I’ve seen a good number of Asian palaces (Thailand, China, Tibet, Japan) and Changdeokgung is my absolute favorite. Maybe it’s because it’s not overrun withpeople, but I think it is more that the natural beauty of the place is not overtaken by the palace. It’s a bit wild, a bit serene.

If I had to live in Seoul, I’d want to be king.

The admission fee may be the same, but the much larger Forbidden City gives visitors more bang for the buck. A cheaper way to avoid the tour is simply to disappear behind the little pavilion when the tour stops there for a break and linger a bit until after the group moves on. The Koreans are obviously on to this trick as I noticed several Koreans wandering around on the palace grounds. Looking at a map, it seems that a large section of the palace has been off-limits even to tour groups. If the whole palace grounds were opened up to visitors paying extra, I might go once just to see what the rest of the palace looks like.