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Category Archives: Seoul
Choi Young-rim at the Deoksu palace
12-Mar-08
In the grounds of the Deoksugung in downtown Seoul is an outpost of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Maybe your average sightseer interested in palace architecture is not interested in popping in to see some paintings. But the exhibition currently showing is well worth a visit.
The exhibition showcases two artists -- one Japanese, one Korean -- and explores the similarities and differences between them. Inevitably there is a large number of parallels to be drawn as the Korean -- Choi Young-rim (최영림) (1916-1985) -- was a pupil of the Japanese -- Munakata Shiko (1903-1975) -- and the two seemed to maintain a friendship over the years: on display at the exhibition is some of the correspondence between the two.
Choi ...
The LKL long weekend in Seoul and Busan
27-Feb-08
A sketchy account of LKL's recent trip to the land of morning calm.
Thursday night: arrive at Incheon, sail through immigration and customs, no wait for baggage or mobile phone rental, and buy a 14,000 Won ticket for the shuttle bus to a hotel in the City Hall area. Someone makes sure I'm queuing in the right place, and before I know it I'm at the Lotte Hotel. Get into a taxi. The driver doesn't know where my hotel is, and can't understand the map I have carefully printed off. We improvise our way to the Insadong Fraser Suites.
Friday morning: as I have made absolutely no arrangements for the weekend other than organising a hotel and sending tentative emails to a ...
Namdaemun before, during and after
26-Feb-08
First, some pictures of Namdaemun as it used to be:
In 1890
In 1904-6
In 1906-7
The YouTube Namdaemun Then and Now group contains loads of more recent, pre-fire, images. Here's a couple of samples:
Next, a YouTube (maybe from YTN) of the fire itself
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1UTVLmN9y8[/youtube]
Some spectacular stills of the fire are on pwalks' flickr page (HT to Seoul Man for the link). In fact pwalks has a load of excellent photos of Korea.
And a very moving video entitled 다시 되돌릴 수 있다면 (If we can go to the PAST), via Gusts of Popular Feeling:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua94mvW_VkI[/youtube]
And one or two of my own snaps, taken on 15 February, five days after the fire.
A visit to the Whanki Museum (환기 미술관)
23-Feb-08
The Korea Tourist Office website advises us that Kim Hwan-gi (1913-1974) (known internationally as Kim Whanki -- and he signs his paintings just plain "Whanki") "was Korea's top artist of modernism". It is therefore frustrating that when you go into the Tourist Information Offices in Insadong no-one has heard of him, still less of the museum that was built specifically to house his work. On two occasions now (a year apart) I've struggled to get the helpful staff to believe that there really is such a place, and that I'd really like to know how to get there. I have to spell out the website address, www.whankimuseum.org, and make sure they type it into their browsers correctly, before they believe ...
Namdaemun Gate
12-Feb-08
There are some current events which are so unexpected and shocking that the first moment of becoming aware of them is indelibly printed on the memory. It is said that anyone who was adult at the time can remember where they were when they first heard of the death of JFK. I certainly will always remember where I was when I heard that something was very much amiss with the twin towers of the World Trade Centre (on a conference call with US colleagues, who were giving us a running commentary immediately after the first tower was hit).
So it is with the destruction of the Sungnyemun, Korea's National Treasure #1. Alas, hearing about it after the event is not so ...
Another FT guide to Seoul
02-Nov-07
Following the Weekend FT's smooth (and expensive) guide to a weekend in Seoul -- after which you would need a whole week to recover -- the FT's Korea Correspondent Anna Fifield has responded with a slightly more realistic schedule, published in their Korea supplement on 23 October. No ginseng facials, and no itineraries which assume that the whole population of Seoul has evacuated for the Chuseok holidays leaving the roads to just you and your taxi driver. Fifield's weekend is for those curious about encountering Korean culture, while the Weekend FT's is more designed for the business traveller with too much money to spend. So here goes:
Saturday morning:
Do a palace -- the Deoksu-gung, Gyeongbok-gung or preferably the Changdeok-gung with the ...
Stop piercing my Seoul!
28-Oct-07
An alternative travel experience summary by Aashish Gadhvi
My first trip to Korea was something I had been looking forward to and preparing for with great enthusiasm. Since my initial interest in Korean cinema/sports, I had become a fully-fledged Korean fanatic and digested all sorts of Korean goodies at every opportunity. So going to Korea for me was as good as a religious pilgrimage. But during my preparations, I read many websites, books and personal accounts which really contradicted the premature views which I already held about Seoul. I would say that the things that I heard were 80% negative, with many people complaining and moaning about various issues related to surviving in Seoul. To hold my hands up, I did ...
