After thirty-five hours of travelling, I reached Vancouver and my cozy home. The trip took so long due to an 11-hour layover in Seoul. I couldn’t see wasting good sight-seeing time, so I took a five-hour city tour while there.

I nearly froze! My smart phone is not as smart as it thinks it is – it said the temp would be just below freezing where in fact it was 21 degrees F or -6.1111 degrees C. Nevertheless off I went in my fleece sweater and anorak – Vancouver winter-wear.

My guide was a young woman who, sad to say, paled in comparison with my uber-guides from Asia, perhaps because she appeared as cold as I. I was joined by a young Thai-American woman on her way back to her home in Seattle from her grandmother’s funeral in Chiang Mai. She too nearly froze.

We started the tour with a visit to Cheonggyecheon, an artificial stream in downtown Seoul. Once a real stream flowed there but it was built over (vague details) so the city fathers created a substitute. The stream has waterfalls and protruding rocks and round pebbles just below the surface to create the illusion of a natural water course, and travels for a few city blocks before disappearing.  There is a wishing well part way along, but I didn’t see any coins lying about.

We warmed up in the van on the way to Changdeok Palace, built in 1405 as a secondary palace for the Joseon Dynasty. There are several buildings on the grounds, all beautifully designed and maintained.

The eaves are particularly lovely with green and pink and purple carved ornamentation. Fire pits in the base of some of the buildings were used to cook food; ducts led from the pits to just below the floors of the buildings and delivered heat in the winter.

As my Thai/American tourmate noted, the Koreans must have been the first to discover in-floor radiant heat! The extensive grounds housed the king’s concubines in somewhat simpler quarters though those too had an elegance all their own.

We stopped for lunch and a spot of shopping in Insadong Street known for its many small crafts and antiques shops.  I splurged on a pretty new box to hold my paperclips. Always thinking of romance, that’s me!

Our final stop was at Jogyesa Temple, headquarters of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The temple contains three very large Buddhas and a smaller one in a glass case. Colorful paper lanterns hung from the ceiling lending the temple a sense of gaity. The “scholar” in Road Scholar would have provided a short lecture on the difference between Jogye Buddhism and Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, but our guide was not up to the task.

Looking back on the past four weeks is now my favourite work-avoidance activity. The tour was as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. My travelling companions could not have been more interesting or more pleasant. I can hardly wait til next year for my third Road Scholar trip. I don’t yet know where I will go but there are many many possibilities. Dreaming and planning, yes!

Til next trip,
Nancy