I am skirting a horseshoe shaped pond to the west of the main palace. Due to coming directly from Taiwan my clothing is insufficient for the Korean winter so I have to keep walking to keep warm. In the pond are two rectangular islands with some kind of pine trees growing on them and in the center of the horseshoe shape is a gigantic two story pavilion. Big wet flakes of snow fall slowly but the absolutely still surface of the pond is still unfrozen. The surroundings are rather barren, sand, yellow grass and a few pines, and the palaces itself is far less gaudy than the forbidden city in Beijing but otherwise rather similar. The lack of color here suits my lone wolf way of being and I could stay here contemplating the still waters and the falling snow if it wasn’t so cold.