Business trips are inherently stressful, at least for me. The ones I’ve taken usually involved a lot of meetings, dinner events, and all sorts of commitments that often resulted in sleep deprivation. Last September, I was sent to Busan, South Korea with some of my colleagues as part of the organizing committee for our company’s annual event as an appreciation for our top-grossing clients. We had to make sure every single program ran smoothly and our guests were happy, which meant we had to be on standby most of the time because last-minute changes and requests are not uncommon in this kind of setting.

However, whenever possible in every business trip I also like to squeeze in some time for sightseeing, no matter how brief, so that in the end I come home not only with a fresh pile of tasks to follow up, but also the memories of the place. For the Busan trip, I made a plan to fly out of Seoul instead for two reasons: the airport at Incheon that serves the South Korean capital has more international flights than Busan airport, which meant I would have more options for my flight back to Jakarta, and by moving to a different city I would have the time to be by myself and recharge after days of pushing my social battery to its limit. (Introverts do what introverts need to do.)

In the morning after the final program, most guests and some people from my office (including me) checked out of our hotel and parted ways. The majority of them headed straight to Busan airport, but I went to the city’s main train station instead, for I had reserved a seat on the high-speed KTX train to Seoul. South Korea’s bullet train systems were derived from France’s TGV, and as soon as I stepped inside the car it immediately felt different from the Shinkansen or the Chinese-built high-speed train (which is what Indonesia chose for the country’s first ever high-speed railway) I have taken before – not in a bad way though. Sure enough, it departed on time, and as soon as we left Busan’s urban area, the speed immediately picked up and kept increasing to a point where the trees outside began to blur away.

However, my arrival in Seoul was rather tardy – for Asian bullet train standards – as we pulled into the capital’s main train station six minutes later than scheduled. With less than 12 hours in the city before my flight back to Jakarta later that night, planning what to see in such a limited time was crucial. Luckily, Seoul is home to what is arguably among the largest and most comprehensive metro networks in the world, which is essential to move around a big city efficiently. But first, I needed to deposit my suitcase at one of the lockers available at some metro stations. To my delight, the whole process proved to be quite straightforward: I just had to download an app, choose the station, pick a locker that suits the size of my luggage, and make the payment.

On our first brush with the South Korean capital in 2018 – which was also a rather short trip – James and I managed to visit two of the five royal palaces in Seoul: the impressive Gyeongbokgung and the elegant Changdeokgung. This time around, I had Deoksugung in mind, the smallest of them but also the easiest to access since it’s located adjacent to a metro station and directly across the City Hall, one stop away from Seoul station. My plan, however, was to check it out right before sunset so that by the end of my visit I would have the palace compound bathed in artificial lights.

After depositing my luggage, I exited the metro station and sat at a bench near the entrance of the palace to have two kinds of bread I had bought earlier at Seoul station. As I was halfway through munching the second piece of flaky goodness, suddenly a troupe of men draped in colorful costumes playing South Korean traditional music emerged from my left. They were all marching in front of me toward the palace gate. I immediately realized that it was the changing of the guards! I quickly gobbled up the rest of the bread, grabbed my camera, and dashed toward the entrance of the palace to watch the performance. I had read about how a similar ceremony at Gyeongbokgung has become a spectacle, drawing a large number of curious tourists every single day. But the one unfolding before my eyes at Deoksugung didn’t feel too crowded, and there was this solemness in the air that was quite captivating. I couldn’t believe my luck for being nearby just as it started!

Once the ceremony was over, it was time for lunch. I walked down the main avenue from the City Hall to Seoul station to look for a place that does Korean food – preferably serving dishes I can’t find in Jakarta. But this proved to be quite a challenge. The menus at some restaurants didn’t look too special, and some eateries were closed altogether. I turned to Google Maps for help and searched the area to find a place that seemed interesting. This took a while before I finally settled with one particular local joint that does cold buckwheat noodles.

