April 17, Friday.
Our excursion today was called Grand Tour of Seoul. We docked in Incheon which is over 1 hour from this capital city. We went through locks to the harbor and left using locks as well.
view while in the locks
buddhism images from Korea
Japanese images of buddha
A photo from the bus
Another street scene from the bus
Changing of the guards
View inside the palace grounds
Entering the Namdaemun Market
fish market
the brown things in the foreground are silk worms which he says are tasty
The central city plaza showing guards and banners and displays for the ferry victims
Policemen protecting the area
We encountered lots of traffic and tour busses lining the streets. He had never seen so much traffic. Today was the first anniversary of the sinking of the ferry boat that killed so many people, many who were children. The central area of the city was covered with policemen and barriers. There had been a demonstration in the morning, but people were still visiting the panels of photos of victims. Many people from surrounding areas must have come to the city in busses for the demonstration. We didn't hear of any crowd problems.
Our greeting at the dock
Our guide told us some interesting things about Korea. It was clear that Korea hates Japan. Japan occupied Korea for 23 years after WWII. China has also been an interloper by supporting N. Korea in the war, but Japan seems to carry the animosity.
The most prominent object in the museum.
Our first stop was the National Museum of Seoul. It seemed brand new. Several groups of school children entered as we did. The restrooms, translated from the Korean, means "place to solve your problems", had stalls for children as well as adults and were the most modern we have seen anywhere in Asia.
Indian Buddha's, where Buddhism began
Buddhism spread to China. Images evolved of Buddha
David and I have seen Buddhist temples in all of these countries. This display helped to see the evolution of buddhism and Buddhist art.
A Korean wise man
Indian influenced scullpture
This wall hanging of paint on cloth of a wedding scene was two stories tall
Traditional warrior
The crown jewels
Azaleas are developed in Korea. They come up with new varieties. They were in bloom everywhere.
On the main street, looking towards the mountains.
Entering our Korean restaurant.
Next we walked through the Insadong Antique Street - Mary's Alley - where we had a delicious Korean lunch and time to shop on the way back to our meeting point at the 7 Eleven. 7 Elevens have a huge presence in Asian countries we have seen. Once we spotted 7 in a short drive, I believe in Pnom Phen. Also Starbucks is everywhere. However the Koreans are so fond of coffee shops, there would be three or four different ones on either side of the street in one city block. Our guide lamented that young people spend so much money in coffee shops.
We visited Deoksugung Palace and saw the changing of the guard in their traditional costumes. This is a beautiful area and park with empty palace buildings beautifully decorated under the roofs. It suffered damage and has been recently restored. There was also a concert hall and art museum inside the grounds. I enjoyed the art exhibit of a young man who did large water colors of moving dancers. The shapes were obviously dynamic. He mostly used black on white brush strokes.
Visitors to the Palace
Our next stop was the Namdaemun Market, but we were just allowed to walk quickly through following him because of the time.
Chilis
We drove by the blue palace which is the home of the President. It is called blue because of the blue roof. You are not allowed to photograph it even from the bus. Our guide pointed out that you can see it clearly on Google Earth, however. The main thoroughfare was 10 lanes wide with open spaces and a view of the mountains. Everywhere we drove was a delight to the eyes with large art sculptures, landscaping and pleasing building shapes. Seoul was pretty much destroyed in the war and has been rebuilt since the 60's and is a thriving city. In Dunkin Donuts three women were having coffee and had Gucci handbags and stylish coats and shoes. The war has not ended, it is technically a cease fire. They seem to have fared very well compared to the northern neighbors who spend their money on military and not infrastructure and the worry is that the economy will collapse.
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