One night in Seoul
We stayed one night in Seoul since there was more buses going to Seoul from the amusement park than back to our city. We will however, go to Seoul later on and stay there longer. This was just the appetizer! ;)
Night life in Seoul. The street is filled with restaurants, coffee shops, kareoke rooms and other stores, and this is not even near the center of the city. So nice!
More grilled meat at the table!
The subway system here is pretty cool. First off, they don't have huge barriers or doors like Stockholm. The passage is unblocked, and only gets blocked at your legs if you don't pay. Which leads to the second great thing, you can pay with your credit card by just simply putting your card on the censor. If you rather want a special bus card there of course is one could get, and that one works in whole Korea! NIIICEE! But, on the other hand, the subway map is just... ridiculus.
Doors preventing accidents and suicides.
This is the queue to the escalator when exiting the train station!! Whaaaaaatt.... To the stairs it was no queue at all! We took the stairs.
What is this fancy place? It is a jimjilbang! Korean sauna house! The Koreans really like these kind of places, and it's far more advanced than our sauna we are used to in Scandinavia.
Even the entrance is fancy....
So the sauna house is several of floors, and this is the main floor. Here people just gather on the floor and relax, hang outs, eat food, play games, talks and even sleeps. Yeah, sleeps just like that on the hard floor without any mattress. There are pillows though to borrow. On the same floor there is also gaming rooms filled with arcade games, and on the floors above there is swimming pools and hot springs divided between women and men because you are supposed to be stripped naked before bathing. So, if I wasn't standing out walking on the street in town, I sure was standing out inside this very Korean territory. Not understanding Korean well, being naked trying to figure out what I am supposed to do, I was the topic of two eldery Korean ladies, who didn't seem embarrassed at all staring at me.... For the saunas on the other hand, they were for both genders mixed, so special clothes had been handed out before hand. As you can see on the picture above, everyone is wearing the same clothes.
The warm saunas we all know how they are like. Hot or hotter. So I took only pictures of the...well... crazy ones. Like this ICE room.
And this Jade room. It was neither warm or cold, and I don't understand what's it's for. But it seems like I wasn't the only one, since the room was completely empty. Other rooms was the "green room" which was green with some plants and some ovens looking rooms for unbearable heat.
We bought Korean oat tea, served cold with ice.
We did try to sleep at the sauna house, like real Koreans. But really, sleeping on the floor... was just too much even for my Korean fiance. So we went to a Motel instead. On the way we passed by a subway concert, with a cheering audience.
Seoul in day light
A not really interesting place. It's not even a real palace, just copies to get more tourists. And tourists there was, for some reason I can't understand, so many Chinese people went there! Next time when we go to Seoul, we will have more time so we can see the real palaces!
Selling Korean traditional handicrafts
We just missed a show with archery...
Myeongdong - the most popular shopping area in Seoul
Super cold ice to either cool the products or to attract attention, I'm not sure for which reason they had it, but they did get attention.
Even though it was so warm weather, some people was dressed up in large animal suits doing commercial. They must have been close to fainting!
Dancing event to encourage people to donate blood
For lunch we had Japanese food. Issac ate schnitzel and I fried pork with mayo. Both bowls had fried rice underneath the meat.
Patbingsu! Shaved ice with fruits is very popular here, and not suprising at all with the heat they suffer from during the summer. We ordered shaved milk though, that was served with two rice cakes on top, and read beans on the side. The beans we put on top of the ice-milk and voila! It was good!
That was all from Seoul from this short trip. But we are going there soon again! I won't be able to blog while travelling though, but I will make sure to upload many pictures as soon as I come back again!
Everland
Everland is an amusement park outside Seoul, with a zoo and a few rides. There was many interesting animals there, and I have tons of pictures to show!
(The queue was sooo long, and we even got there before it opens!)
(The monkeys could be fed here, and as soon as someone came with food, they all rushed over!)
And now, for the very rare animal from China, THE MONKEY KING! He have been portrayed in many ways and are one of the most common charachter in traditional stories of China. Usually his characteristics is smart yet naughty monkey who is the king of his valley, and just loves to create trouble for the other gods. One of the animated movies for kids about this monkey king has been translated to Swedish and was my favorite movie as a child. So now you know, I was very, very, excited to see the actual monkeys!! I have never seen them before!
The baby! So cute!!!
