alright, last weekend.
saturday was gorgeous. I hopped a late-morning train to seoul, just me, my backpack, and two goals: to do a bit of hiking (there is a mountain is the middle of the city) and to return to the seoul museum of art and actually see some korean art this time. the train ride between daegu and seoul seems shorter each time I take it. I arrived in seoul around noon, and jumped on the subway. I seem to have finally figured out the seoul subway system for the most part, it no longer confuses and terrifies me. I found my way to namsan, the mountain in the middle of the city. I was going to go to the folk village at the entrance to the park, but when I got there it didn't look as appealing as I'd hoped...I looked at the signs, saw that I could climb up to seoul tower, and decided to just start that hike instead. there were very few people on the trail. there is a cable car that goes up to the tower, and I guess a lot of people take that. also, as I discovered when I got to the top, there is another, seemingly more popular trail. but I like the quiet of hiking alone, and I was alone a lot of the way up. it was really really hot, and I hadn't planned ahead as far as bringing water with me, so I was very sweaty and dehydrated by the end, but it was a fairly short hike and I bought water from a little store as soon as I reached the top. I considered actually going up into the tower in the observation elevator, but decided against it. I've been in plenty of those things, and I could just go to the lookout decks for free. I went up the "roof top observation deck," and immediately became fascinated by the fact that there is wirefence surrounding it upon which people customarily place locks decorated with dates, initials, etc. it was just the sort of touristy thing that grosses me out, but I had my camera with me and the locks, with the city hundreds of feet below in the background, made for some sweet, arty- looking photos. I gung around for about twenty minutes playing with my camera and enjoying the view. then I happened upon some sort of ceremony at the reconstructed traditional smoke-signal station nearby. after that, I climbed down the other trail, with heavier traffic. the crowds weren't bad though, and there were some gorgeous views and photo-taking opportunities.
when I got to the bottom of the mountain, I sat under the trees and wrote for a bit before heading off to find the outdoor botanic gardens. I walked for about an hour...it was an awesome walk, I was walking around the city but slightly above it, like seoul was in a huge bowl and I was walking along the rim. the gardens themselves, at least what I saw of them, weren't spectacular, but they were beautiful. I can best describe it as a walk along a prettily wooded, though overly manicured trail. a woman saw me messing with my camera and offered to take a photo of me...these are the sort of small kindnesses that you really appreciate when travelling alone, the things I hope to be mindful of when I come upon lone travellers in the future. at that point, it was getting late and if I wanted to make it to the museum I needed to go immediately.
when I got there, it was about an hour and a half before closing, and the woman at the desk informed me that it was free-admission time. this meant that I had officially done all of the things I planned to do in seoul without spending any money, except for buying a coffee, a muffin and water. there were lots of awesome paintings and installations, including a video installation (called 20th century boy) of an ipod, a cell-phone and, and some hand-held video game device being sandblasted. the film ran backwards, so the little particles of plastic seemed to be coming together...it was pretty sweet. also there was 20 minute documentary called "the white house in my country," where the artist interviewed the proprietors of businesses in korea called "the white house" and "the blue house." "the blue house" ("cheongwadae" in korean) is the name of the president's residence in korea. so the filmmaker went to places like "the white house" restaurant and "the blue house" noraebang, asking the proprietors why they chose the names, asking customers what they thought of the names and if they affected their decision to come in, and asking everyone what they knew about the white house in america, what city it was in (a lot of people said new york), what it looked like, etc. the film was in korean with english subtitles, and it was extremely interesting to watch it as an american in korea.
