Korea National Museum Seoul and Charming Choi Sherlock Holmes Magic Show!

Ok so this week it was a visit to Korea National Museum near Yongsan.

This is a pretty big museum and has a lot of traditional Korean historical artifacts, paintings, pottery and so on...

There is also a small sections devoted to different parts of Asia and a section which has a lot of Buddha statues.

The Admission is free and is worth a look on a lazy day...

Here is a link with a review and directions but I will cut and paste them below anyway :)

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/418

Directions:
- 150 meters towards Yongsan Family Park at Ichon Station (subway lines 4 or Jungang), exit 2, 5 minutes by walking
- Green bus 0018 / Blue bus 502 / Seoul City Tour bus: Stop on National Museum of Korea

Here is also the official link:

http://www.museum.go.kr/main/index/index002.jsp

Here is the slideshow link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66276856@N07/sets/72157627418830037/show/

Later that day we went and saw a magic show! The stage and budget were not that big but there was a lot of exciting magic and a pretty good finale with a car appearance. I guess overall it was well done with all the magic and wonder you would expect from a big budget Las Vegas show but done on a small stage. Some tricks were "cereal box" type stuff and others amazing. Here is the poster... The show is just behind the main drag of Itaewon about 10 - 15 minutes walk I guess but anyway here is the poster (you can see this on the light poles around Itaewon).

Until next week have a fantastic time! :) (next week may be action packed if all goes to plan)

Ok so I had to share this with you since I have not posted this video in any of my blog posts. This is my first Youtube video to have over 10,000 views well more precisely over 10,500. It was something I did with all the photos I took from the Seoul Motor Show earlier this year. Enjoy :)

Hello Kitty Cafe Directions! & Cats Living

Hello Kitty Cafe Hongdae Seoul South Korea

Finally I made it to Hello Kitty!... cafe...

Yes the all pink cafe... what an experience.

Anyway I will show you a map at the end on how to get there because it is not that easy... there is however another hello Kitty near Hyehwa station which is really easy to get to but more on that later...

Here is the official link:

http://www.hellokittycafe.co.kr/

So as you can imagine there was a lot of pink and hello kitty everywhere.. the food the coffee just everywhere so I will let you imagine just how good it would be to actually be there by showing you many pictures :)

Ok so I have seen some websites and blogs that say you exit here and then you go there and you will see it... well its not quite that simple.

Hongik University exit 9...walk straight out pass the little street to your left and carry on straight past paris baguette take the next left on a big 2 lane street and walk up past starbucks and then cross the road at the crossing. Once across the road turn right (facing starbucks you passed on the opposite side of the road) walk down take the first left lane then walk straight looking to your left for a little lane. You will see pink so it not so hidden from this point.

Hyehwa station is a little easier. Take Exit 4 turn left walk looking to the left until you see pink and you are there :)

Right next to Hello Kitty Hongik University is Cats Living.. another cat cafe (there are at least 3 around this area)... with fat lazy bored cats for you entertainment and a great lemon tea :)

And that's all for this week.. I did visit one other place but I will keep that for a later episode :)

Have a fantastic week!

(Posting 2 of 2) All that Skate!

So once again this is posting 2 of 2 for this week since I couldn't post last week due to my hospital visit (which you can read more about in posting 1 of 2) :)

All that Skate was a fantastic skating performance with Kim Yuna and her friends (if you don't know about Kim Yuna she is Korea's most famous olympic and world skater).

There were 2 acts divided by a 20 min intermission and there were some class acts and wonderful displays of skating!

I got some pictures and videos if you have the time to look. :)

Oh... here is the official web site program:

http://www.allthatskate.com/2011Summer/eng/program/program.php

That's all for this week. I am having a great public holiday today so i hope you are having a good time today and this week too! See you next time!

(Posting 1 of 2) Hospital, Bank of Korea Coin Museum & Drawing Show

This week I am going to post twice, so this is post 1 of 2...

So last week you may have noticed that I posted nothing... well that was due to me being admitted to hospital for emergency appendectomy. I got sick on Sunday night (thought it was food poisoning) then went to teach on Monday morning (impossible) and then was taken to the hospital for a check up by my friend and immediately subjected to a series of tests and 3 hours later I was being cut up. I got out Thursday afternoon and have still to get my stitches out.

I seem to have lost a lot of weight too :(

So here is last weeks posting!

Bank of Korea Coin Museum:

What dawned on me when I went here was that all things related to coins are in about 100m of each other just on the outskirts of myeong dong right next to the big shinshegae mall. The coin shop is across the road, the coin mall is just underground and the museum is just across the street!

So for you coin buffs... be that probably not many... or just those interested in museums this is a great one to visit. It has coins 9as you would expect) from all over the world, gold, silver and notes. It shows you the process of how paper and coin currency is made, shows you a mock up of a money vault and the kids can have fun rubbing coins or pressing coins in that activity area.

I took some pictures and they are usually worth 1000 words so I will let them speak for me :)

(A full slideshow will follow as well)

Drawing show

Well this was just outside Hywha station... well to the right and across the street.

I was expecting just what it said... a drawing show... and to be honest I was a little disappointed as there was little actual drawing and a lot of mucking around and comedy. I would have preferred to see some fantastic drawing and creative styles. I would probably give the show a generous 5/10 so if you have nothing else to do go and see it.

Pictures:

Full slide show:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66276856@N07/sets/72157627414752738/show

So that was last week... if you want to see what I did this weekend check out post 2 of 2 :)

Kangwon Land

Wow! I finally had some kind of holiday! Mid-day Friday I took the train to Kangwon Land which is a set of hotel complexes built around a mountain which is great for skiing in the winter and I believe the only casino that Korean nationals can gamble at.

There is still a lot of construction going on there with is seems like a few new hotels going up. The place is still quite amazing with big grounds and all the things you would expect of a big casino hotel.

Here are the official links:

http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=266841

High 1 Resort (Where we stayed)

http://www.high1.com/Hhome/main.high1

We went to a show in the theater which by all observation looked like a modern form of Swan Lake which was performed by a Russian group. Then we went outside to see the water, light and fireworks show which I managed to capture 90% of on my camera... I am determined now to get a bigger memory card :/

So I took some photo's... Oh and unfortunately I didn't get this but the road down from the mountain has a series of grooves in it and when a car drives down the road the tires going over the grooves plays a song :)

** Update **

Just found this on Youtube:

Anyway I might catch it if I go back in winter for some snow stuff :)

Here are the photos and video:

Until next week have a fantastic time! :)