KR&JP 2013 Travelogue Day 4: Ungjin Baekje in Gongju

After a brief period of glory in the late 4th century, the tables turned within decades: Goguryeo under King Gwanggaeto had steadily advanced towards the Han river from 395, and by 475, the capital at Wiryeseong had fallen to Goguryeo's King Jangsu, thanks to King Gaero's complacent rule of Baekje. His successor, King Munju, led a desperate evacuation southwards, and settled the Ungjin on the Geumgang river as his new capital, in what is now Gongju city. According to recent evidence, it appears that this was motivated by Ungjin having been the base of a noble house that was particularly supportive of the royal family of Baekje. Within a few decades, Baekje regrouped and enriched itself under the new generation of kings -- especially King Muryeong, Ungjin's more famous king -- and migrated to a more permanent capital at Sabi (now Buyeo).

I took a bus northeast to Gongju early in the morning, passing lovely scenery of lush hills and calm rivers. Gongju, like Buyeo, also displays a lot of Baekje pride, even though Ungjin was the Baekje capital for just over 60 years. Baekje diadem ornament replicas and other motifs from the ancient kingdom adorn gates, lamp posts and other public facilities.

My first stop was the mountain fort Gongsanseong, which served as Ungjin's guardian fortification. The walls, topped with battlements, extend quite a way around the top of the mountain, and there are clean, broad pathways around the fort. You can choose to walk the wall itself, but parts of it are quite steep. The entrance is lined with stelae, and top affords one a good view of Gongju city and the Geumgang river.

Gongsanseong contains a large number of Baekje-era and later-dated shrines, temples and pavilions. These include the royal banquet pavilion (top left), the shrine to the three Ming Chinese warriors who stayed behind to help the Joseon Koreans fight off the Japanese during the Imjin War (top right), and a lovely artificial pond and pavilion overlooking the river (bottom left). On my way out, I stopped for a little archery practice at the concession area (bottom right).

Gongju National Museum was closed, and expectedly so; I would have loved to go there, but I had to make a choice between spending national museum closure day in Buyeo or Gongju, and I chose Gongju. Thankfully, though, the local Songsanri tombs museum was open, and I could peek at some information about the Ungjin kings (top left), models of the interiors of mound tombs (top right), Ungjin-era royal ornaments and artifacts (bottom left), and reconstructed Baekje attire (bottom right).

Outside, the mild, sunny weather was perfect for a walk around the Songsanri tomb park, which included a large number of mound tombs, and the tomb of King Muryeong himself.

I then went to the Hannok Village near the national museum. It's a reconstructed village of houses and other structures built using traditional wooden hannok construction. Only later did I find out that you could actually stay here as a guest.

My final stop was the Seokjangni Museum and Prehistoric Site. The museum and site display many prehistoric artifacts, and also feature reconstructed lifelike scenes of prehistoric Korean people going about their lives. It's also right at the riverside, which makes it a nice place to relax and enjoy the view, which I did before busing my way to Daejon and catching my rail sequence to Gyeongju.

More interesting observations:
(clockwise from top left)
- I love how the taxis in even small cities are decked out with nav systems and card readers.
- I actually stayed on one of these Rennaissance-style castle hotels later in the trip.
- Water is free, and is often served in similar-looking plastic flasks in most regular restaurants.
- Hyun Bin's endorsement of cold coffee
- This is literally a room for resting.

I had enough time to have some actual meals in Gonjgu, and tried my best to find local specialties. 
(clockwise from top left)

- Kalguksu: a soup of thick noodles and assorted seafood that you cook at your table stove. A Gongju specialty.