Ugliest monkey of the zoo
Oldest looking, but most playful monkey of the zoo. I could hardely catch them on picture!!
Most bored monkey.... but she had a baby on her back!
How much orangutans eats per day compared to pig and humans. 25 kilos in total!!!
More monkey king photos!!
The show-off, he and his friend was very eager to get the attention by doing acrobatics!
Sloth...sleeping of course.
BATS!! So many of them! Iiiuuhhh!!
"What do you think you are doing, taking pictures of us? Go away!"
I have never seen this animal before, not even on tv!!
Squirrels
There were tunnels of nets above us for squirrels to run around in. this one was sleeping and not at all bothered by other squirrels jumping over him.
Aha! Timon! I have found you! Now were is Pumba?
Map of Habitants of The Lost Valley. Here we took a safari tour in a bus to see endangered animals from around the world.
The guide: "Now, the giraffes might come close but don't touch them ok?"
Very, very close!!
Cheetah. But only the head is visible from where it's hiding up on the rock.
And now another tour in another bus to see not endangerous animals, but DANGEROUS animals!
This is the king of the tigers! He never gets down from the hill (unless food is served) and no other tiger is allowed to come up either.
This is Korean tiger, the biggest tiger.
What animal is this? Not a natural one, but a liger. A mix between lion and tiger, artificially made by human scientists. These kind of experiments is not going on anymore, and this is the last liger in Korea.
Altough the tigers seemed agressive, the brown bears have been taught to do follow commands. "Sit!"
Stand!
Say hello!
Come over here!
Beg for the food!
Catch the food with your mouth!
Catch the food with your hands!
Jjiajiangmyon for lunch - noodles in bean stew
Love tunnel
Flume ride!
It's went upwards... and downwards! The boat was thrown into the water so that we got water on us!
Baby lion and baby tiger!!!!
T-express. The second most steepest and fourth tallest, sixth longest and ninth fastest roller coaster of wood in the world! And Issac made me go on it. I'll tell you, it was not fun. It was super crazy scary!!
there was a room for k-pop lovers, where you could take pictures of yourself and then they show it as holograms on the wall while teaching you the major dance move. When we got there they were having PSY theme. If I knew the picture was going to be shown on the wall, I might not have made that face.
Drama scenery
We went on a trip to a place called... It's not really a famous place, but it's a bit interesting because they build up a copy of one of the palaces in Seoul there. Why would they do that? To film tv-drama shows with historical background!! Korean tv-dramas are very popular here, and is getting more and more popular among young people (especially among girls) in Asia and even in Europe. For Koreans, the tv channels usually have dramas on the most popular viewing time, and for foreigners there are webpages on internet where fans have translated the dramas into different languages and uploaded them so they can be watched for free.
But first, on our way there, we passed by two museums. First one about Korean pottery, both traditional and modern.
Famous artists showing up their pottery on display.
Explaining how the pottery is made, from first to the final vase (the final vase is not in the picture)
A vase that have been formed and decorated, but not burnt yet in the oven.
Ovens where the pottery is being baked.
Korean most famous traditional pottery are green, coloured with something called celadon and then heated up intensively. The exact method of how they were made back in the times, however, are actually not known and today they still haven't figured it out. Yet, they are undoubtly good at making vases! (The one below is more of modern art)
It seems they have hold some kind of international competition in pottery making, because there was a display of different countries vases. And my mother in law found Sweden's contribution! Yeah, Sweden takes fancy in modern art....
Korean traditional clothes
Second museum was about confucian art and rituals.
The classroom with the teacher...
...and the students.
Memorial service of a teacher. In the back of the table is a grey tablet with the teacher's name, and in front food is placed as sacrifice. The students bow in front of the table and reads greetings, prayers etc. for him.
Temple sample
For lunch we hade kalbi, which is grilled pork belly (sidfläsk) and doenjang jigae - soybean paste stew. As always, the main dishes is served with small side dishes, and those are for free. This place was extra generous, 12 side dishes plus a scallion pancake!
So now we finally are at the drama scenery. Though the small historical looking town and palace here are fake, the place itself does have a historical background. It was through this mountain everyone back in the time had to pass through to go to Seoul when they were taking the examination tests. Those who wanted to become officials back in the times hade to pass an confician examination that included memorizing the long tests and poems of confucius and his disiplces, and different kinds of art such as callegrafi, horse riding, archery etc. For each examination, usually about 500 students would take them but only 32 would be accepted. Plus, not examinations was hold only once every fourth year! Imagine the pressure these students must have had, while walking on this road towards Seoul!
