Seodaemun Prison History Hall

Seoul - As I had time on my hand - one of my customer and YJ decided to bring me to 2 interesting places that is a must for travellers to Seoul.  Surprise after 80+ trips, I have not been to neither of them.

Seodaeman Prison is a grim reminder of a time of sadness and sacrifices of which the modern Koreans benefit today.  It was also a reflection of how the extend of cruelty to another human being and we should never cross this path in the future again.   This prison was built during the Japanese occupation of Korea and it stood for 80 years as a living monument of grief for all Koreans.

A volunteer guide of elderly age took us around the Prison but she can only speak Korea which was translated for me via YJ.   Her patience was commendable in spite of the rain which we had to 'cuddle' at times under a small umbrella.

There were school children all around as it was an educational tour for them.  I think in Singapore we should bring our children to places to show how many people in Singapore sacrificed their lives during World War II and also the 3 years of Japanese occupation.    There are places that depict the scenes but unfortunately are not part of school's educational curriculum.  They go to  nice places like zoo, bird park, Malay village, Snow city, new water , etc but never to places that remind us who we were and the people that sacrificed for us.  Hopefully, someday it will change.

Huge rice cooker for inmates

This prison room are meant for 30 inmates

The small door to push food to the inmates

Rice scoop for inmates - the wood

 will be place in the rice scoop if the

inmates are being punished

At the end of the tour, this kind Korean lady gave me a booklet in English - there is a cost but it's free for me.

NamHanSanSeong

Seoul - Before lunch my channel partner took us up a nearby mountain for a scroll.  Namhansanseong (literally "South Han Mountain Fortress") is a park at an elevation of 480m above sea level, immediately to the southeast of Seoul. It is located on Namhansan ("South Han Mountain"). It contains fortifications that date to the 17th century, and a number of temples.  

 

NamHanSanSeong - South Gate

Tony and OB Kwon

Info on NamHanSanSeong

Hiking up Buk-han San - North Korea Mountain

Seoul - The moment I have been waiting for...climbing one of Seoul's popular mountain peak, Buk-han san - strangely means 'North Korea Mountain'. I did not have time to buy a mountain boots so had to do a quick shopping. I bought my mountain boots at Bang Bang departmental store - reasonable at W29,000 discounted from W69,000. Korea is going through tough economic times and there are heavily discounted sales everywhere.

Young Jin drove his car to pick up Kevin at a subway station and off we went to his apartment to drop off my luggages. I check out of Grand Hilton Hotel and will check-into Ramada Seoul Hotel in the evening.

Reach the base of the Buk-han San in no time, parked the car and off we make our trek up the mountain. Unlike my previous trek up Malaysian mountain (Mt. Ophir), this Korea mountain is very rocky with steep climb up the slope - at times 45 degrees elevation. I had to stop many times going up the mountain to rest - it was very hard work and tiring. The mountain boots help but not my jeans - should have worn a loose pants so that I can stretch my leg further going up. At times, my leg just wanted to buckle and give way - it was really tiring going up. But we made it, the view from the mountain was spectacular - it is no wonder Koreans love their mountains and climb hours to reach the peak (in Korean called Baek-woon dae) at the height of 836.5m. It is Autumn, the colours of the leaves were in radiant colours of red, amber, yellow, green and brown. It was a beautiful sight to behold!

Young Jin, Kevin and Ron

We are at the Peak of the mountain, and it took us 3.5 hrs to reach this peak and another 1.5hrs to get down. Climbing down the mountain is easier but more dangerous because of the sharp edges of the rocks - just need to be alert always.

We had lunch up on mountain peak on a gentle slope - JY prepared his hand-made sushi-roll along with small tomatoes, grapes and pickle. It was really delicious and the setting was perfect - the mountain view, the wind, the sight of clounds and the temperature of about 15 degrees with a sushi-roll in your mouth! The Peak is crowded with people but I understand that over the weekend- it is too crowded.

This is the Peak, with the Korean flag....

That's me back to the base of the Mountain (that is in the background). What i notice is that there were many elderly climbers, it was really tough for me but to see so many elderly climbers is enlightening. This have made me conscious of being healthy, moderate eating and always exercising.