- Eomuk: sheets of fish cake on a stick, simmered in fish broth

- Gimbap: like sushi, but with light, cooked fillings

- Squid ink cheese bread from a cafe

- Can't remember what this spicy stew is called, but it is also a Gongju specialty

KR&JP 2013 Travelogue Day 3: Sabi Baekje in Buyeo

(clockwise from top left) Buyeo in the morning, the stylized bird that's been sort of adopted as the emblem of Baekje, an "American" eatery, chile peppers drying in the sun on the footpath

High speed rail in Korea is punctual and (naturally) fast, so I was at Daejeon within no time. A little too fast, actually, as I barely had time for a nap. Anyway, I took a cab to the intercity bus station and headed to Buyeo, a small, idyllic city very different from where I had just been. It's a heavily agricultural area, and farmers were at work everywhere; on the pavements, strips of fabric were lain, chile peppers or various cereals drying in the sun upon them. I did not have time (or energy) to eat any proper meals here; just some quick snacks and some convenience store nosh in the night. I slept like a log after I found and checked into a motel, having had only the little nap on the train to go on for the day.

Not to be confused with the Buyeo kingdom in what is now northeastern China, Buyeo is the modern name for Sabi, the third and last capital of Baekje. King Seong, whose statue (top left) sits in a central part of the city, was the one who led the migration of the capital to this area in the mid 6th century, after the rulers of Baekje had spent years at the temporary capital of Ungjin (now Gongju, which I will visit next), rebuilding their strength after the disastrous loss of earlier golden age capital at Wiryeseong to the armies of Goguryeo's King Jangsu. Seong's troubles were not over, though. After the migration, he led Baekje to fight a furious war against Goguryeo. His troops finally retook Wiryeseong and their old territories around the Han river, only to have the same territories be taken over by their supposed ally, Silla, while they were exhausted from war. Angered at the betrayal, Seong now directed his armies at Silla, but died in battle, along with much of his army. Baekje never quite recovered, and, despite support from Japan and even Goguryeo, and despite having loyal and valiant warriors like General Gyebaek (top right), fell to an alliance of Silla and Tang dynasty China about a century later. Modern Buyeo is proud of its Baekje heritage, naming streets after its heroes, and including its artwork -- such as the famous gilt bronze incense burner (bottom) -- as monuments and motifs in public works.

I visited the royal tomb complex south of the city centre first. It is a beautiful park that contains numerous typical mound tombs. Forom the outside, they look a bit like the tholoi of Mycenae. Inside, they have walled chambers with tomb art depicting legendary animals, such as the four direction guardian beasts, and other symbols. There's a small museum at the site as well.

I then went to the Buyeo National Museum, which has a lot of fascinating ancient artifacts from the region, and especially Sabi Baekje, on display.

I was pleased to finally have a chance to see the most celebrated and unique pieces at the museum. One of these is the original gilt bronze incense burner of Baekje (top left), considered a masterpiece of Korean metalworking. Then there were the royal diadem ornaments (top right, on a bust of King Seong) and some intricate ancient crowns and coronets (bottom right). Finally, there was a seven-branches sword, one of which was given to Yamato Japan by a Baekje king as a symbol of the close relationship between the two kingdoms.

I discovered Seodong Park and Gungnamji Pond from the tourism literature I found at the train station, and decided to include it in my itinerary when I read about how important it is to the local identity. The park is famous for the lotus colonies and sculptures within, and has beautiful Korean-style garden landscaping. The pond was commissioned by the penultimate king of Buyeo, King Mu. Mu's birth name was Seodong, and there is a local legend about how he cunningly won the hand of a Silla princess with whom he had fallen in love.

The Jeongnimsa Temple and Museum were not a very long walk away, although finding the entrance to the compound was a little difficult. The foundations of this Buddhist temple's grounds can still be seen, and part of it has been reconstructed. The Baekje-era Buddha statue and five-level pagoda, though worn by the elements, still stand there.

There are Baekje cultural villages in both Buyeo and Gongju, but I was only able to visit the Buyeo one. Thanks to the timing of my holiday, I missed the Baekje cultural festival by jut a few days. Even so, there was plenty to see at the Baekje Historical Museum, including many amazingly detailed reconstructions of ancient life, structures and monuments.

Outside, there were reconstructions of places from pretty much every part of Baekje history, including the capital with its palaces, pavilions, temples and a huge pagoda.

While there are quite a few ancient amusements available at Korean historical attractions (such as archery), one thing I did not find here was the dress-up booths, where you could put on a back-tied ancient costume and hat, and have your picture taken. I did this at many places in China, but I could find no such thing in Korea.

