Ttukseom Seoul Forest Park

I think this park is my favorite of all the parks we've visited. It is large and involves much walking, (map) but there is so much to see and do that the walking is not wearying. The park covers nearly 300 acres of what in ages past used to be kings hunting grounds, then much later a golf course, then horse track, then sports field, and now a great place for families to spend the day. It is now topically divided into five parks, all seamlessly connected. They are Cultural Art Park, Eco Forest, Experiential Learning Park, Marsh Plants Garden, and the Han River Waterside Park.

The main entrance opens to the Cultural Art Park, starting with a statue of racing horses.

Beyond that is a small sculpture garden and "Mirror Lake", which is a black stone bottomed large puddle really. It's only about an inch deep, but with the clouds and trees clearly reflected of its surface, it was quite pretty to look at.

Mirror Lake with the sculptures in back.

In the culture park there is also an outdoor stage and fountain play area. The fountains were off when we arrived, but later in the afternoon they had been turned on. I discovered later that the hours are 11:00, 1:00, 3:00, and 5:00 for one hour each, April to October. They have gender separated tents set up to allow for changing clothes. Up the path a bit from the 'lake' is a large playground area where the kids had tons of fun!

Kids can climb inside this from one foot to the other.

On the back right is the two level slide; super fun for the kids!

After a snack, we strolled through a small part of the specially planted wood area...

...then over to the Eco Forest where they have a deer corral. You can buy food to feed the deer, but we just used grass.  

After this, it was past the waterfall area where we had a brief science lesson on water-skippers...

and over to the butterfly room and insectarium, which was really a greenhouse with an area that had dead bugs on display.

Trying to get the nabi on her finger!

Insectarium

The paths are beautifully landscaped and well tended, so even just coming to stroll provides entertainment. All this, and that is only about half of the park! We will definitely be going back, especially now that fall is knocking on the door!

Samcheong-dong Walk

It has been a hot summer! We've been pretty lazy, mostly just hanging out at the house to avoid the heat. However at some point you just have to suck it up and get out. It was my bi-weekly 'mental health day', so I chose another walking tour. This one was around Samcheong-dong. I was also able to have a friend along, and we had a great time exploring, even in the heat! 

After emerging from the subway (Anguk station, exit 1), we got our bearings and started off. The first recommended stop was Seoul Selections, which is a very small English bookstore where they have a coffee/tea bar. After spending much time and money at What the Book and another used English bookstore in Itaewon, I'm not sure how Selections can compete. We went in a few small art galleries and viewed the selections. There are numerous small galleries, little restaurants, and quaint shops in this neighborhood. The farther you get from the subway, the less city-like it feels, which was a wonderful escape!

temple area

Random scene from the neighborhood.

Another recommended spot on the tour was the Owl Museum, which consists of an old woman's collection of over 2500 owl items. There was some really interesting items in there. No pictures are allowed, but admission (5000 won) does come with a drink!

owl museum

We continued the walk, trying to find the chicken art museum. We were unsuccessful, but did discover an embroidery museum and traditional painting musuem, where you can make your own items under their tutelage (reservations required). According to my book and a map I picked up on our walk, there a numerous other places like that in this area, but by this time we were hot and tired.

Nice view!

One of the numerous alleyways in the area.

This is a fantastic area of Seoul. It is across the street from Insadong, near the large and popular Gyeongbokgung Palace, the Presidential Home, and it contains the Bukchon Hanok village, an area of traditional style Korean homes. I will most definitely be going back...when the weather cools down!

Yeosu-Expo

Expo grounds map

The Yeosu-Expo, located in the southwestern part of Korea, has been on my to do list for a while now. It's overarching theme was "The Living Ocean and Coast", so most exhibits had a water topic. The Expo grounds were quite large, and we did not see all of it in the two days we spent there. We had a third day planned, but by the end of the second day we were all so tired we really didn't feel like seeing anymore. We managed to cover quite a lot of ground in those two days. Most of our time was spent in the International Pavilion, which was the most interesting part to us.

I took the girls down by train on a Tuesday morning and we spent the rest of that day in the Expo looking around the International Pavilion. It contained booths representing over 100 countries, some bigger than others. I think we made around to about 60 of them. As mentioned, the water theme prevailed. For example, in the Egypt booth, there was an iPad movie to watch in which a cartoon man tells you about Egypt's dependence on the Nile River. All of the country booths had signs about that country's relationship with water, while some were more high-tech and had interactive computer displays. They all mentioned eco-friendly things they were doing to help conserve or keep water clean. It was a good bit of hype and tourism promotion. A few of the booths deviated and did not have anything about water, but really, that was quite alright with me! (Particularly Lithuania, where a representative explained in excellent English the amber collection they were displaying.) Many of the booths had cultural displays as well, which were fun for the girls. They got to play different drums and a xylophone, and try on masks and a Yemeni veil, among other things. There were English speaking staff around to answer questions and explain things to you, and they were very friendly and informative. 

a type of instrument

Lithuania; the tubes contain amber you can view by
looking through the lens at the top.