Having coffee in a church

Seoul - Young Jin arrived at Ramada Seoul Hotel for a 10am meeting with Kevin Chae. Kevin' used to work with me but now he is the boss of his own company is called Gingos Technology. For lunch, we adjourned to a small restaurant that serve home cooked meals for Won5,000 (approximately S$7.40) per person. There were about 7 simple dishes - pork slices of chili dish, dish of steam egg, soup and the rest of the dishes had lots of chillies and spices.

We went to a church for coffee and tea latte. I love tea so I had tea Latte.

I and Kevin having coffee and tea in a Christian Church

It was a busy trip after this meeting it was off to another meeting and then back to Hotel to catch the Limo Bus to the airport.

Whilst on the way to the Hotel, Young Jin and I were caught in a heavy traffic jam. As I looked out of the window I could see the Ramada hotel so I told Young Jin that we will alight here and walk over to Ramada hotel. It was in fact faster walking to the hotel where we alighted. I booked the 4.05pm bus but the bus only arrive at 4.35pm. I had ample time because my flight was 7.45pm.

Flea market in Seoul - Hwanghak-dong

Seoul - Met Young Jin at 9am and we adjourned to our 1st meeting. The meeting ended on a good note and we went for lunch at this quaint restaurant. This was the same restaurant that I went to on 19 Mar this year. The food is good and very homely so the customer brought me back again.

I read in a travel magazine that it would be interesting to visit one of Seoul's popular flea market called "Hwanghak-dong". It is still within Seoul metropolitan area. There are many 2nd hand goods being sold and the nice thing is that the Korean shop keepers do not harass or hawk their goods as you walk by.

Rows and rows of old, 2nd hand and sometimes interesting trinkets, like this funny sign board.

Insadong - the arty scene of Seoul - must visit to Seoul

Knock-knock "House-keeping"...open the door in my daze and was pissed that someone woke me up from my slumber before the alarm bell. This was the first time such a nuissance happened to me.

Visited Insa-dong - it looks like the arty scene of Seoul. Insa-dong, located in the middle of the city, is an important place where old but precious and traditional goods are on display. There is one main road in Insa-dong with alleys on each side. Within these alleys are galleries, traditional restaurants, traditional teahouses, and cafes. The shops in Insa-dong are very popular among all age groups, because each store is unique. The galleries are the heartbeat of Insa-dong.

I bought a souvenir that looks like the shape of a question mark, "?" - do you know what it is for?
A: To scratch my back....

Lunch was interesting because Young-jin insisted that we have it at a popular traditional Korean restaurant but it comes with waiting standing outside the entrance for 30 minutes and the queue was always filling up. Well, in Singapore if locals are willing to wait for a good meal - it must be good. So, I hope this principle applied here too. I was not disappointed - the food was good and reasonably priced. We had the traditional Bi-Bim-Bap, which is a popular Korean dish - literally means "mixed rice". Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables, beef, a fried egg, and gochujang (chili pepper paste). The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.

Later, we went for traditional Korean tea - the ambiance was quaint and very traditional. But the tea taste normal to me. I was expecting some tea drinking experience but nothing of that sort happened. I had The drink of choice is Omija-hwachae ("five-taste" tea), from the fruit of the Chinese magnolia vine, which is rich in organic acids and helps suppress coughs and soothe dry throats. Young-Jin had mogwa-cha (Chinese quince tea), which is high in vitamin C and helps prevent colds and suppress coughs. It is a favourite winter tea.

I had dinner alone with one of my favourite dish, Gori-Gom Tang (Ox-tail soup). .....

Seoul Tower @ Nam San - One of place to vist

The Famous Seoul Tower

Some Korean words are similar to Mandarin language - Nam San in Korean means South Mountain - sounds similar to Mandarin as South Mountain.

  View from the cable car

At the cable car station on top of Namsan

Cherry Blossom in Seoul

Cherry Blossom in Seoul

This time of the year is the best season to visit Korea as the temperature is very nice at 15-28 degrees celsius and the Cherry blossoms are in full splendor. It was an awesome sight to behold.

Cherry blossoms lined the roads

Mr. Ko get blown by Cherry blossom wind