SEOULFUL Trip, Day 2: 3rd Destination, Changdeokgung Palace

On the east of the Gyeongbukgong Palace, about ten minutes away by taxi-ride, is the Changdeokgung Palace. (Note: This palace is just right across the street from our guesthouse. As in tatawid ka lang talaga at viola! Nasa gate ka na ng Changdeokgung.) 

This is a World Heritage Site. And look at that main gate! It’s just right across the street from our guesthouse----such a treat!

This palace is not as grand as Gyeongbukgong but the princes favored this more because of its seeming unity with nature.

Changdeokgung Palace is often called as the eastern Palace and although it’s not as formidable and defined at first glance as Gyeongbukgong Palace, it has been said that the Joseon princes favored this palace more than Gyeongbukgong. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the reasons for being awarded as such is that unlike the Gyeongbukgong which overpowers the place that it was built upon, the structures in the Changdeokgung Palace are disposed more freely and with no regular system such that it seems chaotic at first glance. But this is actually because it was designed such that it is in harmony with its surrounding. If you are a Jewel in the Palace fanatic back in 2000, then FYI, a lot of scenes were taken in the grounds of this palace. 

I’m sure you’ve seen them in my previous posts. Meet Julia (with scarf) and Spencer---the teddy couple whose love affair was finally allowed by their parents (Ahne and I). And what better place to start your love story than in the romance story capital of Asia (Well, at least for a koreanovela fanatic like me.)? Aren’t they just adorable? Expect Julia to be in my future travels (By God’s Grace. Thank you Lord in advance!) that she will be the ultimate lakwatsera teddy.

At this point, Ahne and I were taking a break from our long walk. Since the entrance to the Secret Garden is scheduled and grouped according to nationality/language, we were supposed to be able to enter at 2:30 in the afternoon for the English tour. By this time, it was just about 12:30 and we were already famished. Plus, we only wanted to see the infamous Buyong Pond----the pond! Is that too hard to understand? Ahahaha! We were thinking of strategies to explain that to the gatekeeper without sounding like lunatic young ladies. Our impatience got the best of us that we agreed to take another chance with our last strategy. I went back to the gatekeeper who happened to be a nice, old Korean man and asked him if we could just join the Korean group at 1:00. Although it was evident that he found my request bizarre, he said yes nonetheless. While the group was gathered, Ahne and I were just smiling amusingly for we were probably the only two who were clueless of what the tour guide was talking about. So at one point, when they stopped at a place, we quietly increased our pace away from the group and looked for the pond all by ourselves. If only there was a video to capture that moment, it would have been too hilarious to see us like two sneaking 8-year old kids.

Aside from visiting the palace, we had another purpose of including this place in our itinerary---we wanted to see the lotus pond which was said to have been the site where the female lead character in “The Rooftop Prince” fell when she ate poisoned persimmons to save her sister and the love of her life from royal execution.

Now, this Buyong (Lotus) Pond is separated from the main palace ground with a gate and concrete walls. The pond is inside a walled garden which was referred to during the Joseon era as the “Forbidden Garden” as it was only the members of the royal family who were allowed to enter this area freely---even high ranking officials were not allowed to enter this highly guarded place without the permission of the king. The name was later changed into “The Secret Garden” to lessen the intensity but at the same time, retain the mystique effect of the place.

Let’s play a guessing game: What am I trying to portray in my 2nd top photo from the left? Oh my gosh people you are so disappointing me! Kahit saang anggulo tingnan kuhang-kuha ko kaya ang emotions pati ang pag-spread ng arms ni Buyong when she forced herself to drown in the palace’s pond after eating the poisoned persimmon, helllllloooooo? Oh I can see some rolling of the eyeballs again! Ahahaha. But you know what it took us to have this photo taken? Our dignity of course! Ahahaha! Because while we were having this pose, the group which we sneaked from awhile ago arrived, just at the same time. Probably they were thinking: “Kanina pa mula sa labas ng gate may mga di normal na aktuwasyon ‘tong dalawan babaeng ito ah!” But at those moments, our motto comes in: “Never mind. These people don’t know us!” :)

We found the pond ahead of the group and naturally, left the garden ahead. During our walk back to the gate, our imagination and flair for immortalized history got the best of us and we talked that in the past (approximately 300-500 years ago), this is the same grounds that the Korean princes possibly took the ladies whom they love---and probably had their first holding of hands, or their first kiss, while whispering promises for their future and that of their nation. Or probably, this was where the king would take the queen for a long afternoon walk, while discussing about their children (the princes and princesses) and trying to escape a big responsibility of leading the nation even for a short period of time. Though printed history is essential, isn’t it that the little anecdotes and the little unknown details have more power of being able to move us?