Cute bench!
Commercial about a wine made from a special berry, that even was offered to Obama when he visited Korea.
Some of the historical dramas that was filmed here.
Outdoor kitchen
Jars for storing kimchi etc.
The copy of the royal gate in Seoul
"Here, son, come and lay down here so I can show how punishments back in the times was done!"
No, this is not just a chair. It's the chair you sit in and get your arms broken with the poles behind you if you get caught doing something bad.
Oh, what is that? Cars? From a tv-channel!! And lots of people!!
OMG THEY ARE FILMING A DRAMA ON THE SPOT!! See that tall guy in green dress, white arms and black hat? He is dressed in Korean traditional clothes! Keep your eye open for a drama called "Secret gate", because you have just seen photos from where it is being filmed!
Issac's parents wanted us to dress up as the king and the queen from Joseon-dynasty. On my head I'm wearing a wig (that was really heavy and looks weird on me because it doesn't match with my blond hair). But the queen and higher up women used to have really long hair and have hairstyles like that.
This road is made for walking bare feet, the stones will feel like foot massage
Materials for the filming set, such as swords and spears!
Even though it was a cloudy day, the sun was still strong when we were facing where it was hidden behind the clouds.
Just a picture of a cafe there with a very cozy atmosphere, much thanks to the green view!
Oh! And here I just have to show you, just what that hole-in-the-ground toilet is! Yep, you just squat down here and do your business. The level in the front is how you flush it. Korea doesn't have these much anymore, just some left in public bathrooms for the older generation who haven't gotten used to our sitting-down toilet.
Korea!
After a pretty tough summer filled with pondering and replanning, we ended up in Korea. The plans to move to the USA was chrushed after a to me weird migration-system, where the ones who will and will not get the work visa is decided by lottery. We weren't lucky enough, Issac didn't get the visa he needed to stay there. But getting a visa to move to one's partner in Sweden takes 11 months according to the Swedish migration boards webpage. Eleven months!! We are only hoping it might be faster for us. The problem is the military service in Korea which Issac hasn't done yet, and does not want to do. He can only stay in Korea for two months before they will call him in, so by end of September/beginning of October we will move on to next country.
Well, that was just an introduction to our current situation. Now, to my experience of Korea so far. I arrived last Friday in the afternoon in Incheon - the international airport of Korea. It is actually an artificial island made for the single purpose of being used as the one big airport in and out of Korea. There Issac and his parents met me, and the parents sure are sweet and nice! They gave me a warm welcome and have been treating me very kindly. I feel blessed having them as my (soon to be) parents-in-law. Although they don't know much English, and my Korean is very limited, we are able to communicate. Mostly with the help of Issac as an translator of course.
Issac, his dad and his mum, celebrating Issac's birthday a few days late so I could join too.
On the first night we ate dinner in Incheon, and as it is famous for sea food, we ate shrimp and fish. The restaurant we ate in was a typical Korean out-door restaurant. A big tent and under the tent plastic tables and stools are placed, and each table has one or two grills on it. So the idea is to buy the seafood fresh directly at the spot and then grill it yourself on the table. And fresh it was, in fact it couldn't get any fresher because the shrimps came in a pot with salt on it and placed on the grill - when the shrimps was STILL ALIVE. The salt already must have been hurtful, and being grilled alive, popping around in the pot like pop-corn. It could have made almost anyone go vegetarian (at least for the night) right on the spot if it wasn't the very first dinner with the parents-in-law. Once cooked however, if one ignored the fact how they just was tortured to death, they did taste good. Shrimps was also ordered in to be eaten raw, but when they too came in a bucket ALIVE, and we were supposed to picked them up and well....eat them as they moved, my fiance said stop and sent it back. That was just too much, even for a Korean like himself. He ordered grilled fish instead, that this time came already dead and grilled, so we only needed to warm it up on our own grill.
After a two hour drive we came to the small town Chungju, which is where the parents live in. It's located almost in the middle of Korea, further south than the main capital Seoul. Here is some pictures of the house they live in and the surrounding area.
They live on the upper floor, on the first floor the land lord lives.
These pictures below are taking from the roof