I saw many many paintings, a lot of which I remember individually, but I won't go on about art too much.
after the museum, I walked around a bit, and then headed back to the area around seoul station. since I may well never be in seoul again, I spent some time just sitting on the steps, taking in the city as a whole, its rhythm, its sounds, its smells, all the huge building and the neon lights.
then I bought a ticket back to daegu and enjoyed the relaxing ride, getting back in time to catch the subway home before it shut down for the night.
that day was wonderful. the next day was weird. but right now I am tired of being in the pc bang and I have to pee, so I'll save that story for later.
saturday was gorgeous. I hopped a late-morning train to seoul, just me, my backpack, and two goals: to do a bit of hiking (there is a mountain is the middle of the city) and to return to the seoul museum of art and actually see some korean art this time. the train ride between daegu and seoul seems shorter each time I take it. I arrived in seoul around noon, and jumped on the subway. I seem to have finally figured out the seoul subway system for the most part, it no longer confuses and terrifies me. I found my way to namsan, the mountain in the middle of the city. I was going to go to the folk village at the entrance to the park, but when I got there it didn't look as appealing as I'd hoped...I looked at the signs, saw that I could climb up to seoul tower, and decided to just start that hike instead. there were very few people on the trail. there is a cable car that goes up to the tower, and I guess a lot of people take that. also, as I discovered when I got to the top, there is another, seemingly more popular trail. but I like the quiet of hiking alone, and I was alone a lot of the way up. it was really really hot, and I hadn't planned ahead as far as bringing water with me, so I was very sweaty and dehydrated by the end, but it was a fairly short hike and I bought water from a little store as soon as I reached the top. I considered actually going up into the tower in the observation elevator, but decided against it. I've been in plenty of those things, and I could just go to the lookout decks for free. I went up the "roof top observation deck," and immediately became fascinated by the fact that there is wirefence surrounding it upon which people customarily place locks decorated with dates, initials, etc. it was just the sort of touristy thing that grosses me out, but I had my camera with me and the locks, with the city hundreds of feet below in the background, made for some sweet, arty- looking photos. I gung around for about twenty minutes playing with my camera and enjoying the view. then I happened upon some sort of ceremony at the reconstructed traditional smoke-signal station nearby. after that, I climbed down the other trail, with heavier traffic. the crowds weren't bad though, and there were some gorgeous views and photo-taking opportunities.
when I got to the bottom of the mountain, I sat under the trees and wrote for a bit before heading off to find the outdoor botanic gardens. I walked for about an hour...it was an awesome walk, I was walking around the city but slightly above it, like seoul was in a huge bowl and I was walking along the rim. the gardens themselves, at least what I saw of them, weren't spectacular, but they were beautiful. I can best describe it as a walk along a prettily wooded, though overly manicured trail. a woman saw me messing with my camera and offered to take a photo of me...these are the sort of small kindnesses that you really appreciate when travelling alone, the things I hope to be mindful of when I come upon lone travellers in the future. at that point, it was getting late and if I wanted to make it to the museum I needed to go immediately.
when I got there, it was about an hour and a half before closing, and the woman at the desk informed me that it was free-admission time. this meant that I had officially done all of the things I planned to do in seoul without spending any money, except for buying a coffee, a muffin and water. there were lots of awesome paintings and installations, including a video installation (called 20th century boy) of an ipod, a cell-phone and, and some hand-held video game device being sandblasted. the film ran backwards, so the little particles of plastic seemed to be coming together...it was pretty sweet. also there was 20 minute documentary called "the white house in my country," where the artist interviewed the proprietors of businesses in korea called "the white house" and "the blue house." "the blue house" ("cheongwadae" in korean) is the name of the president's residence in korea. so the filmmaker went to places like "the white house" restaurant and "the blue house" noraebang, asking the proprietors why they chose the names, asking customers what they thought of the names and if they affected their decision to come in, and asking everyone what they knew about the white house in america, what city it was in (a lot of people said new york), what it looked like, etc. the film was in korean with english subtitles, and it was extremely interesting to watch it as an american in korea.
I saw many many paintings, a lot of which I remember individually, but I won't go on about art too much.
after the museum, I walked around a bit, and then headed back to the area around seoul station. since I may well never be in seoul again, I spent some time just sitting on the steps, taking in the city as a whole, its rhythm, its sounds, its smells, all the huge building and the neon lights.
then I bought a ticket back to daegu and enjoyed the relaxing ride, getting back in time to catch the subway home before it shut down for the night.
that day was wonderful. the next day was weird. but right now I am tired of being in the pc bang and I have to pee, so I'll save that story for later.
posted by Becca at
6:02 AM
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