Qatar

Cambodia 

singing bowls

My husband joined us the next day and we went back to the International Pavilion for a while. Then we walked over to the aquarium, which was supposed to be something special, but I don't know what was so special about it. It was a standard aquarium. I would say it was worth a look, but Koreans have a really hard time understanding the line concept and waiting their turn, so if you don't like pushing and shoving, you might skip this part if you've ever been to an aquarium before. It did have Beluga whales, which are pretty rare, and that was fun to see. The best part for us was the big observation tank where they had a sea turtle. Our oldest carries around a sea turtle purse (creatively named "Turt") and she was so excited when the turtle came close to her so Turt could see the real sea turtle. The things that make a parent's day!

Turt, meet sea turtle.

We browsed through the UN pavilion and went into the Kids Place, where the girls got to make a clay bowl as part of a display about celadon, Korea's pottery. They also had a flour play center, which we did once upon a time in Daegu. I wanted to go up to the observation Sky Tower, but the wait time was one hour plus, and it wasn't that special to me. We skipped many of the independent pavilions simply because of the wait time, and from what we could ascertain about the contents, they weren't worth the wait. We stuck around for the much publicized Big-O Show, and it was entertaining, though I can't say it was worth the wait or dealing with the crazy, harassing ajummas. Prior to that there was another show, "the girl from the ocean", which was all in Korean of course and I couldn't quite follow what was going on. The most entertaining part was the synchronized swimmers.  

The Big-O show

I wish we had seen more of the other pavilions, but I know Koreans and I know myself, and I know it would have been wretched trying to push and shove with them just to see the attraction. The Expo, however, was worth the visit.

Inwangsan Hillside Walk

Several weeks ago I hired a housekeeper/nanny for the sole purpose of being able to freely explore parts unknown without having to worry about the little ones. Some days I simply hide in a coffee shop and read, but usually I try to see something new. Last week I did something I have always wanted to do: I got on the subway and chose some random stop I've never been to and just meandered. I ate at a random restaurant that served only two choices, both in Korean, so that made that decision fairly simple. Then I just walked. It wasn't a particularly exciting or noteworthy place in Seoul, but it was fun to just explore. You never know what's around the corner! 

Today I made a more deliberate choice. On Mondays almost all attractions in Korea are closed, so my choices are limited. (I am switching the nanny schedule to Friday for this very reason.) So I chose a walking tour outlined in my Seoul guidebook. There was nothing especially intriguing about this tour, but it got me outside, it wasn't too far, and it said that there would be terrific views of Seoul. I never get tired of the city views! The walk from the subway exit was considerably more challenging than I anticipated, and I began to wonder if the sights would be worth it. Inwangsan is supposed to be a very spiritual mountain because of the clustering Buddhist temples and Shamanist shrines. I don't know about any of that. The shrines and temples in this area are not with mentioning; I didn't even take any pictures. The walk was steep, but the view from the top was awesome. 

The trail back down was easy, quiet, and peaceful. You could easily forget you were in the city. The walking tour ends near Seodaemun Prison, now a museum. It was built to house dissenters against the Japanese occupation, then later used by the Korean government for the same purpose. It was closed today so I could only view the outside perimeter. Just down the street is Dongnimmun, or Indepedence Gate, built as a memorial (or declaration? not quite sure) of Korea's independence from Japan. There are also several memorial statues close by.

freedom fighters memorial

Independence Gate

Seodaemun Entrance

All of the places above are in a park like setting, Seodaemun Independence Park, which was being well-used that day by the area's senior citizens, and is easily accessible by subway. I'll be coming back at some point to tour the prison museum.

All in all it was a day well spent!

