A stroll along Suwon Fortress

On Sunday we ventured one hour south of Seoul to Suwon. The main attraction of Suwon is a 5km fortress wall that was built 200 years ago by the Joseon Dynasty, the same folks who created the secret garden in Seoul. The wall affords you wonderful views of Suwon, which is contained within and outside its constraints. However, it is the wall itself that impressed us the most, with its bastons, gates, observation pavillions and thousands of steps. Here are just a few snaps from the day.

Entrance gate (can you spot Monkey again?!)



Overlooking Suwon from the fortress



Fortress observation pavillion



Trent caught striking a pose at Suwon Fortress

Looming gray sky above Suwon Fortress



Western Christianity meets Eastern Dynasty

The Hungry Pirate's Art and Craft Workshop

Inspired by the paper merchants of Insadong, we bought some beautiful paper and paintings to make some wall hangings to brighten up our apartment. Trent also decided to embark on a mission to make a paper lantern- I think that that project may take a while.

A skilled wall hanging maker

A skilled paper lantern maker

A few too many mandu

One of our favourite Korean foods so far is mandu- dumplings that come in a variety of forms including steamed, fried and in soup. Our local Saturday markets sell freshly steamed mandu that has become our regular Saturday morning brunch. The first time Trent attempted to ordered four dumplings, there was a slight communication breakdown and we ended up with four packets of 8-12 pieces. Not able to eat them all ourselves, Trent did the hospitable Korean thing and gave some to our neighbours. Unfortunately, he was not able to communicate to them the reason we had extra and so they just think we are great neighbours- oh, well!

Trent and 40 mandu

So that's what the ALP is missing- election dancers!

Government elections are on in Korea and campaigning has reached fever pitch with all major intersections becoming platforms for party spruking. Music and dance plays a large role in all campaigning, our favourite so far has been YMCA Korean-style. We are told voting is not compulsory and many Koreans skip the polls and head to the hills for picnics. As voting is on a weekday, a lot of workplaces give employees the day off- unfortunately as 2pm starters we are not so lucky.

Election dancers in Suwon

Here's trouble... two campaign vehicles vie for poll position

The Secret Garden of Changdeokgung

Originally built in 1405, the Changdeokgung palace was constructed by the Joseon Dynasty, the final ruling dynasty of Korea. Ruling for over 500 years (1392-1910), the Joseon Dynasty is one of the longest continuously ruling royal dynasties in world history.

Rank markers for visiting dignitaries

Harmony between man and nature in the secret garden

Script adorning wooden doorway

The rooftops of Changdeokgung's buildings are lined with scultpures of Taoist animal symbols. It was these same characters that inspired the creation of Monkey, Sandy, Pigsy and Tripitaka in one of my favourite TV series- Monkey !

Taoist sculptures

Monkey!

"Born from an egg on a moun-tain top,
Funk-i-est Mon-key that e-ver popped,
He knew eve-ry ma-gic trick un-der the sun,
So appease the Gods, and every-one, And have some fun."

Every day in Seoul...

• 276 babies are born
• 189 weddings take place
• 8,410 people move house
• 386 new cars hit the road
• 167,000 barrels of oil are consumed
• 1,218 cows are eaten
• 9,635 pigs are eaten
• 29,680,000 commuters traverse the city
• 79 permits for new buildings are issued

The completion of another day in Seoul

The visibility spectrum

Seoul doesn't have the cleanest air in the world to say the least. But some days it's worse that others...

View from our apartment on a good day...

...and a not-so-good day

Seven years!

'Trent and Mel' turned seven on Tuesday. To celebrate, we had a mini-cake from our local apartment bakery, some chocolate and a bottle of sparkling purple stuff that tasted like bubble-gum. When you buy cake you get candles, matches and party-poppers included in the box... and of course a cute message in chocolate!

Happy Anniversary!

mmm.... totally artificial

Naos Nova

Last weekend we met up with Min, who lived in Australia for many years and worked with my brother, Scott, at Tyrrell's. It was fantastic to explore the city with a local. Min and her friend Jae treated us to dinner and our first wine experience in Korea. Due to import taxes, wine is incredibly expensive over here so we were definitely privileged. We went to a great wine bar called Naos Nova, which overlooked the city. As Min knew the manager, we were given a glass of Moet on the house! Bubbly has never tasted so good.

Our dinner with Min and Jae - steamed pork and kimchi, mandu and noodles (and soju!)

Naos Nova has floors called Heaven (great city views), Earth (pictured) and Hell (underground dining and dancing)

Strolling along Cheonggyecheon

Cheonggyecheon is a stream that runs through the middle of Seoul, of which about 5km has recently been restored. As this is Seoul, lots of lights, fountains and waterfalls have been added. It a good escape from the city above, though of course you have to share the experience with a lot of people.

The start of Cheonggyecheon

By day...

...and by night

Public art in Insadong

In one of the shopping centres in Insadong we stumbled across some very functional installations. I'll let you make up your own mind...

