Chungju World Martial Arts Festival

Chungju World Martial Arts Festival 2011.

http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_2.jsp?cate=&area=&dateStart=01-01-2011&startDate=20110101&dateEnd=&endDate=&keyword=&category=&areaCode=&gotoPage=&stype=&cid=697308&out_service=

Currently the festival I being held until 8 September 2011 and I was lucky enough to attend on Saturday. About 2 hours from Seoul on the bus we arrived at about 12pm and began our day looking around. The place was quite large and had one big main stage and a small stage further out the back with a section for horse mounted archery and sword play.

We headed toward the Museum first which is quite small but spaced out over 3 or so levels. There were weapons and models of some of the fighting arts from around the world.

From there we had lunch and proceeded to look at the events. The back stage had children’s displays from such arts as Kendo, Hapkido and Taekwondo as well as B-Boy and motorcycle displays. Moving onto the main stage at 3pm we saw some Chinese forms and a Taekwondo display team.

I left a little confused however as the event itself seemed a little slow without much in the way of a “world” exhibition although I did see some other nations walking around in their track suits. No stalls selling things or giving information or samples of things like protein bars or drinks or things like that and not much actually on the schedule. So I am still a little confused about the purpose of the event. However it was a nice sunny day for once and I enjoyed the time away from the city.

Until next week have a fantastic time! :)

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!