Our last day in Seoul. We knew we’d be spending the afternoon with K at the orphanage, so in the morning we decided to visit two of Seoul’s Joseon Dynasty palaces: Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung.

Geyeongbokgung is the older of the two palaces, dating back to 1394. It’s been burned and rebuilt several times over the centuries. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard:

Some of the sights of Gyeongbokgung…

The throne hall:

Gyeonghoeru pavilion:

A view of Inwangsan mountain (where we’d hiked the day before):

After Gyeongbokgung, we took a taxi to explore the nearby palace of Changdeokgung. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, so all the tours are guided. The main gate:

A map/painting of how the two main palaces looked in the 1820s:

Inside the throne hall:

One of the most outstanding features of Changdeokgung is Biwon, or the Secret Garden. It’s a huge space of forest, paths, gardens, ponds, and buildings, and it’s breathtakingly beautiful. Some of the pictures from Biwon:

After the tours of the palaces, we had lunch at Red Mango (it was finally open!):

Then it was time to go the orphanage. When we got there, we’d already missed Mrs. S. and K was having a tough time coping. She was tired, upset, and frightened, and there was very little anyone could do to calm her. Eventually she fell asleep in my arms, after a lot of rocking, patting, and singing (thank you, Mrs. S., for playing the songs I sent!):

When she woke up she was happy and calm. We ate snacks together, walked around the orphanage, and played with toys. After a few short hours it was time for us to leave…and time for K to spend the night at the orphanage. We wished she could have been with Mrs. S. that night, but with the early flight time all the babies had to stay at the orphanage.

We did some shopping (stocking up on K’s favorite snacks), then walked around Insadong for a little while. We were sad about leaving Seoul, sad about K leaving Seoul, and worried about how she was doing at the orphanage without her foster family. It wasn’t a very festive evening. For dinner we chose Gogung Restaurant. The food was good, and their specialty drink (moju) was something I’d wanted to try:

After dinner it was time to pack. We headed back to the Sun Bee, packed for a few hours, then went to sleep. The next day meant 24 hours of travel…this time with a new baby.

We spent the morning at Ae Ran Won, a home for unwed mothers and expectant mothers. The director of ARW, Mrs. Han, published a book of letters written by birth mothers to their children. It’s called I Wish For You a Beautiful Life, and reading it changed a lot of my ideas about adoption, birth/first parents, and being an adoptive mom.

I emailed Mrs. Han to see if we could visit her at ARW, and she replied with a warm invitation. She was very generous with her time when we arrived, and we were able to have a long conversation about adoption, the status of unwed mothers in Korea, and about the mission of ARW.

Mrs. Han in front of Ae Ran Won:

ARW doesn’t just provide a home for women facing a crisis pregnancy. They provide individual and group counseling, job training, and tutoring to attain at least a high school diploma. For women who choose to parent, there are other programs of support…a group home, then a self-supported home, and access to emergency daycare. ARW has shown that, with a little support, many mothers will feel they can raise their children. When Mrs. Han started at ARW, 80% of the women chose adoption. Now 81% choose to parent.

Visiting ARW was one of the most meaningful parts of our trip to Seoul, because it made K’s first/birth mom much more real to us. It was also an honor to meet Mrs. Han, and to see ARW in person.

After our visit to ARW, we went back to Insadong to pick up K’s name stamp (dojong). The day before we’d asked a stone carver in Insadong to make one for her, as a special gift from our friends Marilyn and John. It turned out so much better than we’d imagined…the artist had added a carving of a mother, father, and daughter, and overhead is a bright shining sun. K’s name translates to “shining sun,” but the artist didn’t know that. Neat coincidence, hm?

Next was a great lunch at Insadong’s Sadong Myeonok, where we tried the mushroom hot pot: beoseot jeongol. This is how it looks when they first bring it to your table:

It cooks at your table, and at the end it’s a spicy stew of noodles, mushrooms, some veggies, and a little bit of beef and egg. Delicious!

We spent the afternoon hiking on Inwangsan mountain. The night before, S. suggested getting out of the city and seeing a little nature. Her encouragement, and ideas of where to go, made us rearrange our plans for the day, and I’m so glad we did.

Inwangsan has a lot of interesting sights with very interesting histories. If you want to read more about what you see, check out the longer post about day six. Some of the sights:

The Bongwonsa temple bell:

Guksadang, Seoul’s most important Shamanist shrine:

Seonbawi (Zen Rocks):

The peak of Inwangsan:

A restored section of Seoul’s fortress wall:

Beautiful rocks and pines:

We spent several enjoyable hours on Inwangsan, and S. was right…it was good to get out of the city a little (even if technically we were still surrounded by it). Thanks, S.!