There were also reconstructions of the royal tombs (top left), Wiryeseong (top right) and a Baekje town (bottom left, with famous people's houses labeled and appropriately stocked). It appears some historical TV show had also been shot here (bottom right) -- I will need to look into that.

Finally, a common feature of capital cities: the mountain fortification. In the case of Sabi, the Buso mountain fort, or Busosanseong, kept watch over the city below. A trek up will let you see many reconstructions of royal pavilions, shrines, and such, all done in fine detail and vivid colors, and afford you a great view of the city.

I was completely out of steam by the end of the night. I found a motel and crashed, waking up for a couple of hours of TV and convenience store food before crashing again. Korean TV is quite interesting. They have a lot of variety shows, and talk shows with a strange, good-natured-but-adversarial format. Special effects are often inserted into live shows; for example, a guest appearing happy will have rays of light as an animated overlay (like in the picture above), and a person appearing nervous will have over-sized drops of cartoon sweat appear next to her head. In addition, there is a lot of Chinese programming -- mainly period dramas.

KR&JP 2013 Travelogue Day 2: Baekje, Joseon, and Jongno nightlife

Korea is also known as the "Land of the Morning Calm". The next morning was, in fact, fairly calm. Until I woke up.

My rather late night, combined with my exhaustion from the flight and first day of touring, meant I slept in a couple of hours later than intended. On the other hand, the view from the terrace of the hostel was well worth it.

I flew out of bed, and scrambled for the nearest metro station, although I had to stop for a bit to watch a traditional samulnori parade that happened to be in the neighborhood -- a little silver lining to my late start.

Clever Seoul logo (L) and mass transit map (R)

I decided that the highest priority was the eastern area. Did I mention how much I love the mass transit in Seoul? It's punctual, clean, technologically advanced, and economically priced -- truly deserving its reputation as the best in the world.

My first eastern destination was the ancient fortified city of Pungnaptoseong, south of the Han river. The earthern ramparts have a trapezoid cross-section, and, apart from some broken segments, stretch a few kilometres to encircle a fairly large area within. The ramparts cut through several neighborhoods, although all of the segments of rampart are marked and protected. The walk around the walls also gave me a good look at life in the outer parts of the city.

This site, however, is no ordinary Iron Age settlement. Pungaptoseong is believed to be part of the original site of Hanam Wiryeseong, the first capital of the kingdom of Baekje. It was during the Wirye era that Baekje reached its zenith -- dominating the Yellow Sea, establishing outposts in coastal China, and even soundly defeating Goguryeo. Indeed, this could be the very place at which Lady Soseono and the future king Onjo ended their self-imposed exile, and ought to be a pilgrimage spot for anyone interested in the Three Kingdoms period.

Not far from Pungnaptoseong and the 1988 Olympic Park is the Bangidong Tombs Park. It's a lovely little hilly park that gave me a little preview of the kind of mound tombs that dominated that ancient Korean tomb-building culture, and of which I would see plenty (from different kingdoms, though) in the next few days. Incidentally, these tombs date from the Unified Silla Period (the era following Silla's conquest of the other kingdoms), a period of which I would see little by way of monuments on this tour.

I now had to make my way back to Jongno, to try and see as many Joseon sites as I could before sundown. Unfortunately, I got caught in a traffic bottleneck. At least I got some good views of the city from the south of the river.

The first Joseon site I visited this day was the Jongmyo shrine, which was the Confucian royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, and was originally commissioned by its founder, King Taejo, himself. It's a beautiful place, at which I learnt much about the shrine art and rituals of the Joseon nobility.

My first proper Joseon palace on this tour was Changdeokgung, which was first built by King Taejong. The palace is vast and scenic, with large halls and gates, and many fine carvings.

I also toured the palace Changgyeonggung, which located in the same park as Changdeokgung, and built by Taejong's son, King Sejong the Great (who also created Korea's indigenous featural writing system). It too is quite large, and has a huge courtyard and a nice garden area. The exquisite painting of the structures is worth stopping to examine; there are so many different motifs employed for this purpose.

I hurried to the main palace Gyeongbokgung, which was not too far away. Unfortunately, I arrived a little too late to enter the palace buildings, although I could look around the outer grounds.

