Seoul - Day 3, Part 1

I have come to realize that I will not get to do everything I've planned on this trip. This city has so much to see and do, it's very impressive! My legs ache from walking around so much!

To start today off, I visited another palace, Changdeokgung. It is another one of the great palaces built by the kings of the Joseon dynasty. Like many other great buildings, much of it was destroyed or burned throughout the years, mostly due to Japanese invasion. This place was massive; the rebuilding of it must have taken years!

Main palace building

I'm finding Korean structures to be much more colorful than the
Japanese counterparts

The inside of the main palace building

I have been enjoying seeing palaces in Korea; they are a nice change after all the shrines and temples in Japan. You can really tell that this used to be a place of residence, with clearly defined living quarters, and lots of chimneys where fires would be placed. There were so many buildings that they formed a maze within the grounds, although there was also a massive center building that must have been the throne room. Once again, it was a lot of fun to imagine the people who used to live here, serving the royalty.

See? Huge palace grounds!

See the two critters (raccoons, I think?) hanging out? They're totally
like, 'hey, this is MY palace''!

Seoul - Day 2, Part 2

After the emotionally heavy morning at the DMZ, I was ready to while away the afternoon. To that effect, I wandered around the neighborhood of Hondae, home of Hongik University. The young crowd and boisterous attitude made for a lively walk.

College students everywhere!

Beautiful murals in the neighborhood

Later, I headed up to another location much-favored by Korean TV dramas (or so I hear): the N Seoul Tower. Reached via a long-ish walk or a short cable car ride, it sits atop Namsan mountain at almost 800 feet elevation. The tower itself has an observatory, but since I was reluctant to pay the fee, I enjoyed the still-gorgeous views of the city from the tower base. The slowly setting sun was the perfect backdrop.

The city of Seoul, looking north

All those addictive TV dramas get broadcast from up here

Forget about love locks on bridges... they're now on trees!

N Seoul Tower, all lit up for the evening

one last picture as it gets dark and the city lights up

Seoul is a beautiful city!

Seoul - Day 2, Part 1

For my second full day in South Korea, I headed towards one of the most tense places in the world: the DMZ. This is where North and South Korea collide, separated by so little distance but so much rhetoric. I unfortunately did not join the more extensive tour, which gains entrance into the actual Joint Security Area (JSA), but instead just toured the area.

Embarking on this tour, I was surprised to learn that the theme was 'reunification'. As a foreigner, it's easy to forget that there are still some South Koreans with family up north. It was also easy to see and feel the pride that South Koreans had towards their country, the democracy that has been established, and the immense economic growth they have enjoyed.

Before entering the area, each tour bus was checked by special members of the South Korean army, called the Military Police. We had to show our passports and do a head count before the bus was allowed to cross the bridge.

For our first stop, we walked down a tunnel that was found in the late 70s, supposedly dug by the North Koreans to infiltrate South Korea. At the very end of the tunnel, behind three concrete walls, lay official North Korean land. While there wasn't much to see (and cameras weren't allowed), it was eerie to imagine North Korea so close. Afterwards, we were taken to an observatory point where you can see into North Korea land, where a fake propaganda village with a giant flagpole has been erected. It was unfortunately a foggy day so pictures didn't come out clearly.

I was here

Heavy on the symbolism, reuniting two pieces of a whole

Super hazy, but in the distance is North Korea! The black
line in the middle is the North Korean flag pole with its
flag flying on top!

The final stop within the area was the Dorasan train station. This station is heartbreaking in its hope, for its rails run up north all the way to Pyongyang (the capital of North Korea). This was once a working train route, until the borders closed. South Korea has renovated and maintained the station and tracks, in preparation for the day when trains can leave northward. For now, only 4 trains a day run to this station from Seoul.

We were able to buy a ticket and go view the train platform itself, and see the train tracks run northward. The slogan on the ticket read "Dorasan. Not the last station from the South, but the first one toward the North".

One day this will be true!

Beautiful modern station. So spacious, but only serves
four trains a day.

Train tracks, northward. 