The Philippines: Cebu

We decided we wanted a beach vacation, and what better place to go than a tropical island? Cebu had been spoken of rather highly, so we made our choice and went. We flew in on an overnight flight and were picked up by our resort service for the two hour ride to the resort. This was my first look at the Philippines, and it was interesting. It's 2 AM, and there are people, young and old, all over the place. And not just hanging out in bars or something like that. They are walking and sitting on the edge of the road (and I don't mean side of the road, I mean the edge), playing basketball, hopping on and off the tricycle taxis. It's 24/7 here! I'm somewhat used to this in Seoul, but Seoul is a huge city, Cebu Island is not. I'm really not sure why I found this so surprising, maybe because there is nothing for them to be out doing like there is in a city, but I was really surprised.

tricycle taxi

We arrived at our resort after all this gawking, and Alegre Beach Resort was awesome! It was gorgeous with excellent service and I was glad we made a good choice. Of course we opted for an ocean view room and I loved sitting on our patio listening to waves.

our cabana

the view

On our second day in country we took a Cebu City tour, and it can best be described with pictures. A thousand words, you know.

Magellan's cross, planted by his crew in 1521. The original
is purported to be encased inside this one.

Basilica Minore Del Sto. Nino, 16th century. A "miraculous" religious relic 
was said to have been discovered at this site the church was
built on. 

inside the church

Fort San Pedro, date uncertain. Interesting history.

Heritage of Cebu monument. It's very large inside a 
small fenced area; difficult to take an all encompassing
picture of. It shows major scenes from the island's history.
Completed in 2000.

Chinese Taoist temple

Overview of Cebu City from the temple site.

During the two hour drive to the city, I was able to see quite a bit of the island. I can't speak as to all of the Philippines, but this part seemed very poor. I cannot describe how it made me feel. It was very humbling to see how little they had and think about how blessed my family is. I saw people bathing in a ditch, little children running around naked, a girl at a hand pump pumping water presumably to take back to her house, open air school houses, and in Cebu City we were accosted by this little girl begging who refused to let us close the van door until a policeman came for her. It was heartbreaking. After all this, we went to a big, American style mall for lunch and shopping. It was quite a contrast.

random roadside pictures

Most of our time in Cebu was spent at the pool or on the resort's private beach, so we didn't get a real feel for the community of Cebu, which I do regret. I did meet a family who lives in Cebu City and had come to the resort for the weekend and she told me a little bit of information. She spoke of how English was so prevalent in the Philippines now that many of the children barely speak the native language anymore, including her own, and how everything was becoming so Americanized and she felt like they were losing their traditional heritage. It was sad. I did get to try to some traditional Filipino dishes from the excellent hotel restaurant, one of them being kaldereta kambing, or goat stew. First time I've ever eaten goat meat. I think this may be popular in Cebu as I saw many goats during our riding time. My favorite was pancit sotanghon guisado, which is a noodle dish.

I immensely enjoyed our vacation here, although the heat is intense and I was glad to get away from it! We did some snorkeling around the resort's fabulous house reef where we saw giant clams and electric blue starfish, among many other tropical creatures. We visited a nearby sulfur hot springs and also took a boat ride and were able to see some amazing flying fish. And we relaxed, which is, after all, what vacations are for!

Times Square

Times Square is a very Western style shopping mall located in what looks to be an older section (Yeongdeungpo) of Seoul. Most shopping areas in Korea are still street market style, and underneath this mall there is also a massive underground shopping market. Street markets can be fun, but sometimes, at least as an American female, you just want to meander through the mall. This is a very wide open mall, and wide open anything is unusual in Korea. It contains several very upscale stores, such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton, but it also has an E-Mart in the basement level (like a Wal-Mart), and everything in between. It is also attached to a Shinsegae department store, which is a dominant name in Korea. I went with a friend one day just to check it out, and we had a great time. My favorite store, UniQlo, is in here, along with my favorite dessert place: Krispy Kreme! Later in the week I took the girls back to the playplace they have in the lower level. 

Main atrium of Times Square Mall.

There are tons of restaurants in the mall. The girls and I ate in the food court. I don't think I've ever explained in this blog how Korean food courts work. There is one line that has the menus for all the restaurants located inside the food court. This line is where you order and pay, then receive a number that will be displayed on a large central screen and also on a screen at the restaurant where your food is ready to be picked up. This particular food court gave me a pager for each restaurant I had an order from; they are upscale here! This may be done somewhere in America, but I've never seen it before.

"I like Dalki" playplace.

Play place game center. Notice the boy in the fountain.
This pose is quite popular in Korea.

A bouncy rabbit.

Sign for the bathroom. He's a poo-poo head.

Sky park. A nice area to relax, view a bit of the city. There was no
one else up here, and it was a bit odd to see the city skyline
(not so much in this shot),  yet still feel alone in Seoul.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I love these little coffee shops they have everywhere in Korea. This is one example that I thought was absolutely adorable!