Clock Teacher

Lunar New Year

I saw this article in the Korea times that does a good job about showing the traditions of Lunar New Year in Korea. Don't worry, there are lots of pretty pictures. While last year I spent the new year in Beijing, this year I will enjoy it in Korea.  If I go out, I'll take some pictures and throw them on Flickr, but it is supposed to be really really cold this weekend.

Kick'n it with the dongseng.

After Linda and Grace got back from Japan we had another day together in Seoul.  We met up with Linda's Korean younger brother.  First off I took them to see the remains of Namdaemun (that burnt down about a year ago) then I took Linda to my eyeglasses store where I introduced her to the best eyeglasses place I know.  I have bought all of my glasses for the last 6 years here.  Linda got an eye exam, lenses(tinted), and frames all for less than 50$. 

       

I was instructed that I need to take a picture of the phenomenon among Korean men where they readily accept the bag holding duty.  Here is another picture of a Korean couple in the wild.  You can clearly see who carries the purse in this relationship.  The point being that it goes far beyond holding the purse in the store.  Anyways, Grace and Linda were very amused by seeing multiple examples of this as we walked around the city.

Next we went to the 63 building (so named for the 63 floors).  It is one of the tallest buildings in Seoul and at the time of its completion was one of the tallest buildings in Asia.  In the basement they have an aquarium, IMAX theater, and up on the top they have an art gallery and observation deck.  More info here. Here are some pictures from the gallery and observation floor.

               

Next we took a Han river cruise which was cold, really really cold.  After that we met up with some more people and headed off to Hongdae for some dok-samgyupsal(think really thick bacon).

       

       

     

Boguensa Temple

Back to the previously scheduled program.  After lunch at Gorilla in the kitchen, we went to the park next door which is dedicated to a guy who has a freeway named after him in L.A.  Grace and Linda recognized him. 

       

Next on to one of my favorite places in Korea.  Boguensa temple in southern Seoul.  This temple is right next to COEX and is the largest temple in Seoul.  Since it was Linda's birthday, I really wanted to take her to this temple.  Actually that was the main place I wanted to take her for the trip and it was worth it.  The place is such a beautiful mix of tradition and modern.

               

Later we went to a Christmas party put on by the guy who runs a website www.koreanclass101.com.  At the party we were split up into random groups so I don't have too many pics of everyone, and yeah, I did randomly end up at a table with three Korean girls.

           

The guy with the funny hat was our host.  The next picture is him showing off his break dancing skills.  Break dancing is very popular in Korea now where they have renamed it B-boy so they can claim it as their own (I'm not joking).  Anyways, it was a fun time.  It was also very ironic that after a very healthy lunch at Gorilla in the Kitchen, we had dinner at a Hoff consisting of fried chicken, sausages, and ramyeon...yummy.

Speaking of dinner, one of the fun things I love to do is cook of course, so I just have to show off some of the food I made for Linda while she was here.

Kyungbokgung in a white blanket

First, a few shots of the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who is Korea's greatest military hero.  He invented the turtle ships (one of the world's oldest iron-clad ships) and had one of the few victories over Japan history.  More info here. and here. The statue has been a staple  of downtown for decades.  They are currently renovating the Gwangwhamun area to be more pedestrian friendly.  Here is a picture of what they plan it to look like.  Originally they were planning to remove Yi's statue and replace him with the statue of King Sejong (the one currently in Doksugung and shown bellow).  Now, considering that the street is named Sejong Boulevard and is in front of the Sejong Performing Arts Center, this change did make sense.  However Yi's statue has been there for so long that it just feels correct.  They did an online poll and based on the results they have decided to remodel their design to now include both statues.  Unfortunately I will not be here to see the completed square which is scheduled to be finished in June.

   

   

   

So finally I was able to go to Kyungbokgung in the snow and it wasn't on a Tuesday (it's closed on Tuesdays).  Unfortunately by the time I got there it had stopped snowing, so no fresh white blanket around.  Also, plenty of people had already been there so plenty of footprints.  The snow had started to melt off the roofs, but there were still plenty of snow around.  I also met up with a few people.  A nice gentlemen offered to take my picture for me.  He asked me in English and followed up with a few questions so I answered him in English.  Then I was taking more pictures and his daughters came up and asked me "what do you think of this place?"  Well I just couldn't resist and so I busted out with some Korean. I must admit I do like the shocked look on peoples faces when I do that.  I talked with his family a bit and then went off to take more pictures, it was fun. Here are a few of the shots I took.

