Monday 27 October 2008

Seoul Tower / Wonju

I'm skipping some photos of Seoul Sightseeing Tours with my uncle and will include selected photos in themed photo albums later on (so stay tuned *hehe*).
For now I will share photos of Seoul Tower (Namsan) that were taken on October 27th (Mon).


The sight from the tower is truely worth a photo! (or two or three or...)




Couples like to spend time up here.



So far away from Berlin! :)



The Tower!!


Went to my mom's sister in Wonju (29th Oct - 30th...), since there are no special things to see in Wonju, some photos of us :P



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Wednesday 22 October 2008

Little bit of this an' that, Churches and Abundance

22nd October

another dam in Jeollabukdo


somewhere in the mountains in Jeollabukdo


Ewhwa Women's University has an integrated modern shopping mall that features - besides a rather big book store - several fast food restaurants, a hair dresser, an optician,...
Ewhwa is the most expensive women's university in Seoul and is surrounded by lots of girly stores selling clothes, make-up, ... there are a lot of caf? and body shop-like shops. A true women's paradise! (They even have a small IKEA)


26th October, near Seoul (outskirt)
One of the biggest modern churches in Korea (there are churches EVERYwhere*)
"Soon Bogeum Full Gospel Church"
from the outside

from the inside

Manga-esque Jesus as a different type of saviour: a screensaver :P

And for the safety (?) at home: PIN-based appartment door locks, no key needed (just don't let anyone observe you while entering the code/house...)


The "mothership" in Yeoido (Yeoido, might post more about Yeoido some other time)



Please put your donations here (right on the other side there's a bank machine ATM ;) )


* Churches are among the things you can find practically anywhere (at least at every other middle-sized street), normally they are situated in normal rooms, sometimes they have their own building.
Other things that you will find anywhere and in abundance:


really I wonder who buys all these glasses and contact lenses??!
Also there are a lot of (clean!) public toilets, drink vending machines but very few waste baskets - still Seoul is very clean and very little trash lies around. I wonder how that works...

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Monday 20 October 2008

Geumsansa - Buddhist Monastary of the Golden Mountain

Geumsansa - Buddhist Monastary of the Golden Mountain

Wooden Gate near Geumsansa



Geumsansa Complex


One of the four gates leading to Geumsansa

healing moutain water...


and erm... healing lemonade??

(By the way, I don't know what a Pocari is but I don't think I want to drink its sweat :-S. First I thought it was a misspelling of "sweet" but in fact the Korean transcription also reads like "sweat" not like "sweet"...)

Buddhist bell


huge Buddhas



dawn, a stupa, and one of Korea's National Treasures, namely n?25 (Geumsansa 5cheung seoktap)

beautiful traditional roof




National treasure no.62, Geumsansa Mireukjeon


the Great Hall from the outside...


... and the inside


another house

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Saturday 18 October 2008

Fun with Water

Actually we wanted to go to a Jjimjilbang, a Korean sort of sauna or public bath, a man from my mother's childhood offered to bring us there by car. Before he brought us to the Jjimjilbang in Gimje, however, the showed us around The Byeokgolje Museum of Agricultural Culture. Byeokgolje being a historical water reservoir in the Gimje Area; Gimje is the next biggest city near my granny's village and know as the city of rice for the area's famous fertility.




There's a myth about a woman - Danya - who fell in love with a civil engineer who had to calm down a terrible dragon. I didn't quite get it. Whatever, here are some photos:







Needless to say after a thorough visit of the Byeokgolje complex (we had just missed the Horizon Festival that had been held there :( ), we only got to the Jjimjilbang rather late. The fee was 5000 Won (roughly 3€), we bought some beauty articles of which we only used the shampoo in the washing area. Then there were three warm/hot pools (36캜, 42캜 and 46캜). 36캜 seemed a bit cool for me, 42캜 is the temperature I prefer my baths to be (but hadn't taken a bath in over half a year, only showers), yet, 46캜 was a bit too much for me to bear over extended time. The women who did stay longer came out with red skin :P. There were two sauna rooms, one was over 50캜 and the other one seemed to be even hotter w/ cold water you could splash over yourself yeeha! There was a cool pool (for after saunaing I guess?) and a mild pool with water massage STRAHL. For 13000 Won each, we treated ourselves to the luxury of getting scrubbed with Korean WASCHLAPPEN, which took about 20 mins or so. My skin never felt so good!!!
But it wouldn't be Korea if there wasn't more entertainment involved. In the changing area there was a TV where the ladies could see the latest episode of their favourite Korean soap opera, there were snacks and drinks sold, in the next floor there was a relaxation area w/ more snacks, another huge TV (Korean TV industry excels in big, flat screens), a restaurant, an internet caf? sauna rooms (orange shorts and t-shirts for women and green ones men were given to you on entrance), mats and cushions to lie on and having a nap and massage chairs. Very efficient 10 mins of massage for only 1000 Won (about 0.60€). I bought two obligatory seasoned cooked eggs and drinks. There's the possibility to stay overnight, too!
We had to get the last bus back to the village, though. Yet, we didn't know where the right bus station was. Asking people didn't help much and only made us run around the area back and forth. Eventually a man who had previously sent us the wrong direction called the bus company with his cell phone and told us to get a cab to catch the last bus. We did. For only 1800 Won got to our bus (of course the taxi driver went especially slowly so that we would miss the bus). When we got to the bus, the bus driver just bickered (???) at us, but he did with every one who got on, obviously he was in a bad mood, but the way the bickered at anyone was just funny.
When we got back home, totally and perfectly clean and scrubbed, it felt as if we had had an adventure!



24h Jjimjilbang and Sauna

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Friday 17 October 2008

Shimpo Harbor and the Stray Cat Vagabond



Overlooking the countryside
A promise of lasting love at the platform...

Near Seokchi Village there is Shimpo Harbour (Shimpo Hang).




Fresh seafood.



Seokchi Village
I found three frogs in my granny's apple tree!


I still wonder what frogs are doing in an apple tree?! besides just hanging out ;)
This little vagabond comes to hide between the kimchi pots in our backyard.


Apparently a Mischling (mongrel) like me.
I don't know where this little vagabond found this dried squid but it hopelessly failed at chewing it (and it *is* quite tough)...


... so I gave him/her some fish

Timidly looking from behind the kimchi pots vagabond.

(Why do I feel like my buddy B. will feel like giving me a cat for X-Mas/b-day/... again after reading this post?...)

Some creatures just need to run freely.

Posted by mer-q-ree at 09:51

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