In keeping with the idea this was a cultural visit rather than a holiday, wet days offered an opportunity to go and see some museums whilst also exploring other neighbourhoods. This post briefly covers museums visited. I don't try and provided huge detail because that's all available on line for those interested. Rather I touch on some small or other notable points that caught my attention for whatever reason. Palaces Museum Having ventured out in spite of what turned out to be 3 days of pretty constant rain, The Palaces Museum, adjacent to Gyeongbokgung, was my first museum stop. Sadly an entire floor of permanent exhibits was closed. However, amongst other things, I came across an excellent digital immersive rendition of a very famous exploratory narrative from the 16th Century, captured in a folding screen landscape painting of the 19th Century. Follow the link to look at the picture more closely. Of interest, although I may be making a connection that doesn't exist, ...
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Is there any such thing, nowadays, as a standard trip abroad? Weekend breakers (perhaps not very long haul), gap year takers and remote workers are just as likely to be one's fellow travel companions as business travellers or couples and happy families grabbing a romantic or frantic (respectively) break for a week or two during their supercharged lives. When I started considering travelling to Korea I was clear in my mind that it was going to be a visit rather than a holiday experience. In my mind: being able to take in the major attractions but not being perpetually rushed; being able to absorb the experience with more unplanned time to do things on a whim; enjoying researching the possibilities whilst also considering and mitigating the potential difficulties; being self reliant.
So, with that in my mind, as well as accepting that not every meme and trope represented in my K Drama bibliography will necessary manifest themselves to me, I started surfing the web and compiling a list of sites which provide a compendium of rich ideas. I've listed my top five here.
But First
My daughter commented (so far the only person who has) that it was nice to have some musical links to provide background ambience whilst scrolling the rest of the post. An Essential Korean student colleague of mine, within the K Pop club environment, posted this song, entitled Stoning, by Lee Juck. In a nutshell, it celebrates difference - 'Wouldn't it be strange if we were all the same!
Best of Korea
bestofkorea.com's 'About Us' page states: Best of Korea (BoK) is a celebration of the Korean American diaspora. Our mission is to shine a light on the best in Korean culture, entertainment, lifestyle, and achievement. “Bok” is the Korean word for blessing which is a reflection of how we feel. Blessed to live in a time when so many people share our passion for Korea, and blessed to help illuminate all the amazing things that people are doing to keep the Korean spirit burning bright throughout the world.
This site provides a comprehensive and stimulating insight into all things Korean. The enthusiasm of its contributors and editorial team make this my recommended go to site.
Travel Stained
Travel-stained.com is an example of a personal travel blogger's blog; and there are a great many such blogs out there. Travel-stained caught my eye, however for a similar reason to Best of Korea, it had a gloss that made it stand out from the others. The owner, Shelley, who describes herself as a 'Korean-Canadian introvert exploring the world, one country at a time', combines great pictures and articles that entice and inform. I also love the way she includes her daughter in pictures in an entirely natural way, not woke (pixellated out), not exploiting (front and centre), but as part of their experience. I hope she doesn't mind my extract from her site to illustrate my point.
Korean Drama Land
koreandramaland.com My Korean Odyssey began with a K drama and bagging some filming locations is part of my plan. I'm not the first K drama fan to have had this idea and the internet is awash with locations and how to get there. Koreandramaland is probably the most comprehensive database creation for helping fans locate sites from their favourite dramas. If the mapping function worked well it would be even better. However, it wins my drama location finder recommendation because of the number of dramas (all of them?) included in their database. Unsurprisingly many locations are used again and again, and this site will help in bagging several dramas with one location!
Atlas and Boots
atlasandboots.com With 70% of South Korea's landscape described as mountainous, hiking is considered in Korea to be a national pastime. And you don't have to travel outside the capital to find quality crags and peaks. Top quality outdoor clothing is, apparently, everywhere, with popular hiking trails often being packed with people enjoying the opportunities presented. One observation I've heard is that many of the trails are not quite the wilderness trails that one might expect, but rather there are many well installed stairs and bridges to facilitate access. Bukhansan and Seoraksan are on the itinerary, weather permitting.
Linguasia
linguasia.com is a Korea content site started by a young couple in 2015. It's informative, colourful and reflects the enthusiasm of the writers, in a style that is more contemporary and perhaps aimed towards a younger audience. It's full of interesting pieces on all aspects of the culture; internet searches often reveal past posts on a specific topic, delivered in a light and sometimes quirky manner. It's a bit like browsing an Aladdin's cave of material, you never know what you might find. A full index would help, in my view, in seeing the 'full product range'. That said, the unexpected finds are part of the site's attraction.
Postscript: Ithaca
Enthusiastic for my odyssey, I was once asked whether I might be disappointed when I finally get to Korea. Although I find that to be unimaginable, whether something like this lives up to expectations shouldn't, perhaps, be the point. The experience will be what it is. However, a fellow student at Essential Korean pointed me towards a poem, a copy of which I've placed below. For me, this provides a perfect response. When someone books a holiday they are placing the responsibility for having their expectations met firmly with the service provider. Notwithstanding my approach makes me entirely responsible for the outcome, the poem's author, C.P. Cafafy, using ancient Greek mythology, wonderfully describes the importance of the entire journey, not just the destination.
After two weeks sailing instructing I've rather taken my eye off my trip in order to earn some money to help fund the trip! And with one week to go I'm aware I've not posted anything here for a while. When in Korea I hope to make more regular posts based on actual experiences and activities. In the meantime, here are a few extracts from my activities on Essential Korean from the last few months, where the range of interests and learning resources could keep me engaged pretty much full time. K Drama Club online meeting Having the fun task of leading / curating the EK K-Drama Club, the series Welcome to Samdalri was the subject of our inaugural K Drama Club meeting. A series selection process considered a range of options, followed, in the lead up, by some further notification and publicising of the event. Something of a new experience for me, I spent time scripting discussion points to ensure we could maintain momentum. In the end n umbers were modest, but since i...
Namsan Tower by night Still very much awake after overconsuming sugar (sticking with the sweet shop idiom from the previous post), I decided I should set off to Namsan park and tower via the major bright lights of this part of Seoul, to get a night picture or two. This was a brisk walk and climb, followed by a late supper of spicy beef soup, at a sitting on the floor place, accompanied by an EK colleague who agreed to meet up as she was on her way back from the southern side of Seoul. EK Tour in Jeongja-dong This tour provided an opportunity to 'Immerse in the bustling, everyday rhythm of Jeongja-dong and the vibrant Jeongja 'Cafe Street', where the essence of middle-class Korean life unfolds.' We explored and considered such things as: the difference between pure high rise residential blocks, mixed commercial (office and retail) and residential, and office blocks with single studio accommodation for office workers; the meaning of the many boardings on the outsides of ...
Accommodation My Solo 10 days were based in Gangnam. I used my 1 bed studio apartment on the 5th floor of a high rise, about 3 minutes walk from Gangnam Subway Station (당남역), as a base to explore parts of Seoul not yet explored and also revisit some of those with which I was beginning to feel a little bit more familiar. Doorstep Shopping Rather than post in a chronological order, from hereon I'm going to post on more functional aspects, beginning with the Gangnam area itself. The subway station has a transfer between 2 lines, a north south and an east west. I suppose I'd walked between the lines and the exit nearest my apartment (Exit No 6), about a dozen times before appreciating, whilst following the signs to the exit or the platforms, that I'd never actually covered the same ground twice. By chance I came across a map that explained the reason. The montage below shows two views of Naver Map (like Google Maps but Korean, with some very clever bells and whistles). You can...
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