Yurimmyeon is situated on a quiet alley hidden behind another taller building. This is one of those places that you really need to look for instead of going to as an afterthought. It was what I read on the internet that convinced me to check it out: it’s a family-run eatery that has been in business for more than five decades, and it’s listed as a Bib Gourmand eatery in the Michelin Guide. Luckily, as it was already past lunchtime, the place wasn’t crowded at all. I pointed at one particular dish on the menu (it was solely in Korean, but luckily there were pictures) and the server with a thick Korean accent asked me, “spicy?” I nodded.

As is the custom in Korean restaurants, while I was waiting for the main dish, I was served banchan (side dishes) including the largest slices of pickled turnip I’ve ever seen in my life. And before long, the noodles arrived. Later I learned that what I ordered is called bibim-guksu, a cold, sweet, savory, and spicy noodle dish that is popularly eaten in the summer. In fact, Seoul was still a little hot and humid in early September, so having this for lunch was actually quite refreshing.

My stomach was full and happy, and after saying kamsahamnida to the ladies who ran the restaurant (which was met with big smiles from their end), I was finally ready to explore Deoksugung which was just a few steps away from this eatery. The sky only got grayer as the day progressed, but it didn’t dampen my excitement to explore my third Korean former royal palace. Deoksugung’s history goes back as far as the 16^th century, but it only rose to prominence at the turn of the 20^th century when Gojong, the penultimate Korean monarch, ascended the throne. He was the last king of the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea for more than five centuries, and the first emperor of the Korean Empire, a relatively short-lived state whose existence ended 13 years after its formation when Korea was colonized by Japan in 1910.

Walking past Daehanmun, the main gate of the palace, I was immediately met with a row of ginkgo trees on my left and a few low-rise old buildings to my right. However, as the lighting was not ideal for outdoor photography, I saved Junghwajeon (the main hall within the palace grounds) for later and decided to go straight to Seokjojeon, a neoclassical building completed in 1910. This and a few other Western-style structures within the compound are what make Deoksugung unique compared to the other former royal palaces in Seoul that were built in traditional Korean architectural style. The juxtaposition of East and West is a reflection of the zeitgeist at the beginning of the 20^th century and the desire of the monarch to modernize his country.

At the west wing of Seokjojeon, which is a separate building constructed in 1938, is the Deoksugung branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. When I went, there was a special exhibition commemorating the 80^th anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japan. Korean landscape paintings from the colonial period to the modern era were showcased with a central theme of ‘hometown’, capturing Koreans’ affection for – and longing for – home. The artworks covered territorial loss and rediscovery, war-induced separation and division, survival amid destruction, and hope for reconstruction. Sadly, these are the things many people across the globe still have to deal with today.

North of the west wing of Seokjojeon, tucked away in the far corner of the palace compound, was Dondeokjeon, an early 20^th-century French-style building that initially functioned as a guest house and audience hall for dignitaries. Unfortunately, it was demolished in the 1920s, although luckily a multiyear reconstruction effort completed in 2023 managed to bring it back to life. Inside, there was an exhibition on Korea’s independence struggle from Japan where one particular object caught my attention the most. At a glance, it looked like a worn-out Taegukgi – the South Korean flag. But on a closer look you could tell it was originally a Japanese flag which was then defaced by the additions of blue paint on the red disk and four sets of black lines on the four corners of the banner. This Taegukgi was discovered at Jingwansa Temple when renovation works were underway, and now the relic has been designated a national treasure.

By the time I exited Dondeokjeon, the sky was getting darker and the drizzle becoming more intense. I looked for a place to sit and settled at a bench under tall trees near the foot of Junghwajeon, the main hall. While patiently waiting for the staff to turn on the lights, I was delighted by what I heard being played from across the wide avenue from the walled palace compound. A few hours earlier, I noticed a stage was being set up in front of the City Hall, and when night came, the multi-award-winning hit song Golden from Netflix’s unexpected summer sensation KPop Demon Hunters blasted from the loudspeakers. It is loved by millions of people worldwide for its catchy tune, profound lyrics, and incredibly high notes.

Eventually, the lights at the palace were turned on, highlighting the elegant beauty of Junghwajeon that stood proudly before my eyes. And just like that, despite the exhaustion from my lack of sleep for days and the inclement weather in Seoul, the brief visit to Deoksugung ended on a high note with the song being the unexpected icing on the cake.