After returning from my trip to Taiwan and the Philippines in January, I met my boyfriend in Seoul to spend the four-day Lunar New Year holiday together there. He had been to Seoul before, so he was the tour guide. He did quite a good job! I think we managed to see most of the city together. Wednesday night we met up and found a hotel, and then on Thursday the holiday really began.
John is a pretty good photographer, and I was a bit worn out from my trip, so I didn't take as many photos as I normally would, and mainly only with my phone, so excuse the low quality during these posts.
Thursday was pretty eerie, because the city was basically empty. It was also a gray, hazy day, so the whole thing felt rather apocalyptic. We started the day by heading to Gyeongbokgung Palace, where we wandered the grounds and saw a changing of the guard. In the back of the castle, many festivities were on for the new year: kite flying, drum playing, and various hands-on or craft activities for kids. There is also a part in the back that recreates how Korea was in the 60s and 70s, which definitely looked for like the pre-war era in my mind, and which gives you a feel for how much the country really has changed in such a short period of time.
We also tried to see the blue house, the Korean equivalent of the white house, but were turned away by the police there. Apparently there was an event. We wound up the day spending an hour or two browsing in this huge bookstore nearby, sharing interesting titles with each other.
That was a pretty full day, so we then got dinner and headed back to the hotel for some rest.
John is a pretty good photographer, and I was a bit worn out from my trip, so I didn't take as many photos as I normally would, and mainly only with my phone, so excuse the low quality during these posts.
Thursday was pretty eerie, because the city was basically empty. It was also a gray, hazy day, so the whole thing felt rather apocalyptic. We started the day by heading to Gyeongbokgung Palace, where we wandered the grounds and saw a changing of the guard. In the back of the castle, many festivities were on for the new year: kite flying, drum playing, and various hands-on or craft activities for kids. There is also a part in the back that recreates how Korea was in the 60s and 70s, which definitely looked for like the pre-war era in my mind, and which gives you a feel for how much the country really has changed in such a short period of time.
We also tried to see the blue house, the Korean equivalent of the white house, but were turned away by the police there. Apparently there was an event. We wound up the day spending an hour or two browsing in this huge bookstore nearby, sharing interesting titles with each other.
That was a pretty full day, so we then got dinner and headed back to the hotel for some rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment