Seoul, Korea
 

Hopped over to Seoul last weekend for a high school classmate's wedding. The attendance was impressive: While my two-hour flight was no big deal, she had about 12 friends who made the 20-hour trip from Chicago and New York. I guess her wedding would be as good a reason as any to take a vacation to this side of the world.

Seoul itself is not a bad place. It closely resembles Tokyo: the streets are massive, broad canals of traffic, and everywhere is extremely clean. Unfortunately I didn't have time to venture to the outskirts of the city, so I mostly wandered beneath Seoul's bohemoth skyscrapers, most of which were fairly ordinary glass structures stretching skyward. I must say that Seoul's architecture is somewhat ... conservative. Even the palaces, of which I saw two, were unremarkable, although they were extremely serene and relaxing and not completely trampled by tourists.

The subway is pretty convenient (12 lines) and an inexpensive alternative (between $1 and $1.35 to ride to most stops) to the swarms of wallet-leeching taxis (~$5 base fare for 3 km). Prices for clothing, etc., were surprisingly cheap, but that could be because I'm comparing with Taipei, where merchandise is frustratingly costly. I saw but a handful of Westerners, mostly businessmen and the occasional student. And as with most major Asian cities, Seoul has adopted its share of Western culture, with a plethora of Burger Kings, KFCs and Pizza Huts, and even Krispy Kreme doughnuts (boy was I glad we stumbled across that).

Now for the important part: Korean food. The fare was excellent, but hampered by an astounding lack of variety. The food was mostly the same everywhere I went: Korean barbecue, noodle soup or rice. We did have very tasty oxtail one night and passed several shops specializing in seafood, but those options appeared to be few and far between. And whoever told me Koreans eat a lot of kimchi - cabbage and other veggies pickled in a hot, spicy sauce - was not kidding. There was no less than four types of pickled vegetables at each meal, and each made more or less in the same fashion. Even the miso soup had kimchi in it; one stir-fried beef dish we encountered glowed red from being stewed in the ubiquitous hot sauce.

Of course, this is just a four-day glance at Seoul. I wouldn't mind going back - the people were friendly, the atmosphere lively and the air much cleaner than Taiwan's. And then there's the rest of South Korea, which I hear is gorgeous. I am making it a point to visit the DMZ the next time I return to Korea, which could be as soon as next month (for business). An adventure into North Korea would be interesting as well.

I'll post pics when they're ready. The next stop looks like it will be the Philippines, in mid-August.

So Seoul itself is pretty westernized, it'll be interesting to see what you find out in the rest of the country. Uh, don't go to North Korea on my account.

How long are you going to stay? We may be there at the same time. Are you going to Manila?

Not really sure yet if I'm going. And yes, will most likely be going to Manila, but my friends who would be taking me (they're from Manila) say they want to go elsewhere. Probably a week or a super-long weekend.

How long are you staying?

Time for some photos.

This is somewhere in the Myeongdong district, which was mostly shopping of the affordable kind.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7033.jpg


This is the Myeongdong Cathedral ... well, a picture (of a picture), to be a exact. Apparently they're doing some restoration work, but rather than expose tourists to scaffolding and tarps, they just draped a giant picture over it instead.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7035.jpg


And here's the statue from out front. Looks very ... Korean.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7036.jpg


This is an HDR shot of the "Lake Walk" from inside the COEX mall. It's also home to the kimchi museum.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7107_8_9.jpg


This is the front entrance to the Changgyeonggung palace.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7202.jpg


Another HDR shot of the palace.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7218_6_7.jpg


Yet another HDR shot of the lake within the palace.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7243_4_5.jpg


A view of the N Seoul Tower from the Namsam area.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7327.jpg

Ok, now for food photos.

These are rice cakes (with a spongy, chewy texture), cooked in a hot sauce. They're EVERYWHERE. We sometimes eat these in Taiwan, but seriously this seemed to be the only thing offered by street vendors.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_6971.jpg



This is kimchi. The traditional dish is made by pickling white cabbage in hot sauce, but these days you can find kimchi made of all types of vegetables, some even with seafood and meat. Koreans eat a LOT of this stuff - every meal had at least 3-4 types.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7328.jpg




Run-of-the-mill Korean barbecue (although I have never seen it cooked on a marble slab). Once the meat is done, you wrap it in a lettuce or sesame leaf, add some garlic, some scallions, some hot sauce, and voila.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7059.jpg




This is a tofu stew. Cooked with some kimchi, so it's pretty spicy.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7062.jpg




Here is a Japanese-style fried pork cutlet, with cheese and - you guessed it - kimchi wrapped in the middle. I was not kidding when I said they eat of lot of kimchi in Korea.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7128.jpg




I believe this is oxtail we were eating. I'm not sure. Regardless, it was pretty good, albeit a little spicy - because it was cooked in the SAME DAMN hot sauce like everything else.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7332.jpg

Somewhere in the Gangnam district, near our hotel. Lots of bars and restaurants in this area. Western-style pubs appear to be popular in Seoul.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7153.jpg




This "river" runs through the north side of town. Popular strolling place for couples.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_6996_7_8.jpg




HDR shot of the famous East Gate, which used to be one of the main gates to the city.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7004_2_3.jpg




And here's the gf being cute with a sculpture outside the COEX mall.

http://www.chezwang.com/seoul/img_7105.jpg

Great pics! Neat color work on the palace/river shots. I like your pretty girls per picture ratio as well.:D

I love how close and intimate the streets are. The mall's name is a mouth full! lol
I love the lights the food! It's a place I'd love to see.

Those are great photos breaking news.

btw...what kind of camera did you use to take those shots?

Thank you much. I shoot with a Canon 30D ... these were all shot with a Sigma 17-70 lens.

beautiful! :D

Outstanding, bn. Thank you.

At least 6 months. Maybe much more. I've got some research to do along with some "projects".

This has been in the works for over a year.

I'd like to meet you sometime.

My mouth is watering from the food shots
Probably too hot for me (I prefer my food spicy rather than nuclear meltdown) but it looks tasty in small quantities