Korea 2015

A mosaic of photos from our recent trip to Korea.

(mouse over the photos to read a short description, I’ve described most of the photos.

Paris Baguette Cafe in Incheon Airport, a neat little corner, not crowded as compared to anywhere else.

Train station in Gwangju.

Bicycle parking in a Gwangju subway.

Carriage designated for hauling in bicycles, on weekends only.

Bicycle path

Loving the autumn leaves already.

Gateway to a popular touristy temple site, that I’ve forgotten the name though.

Open air carpark before reaching the temple area

The prominent mountain feature for as the temple backdrop.

Tile inscriptions in the temple grounds.

Our bus tickets to Gunsan.

A ground of locals shopping for seaweed outside the temple ground.

Gwangju Art Museum visit.

Innovative plates and bowls as art.

Hello

Shadow warrior

Yes, this is a working bicycle.

Outside the art museum

Look at that foliage

Bicycles for free rentals inside the subway. Just produce your passports or local ID.

A Pochang Macha, a popular local way of gathering

Folks from all over

Our guesthouse owner

And his pretty chef

Gunsan bike rentals also, payment through lcoal transit card

They even took the care to color coordinate the building paints

The famous Gunsan fashion street, though it rained the whole day.

Cafe

Last stop, Seoul, in Unicorn’s Residence, Ponny the lady on the left is the owner of this wonderful guesthouse

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Korea – Seoul – Part 2

Another aspect of Korean life has to be its chill out lifestyle, other than the hustle of the daily grind.

We found a quiet spot in the heart of some shopping district. The wife here chilling out over cheesecake and fresh brewed coffee.

A trip to the famous Seoul Tower.

And then the Teddy Museum, located within the tower. This little dude here caught my attention. Apparently vandalising the classroom wall lol.

And of course, the DMZ. The trip was good, although rushed. But we got a good feel of the intensity of the place.

Well wishes from locals and foreigners. Praying for the peace of both Koreas.

Kid you not, the railway in the background is still in service. While we were there, a train went by into the North of the border.

MPs on the guard.

This is our cool looking guard. Over at the backend, the grey building, is the North side of Korea.

We managed to get a glimpse of a few North Korean soldiers as well.

Lotte World – One of Seoul’s theme park. Apparently this is the world’s largest theme park also.

A few of our Seoul companions.

Yes, there is a reason why this is the world’s largest theme park. It was tiring just walking around.

Korea is an ultra modern country with strong roots in its history. Hence you can find a lot of palaces in Seoul.

The palace entrance.

This is supposedly the King’s private quarters.

The back entrance The Secret Garden?

House of Fortune!

A stove, for firewood to provide warmth to the inhabitants during the winter.

This here is a chimney, that was used to exhaust the fumes from the kitchen and heating.

The Gate of Longevity!

The building in the back served as library for the royals of the past.

 

The tablets marked the location of each court official for their daily reports to the king. Ranking at 1st, 2nd, etc.

Korea – Seoul – Part 1

Well, the only proper way to introduce Seoul is the shopping. And yes, this is one of the few countries I have travelled that actually caused me shop and shop.

Korean fashion is a class of its own. And rightly so. With its own instinctive city style.

I do recall this is the shopping belt around the Women’s University. And yes I splurged a bit here 😀

The food is good, being that we scouted out the local fares, and the occasional Mcd.

We had some 100% local food at this night market. Cant really recall the names of the dishes though.

My fav, pig’s innards.

For Seoul, we put up in The Gangnam Guesthouse. Also another really nice place, with its kitchen and all.

There is Sam, cooking up a fare for the night.

If you look closely, there are actually 7 persons in this photo lol

Makoli – Korean rice wine.