The FT’s smooth weekend in Seoul
08-Oct-07
I don't usually spend much time reading the Weekend FT's How to Spend it magazine - most of the things in the magazine being out of my financial reach. But this weekend, in their ongoing series of "Smooth Guides" to a long luxurious weekend they finally featured Seoul.
So here's the FT's tips for how to spend a weekend there.
Firstly, they stayed at the W Seoul (Walkerhill). Their second choices were the Park Hyatt near the Coex Mall ((Never been there so I can't comment)) or the Grand Hyatt ((Which is a perfectly acceptable business hotel, but quite a let down after the Hyatts in Tokyo, and also situated in the middle of precisely nowhere. I had two days there while ...
One day I'll work out, from the ethical and technological perspectives, how to go about embedding other people's videos into this blog. Until that day, I'll just have to link to the sites where the videos are displayed.
So here's a fine video containing instructions for a foreigner on how to walk "defensively" down the streets of Seoul.
There's lots of truth in the video, but one huge falsehood: I think it must have been filmed first thing on a Sunday morning, because the pavements are absolutely empty.
There's good advice about using street furniture to protect yourself from motorcyclists driving on the pavement, and a helpful tip about using ajummas as human shields on the zebra crossings. But there's no advice on ...
The Corporation of London has just launched a new index: the Global Financial Centres Index. It's a way of ranking various cities that aspire to being recognised as international financial services centres. It was launched in Cannes last week at MIPIM, the international property industry boondoggle. The occasion provided the opportunity to update the City's report on the leaders and laggards in international finance. Here's a bit of background from the report.
We believe that this categorisation identifies four types of financial centre:
Leaders: obviously London and New York, but also centres with strong sub-sectors and strong domestic markets;
Minor: cities that are not rated as highly, and are unlikely to improve in the near term. It is interesting to note that Rome, ...
Restoring Seoul’s faded past
25-Feb-07
Visit OhMyNews for an interesting article from Robert Neff. Great pictures too.
Here's a list of all of Neff's articles. Well worth a browse for those interested in Korea's early modern history.
The Leeum Art Gallery, Seoul
11-Feb-07
A brief walk from Hangangjin subway stop (line 6) near Itaewon is the Leeum Gallery, set up by Samsung. No expense has been spared on the building itself, with prestigious foreign architects engaged to build it, and an impressive collection of artworks.
The building itself is very spacious, and has three main sections. Older artworks are displayed in the galleries around the Guggenheim-style teacup-shaped atrium (left - complete with spiral walkways): Koryo and Chosun ceramics, including many national treasures, ink paintings, and Buddhist artefacts. The second section is devoted to modern and contemporary works, both Korean and international, while the third section, under the main entrance, is set aside for special exhibitions.
Currently on show are late Chosun dynasty ink paintings. You ...
The Spirit of Kahoidong
31-Jan-07
Bukchon, (북촌) a genuine old part of Seoul, a haven of peace preserved between the two major palaces. A little bit of old Seoul carefully preserved and nurtured, saved from the twenty-first century metropolis below.
Stroll around the quaint streets of Kahoedong, one of the most protected parts of Bukchon, and if you're not looking terribly hard you believe the myth. It's certainly quiet and peaceful, and there are wonderful views down the hill to the skyscrapers of the downtown area or across to the Gyeongbokgung. And those beautiful curved tiled roofs.
But then look around. The main streets are well paved, walls are of brick, scrubbed clean. All very sanitised frontages. You can see a lot of money has been spent, ...
Farewell to Seoul
25-Jan-07
Some of the highlights and not-so-highlights of my visit to Seoul. First the good.
Soundday in Hongdae
Seoul's National Museum of Contemporary Arts
The Leeum Gallery (post to come soon once I've done a bit of research. Now done. Post is here)
Insadong. Yes, there's some touristy tat for sale, but there's also some really high quality stuff as well. Fabric designer Lee Geon Maan has two outlets, selling ties, scarves, handbags and purses to die for, numerous shops contain the patchwork silk chogakpo (above right), while you can also spend millions of Won on ceramics. Park Young Sook has a gallery to herself and also takes up most if not all of a gallery on the other side of the road. Both galleries ...
Some pictures of Insadong
23-Jan-07
As I've been on a plane for what feels like the last 24 hours, a lazy post today.
Insadong on a Sunday morning, before it gets busy:
One of the products for sale:
Question: If the diary is designed for the Japanese market, why is the writing in English?
And a British style icon somehow perching on a slanting roof:
Update 22 Feb 2007:
A pic from the Chosun Ilbo: A promotional event involving the above mini and some b-boys:
45 minutes from the downtown area of Seoul is a rather special place. Take line 4 to Seoul Grand Park (Gwacheon, 과천), and board the free shuttle bus which runs from near the exit. The Lonely Planet says it would take 20 minutes to walk to the gallery, but it seemed to take the bus about that long to get there.
