April 6, 2011 ~ National Korean Folk Museum

The last stop of the day: The National Korean Folk Museum. I think it was quite interesting, but I was so dead and exhausted by this time that I didn't take many pictures. There was a reconstruction of a traditional Korean house in there too!

Traditional room

More modern version

Outside, there were stone sculptures of the zodiac animals so I took a picture by mine, the dragon. Yes, I kissed it too, but that's a different picture haha!

Even though it was quite exhausting, I was glad to have gone to all the different place! It was quite and productive and adventurous day!!

April 6, 2011 ~ Gyeongbuk Palace

So this was the second place we were taken to. A friend of mine wanted to go exploring and took me and my Korean friend, Dan Bi, all over the city. This was not planned, and I was sick, so we were sort of suffering haha! Gyeongbuk was the main palace of Korea but after the invasion was the second to be restored.

The front gate of the castle. Right outside are the guards. They're so serious and kind of scary looking, but also very bright looking! ^_^

The walkway upon entering through the gates.

The throne room. It was nice, but what I found awesome was . . .

. . . the CEILING!! Just look at it! The details, the complex structure and vibrant colors!!!!

 More pictures of the premises.

Dan Bi and I near the end of the trip to the palace. We were dying hahaha! Little did we know that we would be taken to another place yet!

Yeah, only when we got up did we saw this sign on the platform we were laying on. hahaha! ^o^

April 6, 2011 ~ Seodaemun Prison

We went to lots of places so I'll split it into three parts!

Firstly, the Seodaemun Prison where they kept Koreans that fought against the Japanese invasion. I learned a lot that I never knew, more than can be recorded in this simple blog. Thousands were imprisoned for their will to submit to the Japanese occupation.

The prisoners here were kept in cells, some known as the "ink rooms" where there was no windows or light.

These mailbox like slits were used for the guards to look in on the prisoners.

Many materials were produced within the prison such as fabrics, potter, bricks, etc. The prisoners were exploited for free labor. One of the mains things they produced were bricks, which can even be found used around the prison's premises. If you enlarge the picture, you can read up more on it.

The bricks that they produced held this emblem upon them. This was one of the bricks along a walkway.

This tree is called the "Wailing Poplar". It was planted in 1923, the same time the execution building just beside it was built. It is named so for the patriots that were dragged to be executed would grab hold of the tree and wail for their achieved independence. 

A large South Korean flag is displayed on two of the prison buildings.

More pictures taken at the prison:

April 4, 2011 ~ Myeon Dong with So Jung!!

So, I got to meet up with another of my friends that I made in Hawaii. So Jung asked me where I wanted to go, so I had heard from a lot of the other international students that Myeon Dong was their favorite place so that's where we went. It is really nice, but personally not my favorite, but perhaps because I prefer scenes of nature. Other than the numerous shops, there is water and lights, and lots of couples. So So Jung, another friend, and I were three single girls that got spend the night walking by the stream and watching all the lovey dovey couples and feel the encumbrance of singleness hahahahaha! After that, we went to karaoke/noraebang out! All in all, a good evening! Anytime there's karaoke/noraebang involved it's an awesome night!! ^_^

So Jung & I

The busy shopping streets of Myeon Dong

 Lit up waterfall

Romantic walkway

April 1 ~ Jongmyo Shrine

Wow, I have lots to update. Recently for my Korean World Heritage class we went on a field trip to Jongmyo Shrine, the place where the king and his ancestors spirit tablets are kept. Though the body is entombed elsewhere, their spirit tablet are kept here to summon their souls.

Here are some photos I took:

 Just some of the grounds.

Here you can see the each of the chambers, but they're not open. Only on the first Sunday of May are they opened. Hopefully I can go and witness the ceremony.

This is the path the spirit tablets take when brought to the shrine. The middle path is for the spirits and therefore should not be tread upon. One of the side paths is for the king, and the other the crown prince.








On the first Sunday of May, the spirit tablets of all the kings and their wives are brought out for summoning, prayer, and offerings, therefore the public can see them. This is where they are kept; each king has his own chamber that he shares with his wife/wives.

Here are some pictures I found online:

Here you can see the offerings and the spirit tablets.

Here are some of the festivities during the ceremony.