Blogs from Gwanghwamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Asia

Seoul Museum of History is not one of the major sights in the city. I only learnt about the place a couple of years ago, and kept meaning to visit, but I also kept forgetting about it. With a couple of free hours, I decided to head there and learn more about this beast of a city. The museum is in a good location. I walked there from the City Hall area by Deoksugung Palace. I had checked the map and the museum's website and it was about a 15 minute walk. The museum is situated next to Gyeonghuigong Palace. Outside of the museum, there is an old streetcar that operated on the city's streets between 1939 and 2964. The first streetcars began operating in 1899 on May 17th between Cheongnyangni and Jongno. They were the ... read more

Today we went to a famous palace called Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is one of the famour attractions in Seoul and has a very interesting history to it. I just you know, the gate itself is humongous. The gate is called Gwanghwamun Gate and it is the main entrance into the palace. Inside the gates, there is a whole open space where ceremonies used to held. In front of the huge space, there is a smaller gate that will lead into the inner palace. Inside the inner palace there are traditional buildings that was conserved and small gardens with ponds. The palace was very big, we spent ages just walking around in there. We saw different kinds of interesting buildings that were in the palace and each one of them had various purposes. After leaving the Gyeongbokgung ... read more

Ten years ago I set out to the local Post Office filing in forms and handing over a check for $65.00 USD paid to the United Postal Services in January 2001. The application was for my first US Passport. The reason I needed to obtain a passport wasn't because I was about to become a jet set traveler but merely I had been accepted to study in the country known as "down-under" or Australia. A decade of travel later my passport was on the verge of reaching the six-months to expire category. Knowing I needed to get my passport renewed prior to April for our wedding anniversary trip, I decided to apply early for the new passport. Ironically, ten years later, I am on the cusp of moving back "down-under" however this time I am not ... read more