Alchemy of Seoul

  Namsan Tower (North Seoul Tower) lit up under a full moon This week the big tourist event was a trip to Namsan Tower and the Hanok Village at the foot of the mountain. It was perfect fall weather...cool but sunny, leaves in all hues, and my small traveling party and I decided to take full advantage of the day.  First, we stopped at a vegetarian restaurant in Itaewon called Plant. I had the macaroni and cheese, and Phoebe (the vegetarian in the party) had the hummus and pumpkin salad. We all shared the chocolate biscoff cheesecake. It was very good food! This is where vegetarians who visit Korea can be assured of finding something wonderful to eat.     After fortification (and a bus ride that lasted about an hour) we arrived at Namsangol Hanok Village. This village is made up of five Joseon Era homes (of nobles) that were moved to the current location to create a cultural park. The video covers a lot of the details of the village. We enjoyed the views. We also ...

  Starfield Library in the COEX Mall in Gangnam, Seoul On Tuesday, the 17th of October, I left school at 3:30 pm (the MINUTE our contract day is over) to get to the Korean version of the DMV. I needed to exchange my CA driver's license for a Korean one. I had been prepared for this by several colleagues and the secretary for the Head of School. I had all the papers needed that were listed on the website. I had a note in Korean (sent to me by the secretary) to hand to the person in the information office so I could stand in the right line. And when I got there, just at 4:30pm, I was turned away because the foreign drivers licenses are only handed out from 9 am until 3:30 pm (which was NOT mentioned on the website, nor was it in anyone's experience).  So, since I had made the trek to Gangnam for this purpose, I decided not to waste the trip and I became an accidental tourist. COEX mall is about 3 blocks away from the DMV so I walked over there and spent about 4 hours wandering a...

  Week 10 was a short week. We only had 3 days of school (Chuseok holiday followed by Founder's Day meant we did not return to classes until Wednesday the 4th of October). On the 6th, a group of 16 of us went to dinner together at a traditional Korean restaurant called Nakseonjae in Gwangju (not to be confused with the area of the Palace with a garden...this one is a well-established restaurant).  As you can see in the photo, we sat on the floor and were served dinner at a low table, very traditional style. We enjoyed japchae, bulgogi, kimchi (three kinds), rice, acorn jelly, beef pancakes and vegetable pancakes (from dosirak recipes), and lots of greens.  It was fun to do with a group. The food was pretty good but we ended up paying about $55 per person for this food. I was surprised by that. The event was billed as being about $30 per person. Anyway, the setting was lovely and the foliage around the building (on the mountain as we drove up) was beginning to show signs o...

  This week was Chuseok in South Korea. The holiday actually fell on Friday, Sept 29, but we were out of school from the 28th of September to October 3, a 6-day weekend. The photo above was taken on Sept 30 at the biggest palace in Seoul, the Northern Palace or Gyeongbokgung. It was built in 1395 and was the seat of the Joseon dynasty kings. There are five grand palaces in Seoul! I still have three more to visit.   Nimmi and I went to Gyeongbokgung with another colleague, Matt (from Wisconsin), who was also around for the Chuseok holiday. Many people left Seoul since the 6-day weekend was long enough to actually visit somewhere else, but some of us were happy to have time in Seoul.  The Gyeongbokgung palace is lit up at night during September and October, and it is really beautiful to wander the grounds and enjoy the displays, but advance tickets are in high demand and very difficult to get if you are a foreigner. To amend this difficulty, there are 200 tickets per d...