 

       

Now, this next section is an area that I have really been looking forward to.  They have been restoring the palace piece by piece and this area just opened up a few weeks ago.  While they didn't have the inside open, we could walk around the buildings.  The last time I was here this was all blocked off with construction walls.  The sad part is that they have to restore so much of the palace because it was all destroyed hundreds of years ago, but the good part is that we get to see what it would have looked like new.  They take special care to construct the buildings in the traditional way and with the traditional look.  So here is what part of the palace looked like with a fresh coat of paint.

       

     

 

 

   

   

These next pictures are of the Blue House, which is the presidential residence.

       

For many more pictures, check out my flickr set here.

The river in winter

 

Next I went downtown and got some great pictures from one of my favorite picture targets, the chunggyecheon.

               

   

There are many more pictures here.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

 

 

 

Finally, a winter wonderland.

IMG_7596, originally uploaded by cjunk74.

Yesterday, was a day I have honestly been waiting years for. As I have shown, I love taking pictures at the palaces here. I have them in every season, except winter snow. Last year, I was so busy that the one time in snowed in the city and I had time to go to the palaces...it was Tuesday. That's when I found out that they are closed on Tuesdays. But yesterday, as I left my apartment, it had just started to snow, the gentle white powder that just covers everything. I ended up spending most of the day going from place to place downtown taking pictures. I don't know how many kilometers (or miles for you archaic Americans) I walked but I took around 500 pictures. Since there is no way I can upload all of them (nor would I if I could) I have harnessed the power of flickr once again. So in this post I will put a few from the morning and my trip to Doksugung, but just follow this link here to check out more of them.

 

       

       

Insadong and Myungdong

Insadong is the traditional crafts and traditional arts center.  Myungdong is one of the main shopping centers in Seoul.  Both were nice and crowded for the holidays.

     

   

               

 

Bae Yong Joon- the tribute

One of the largest tourist attractions in Korea, Bae Yong-Joon is an institution.  While he had a few roles before, it was Winter Sonata that made him into Yon-sama, the standard-bearer of the Korean Wave. In Insa-dong they have a cafe dedicated to him and a special gift shop for the area where they filmed Winter Sonata.

                                 

He even has his own restaurant, Gorilla in the kitchen.  It specializes in healthy cooking, no cream, no oil etc. They made a special salad just for Linda that was very nice.  Grace had the lunch set and I had the peppered chicken.  The portions come in two sizes, human and gorilla.  The chicken was great.  The ironic part was that after such a healthy lunch, we had a dinner of friend chicken and sausages at a Christmas party, heh heh. More pics of that later, now on to more Yon-sama pics.

 

Linda and Grace in Korea Part I

Here are the first of some pictures of Linda and Grace in Korea.  Day one was in Myungdong and Insadong. 

              In a great little bit of randomness, here is a piece of the Berlin wall in downtown Seoul.

       

Next we went to Dunkin Donuts.  Now, it is important to mention if I haven't before that Dunkin Donuts is a much higher class place in Korea than in US.  They are much more like a Starbucks with donuts and MUCH better hot chocolate.  Since it was a freezing day, we decided to warm up on the inside as well and partake of some extra holiday cheer with a winter snowman donut.  However, Grace and I were sharing the donut, so the poor guy had to be divided.  He was yummy.  Now the hot chocolate I had was a super hot chocolate lover, so it came with a nice extra chocolate covered stirrer to mix in the extra kiss of chocolate.  It was very very chocolatey, and also yummy.

             

The new look, and dinner at the Plaza.

 

Here I am with my birthday tie and birthday shirt. So yeah, the hair is back to shorter though I wear it a little different.

 

Some pictures from dinner with and friends at the Seoul Plaza Hotel (yes the one from the dramas).

 

First off, something interesting in the parking lot.  The area closest to the elevator entrance is designated "for ladies only". 

     

This was actually the first time I have seen this here.  Unfortunately, the only reason I can think of to have it is similar to the "ladies only" subway cars in Japan.  This isn't exactly a "ladies first" country so it must be for their protection.  It was surprising to BJ too, so she made sure I took pictures for her. Ok, so on to the buffet dinner.  Yummy stuff.

               

       

  The buffet was great.  Perfect for vegetarians, omnivores, and all.  The sushi bar was very popular but not my thing.  I loved the sauteed veggies and beef.  The deserts were really good.  Chocolate fondue is always delicious of course, but the frozen yogurt was spectacular.  It tasted like yogurt, the perfect mix of sour and sweet wrapped in a nice frosty cream.