The night before we hadn’t been able to find a hanbok for K at Namdaemun (late at night most of the shops were closed), so between hiking and dinner we went back to the market. It was so incredibly busy! And fun!

We found the hanbok we wanted, plus a couple of the t-shirts we liked so much, and headed off for dinner. Even though the entire week had been like one long date (what an odd experience!), we decided this night would be “date night.” Dinner, a cable car ride up Namsan mountain, and a view of Seoul at night. Romantic, huh?

Before we found the restaurant, we stumbled on another US beef protest…this time at City Hall. It would have been interesting to stay and listen to the bands and speakers (the atmosphere wasn’t negative at all), but we had a restaurant to find.

Chamsutgol is known for having really good Korean grilled beef (bulgogi and galbi). Rather than grill it over gas, they grill it over real wood charcoal. The atmosphere isn’t all that much, but the food is fantastic. It’s grilled at your table:

Then you place it on sesame leaves or lettuce, pile on the other ingredients: grilled garlic, green onion salad, a little kimchi, and hot pepper past (ssam jaang). You wrap it up like a stuffed grapeleaf, pop it in your mouth, and mmmmmmm!

The galbi was everything we expected. The soju….not so much. Soju is a vodka-like beverage unique to Korea. D and I aren’t big fans of hard liquor, so it’s no surprise we didn’t like it. We’re glad we tried it, though.

We’re also glad we took the cable car ride, the next part of our date. The cable car runs up the side of the mountain, just over the tops of the trees. It feels like you’re floating over the forest, and when you get to the top there’s this:

We went up to the tower’s observation deck to see the city at night. It was fun, but the views from the lower observation deck were just as nice. A little of Seoul at night:

It often pays to linger in locations, and tonight was an exceptional example of that…while we wandered around Seoul Tower’s plaza, classical music started blaring out of loudspeakers, mist began rising from little hidden water jets, and the trees were suddenly lit up by lasers. It was a laser show!

It was such a happy surprise. We sat there smiling as little kids ran around chasing the beams of light, trying to jump into the stars and circles formed by the lasers, and weaving in and out of the mist. What a night!

We spent the morning hours in Insadong, the area of Seoul where our hotel was located. I’d read about the food served in Seoul’s diners (little orange- and white-fronted stores all over Seoul) at this blog, and this rainy morning seemed like a good time for cheap, delicious comfort food.

I got mushroom juk (a warm porridge), and D got ddokguk, a soup with soft rice cakes, egg, and beef in a beef broth. I know this is the short version of our day, and this might seem like a trivial piece of info to include, but I can’t put enough emphasis on it: The soups in Seoul were so good, that at the end of this meal D said:

“We should eat more soup.”

Fourteen years of knowing him and seven years of marriage, and I never thought I’d hear those words. I love soup. I could eat it every day. D, even though he eats milk-sogged cereal every day, maintains that soup is objectionable because it’s “too liquidy.” I’d given up on converting him to soup. Five days in Seoul, and he’s a soup-lover. Thank you Seoul. Thank you thank you thank you. But I digress….

We had a great breakfast (and cheap! holy smokes!), then went walking around Insadong in the rain. Our first stop was Tapgol Park. We’d tried visiting a few days earlier but it was closed. This time it was open, and perhaps because it was early and raining, it was very quiet and peaceful.

Tapgol Park is a lovely little place, with way more history that you’d expect in such a small area. It contains South Korea’s #2 and #3 National Treasures, and it’s where the March First Independence Movement started in 1919. Much of the artwork and memorial statues in the park are dedicated to those who lost their lives in the independence struggle against the Japanese occupation. Some of the main sights:

The pavilion where the Declaration of Independence was read:

National Treasure #2…an ornate pagoda from 1467:

National Treasure #3…a stone stele, called DaeWonGak Sabi, that records the history of Wongaksa temple (which once stood in Tapgol Park):

After Tapgol Park, we walked up Insadong-gil (gil = street) toward Jogyesa. We liked it so much at night, we decided we wanted to see it during the day. It was very busy, and it was fascinating to watch people… where shoes were left, which entrances were used by only monks, how people prayed, when monks sang and when everyone sang…

D also liked how the monks all seemed to use golf umbrellas…

We spent some time in the shops around Jogyesa (most of them seem to specialize in Buddhist items), then headed back to the hotel. It was time to meet Mr. C. and go to the home of K’s foster family! They live in one of Seoul’s high-rises, and they had a great view from outside their front door:

We had a wonderful visit with Mrs. S., K’s foster mom. Mr. C. did all the interpreting, and we stayed and talked for a couple of hours. We were able to see so many of the details of K’s life with Mrs. S’s family, and even better we were able to see more of the relationship between Mrs. S. and K. They were so cute together.  K is a very fortunate girl to have someone like Mrs. S. in her life.

