De Hanmer À Busan: 눈

"Hot soup season". That's how the Korean winter was described in a newspaper when Seoul experienced its first cold spells in late November of last year. Koreans eat a lot of soup in all seasons, but in winter, eating soup to stay warm just might be a survival necessity. Why? Because many Korean buildings are poorly insulated, making the winter cold particularly difficult to bear.

The "poorly insulated Korean building" category includes most of the buildings at my place of work. But in Busan, the winter is not so harsh. Still, to stay warm on the coldest winter days, extra layers of clothing must be worn, even indoors.

In Seoul, poor building insulation is a far more serious problem. I learned this the hard way when I visited Seoul during one of the coldest weeks of the winter, the first week of February of this year. Actually, during the first week of February, record low temperatures were recorded in many parts of Korea. And my hotel room was uncomfortably cold! To stay comfortable during the night, I had to sleep with my long underwear and my tuque on. To make matters worse, after spending the night in an under-heated hotel room, I found it difficult to warm up during the day as many other public buildings were also not particularly well heated. Not surprisingly, spending a few days in Seoul in these conditions weakened my immune system, and I caught a cold. And I could not help but wonder how Seoul's residents cope with such cold weather, especially if their homes are also poorly insulated and insufficiently heated.

In spite of the cold, I was happy to see Seoul in winter. The city center looked quite different under a blanket of snow.

Seoul's snow covered rooftops, in early February.

Snow in a park, in downtown Seoul.

Looking towards BukAk mountain (북악산), on a cold February day.

Snow-covered InWang mountain (인왕산), on a cold February day.

Looking towards downtown on SeJong DaeRo (세종대로), on a cold winter day.

DeokSu palace (덕수궁), near Seoul city hall, in winter.

But most beautiful of all were the buildings and the grounds at GyeongBok palace (경복궁).

One of the gates inside 경복궁.

A pagoda on the grounds of 경복궁.

Snow-covered roofs in 경복궁.

The moon rising over a roof in 경복궁.

Some of the buildings of 경복궁, in winter.

인왕산, seen from behind a building in 경복궁.

Seoul tower in the distance, seen from 경복궁.

인왕산, seen from the grounds of 경복궁.

Another view of 인왕산, from the grounds of 경복궁.

A gazebo, a frozen pond and 북악산, seen from the grounds of 경복궁.

My first real encounter with snow, this winter, was on Seorak moutain (설악산).

Seorak san might be Korea's most famous mountain. It is in Gangwon province, part of the Taebaek mountain range. The mountain, and the area around it, is a national park. It is a particularly popular tourist destination in the autumn, when the leaves become colourful. But I'm glad I saw it in the winter, as there were very few visitors there when I went. It was beautiful, and serene.