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The next day, Saturday, we hopped a tour bus outside our hotel for an all-day jaunt around the city and surrounding area. One of the striking things about Seoul is how modern it is. But among the soaring skyscrapers and contemporary architecture, you find anachronistic relics of its past. Sprinkled throughout the city are remnants of the old city wall, beautiful old gatehouses that have been preserved and now anchor traffic circles [Image 82].
The first stop on our tour was at the grounds of a Buddhist temple, where Tom and Joe made a peace offering of incense while Deborah snapped some photos [Image 83]. We weren't able to go inside the temple because there was a service going on and it was packed to overflowing with worshippers [Image 84], but we did get to hear the mesmerizing chants of the congregation as we climbed the stairs to the bell tower [Image 85]. As we left, we passed a group of Buddhist monks who were protesting against the digging of a new traffic tunnel through one of Seoul's many mountains, on the grounds that the tunnel would damage the spirit of the mountain [Image 86].
From the Buddhist temple we proceeded to Gyeongbokgung [LINK], a sprawling complex built in 1395 during the Chosun Dynasty whose name means "Palace of Shining Blessings." Over the years it was sacked and burned by the Japanese (twice!), but it has been beautifully restored and is an awe-inspiring example of classical east Asian architecture [Image 87]. We wandered the grounds for a long time, seeing things such as the original dragon mural that hung over the throne of King Taejo some 500 years ago [Image 88], the famous Gyeonghoe-ru Hall, an amazing building that is printed on the back of the Korean W10,000 ($10) bill [Image 89, Image 90], and the elegant Hyangwonjeong Pavilion [Image 92].
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