The second week of my three week tour was spent in Seoul, Korea visiting a second vaccine manufacturer. My first full day in Seoul was the last day of Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, and as luck would have it, the newspaper on the plane had a full page article listing cultural activities at the Korean National Folk Museum, which it turned out was only a short metro ride from the hotel.
Korea is extremely high tech - I needed a tutorial to learn how to work the curtains, lights and temperature in the room, which are all remote controlled. The Metro was extremely easy to use, especially as every sign was in Korean and English, and I was quite proud of myself for finding my way around. When I arrived at Gyeongbokgung Palace I was just in time to see the changing of the Palace Guard, who wore brightly colored robes and carried fearsome weapons (swords or bows and arrows) and were followed by an even scarier band of drums, gongs, conches, trumpets and a xylophone making a cacophonous din. Enough to scare the enemies away! Many women were wearing the traditional hanbok costume, which consist of a full length brightly colored silk smock over which is worn an appliqued bolero jacket fastened with a one sided bow. I got to try on a hanbok at the Folk Museum and later discovered a whole underground market beneath the hotel where one can buy hanbok in rainbow colors.
After looking at the various craft activities on offer to children in the courtyard of the Folk Museum and visiting a fascinating exhibition on Joseon culture and everyday life (which lasted for over 500 years up till 1897), I walked over to Bukchon Hanok, which is a village full of traditional Korean houses and picturesque alleyways. It really was my lucky day because then I stumbled on a free lunchtime string quartet concert outside the Modern Art Museum. It soon became apparent that this was no ordinary string quartet - they played beautifully together and kept going even when the music blew off their stands. I learned afterwards that they were part of Classical Revolution, a movement started in San Francisco, and that they had been in La Jolla the previous month! I wished I had put some ACMP brochures in my backpack rather than leaving them at the hotel!
Once the concert was over I realized it was time for the Folk Play to begin so I hastened back to the Folk Museum, where the musicians (three flutists, two gongers and a drummer) were in full swing. The flutists were fun to watch, dancing as they played. The play livened up when a male actor dressed as a hunchbacked old woman came on stage and started harassing audience members, and got really exciting when two lion dancers arrived and impressed the crowd with their antics. One of them came and dumped its head in my lap and offered me a little bottle of something which it snatched away every time I reached for it. The lions died and then various audience members came on stage to try and resuscitate them. The whole thing ended in a big procession with all the characters.
I made my way back to the hotel and went for a swim. I soon realized that I was underdressed in my western style swimsuit - Koreans are much more modest and bathe in long sleeves, and wearing a cap is mandatory. Some of the children wore sweet little bonnets tied under the chin, in patterns that matched their swimsuits.
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