South Korea « Victor Villanueva

Posts tagged with South Korea

January 2, 2010

South Korea Trip ’09: Dongdaemun & Itaewon markets, Seoul

November 09, 2009. Before we headed off to the airport for our flight that evening back to Manila, the family decided to go shopping in some of Seoul’s shopping districts. We went to two, Dongdaemun and Itaewon.

Dongdaemun Market is near its namesake ancient landmark, Dongdaemun, or the Great East Gate. It is apparently the largest shopping district in Seoul with over 26 shopping malls and tens of thousands of stores that sell everything you can think of. Unfortunately, the shopping malls were closed when we were there (not that we would be able to get around much, given that we only had an hour or so to stay). We ended up in Pyounghwa Clothing Market since we were looking for things we could conveniently bring home to the Philippines for ourselves, and for friends and relatives as pasalubong.

The place sold, obviously, things one can wear, from socks to undergarments to coats and ties to hats and caps. Since it was nearing the winter season, most of the clothes available at that time were coats and other clothes appropriate for cold weather, ergo, clothes not appropriate in the Philippines.

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January 1, 2010

South Korea Trip ’09: Around Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul

November 09, 2009. It was our last day in our brief visit to South Korea. We only had half the day to see the city one last time before heading off to the airport for our flight back to Manila.

That morning, we decided to take a stroll at Gwanghwamun Square. The square used to be lanes of one of the major roads in the city which the government decided to turn into a park of sorts. The place was just opened to the public in August 2009. At the middle of the square is a big monument of Korea’s most revered king, King Sejong. Towards the southern end of the plaza is another statue of one of Korea’s most famous admirals. The plaza is located in front of the main gate of Geongbokgung, Seoul’s main ancient palace complex.

I also took the opportunity to take street photos around the square, of pedestrians and other citizens of Seoul going about their daily routines.

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December 31, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Korean Folk Village, Yongin

November 08, 2009. After having lunch at Itaewon, Seoul, our tour guide brought us to a “Korean Folk Village” theme park forty minutes away in the city of Yongin in Gyeonggi, South Korea. The folk village is actually an artificial recreation of Korean folk villages that showcase traditional Korean life and culture. It was apparently built partly as a way of preserving, albeit artificially, the traditional way of life in Korea in the midst of its rapid economic growth and modernization. The park is divided into different areas featuring different types of Korean homes and communities, from farm villages, to landlord’s courtyards to traditional marketplaces. The park also features live “actors” playing the role of traditional Korean folk villagers going about “normal” everyday routines, from cooking to farming. To be fair enough, the entire recreation of the folk village was highly realistic.

Some areas also feature shows that showcase traditional Korean ceremonies from weddings to dances. Since it was drizzling that afternoon, the traditional wedding reenactment show was canceled. We were able to witness, on the other hand, a show featuring horsemen doing acrobatics with their horses. It was pretty cool.

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December 12, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Chogyesa & Geongbokgung, Seoul

November 8, 2009. We were booked on a half-day city tour of Seoul. I used to say I’m not a fan of packaged group tour itineraries. I still do. I dislike the feeling of being limited by a schedule or a route prepared by some other person. To make things a little more unpleasant, it was raining the entire morning in Seoul.

Our first destination was a Buddhist temple in the center of Seoul called Chogyesa. The temple, although relatively new compared to other temples having been built only in 1910, plays a major role in Korean Buddhism. It was the headquarters of Korean Buddhism during the Japanese occupation. Because it is within the city center of Seoul, the temple is more accessible to tourists and devotees than other temples in Korea, although that would also mean it doesn’t offer as serene an atmosphere for genuine meditation perhaps.

Geongbokgung is like the Forbidden City of Beijing, only smaller, but large nonetheless. It’s the grandest among the “five palaces” complex built by Korea’s Joseon Dynasty. It used to house the royal family of Korea. One of Seoul’s most famous tourist destinations, hordes of tourists were still present despite the rain. Visitors are supposed to witness an hourly changing-of-the-guards ceremony but since it was drizzling, the show was canceled. Our trip to Geongbokgung was capped by a visit to the National Folk Museum within the same complex.

One of the things I really dislike about packaged tour itineraries is that they always include a trip to a commercial tourist trap. In places my family has visited like Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore and I’m sure in many other East Asian cities, these commercial tourist traps are either jewelry stores or herbal medicine shops (which includes tea stores). In Seoul, we were herded to a ginseng complex. And like all other tourist traps like it, the trip was complete with sales people talking you into buying expensive “exclusive” merchandise.

The group tour incuded lunch at a restaurant in Itaewon, still in Seoul. After having another Korean meal, we broke off from the group tour and went to another tour, this time to a Korean folk village theme park around an hour away from the city.

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November 28, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Myeongdong, Seoul

November 07, 2009. Our first night in Seoul was spent walking around Namdaemun Market and Myeongdong. I had wanted to look around the rows of camera shops in Namdaemun, hoping to buy new lens for my camera, so I suggested a trip to Namdaemun Market that night. We couldn’t locate the shops, however, and we eventually ended up in Seoul’s Myeongdong district.

Myeongdong is one of Seoul’s shopping districts featuring brand name shops in the mid to high-level prices. As we were looking for bargains, we didn’t go shopping. We just had dinner at a popular pizza restaurant chain in Korea. Myeongdong also seems to be where students and yuppies hang out, as most of the people who swarmed the streets were young people in trendy clothes. It feels like one large high-end open-air mall with a vibrant night life.

Not surprisingly, Myeongdong, Seoul also claims to be the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world in terms of floorspace rents.

