Blogs from Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Asia - page 4

떠나기 까지 수없는 고민과 결단을 필요로 했건만... 모든 일은 그리 쉽게 이루어 지지 않을때가 있다... 신종 인플루엔자 또는 돼지 독감이라는 이름의 바이러스가 세계로 번져나갈즈음에... 우린 다시 결단했다...그래 지금 부터 출발~ ... read more

My first stop in Korea was Changdeok Palace, which is a palace set within a large park in Jongno-gu, Seoul. It is one of the "Five Grand Palaces" built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty and because of its location east of Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeokgung is also referred to as the East Palace. The literal meaning of Changdeokgung is "Palace of Prospering Virtue". Changdeokgung was the favored palace of many kings of the Joseon Dynasty and retained many Korean elements dating from the Three Kingdoms of Korea period that were not incorporated in the more formalistic Gyeongbokgung. One such element is the fact that the buildings of Changdeokgung blend with the topography of the site instead of imposing upon nature Changdeokgung was continuously expanded during the reign of King Taejong and King Sejong the Great, ... read more

Seoul is the 11th largest city in the world. Beaten in the states by NYC and LA. 12 million people. Yesterday I took a self-guided walking tour (they have them in my guidebook) and saw a fraction of the central part. As much ground as I covered, it's amazing how little I actually saw, but what I did see was very cool. Bosin-gak, a pavilion with a bell forged in 1468. This street was subtitled "Piano Key Boardwalk". Bet you can't guess why. As to the other "why", I don't know. Cheonggye stream - a canal built through the downtown area. The equivalent of $313 million, to "restore" the urban core and make it prettier. I say it worked, but part of me can... read more

Museums Aplenty in Seoul My visits to the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMa, line 1 or 2 to City Hall subway station, exits 1, 11, 12) have been more interesting than I thought they would be. First I stumbled on it after visiting the Deoksugung Palace grounds and seeing the changing of the guard. You may find something great, or you may not like it too much, but it is only 700 Won (70 cents) so it is worth a try if you are in the vicinity of Deoksugung Palace and City Hall. Chun's Paintings For example, they had an excellent display of work by a woman artist named Kyung-Jay Chun (Chun Kyung-Jay). Why is she not better known? Why is there no book of her work in English (as far as I can tell)? She ... read more

You can't visit Seoul without trotting off to Insadong to experience a teahouse. Met up with El and Candace, my companions at the War Museum and we hunted through Insadong's back alleys until we found Yetchatjip, the old tea house. This place has the atmosphere of a slightly organised junk shop, with stuff everywhere, little tables to sit at or in our case a little private area with cushions on the floor for us to sit on. There are even a host of small birds flying around freely. Luckily they didn't come into our area as I'd be a little worried about extra bits in the tea. We tried Jujube (heavy, date flavour); Double Heaven (also a bit heavy) and Chrysanthemum (so light it almost didn't exist) so in the end the tea didn't rock, but ... read more