I wonder if I will see reunification in my lifetime.

Seoul, Day 1

I'm in South Korea! I really like Seoul so far; it's a gleaming metropolis, with a lovely extensive subway system. A smattering of ancient palaces sit side by side with shiny modern buildings, and it all somehow works.

I walked around two popular neighborhoods today, Namdaemun and Insadong. Namdaemun was a maze of outdoor stalls and shops, buzzing with activity. I went to get new glasses there on the advice of some friends, and it was so much cheaper than in the states! Insadong was artsy, with galleries and ceramic shops along it's winding side streets. Both had its own personality, and was a lot of fun to walk through.

In addition, I went to Geongbokgun Palace, located near Gwanghwamun Square. It's arguably one of the most recognized areas of the city, and I had to laugh as I recognized it from Asian TV shows!

King Sejong the Great

Admiral Yi Sun Sin. At this angle, it looks like he's keeping
a watchful eye over the city

Gwanghwamun itself was large and impressive, and even better, I arrived just in time for the ceremonial changing of the guard!

The palace itself was huge, spanning multiple buildings and courtyards, giving a glimpse of what life was like back in ancient days. Of course, much of the palace has been reconstructed, but it seems like meticulous care was taken for authenticity. Today's perfect Spring weather with its blue skies and blooming flowers made the palace picture perfect!

There was also a free museum located on the Palace grounds, which explained a lot about the day to day life of the people who lived there, and featured various items used by royals. It was a fascinating complement to the palace buildings.

I didn't eat anything fancy today, this was beef bulgolgi with rice for dinner... at under 5 dollars! South Korea is yummy!

Spring has been sighted!

I am so happy that we had a mild winter in Osaka this year. Nevertheless, I am overjoyed to find the first cherry blossoms blooming already. It's a sure sign of warmer weather to come (and unfortunately, of allergy season!).

It was a beautiful sunny day at the park, and the few trees in bloom made for a beautiful splash of color among all the greenery.

It is lovely to be able to enjoy Hanami one more time in Japan before I leave!

Cosplay!

(Viewing, not participating in) :P

Ooops, so I just realized that months have passed since I last wrote. My time in Japan is coming to an end soon, so I promise to write and update more! I have lots of travel in my near future, but in the meantime, I will try to cram in a few more things in this crazy lovely country.

Of course I can't leave Japan without viewing one of its most notorious pastimes: cosplay! Every year in Osaka, thousands of people dress up as their favorite anime/video game character for this one day of fun. It was cool to see the details that went into all the costumes, and I was pleasantly surprised to recognize some of them!

I can't believe I actually recognized this! Trio from Cardcaptor Sakura!

No idea what this one is, but looks really cool.

A character from a really popular girls' anime series,
Pretty Cure.

Yuna, from Final Fantasy X! Not a minute later, I saw a
guy in a Tidus costume one block away. I wonder if he
was looking for Yuna? :)

This looked super familiar. I want to say a character
from Tenchi Muyo??

Can you believe that people actually drive around in cars with these decals?

Yokai yokai yokaaaaaiiii watch ee ee!

The enemy has been spotted! Where's Solid Snake?? Dressed up as this
cute little girl?

Oh, here he is. Silly Snake, you don't fit in that box!

I wonder what anime these girls are from? 

Lightning and Vanille, from Final Fantasy XIII. The
costumes look really good!

A snapshot from the other side of things; I was standing behind a
 very popular cosplay girl. Slightly creepy, no?

Cammie, from Street Fighter

So kawaii!

Awwww! It's Cloud! And Aerith! (Even though we all know that Aerith's
true love really is Zack Fair.)

Don't know what anime she is from, but she is
rocking the outfit!

Ness looks like he lost a lot of weight, maybe he's homesick?
Where is Poo??

This was a crazy event, spanning multiple blocks and consisting of huge crowds. It eventually got tiring to be fighting through the streets, but I'm sure there were even more interesting and cool costumes to be found. This was like the Halloween parade in New York, but even better because all the costumes looked to be really well-made. I'm glad I got to see all this!