(left to right, top to bottom) Ceremonial royal robes, accessories for regular royal robes, royal seal, animal carving, phoenix and dragon from ceiling, royal feast.

Good thing the palace museum was open, allowing me a good look at Joseon royal attire, objects, rituals and art.

One palace was open late, which is why I left it for the day's end. This was Deoksugung, a small but beautiful palace complex in the heart of downtown Seoul, looking amazing lit up at night. It has a beautiful pavilion, a semi-Western-style building for the reception of Western guests, and a nice pond at the back. One of the other Western-style buildings at he back houses the National Museum of Modern Art. I toured this museum too; it's really worth a visit if you like modern art.

Outside the main gate, Ssangyong workers were having a layoff protest cum Catholic mass, which I found intriguing.

Especially intriguing because there was an EDM concert going on right across the street, and a pretty good one too. After listening a while, I went over to Itaewon for the Global Village Festival. There were some good DJs there too, but once it became evident that I would not see any K-pop concerts, I quickly left the very tourist-populated booth-lined street. I am really not interested in traveling halfway around the world to eat something from halfway elsewhere around the world.

Glaring signage (L), and hey, is that Junsu promoting Cass beer? (R)

I headed back to the hostel, and explored the surrounding area until early morning. Said surrounding area, Jongno, is well-known for the nightlife, and I ambled around the food streets, bar streets and entertainment streets for many hours. I noticed a lot of private DVD theaters line the entertainment streets; these seem to be a uniquely Korean form of entertainment. Karaoke abounds, naturally. Also, these places, along with the bars/pubs and other entertainment venues, are usually at the end of a narrow staircase that goes down almost as often as it goes up; there's a lot of basement-level entertainment here, apparently.

Signage is very vivid, and often vertical, as attention is to be attracted from a browser at a distance, taking a cursory glance down a narrow street. Inflatable finger signage is also common, and so are cute mascots (this is East Asia, after all).

(top left) Every train station is well-equipped for a possible gas attack
(top right) Note than the only non-East-Asian, non-English language on this "24 hour" massage place's board is Arabic
(bottom left) A kinky "Bat Signal" hotel room
(bottom right) Many cafes in Seoul are open 24/7 and have free WiFi; from what I saw, I'm guessing that party-goers nap and relax there overnight until the subway starts operating again

It seems that when foreign words are translated into Hangul, extra syllables are added -- perhaps to differentiate them from possible Korean homonyms? I also noticed a very uniquely Korean style of clothing and hair styling. I don't know to what extent it has influenced or been influenced by TV dramas, but there is definitely a correlation. Speaking of fashion, I saw that lot of Koreans wore a sort of long-sleeved, body-hugging sport shirt; I've never seen this anywhere else.

(top left) A rice ball. Note the separate wrapping for the seaweed, which would have been soggy without it.
(top right) A light vegetable and meat bibimbap. My first proper meal in Korea.

(middle left) Cutesy muffin. There's a lot of cutesy food here.
(middle right) Common on the street, rice cake in sweetish spicy sauce, called tteokbokki.

(bottom left) A stuffed bread from one of many gourmet bakeries in the city.
(bottom right) Fried chicken, which is way too common for such a simple preparation. I mean, it's just fried chicken. Like many simple fried meals, it is served with a side of shredded cabbage that HAS to be dressed, even with ketchup.

Restaurants here make frequent use of tabletop buzzers, which I think are a much more dignified, quick and efficient way of getting staff attention than waving them down, or keeping an eye out for them. They also have you pay at the door when you leave, which is, again, far more efficient than the annoyance of requesting a bill, getting your bill, paying, and getting change, each step of which requires a trip by staff to your table. And there's no tipping culture; this is perfect, because the system is based on efficient execution of the process of getting food to your table and taking payment from you.

In the wee hours of the morning, I bid Seoul farewell, grabbing my already-packed luggage from the hostel, and making my way to the KTX high-speed rail station. There, I awaited my Daejeon-bounde high-speed train, washing down the day's experiences with two juices from one bottle (yes, it actually has a partition down the middle).