You are greeted by a rather spacious sculpture park. Walking up the sloping path towards the gallery entrance, the first thing you see is a giant steel sculpture of a human figure, his mouth opening and closing with a regular rhythm. He stands there presenting himself to the sun, gazing out over the parkland to the mountains beyond.
There is chattering ...
SoundDay in Hongdae
20-Jan-07
I'm glad no-one volunteered to chaparone me round the music clubs of Hongik last night. I wouldn't have had half so much fun.
For starters, if you're with someone else or with a group of people, you have to go at the speed of the most vocal or you probably end up staying in one place all evening because everyone's too polite to say they're bored stiff.
Soundday is a 9-to-5 opportunity (9pm to 5am, that is) to get in as much live music as you can take, all for 15,000 Won. 10 clubs to choose from (you can go to all if the mood takes you), and a free beer is thrown in. All that for less than a tenner isn't ...
Happy New Year to all our readers
01-Jan-07
In London:
In Seoul:
A Happy Christmas to all our readers
25-Dec-06
Some seasonal snaps from London and Seoul
First, Trafalgar Square and Regent Street during December 2006, from UK Student Life.
And now December 2005 in Seoul, from Zofona. If anyone knows where the scenes are, leave a comment below.
And finally, the light display currently gracing Seoul Plaza, entitled Luce Vista:
Kings College Choir in Seoul
21-Dec-06
I'd be interested to hear if any Seoulites who happen to visit this site went to hear the King's College Choir at the Seoul Arts Centre on Saturday. Not cheap, at up to 120,000 won per ticket.
Part of the magic of King's is the acoustic of the chapel itself and the very English sound of the organ, and I'm not sure how a cathedral-style choir might sound in a drier concert hall acoustic. The organ problem was solved, reading between the lines of the SeoulSelection and KBS notices of the concert, by performing unaccompanied works or those requiring piano or harp accompaniment (the major work performed was Britten's Ceremony of Carols)
I'm assuming the choir will soon be heading home (if ...
Brule gets bogged down
25-Nov-06
There's a bit of a disagreement in Number One Southwark Bridge about the attractions of Seoul. Anna Fifield is mightily taken with the place (just as well since she lives there). But Tyler Brûlé, the FT's man in the fast lane, is less than impressed at being caught in Seoul's slow lane.
Brûlé was looking forward to enjoying a new city, after a brief visit two years ago left him frustrated that he'd not spent longer there. Frustration was to be the reaction again when he returned two weeks ago.
I flew into Incheon airport from Osaka and had grand plans to at least spend a night on the town, venture into an interesting neighbourhood or two and squeeze in a few ...
Seoul’s hanoks
21-Oct-06
There was a feature in FT a couple of weeks ago on the Bukchon district of Seoul. It's a place as far as you can get from Apgujeong in terms of style of living. It's the sort of place where Kim Ki-duk might be caught filming traditional housing as seen in 3-Iron, and is inhabited by folks such as Anna Fifield, the FT's Seoul correspondent, Kim Hong-nam, the director of the National Museum, and Brit David Kilburn (whose hanok was in fact the one used in 3-Iron). The Jongno-gu website (the source of the image to the left) offers a walking tour of the district - though it seems to be a little out of date.
Here's Anna Fifield's article:
Thanks to David Kilburn for sending me the occasional update on his campaign to prevent Kahoi-dong, an area of traditional housing in Seoul, from being buried under mountains of concrete. He recently put on his own arts festival in his home, including two intangible cultural assets, and got the Korea Times to send along a reporter to cover the event.
Cast your imagination to a world where man was more intimately connected to the natural world than he his today. Reflect on how, for centuries, Koreans used to build their homes so that they nestled into the natural landscape without unduly disturbing it. In this almost forgotten world, music, vocal arts, dance, and calligraphy could all be acts of communion with ...
A story from the Chosun from a few weeks ago. I know from experience (the paying end, rather than the receiving end, more's the pity) that expat employees are a good deal more expensive than locals. It's all the additional perks. Who knows, maybe some of the costs which make Moscow top of the list might be personal security, not just accommodation costs. Anyway, Seoul is now Asia's most expensive city:
In love with Seoul
13-Jun-06
I'm pretty sure the FT's coverage of Korean affairs has increased both in quality and quantity over the past year. For example, they were the only western paper I noticed that covered the publication of the annual profits of the foreign banks operating in Seoul -- data only available in Korean on the financial regulator's website. All this is good news for Koreaphile FT readers such as myself. The only downside is that I'm unable to search the FT archives on their site because I'm too stingy to subscribe.
The FT has not one but two Seoul correspondents, Anna Fifield and Song Jung-a. Here's what Fifield likes about Seoul, from last weekend's FT. I quote in full in case the article ...
