Bucheon & Lotte World (Folk Museum)

Wednesday was Chuseok and I was off to visit Bucheon. I arrived and was immediately impressed with all the activity surrounding the subway station. Even though many of the stores were closed for the holiday I was still able to get a sense of the place. I had yet to see a "spacies parlor" or entertainment arcade but in Bucheon there are 2 in very close proximity along with a movie theatre, clubs, bars and fashion stores. All of these things are in a compact block from the subway station so you can shop Georgiano, Lacoste, Calvin Klein and many other branded stores with ease. I went for my usual exploration walk to a park (probably 5k's from the station) which had a wonderful cycling track around it and many water features and art scattered about.

One thing that is starting to get noticeable is the cold. For the first time in three and a half months I have had to close my windows. I think I had better get some warmer clothes shortly!

Yesterday I had to go on the roof of the neighbouring apartment block as there was this tiny kitten up there yelling... and yelling for hours. So I went up there and got it as it seemed it somehow got up the stairs and was locked up on the roof as the door to the stair well was closed. I was thanked with a hiss and a scratch for my troubles :)

Saturday I was invited for a quick lunch at Insadong at a traditional Korean restaurant before having traditional rice tea at a tea house. I did not have much time to see any of Insadong so it is on my "return to do" list.

I did however have another appointment at Jamsil to visit Lotte World's Folk Museum. It cost's 5000 won for a ticket and is an educational tour through the ages showing tools and historical places and is worth a visit if you have roughly 40 minutes to kill. Another thing I added to my "return to do list" was the Adventure Land part of Lotte World... here is the link:

http://www.lotteworld.com/Global_eng/Main.asp

There is just so much to do and I know I have said this before but it is really difficult to find the time to do it all!!! The other great thing about Korea is when you start making friends with the Korean's your social networks (or friends) just keep expanding with friends introducing you to their friends who then become your friends also.

I did finish Saturday with a very pleasant walk through Olympic Park (and now having been there twice I still have not seen the whole park!) possibly one of the last times before the cold really settles in.

Here is the rest of the photoset:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54304440@N04/sets/72157624912356261/show

I know I promised last week to show you a picture of a t-shirt I got last week so here it is:

You can get this t-shirt here and also find out more about Spudgy :)

http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/t-shirts/

I will also leave you with how they spent their Chuseok this year:

Seoul "N" Namsung Tower & Han River

A fantastic clear and sunny day it was and a brilliant one to go to Seoul "N" Namsung tower.

I have heard a few horror stories of lines stretching for miles to get up and down the tower and being the weekend prior to Chuseok I expected many many people. However it was a relatively relaxed day with a comfortable amount of people about that it all turned out to be an easy exercise.

It all started with a walk up the hill with a friend of mine to meet her sister and her sisters husband. I must say that the scenery of nature was amazing and I need to get out and about and do some hiking soon... I'm not exactly sure when it will get too cold to comfortably do so.

This is the first time I was not able to keep tabs on the costs on things as if you are familiar with Korean custom its first to the ticket booth or first at grabbing the cheque who pays (and then that's not always the case). Luckily I have a link to costs of admission, cable car and other things that may be of interest to you:

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264550

The tower is not as tall as the Sky City tower in Auckland New Zealand but it still has remarkable views and for me it truly was an eye opener when looking out into a sea of white buildings where millions of people live. The windows around the observatory level have indicated on them the names and distances of major cities all over the world so of course I had to have my picture taken in front of the New Zealand section.

I have been told that the night view is worth coming back for so maybe at a later date I will have some night photos but still there is much to see and do and my social calendar seems to be filling up... I need to find more time somewhere.

So from here if you are super excited about bears or maybe a little curious you need to visit the bear museum.

There are bears in there as you would expect but you have to keep your eyes out for the naughty ones that are doing things they just shouldn't be:

Head on back outside and you just might see a Martial arts performance:

Probably one of the nicest ways to get back down from atop this peak is to take the cable car or gondola... (not sure what the difference is).... Ok so Yahoo answers says:

A "cable car" can be part of a system of train cars that all are driven by an underground network of cables that are kept in motion by a large central power plant. That is how the cable cars in San Francisco, California have operated for many decades.

The type of gondola you are asking about is a "car" that is suspended beneath a moving cable.

So here is a video of the gondola ride back down:

So then here it was a cab ride to Seoul to take a rest and have a drink and then onto the Han river by subway and then another taxi.

So once again I was unsure of the cost of this but here is another link:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/53

This is worth doing!!! Believe me. For the cost of a round trip you get amazing value! The cruise lasts about an hour or more. On the cruise we were on there was a magic show to keep everyone entertained until the boat reached the bridge for the water and light show. All the cruise boats seemed to mill around or congregate like salmon swimming upstream and then the show begins and it is amazing... (like I said) and lasts a substantial time. This is where again my data runs out on my camera card... looks like another 4Gig or an 8Gig card is needed... :/

The cruise continues passing the night city scenery and to my surprise there is a fireworks show with an impressive display (arrrhh no data left on my camera... forgot to bring my back up camera!!!!........Lesson learned!).

Then on the way back we were entertained by a singer. Overall a fantastic way to spend an evening.