After saying goodbye to Mrs. S. and Mr. C. (both of whom we hope we’ll see again when we return to Seoul), we went back to our hotel to write. We had a little time before our dinner plans…meeting S., a blogger I “met” online back when I was looking for photos of K’s birth day.

After we met S., we walked to a restaurant very near our hotel. On top of being really enjoyable, kind, and funny, S. seemed to know the kind of food we’d find knock-out fantastic. I think it was doenjang jjigae, but whatever it was it was delicious. It was, hands down, our favorite meal in Seoul.

After dinner we went to a little tea house to continue our conversation. Before it got too late it was time to say goodbye. We had a wonderful time with S., and after we said our goodbyes D and I both thought the same thing…spending time with S. made our trip so much better. We felt really fortunate to have met her. It’s one thing to come to a country and see tourist spots, or talk with a few people here and there, but actually meeting someone to talk with, laugh with, and ask questions with….that’s a pretty incredible opportunity. Thanks so much, S.!

We had a little time before it was truly late, so we took the metro to Namdaemun Market…one of the oldest public markets in Korea. Our guidebooks said it was open 24 hours, and that there was serious bargain hunting after midnight. When we got there, though, most of it was closed. There were a few shops here and there, but overall it was dark and empty. We walked around for a while and decided to come back during daytime hours.

The last stop of the evening was Namdaemun Gate…an old city gate dating from 1447 that was destroyed by arson in February. It was/is South Korea’s #1 National Treasure, and they’re in the process of rebuilding. Right now the site of the gate is surrounded by a blue construction enclosure. There’s a window so you can see inside.

It was so quiet there. I’d seen pictures of the Gate for years, and even though the Gate burned I never thought it would be so still, so quiet. It was a nice place to sit for a while.

We went home, talked about our plans for the next day (hiking!), and went to sleep.

Since day four was one of our only totally open days, we decided to use it for the DMZ tour. We’d heard that it’s a can’t-miss, and set out with really high expectations. We probably should have taken the USO-run tour, but instead we chose Grace tours.

They took us to several stops, including the Freedom Bridge, the Third Tunnel of Aggression (a tunnel dug under the DMZ by North Korea), Mt. Dorason observatory (where you can look out over the DMZ), and Dorasan Station (an new station for when passenger trains…someday, hopefully…resume between North and South Korea).

At the Freedom Bridge:

Third Tunnel of Aggression museum:

View of the DMZ from Mt. Dorasan (those are opposing villages, the North Korean village on the left and the South Korean village on the right):

Dorasan Station:

To be honest, even though we appreciated the chance to look out over the DMZ, the tour was not worth the large amount of time it took. It was also a very odd experience, where you felt like the perspectives shown to you (in mandatory movies, for example) were questionable, and the fear factor was being dialed up for tourist benefit. If we were to have that time back, I think we would have either gone on the Panmunjeom tour by the USO, or to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul (which also explores the division of North and South).

When we were bused back to Seoul, the tour stopped at a mandatory amethyst factory tour (with mandatory time spent in a pricey amethyst showroom). We’d reached our limit of mandatory this-or-that, so we booked it out of there. It was a great chance to see a new part of Seoul…Yeouido, Seoul’s Manhattan-like island of business and commerce.

We walked through Yeouido Park, through an area of skyscrapers, and found a metro stop that took us to (after a stop at Dunkin’ donuts) our afternoon destination…Jangampyeong Antiques Market, in northeastern Seoul.

We thought we’d be able to find an antique box to bring back for K, but after several inquiries about prices we realized Korean antiques were way out of our budget. It was great to look through the market buildings, though, and we went into some very unique stores. Some very crowded, unique stores.

After Janampyeong, we went west and north to E-Mart, kind of like our Targets or K-Marts, but without the sprawling space and parking lots. This one was three stories, and had just about everything you’d expect at a discount store…including great people watching. My favorite sight was on the grocery level…the kimchi counter!

It was getting late, so we headed out for dinner in Myeong-dong, a hip little shopping and fashion district in Seoul:

After a frustrating wild goose chase (thanks, 2006 Lonely Planet guide), we discovered the restaurant we wanted had gone out of business. We wandered the streets without much direction, then settled at a restaurant that cooked up spicy dak (chicken) galbi right at your table. Spicy, yummy, goodness.

That was it! The next day we’d visit K at her foster family’s home.