Museums

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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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A few more happenings

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Songdo

As I left Manu at Incheon airport for her flight home, I briefly, as already mentioned, detoured to Paradise City, and the iconic yellow building. I also saw a food stand there prescribing GimBap (one of Manu's favourites and the equivalent of a sandwich - highly versatile on fillings but includes rice wrapped in sheets of seaweed rather than bread). Next brief stop was Songdo because I had some time to return the car and before Gangnam checkin. 

Songdo was built some 20 years ago specifically to be a 21st Century, technologically advanced and fully integrated city. One example of the innovations is trash making it's way through underground suction tubes that deliver it to central recycling plants. I'm sure there's more than I was able to glean in my very short stopover, but it felt like a bit like Seoul, without the vibe. Apparently people haven't been rushing to live there, and that makes it feel a bit empty. Time will tell how Songdo evolves but miracle modern cities around the world often struggle to make much headway, at least in the early years it seems.




Jamsil Baseball Stadium

I am not sports mad in the sense of following any particular sport all of the time. I had learned that baseball was one of South Koreas popular pastimes, but I was only inspired to try and fit in a game experience after watching...........

The story is actually all about what happens during the non-playing period of the year, when teams buy and sell players and plan their strategies for the next season. That aside, I duly made my way to Jamsil Stadium, a 10 minute subway ride, bought my ticket and settled in. I spent much of the first hour googling about the game until eventually it made sense. 


I met some Americans who said the whole package was way more non-stop entertainment than at US games. I also appreciated that the side that was batting (each side has 9 batting innings) had primary cheering rights - again, an example of considerate behaviour! And I realised I was sitting with the visiting team, also the losing team. Whilst spirited, their numbers were fewer. 

Lotus Lantern Festival

However, I had a good view across the stadium to watch the home crowd have their say, which they did - continually, tunefully and with great heart. All in all it was a great fun experience and, even with liberal amounts of beer being consumed, it was very civilised.

The Lotus Lantern Festival is possibly the biggest annual festival in the country, celebrating Buddha's birthday. Ultimately it's one big party, with street festivities, huge lantern parades and a number of other organised events and activities over the weekend preceding the actual birthday. And I was going to be in Seoul at this time. Well the weather on the main day was mostly, no, entirely, torrential, which was a pity for all the main participants and a dampener for everyone else. I made the opening ceremony, although numbers I suspect were down from if the weather had been better. The highlight for me was being approached by three girls who asked if they could interview me about my reasons for coming to the festival. Being culturally aware (from watching dramas) that all schools run camera clubs as extra curricular activities, as the students strive to fill their academic and other achievement CVs with as much as possible, and finding out from them that this was indeed the case, I was happy to oblige, in return for a picture of an umbrella related moment - a trope that is much used in Korean dramas. I'm afraid I drowned out of the evening's saturations but visited the Sunday afternoon activities briefly the next day.




A place to Go (Baduk / 바둑)

Inspired by its occasional appearance in, yes, a number of dramas, as well as having a long untapped curiosity about what exactly this game was all about (such that even computers were struggling to make anything like the same advances as they were with chess), I determined to teach myself the basics with a view to finding out more about it in when visiting Korea. After many unsatisfying internet searches, unsatisfying because most of the finds related to people being unable to assuage their own interests when visiting Korea, I eventually correlated some pointers in my last couple of days, leading me to a Baduk Club. I had a happy half hour exchanging smart phone translator assisted pleasantries with the club's proprietor, promising to come again on my next visit, possibly with a view to buying a set.





For a small taste of how the game of Go influences some people's philosophy on life, I found this interesting article, which considers Go strategies as 

Overcoming Life's Challenges - from NakdSeoul


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