Here is an idea of what the water/light show was like:

Finishing the night with a late bite to eat it was an amazing day (there's that amazing word again :)

Chuseok this week http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuseok so I am going to have a little rest. Well at least on Monday and then I will see what is going on and maybe do some travelling with my new T-shirt (I will be sure to take a picture with me in it for the next post) most likely to Bucheon finally!

Here is the photo slide show:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53007881@N03/sets/72157624987774906/show

Well to finish up I have finally been sucked into this Dub Step craze that's going on so here is something for your speakers :)

A Wet Weekend

So as life goes sometimes things happen and other times they don't. This was a week of "they don't s".

Tuesday was supposed to be a big soccer game between Iran and South Korea. However by Tuesday everyone was sick and I mean everyone. Teachers, students, random people I don't know all with deadly illnesses just begging to be adopted and nurtured into full blown blah.

So yes I got sick too and it was a bad week hitting rock bottom on Thursday and crawling back up toward recovery by Friday. All you teachers will know that I am not exaggerating when I say that the kids cough and sneeze over everything; books, pens, board markers the board, door handles and if you are lucky like this guy.... maybe in your mouth:

Saturday I was supposed to go to visit one of my adult students at their home but after what seemed like 24 hours of rain that was a no go as things had flooded out that way. So in-stead I went back into Seoul to get me a iPod nano 16GB as my shuffle 1st gen finally died after many a year of hard work. 180,000 won from an apple store (4 generation so no camera on it but having now 4 cameras on various things do I need more...). I then went for a little walk and discovered some kind of market where people were dressed up as though it were hundreds of years past...!

(See slide show for pics).

I also whilst walking in the direction of Dongdaemun found a little park with some statues and various other art pieces I took some photos of.

Sunday went 10 pin bowling with my friend and their church group... Koreans take their sports very seriously and there was some heavy competition going on.

So I found out how to move in/out of a high rise.... :

Bought some goodies... yep back into the weights....

.....and finally got my epic t-shirt I have been waiting for in the mail today (Sunday delivery).

If you don't know Miyagi-Do Karate... I pitty the fool... well... OK then here is some education:

I have another t-shirt on the way this week so I am looking forward to getting that one and wearing it... show you the pics next week.

So another promising week is coming up and I hope to have some real good juicy tidbit's for you next time.

Until then.... here's a random cultural performance and some subway dancing for you to enjoy:

Slideshow:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53007881@N03/sets/72157624938650920/show

My two cents:

The Birthday Massacre has a new album coming out this month... not sure if any of you are fans of Synth Rock but anyway here is something different for your jukebox:

China Town Incheon Seoul

Typhoon Kompasu tore through Korea this week leaving moderate damage where I live; knocking over fences, uprooting some plants and tossing a few roof tiles but nothing major. I was under the impression that the worst was going to hit in the afternoon but the high winds came and went between 5:30 and 6:30 odd in the morning so I have nothing exciting to report on the matter.

However this weekend I just happened to have a brain wave on Friday and thought to look up the local China Town. Sure enough there is one in Incheon. Taking line 1 and transferring at Guro I made it to the end of the line (cue Traveling Wilburys music... maybe if your that old). Walking straight out of the station with a slight right adjustment you will see the main gate. Directly to the left of you is the information booth which is good for a map.

China town begins with some stores with typical Chinese ornamental pieces and some really nice Dragon carvings... except I have nowhere to put one here... the street transforms near the top to mainly restaurants mixed in with more little shops and stalls. There are a few places to visit and see the gates and statues. Things are generally uphill and on a hot sunny day it might pay to wear some sunscreen as I got a slight burn! There are maps posted all around so you will be able to navigate the attractions and find General Macarthur's statue right at the top of the hill. If you continue on past the statue following the path around and behind which leads down to a final resting place with another 3 people on battle pose you will see a road that comes up the hill turns right at the top and continues on. If you follow this around and find some steep wide steps heading down to what looks like some shopping area you will be heading toward "Rodeo Road" a small fashion district perhaps akin to "Rodeo Drive" well perhaps.

From here just wander around (I headed left and kept going until I saw another large gate on the opposite side of the road then took the little alleyway directly left on the side of the road I was on... confused?... well it ended up in what looked like some trendy clothes and bar area climbing the hill passing a school with "hello's" and "Hi's" at 2.30pm I ended up doing a full circuit of the hill. I got back into China Town just in time for some Lion and Dragon Dancing.

It was quite long but it had its "oooohhhh and ahhhh" factors.

I decided to do something a little different with some of my pictures this week and put together a Youtube slide show video.

I also have some other random pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53007881@N03/sets/72157624758241137/show

I also found and had my first corn ice cream with little bits of corn in it. It was surprisingly nice. However I did not take a picture of it because I blew out my memory card of 4Gig with the movies and pictures taken for that day!

Sunday I had my first delivery meal. My new friend and I ordered Chinese and cost 11,000 won and to be honest it couldn't be finished by 2 people. So if you are interested in how this works you can order to basically anywhere in the delivery region. The come in with a big metal suitcase looking thing which contains the bowls and utensils. Upon finishing your meal you simply pack up all the bowls and things and leave it outside for them to pick up later.

A couple of more things to end on:

"Let's Cooking"

"A lovely girls happy is full of sweets".... "Yam!"

This reminded me of the Tom Green clip where he is in Japan so I will share that with you if you please:

And finally for all you K-Pop fans out there... I stumbled upon the mashup mix of the best songs for the first part of 2010. I know you will enjoy this :)