Installation I

Installation II

Korean pizza

Korean's make a version of western-style pizza (often including a lot of sweet corn), however, they also have a much yummier dish called pajeon, which they nickname 'Korean pizza'. It is probably more like a savoury pancake made with green vegies and seafood. We were lucky enough to be treated to a meal of pajeon (and about 8 side dishes!) at Sue and Jin's house. Sue teaches Japanese at one of Seoul's universities and is teaching us Korean once a week. Sue's mother (who made this wonderful feast) and father have moved from a country area to live with them for the year. Their son, Sunny, is very cheeky!

Pajeon at Sue and Jin's

Go home Yankee!

There are around 30,000 US Military personnel in Korea. Currently they are negotiating to move one of the largest bases from Itaewon (Seoul) to Pyeongtaek (70kms south of Seoul)- a move that is facing much resistance amongst Pyeongtaek residents and the wider Korean community. Mass protests within Pyeongtaek and Seoul have been held to voice disagreement with the US Military presence in Korea and wider issues regarding discontentment with the current government.

Without intent (promise!), we happened to stumble across one of the mass protests occurring in Seoul last Saturday. There appeared to be about a 3:1 ratio of riot police to protestors. A lot of the police looked really young and we were told that they were probably young Korean guys doing their compulsory military service, and not actually member of the police service.

Protestors near City Hall, Seoul

Trent had no trouble taking shots of the riot gear the police had, but we were told by one older Korean man who was in the protest to "Go home Yankees" (translated by our friend Min). After leading us through the crowd, Min also mentioned that is was probably dangerous for us to be here! However, in their defence, the protest did appear to be relatively organised and peaceful.

Riot police on the ready, their (white) buses forming a barrier

Police riot gear

Go Corea!

In the last couple of weeks, excitment for the 2006 Soccer World Cup has really gone up a couple of notches. There is great anticipation all around the country after Korea's great showing at the last world cup (4th), which was held in Korea and Japan. I made the mistake of saying 'Japan and Korea' on our first day here, and was promptly corrected- it was held in 'Korea and Japan'.

These signs are all around the city, and there are hundreds of 'Red Devils' shirts being worn already. We've been told that 'Corea' is the European spelling.

Stepping back in time to 1988

Korea has transformed the '88 Olympic site into a recreational park, where thousands of people rollerblade, walk and ride around a huge network of paths. It is a good example of the marriage of traditional and modern Korean culture and style- pagodas next to slick modern sculptures and massive stadiums.

World Peace Gate, Olympic Park

Lush gardens and spectacular fountains

Curving features of the stadium and surrounds

Beautiful luminescent maple trees

Seoul snacks

You never have to go hungry in Seoul- everywhere you look, at any time of the day, there is food. The snacks sold in the subways system are particularly tempting as you are hit by their aroma when you get off the train. Our favourite is deli manjoo, a custard filled corncob-shaped cake that is always sold hot and fresh. For 2,000 won (A$2.50) you get about dozen.

Mel and deli manjoo in Seoul subway

mmmm... piping hot oozing custard

A more challenging snack is beondegi- boiled silk worm larvae. The taste isn't too bad if you can get past the smell, unfortunately we couldn't so only had a quarter of the cup. Maybe an acquired taste.

Amazing Race contestant eating silk worm larvae

Beondegi- crunchy on the outside, paste-like in the middle

You've won!

We've been tuning into Radio Australia over the net to get a fix of Aussie and global news as we don't get much via the TV. A couple of days ago they were interviewing the guy who wrote the Lonely Planet guide to the Western Balkans, an area we're considering including in our trip after our year in Seoul. They were giving away a copy of the guide and, the nerds that we are, we emailed in the quiz answer and won! Hopefully if we got our address right we should receive soon.

A long weekend in Chuncheon

For our first long weekend, we decided to venture to Chuncheon, a city about the size of Newcastle that is two hours north east of Seoul. As I'm sure you are dying to know- yes, Chuncheon has a mascot just like our suburb in Seoul. His name is Hobani and he is meant to symbolise the beautiful waterways of the district.

Hobani

Chuncheon was a pleasant change of scale to Seoul, however, the main street was still packed with interesting shops and restaurants, an area that has been used in many Korean and Japanese movies.

Chuncheon town centre

Chuncheon is renowned for it's exceptional dakgalbi, a spicy chicken dish that you BBQ at your table. A lot of restaurants only serve dakgalbi, such as the one that we ate at in the photo below. One of the most commonly used utensils at the Korean table are scissors. Knives are never used at the table, so scissors are used to cut everything from raw meat to cooked noodles into bite size pieces that are manageable with chopsticks.

Dakgalbi and beer... heaven

On our second night we found a fantastic Japanese fusion restaurant- Zen. At first we were a bit dubious as we were their only customers, however, for less than $10 each we were presented with an amazing array of noodles, sushi, soup and side dishes.

A whole lota Zen

As well as the food, Chuncheon has amazing scenery on offer. On our last day, the clouds cleared and we scampered up Mt Samaksan with troops of senior Koreans in the latest climbing gear. The older folk in Korea are amazing, leaving us for dead in the fitness stakes. This is a shot of one of the Buddhist temples along the route.

Mt Samaksan temple

The climb gets really steep in parts and you have to use ropes and metal footgrips to anchor your climb.

It's harder than it looks, alright!

But it was all worth it...

Low-level view from Mt Samaksan

Pro climber No. 1

Pro climber No. 2