Seoul: Don't Squid Around

Today, I visited Changdeokgung Palace. You can read the nitty-gritty historical details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changdeokgung

But for your convenience, I will summarize the main things I took from this little expedition, historically speaking:

TIME is the third-largest threat to Korea's palaces. These things are over four hundred years old and that just plain takes a toll on the infrastructure, which is mostly wood and paint (not like those ugly stone constructions of the European Middle Ages). Luckily, there is extensive government funding that has restored, repainted, and revivified the palaces.

Fires are the second-largest threat to Korea's palaces. Fire destroyed parts of the palace many, many times, prompting the wise rulers of Korea to install huge pots of water at strategic locations. "Of course," you are no doubt thinking, "Keeping water around is a great way to put out fires!" INCORRECT. The wise rulers of Korea kept huge pots of water around as a PREVENTATIVE measure. Because everyone knows that fires are caused by fire demons. And when a fire demon sees his own reflection (say, in a huge pot of water), he will get scared and run away. And not burn the palace down.

And the first-largest threat to Korea's palaces is... (drum roll please) the Japanese! They've invaded Korea. More than once. And every time they do, they seem to cause NO SMALL MEASURE OF PAIN upon the Korean people. Colonialism... Imperialism, Racism... the Koreans have been hit by many spiky -isms. And at the other end of that -ism is an oppressive Japanese person.

Later, I will tell you about how NICE and CIVILIZED the Seoul subway system is compared to other cities. Like New York, for instance. And Boston (Ash knows what I mean).