First stop: Seoul
Seoul is a modern city of over 10 million people
Busses and taxis are plentiful and very inexpensive
The Metro trains are clean and fast and they go all over the city
Plus, every station and every train has free WiFi internet
Many people surf the net on their smart phones while they commute
This view is looking south from Namsan Mountain
The wide Han River runs through Seoul and divides it into two
The many different bridges are lit in bright colors at night
Seoul is circled by mountains and there are some steep hills within the city
These buildings look so weird that I had to take their picture
Are these real buildings or are they a huge art display?
Maybe a giant squashed them like they were half empty packs of cigarettes
Now this building might take the cake for weird and strange
It looks like it was made for a futuristic movie set
I can't even take a guess as to whats inside!
This is the North Seoul Tower atop Namsan Mountain
It has a revolving restaurant and an observation deck
It's a great place for a view of the entire city
There is a tradition at the top of Namsan Mountain:
If you and your sweetheart attach a lock to the fence
then the two of you will be locked together forever in love
This picture doesn't even show 1/2 of the locks and love notes!
In olden times, Koreans used smoke signals to communicate
Royal Guards like this one kept watch from on top of Namsan Mountain
Patterns of smoke were used to warn of an approaching enemy
Although Korea hasn't been ruled by a King since 1910,
the Royal Guards still protect the palace in their traditional uniforms
There is still a changing of the guards just as it was done hundreds of years ago
All of the Royal Palaces are now historical parks
This palace is in the middle of Seoul,
and totally surrounded by modern buildings
This hall is where the King would meet with his ministers
It's pretty impressive when you see all the detail that went into it
The detailed paint on the eaves of the roof is amazing,
as is the wooden frame holding up the roof on the inside
The more authority you had, the more ornate your roof was
Can you imagine what it took to paint these eaves?
Intricate multi color patterns repeated over and over again
on each side of thousands of ornately cut decorations!
Thanks for looking!
Here are links to my other Asian pages.
My Shanghai pictures are here
My 2004 pictures of China are here
My 2005 pictures of China are here
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