Week 28
Suwon, Korea

Reporting this almost 1 week late. Time passes by very quickly!

On Sunday 14.7. was my first day in Seoul. My goal was to discover the city, at least part o if. For this visit I did not have a tight schedule or fix list of museums to visit. I mainly wanted to walk in the city, as long as I feel safe.

The way from Suwon, where the campus is located, to Seoul is fairly easy. One takes a bus, which drops you at one subway station. Once in a subway one can reach almost everywhere. I will write a post only about the subway later.

I emerged from the subway at the city hall station to visit the Deoksugung Palace.  The palace is located on a street which, according to the subway map, has several subways intersections. So I though the street might be interesting.

My intention was to reach the palace for the change of guard. I was a bit earlier, but I needed to eat, re-charge my batteries and locate myself. Most of the information is in Korean, so I need some time to locate myself.  The schedule of the  change of guard “ceremony” is three times a day. The ceremonial event is interesting, as you see in the following photos.

 

But at some point, the ceremony pauses, i.e. everybody freezes,  then the public is invited to take photos with the ceremony participants. This was strange for me, but well, move and take some close up photos.

The next photo is resuming the ceremony.

The whole ceremony is free of charge. 🙂

Next, I decided to go into the palace. As you can imagine, I pay attention to the mobile or digital tours available, which actually were scared. I mainly saw the following advertisement but my korean is inexistent.

Once crossing the main door, one is in a garden which contains several constructions. It seems interesting and I got a booklet to read in detail more about it. I confess I really miss a mobile guide / game in here.  I insist good future for ubium.

What I could grasp from the surface is that some of the buildings have western influence. For example in the building below there is some kind of Russian influence/collaboration.  One has to understand more Korean history to get most out of this location.

The construction below was beautiful, and I like how the doors or windows “open”. Specially for this hot /  humid weather, I can understand was more a need than a luxury.

At the back of the garden there are some western style constructions, and one of them is the national museum of art. As you can imagine, I got in.

Ah! but before get in, one’s umbrella should be left in the umbrella’s locker seen below.

In here it rains constantly, so an umbrella is an indispensable technology to carry.

The exposition was about a Japanese artist:

Before continue my expedition of this day, I want to share a brief video I took with the aim to share that this peaceful and beautiful location is in the heart of Seoul. At the time I filmed it, apparently it was a political event outside, thus one could listen the noises of the event beyond the garden walls. We are at the heart of  Seoul!

After visiting the palace, I start walking on Eulji-ro street. I kind of walk 5 subway stations.  The next set of photos offer an impression of the metropolis, modern, old, commercial, traffic, …

See that tower, that will be my next target I start to think….

After the tall buildings, the street transforms into a commercial street of  bathroom equipment.  Those stores later transform into shops for lamps, later a market shows up until I got tired and decided to take the metro again….

More traffic, walking the same street.

Looking behind, see AL THAT I have been walking. I started behind those tall buildings.

The market I mentioned earlier, which was closing when I reached it.

Once in a subway again, I decided to go to the N-tower.  I got down to the University station, and wait for a bus. In my way back, I took another route to try the cable cars.

Next photo waiting for the bus in a nice surrounding, and the tower behind the landscape.

The bus let you in a specific place and then one must walk up. Next photo is a view of Seou in one of the designated areas to look the landscape.

Unfortunately, the day I was there was cloudy. However, it is hard to get no-cloudy days. At least since I have been here, almost all days had rain and unquestionably the high humidity is a CONSTANT.

Reaching the tower 🙂

The next photo is once I am at the top of the tower. My camera die, so the photos are taking with my tablet.

I detect an audio guide system and OF COURSE I try it.

It was an audio guide, that is it. Perhaps my experience would have been more enjoyable if the weather conditions were favourable and one could actually see all what they explain in the guide. Things to think about these type of guides, the weather is NOT always perfect.

From the content of the guide, I confess some of the information was very interesting involving the history of Seoul.

As I live in Brussels, at the instrument museum, the audio guide detects clearly when I am steeping in the specific circle, or being close to it and then the guide starts playing the corresponding audio. Thus, I do not have to push any button. This functionality is actually nice.

One thing I have notice in Korea, business is everywhere. One can find stores EVERYWHERE and inside the tower is not not an exception.

Next photo is a night view of Seoul. I am sure with a good camera and proper weather conditions the view could be beautiful.

Getting down from the tower and heading back. I confess by now, my feet demand a rest.

Bye, bye tower, until the next time.  Afterwards, I went to my bed for a very good night sleep! 🙂