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November 24, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Onto Seoul

November 07, 2009. After just a day in Busan, we proceeded to Seoul via the Korea Train Express or KTX. The high-speed train, running as fast as 300 kph took us to Seoul, almost 550 kilometers away (more or less the distance between Manila and Cebu or Manila and Ilocos), in less than three hours. The train was apparently only inaugurated in 2004.

Speaking of trains, apparently, all Korean cities and many towns have well developed public transit systems. In fact, the Seoul-Incheon subway system is one of the largest in the world, with over 300 stations. It’s something that we weren’t able to try out, riding the subway. Nonetheless, such an extensive subway system must make commuting to any point of destination in the metropolis a convenience. It’s something I wish we could have in Manila, but with the billions of dollars that it might cost, it may just be wishful thinking. For now, we have to make do with streets congested with public and private vehicles.

Upon arriving in Seoul and while trying to figure out how we can get to our hotel, I took some pictures around the vicinity of the big train station. There was a small rally being held nearby, calling for the unification of North and South Korea, in favor of the dominance of South Korean democracy, of course. All the other people were going by their own ways, most of them in a rush.

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South Korea Trip ’09: Gyeongju (Part 2)

November 06, 2009. The Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju is a stone temple built and completed more than 1,200 years ago. It has been regarded by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site.

The carved stones that make up the grotto were stacked up into a dome-shaped cave bonded together by soil and clay. The grotto houses the Bonjonbul, a 3.5 meter-high statue of the Buddha, considered one of the most outstanding masterpieces in the history of the world’s religious art. There are other sculptures surrounding the giant Buddha, though I don’t recall what they represent or what story they tell. Photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside the temple, so I can’t show you anything. Some pictures are available over the internet.

A few minutes from the Seokguram Grotto is Bulguksa Temple. Bulguksa is another Buddhist temple complex that houses structures and sculptures dating to more than a thousand years ago. Like Seokguram, it is also considered as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Since it was the beginning of autumn, the trees were in their colorful orange, red and yellow hues which made the landscape look more impressive.

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November 23, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Gyeongju (Part 1)

November 06, 2009. A few hours drive north of Busan is the city of Gyeongju, once the capital of Silla, one of Korea’s ancient three-kingdoms. With a long and rich history spanning over a thousand years and more than a handful of impressive structures dating back hundreds of years, it has been designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage city.

Leaving Busan at past 10 in the morning, we arrived in Gyeongju right in time for lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant. It was my formal introduction to Korean food and eating practices. We had a room in a courtyard style home with warm elevated flooring. We were served the entries in batches, every quarter of an hour or so. I don’t remember everything that was served, as most of them were terribly unfamiliar. It might take a longer stay in Korea for one to truly appreciate the food. Many of them were pickled, spicy vegetables, cold cuts of raw fish and other sea creatures, and some beef soup. The servings aren’t big, but since there were a lot of dishes, it was more than enough to fill us up. Formal lunches like this are meant for long afternoons with conversations among friends and colleagues.

Silla Millenium Park in Gyeongju is a modern theme park that seeks to recreate an ancient Silla city. Since we only had an hour or so to spend in the park, we were not able to go around much. We were only able to see a show in the park’s Jang Bo-Go Performance Stage, depicting a battle between Koreans and Chinese invaders trying to occupy a Silla city. The Koreans win and thwart the invasion, of course.

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November 14, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Rest of Busan

We, unfortunately, just had a day to spend in Busan. I would have really liked to just walk around the streets downtown, around markets and other places in the city, to do what I have just recently re-enjoyed doing, taking pictures. The only sight-seeing we were able to do was sight-seeing through the windows of cars, and through brief stop-overs along the road, or brief walks before and after lunch and dinner.

Our only dinner in Busan was spent at a seafood restaurant in the city’s Gwangalli district, which like Haeundae, has its own seafront lined with restaurants, cafes and bars, all with a great view of the magnificent Gwangan bridge. It was a long dinner of raw sea creatures, from freshly killed and chopped tentacles of octopus, (bits of which which still crawled and sucked on the surface of our plates) to thinly-cut slices of the the dangerously lethal fugu. I will write about our gastronomic feats in Korea in another entry. Needless to say, after all the odd dishes I tried, I gained a new appreciation for Filipino comfort foods and fast food fares.

I was able to take some nice shots of Busan from the top floor of a hotel downtown during our last lunch in the city, before we proceeded to Seoul. I noticed, and this became more apparent as we moved to Seoul, that many Korean cities are surrounded by mountains, and these are not built with concrete structures but rather, they are largely reserved with their natural foliage. These landscapes makes for picturesque views of cities like Busan.

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November 13, 2009

South Korea Trip ’09: Haeundae Beach, Busan

November 06, 2009. After more than three hours on a flight from Manila, we arrived early in the morning at the Korean city of Busan, South Korea’s second largest city.

Some of us may know Busan as the host of the annual Pusan International Film Festival. It also played host to the 2002 Asian Games and the 2005 meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It is being marketed intensely by the Korean government as an ideal venue for conventions, cultural festivals and sporting events. In fact, it is preparing for a serious bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Busan is also considered one of Manila’s “sister cities” but Busan can, perhaps, be likened more to Cebu City in the Philippines, the country’s own second largest metropolis offering its own beaches and pleasant travel and leisure activities for local and foreign tourists.

We were booked in a hotel at the city’s Haeundae district, right next to its beach, famous among Koreans especially the summer season when tens of thousands flock to this port metropolis for its subtropical climate. Haeundae, however, was just one of the city’s handful of beaches. Haeundae has a boardwalk lined with hotels, cafes, bars and restaurants along the beach.