Yellow ribbons of prayer to honor those lost in the recent tragic ferry accident. Displays of ribbons can be found throughout the city.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Seoul Walking Tour
A lot of walking today...whew. But the tour was well worth it as we got to see the city from the ground up. You never know what you might come across while walking from stop to stop instead of riding the subway.On Gwanghwamun Square learning about King Sejong the Great, the fourth and most respected king of the Joseon Dynasty and creator of Hangeul, Korea's alphabet. Model of the square and palace as it was centuries ago at the Natural History Museum. It's unfortunate how much of historical Korea has been destroyed by various conflicts and occupations.
Crossing Cheonggyecheon stream, a personal favorite of mine, a respite from the city hustle and bustle.Outside of Jogyesa Temple, the center of Zen Buddhism in Korea. Looking good in all that purple!
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The temple was so beautiful! I could've spent all day there. The lanterns were so impressive (can you imagine how much time that took?!) and I was in complete awe with the giant Buddhas. The prayer room was so serene. I really liked the temple food as well! My favorite thing that we had there were those little potato/onion pancakes. They were delish!
ReplyDeleteThe giant Buddhas were so awesome! (I wonder how they got those in their!) The temple food was surprisingly good too! I was expecting something more bland tasting but it was great! My favorite thing was the mushrooms, yummy!
Delete-Erin Adair
Those pancakes were delicious! However, next time I would opt for chairs, haha!
Delete-- Addison Rhea
The Seoul walking tour was really cool! Our tour guide was basically a professional speed walker but we saw a ton of things in our limited amount of time. The Buddhist temple was my favorite part of the day. The temple was so beautiful, I wish we had something like that back at home. The lanterns were also so fascinating to look at. I really liked how they did the white lanterns in honor of those who lost their lives on the ferry. I wish they did the lantern festival but I totally understand why they didn't. Hopefully the next time I come to visit I can experience it.
ReplyDelete-Erin Adair
Goodness, how that tour guide could book it! I was very disappointed that we couldn't see the changing of the guard ceremony and that we could not spend more time at the museum. However, she was very knowledgeable, and I feel like this day was the one that gave me the most information.
ReplyDeleteThe Buddhist Temple was fascinating as well. I loved that, along with Insadong Marketplace. I absolutely loved the entire part. I never knew that the Buddhists there (and maybe everywhere) wore grey; and that Buddhist individuals (not monks) would still opt to wear grey and traditional clothing.
-- Addison
The walking tour was very cool and valuable, but also was a challenge for me. People say that our eyes are the window of the soul, and I believe streets are the windows of Seoul. Walking in the street gave us a totally different feeling compare to seeing it through a car window. That feeling is not something we can easily describe with few words. Even I was quite exhausted by chasing our guide, I still tried to feel and sense the heaviness of history and culture or the smell of civilization. Although there is a lot in common but I think each city has their own “flavor”. Stop a second in the street and look up at the building roofs and tree crowns, the feeling will became clear and you can suddenly get a glimpse of the essence of the local culture.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I’m glad to see that Koreans showed a high degree of respect to their ancestors. Without the work of our ancestors, we couldn’t have a chance to reach this level of material civilization and spiritual civilization.