
At 5:50am the next morning, Mom and Dad’s Kakao taxi arrived on time (of course!) and we all exchanged bleary-eyed good-bye hugs. It was an amazing visit, filled with many small moments of humor such as when we jokingly admonished ourselves for not packing golf clubs and practically starved to death at the “resort” stay in Anseong, or repeatedly got lost using car and phone GPS apps, or mimicked the Citibank fist-bump lobby banner, and practiced our Korean pronunciation of English words (“Seu-Nae-Keu”and “Pee-niss-eu”, for “snake”and “penis”, respectively). There are too many of these special moments to count, but we will cherish them forever!
seoulfulsojourn.net 