I really liked sitting at Hyangwon Pavilion. At that time, hundreds of artists used to have their easels set up around the pond. It gave the place an gentle, artistic feel. It was peaceful and relaxing. There also seemed to be a lot more trees in the palace. Two weeks ago, half of the palace was behind big grey metal construction barriers. I haven't really liked Kyungbok Palace as much in recent years anyways. It used to have a casual roughness that I liked. Now, everything is straight. All of the stonework is cut in sharp angles. It feels more barren and sterile. It's also crawling with tourists.
So...today I went to Chang-gyeong Palace. It has a much nicer feel. I also like the fact that, if you start at the Jongmyo Shrine side, you get to see thousands of old guys hanging around in the park at the front of the shrine. At 10AM, they were already serving pig's knuckle and shots of soju.I wish that I could read Chinese characters because there are always a few calligraphers there with their work spread out on the ground. The park is also a huge draw for players of baduk (played with black and white and Jangi (Korean chess). They even had a trot concert. I love trot. For the uninitiated, trot is the saddest music in the world sung with a quavery voice that I cannot even begin to imitate. I had only ever heard it on tape and had never seen a live band playing. Then, a rather handsome, dapper old man (probably about 80 years old) got up and danced by himself in a large open space in front of the bandstand. And, all of this before I even paid my W1,000 and entered the
shrine.A little known secret is that I remember Chang-gyeong Palace when it had a zoo and there were little rowboats on the lake (circa 1976).
3 comments:
Changgyeongung is my very favorite of the palaces. I don't know if you've seen my old blog at www.hifromseoul.com, but if you click on "Best of HifromSeoul" on the sidebar, you can see links to a lot of posts with pictures from places like that.
This is one of my favorite entries. I read this piece a number of times. Loved the sense of place, the photos, details of stonework, the men playing baduk and chess; trot ("the saddest music in the world"), the old man dancing by himself.
"Pig's knuckle"! Doesn't sound that appetizing. I'm not sure what part of the pig that is. At Namdaemun Market, almost a year and a half ago, on a rainy Thursday morning, I saw street vendors selling "heads" of some animal--at least that is what it looked like to me. I thought I'd ask. I'm sure you'll know.
I love trot music! It is hands down my favourite genre of Korean music. In fact, 이미자, 패티김, and a gentleman of similar age whose name I can't recall are coming to Vancouver for a concert! I would do anything to go, but we already spent all our disposable income to go see some Korean soprano. Yawn.
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