At 11 InSook arrived, with son YongSun driving, to pick me up for the last two days of my Korea stay. HongTaek Choi, the child I sponsored through Save the Children in the 1980s, now obviously an adult, had made arrangements for us to stay for two days in the Bukchon area of Seoul. She and I had reconnected after a number of years when Save the Children and SBS TV had staged a reunion for a fund-raising telethon in 2011, and she surprised me (understatement) by appearing at my front door ala every bad reality TV show you’ve seen. She really wanted to host me for a special Korean experience, spending a lot of time and money for these two days.
Bukchon, located between the Gyeonbok and Changgyeong palaces, contains the most hanok (traditional Korean houses) in Seoul. Because of the area’s location it was originally populated by Yangban, the families of nobles and senior civil servants, many of the descendents of whom still live in the area. There is an effort to preserve these buildings through creating uses for them and encouraging tourism to bring money into the area.
We stayed at the Kundaemunjip (Great Gate House) Guest House, a 5-room facility, which was either newly constructed or a major reconstruction. The “great gate” was more for show than use; I’m not sure it could be opened.
HongTaek met us at the Guest House showing the entry through a normal-sized door.
There was a lovely courtyard in the traditional style.
Our room, the largest, was in a separate building right next to the "great gate."
Although apparently traditional with ondol (heated) floors for sleeping,
there was a hidden Murphy bed which I happily occupied. It may not have been ‘traditional, but was certainly more comfortable.
And, thank goodness, the bathroom was quite modern.
The room was nicely decorated
and had lovely timbers in the ceiling which were interesting to look at while lying in bed.
After settling in HongTaek, InSook, and I went for lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant with a strange name, composed of both Roman and Korean characters. Apparently in Korean this is the name of a fairy tale identical to Cinderella.
So, of course, here’s another meal picture.
The wall of windows provided some pleasant views of the area, including roofs of surrounding traditional buildings and a lacebark (white) pine supposedly 600 years old, brought to Korea from China by missionaries and planted during the Joseon Dynasty.
HongTaek had made arrangements for us to attend a workshop session in chilwon (lacquerware) and ottchil (mother of pearl). Deok Han Kim, the instructor, had made small lacquer boxes and affixed mother of pearl butterflies which he had cut out from the shell. Our task was simply to clean and polish the mother of pearl. Even that was reasonably complicated so some assistance was provided.
We succeeded in creating our “masterpieces”
and were offered tea as a reward.
After returning to the guesthouse in misty rain and indulging in a bit more conversation, InSook left to go home. HongTaek had wanted her to stay overnight with us, but she couldn’t do that. This left me slightly panicked. HongTaek’s English is only slightly more than my Korean, meaning communication was not easy. It had the potential for being a very long evening. Fortunately, HongTaek is a good photographer and had many pictures to share. I went through my blog, showing all the pictures I had taken in Bali and Korea. So we got through the evening.
And this traditional Korean hanok offered WiFi so I was able to work on my blog and check e-mail before a relatively early bedtime.
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