The Marmot’s Hole

10 Comments

1. captbbq
   Posted September 17, 2007 at 11:10 pm | Permalink

   Another benefit of the hanbok…is that it gets you into the Gyeongbokgung for free!

   I always knew there was something more behind it… that or you do it as a ruse to get people to stop scrambling to hand you fork whenever you go to a korean restaraunt.

2. sewing
   Posted September 18, 2007 at 4:22 am | Permalink

   Seriously?

3. sewing
   Posted September 18, 2007 at 4:22 am | Permalink

   About the hanbok, that is. How about a Joseon-dynasty civil servant’s cap and gown? (Not that I have such a thing.)

4. Abiola
   Posted September 18, 2007 at 4:33 am | Permalink

   These are some fantastic pictures, with the sky and buildings being both nicely exposed, which is quite a feat in broad daylight, which is when the low ISO and narrow apertures indicate they were taken. How were they taken, with a graduated ND filter?

5. sanshinseon
   Posted September 18, 2007 at 10:14 am | Permalink

   Great shots, yep, due to great lighting.

   > Seriously?

   Yup, wearing any sort of hanbok gets you into Gyeongbok-gung for free… I wish it worked for that everywhere.

6. Robert Koehler
   Posted September 18, 2007 at 12:48 pm | Permalink

   Abiola — Just snapped them with my D40x on auto. Got lucky with the weather.

   And yes, I’m completely serious — a hanbok gets you into the Gyeongbokgung for free, saving you 3,000 won.

7. terrible dan
   Posted September 19, 2007 at 2:06 am | Permalink

   Near the area in the left on that second one is a plaque that I found pretty cool. It marks the spot of the first electric generator operated in Korea (maybe… 112 years ago?) Gyeongbokgung was probably the first place in Korea to have a complete set of electric lighting… I imagine it must’ve been sweet, a mix of of palacey goodness, vibrant reds, greens, powder blues and that Edison vintage warm-yellow electric incandescence. Would’ve liked to take a picture of that. That and the mustaches of the period.

   What nice weather we could be having, too. A successful expedition on a nice day!

8. sewing
   Posted September 19, 2007 at 3:23 am | Permalink

   Terrible Dan: I can’t offer a picture, but Robert Neff (who lurks around this blog sometimes) wrote up a piece on the early electrification of the palaces here (cached copy): Electricity Sends Sparks Flying in Joseon Korea, and he links to an IEEE paper by one Korean electrical engineering professor by the name of Nam Moon-Hyon here (PDF): Early History of Electrical Engineering in Korea.

9. sewing
   Posted September 19, 2007 at 3:34 am | Permalink

   The Gyeongbok Palace power plant was built in 1886; Changdeok Palace was wired up in 1894 by a gentleman by the serendipitious name of Thomas W. Power.

10. user-81
    Posted September 19, 2007 at 3:40 am | Permalink

    “And yes, I’m completely serious — a hanbok gets you into the Gyeongbokgung for free, saving you 3,000 won.”

    How many trips would be required for the hanbok to pay for itself?