Destination: Seoul Racecourse Park – or – how to bet on the horses (South Korea)

Whether you’re a seasoned bettor or just coming out to watch, Seoul Racecourse Park has a little bit of something for everyone. The park itself focuses on the racecourse, but the infield offers enough room for things that have nothing to do with horses. Even...

Destination: Lotus Lantern Festival – how Seoul celebrates Buddha’s Birthday (2010)

As in years past, the 연등회 (Yeon Deung Hoe, or Lotus Lantern Festival) is an excellent, if overly touristy, chance to learn more about one of the world’s oldest religions. A folk festival that has origins in the Goryeo period continued as the Lantern Celebration...

Destination: Cheongwadae Sarangchae — the history of Korea’s modern era (Seoul, South Korea)

While still quite new, Cheongwadae Sarangchae has become the place to learn more about Korea at its finest. The building, within a stone’s throw of the Korean presidential Blue House, sparkles with histories of the country’s leaders in the modern era....

Destination: Digital Media City / Korean Film Museum – a great, free look (Seoul, South Korea)

Welcome to the Digital Media City, home to trillions of won invested in buildings that aren’t open yet. Benches still covered in bubble wrap grace the outside of the Digital Media City gallery, which was unfortunately closed the day we meandered around. The...

Destination: Cherry blossoms

Hold that thought – the annual festival near the National Assembly building in Yeouido seems to have been postponed. Nonetheless, the cherry blossoms are out in Yeouido, albeit not quite a full bloom. I’ve also taken a few pictures around Seoul for your...

Destination: Jangam / Suraksan – a mountain with cool Buddhist temple (Uijeongbu, South Korea)

The Lady in Red and I decided to see what there was at the northern end of Seoul’s line 7 subway. Although the immediate surroundings were less than impressive, an area across the street held some promise – a crab and a couple brown signs, commonly used...

Destination: Son Gi Jeong Park – celebrating a famous runner (Seoul, South Korea)

It’s fairly rare to have a park named after a person. It’s even rarer when that person is someone most Koreans couldn’t tell you about. Depending on how you transliterate 손기정 into English, it can be ‘Son Gi Jeong’, Son Ki Jeong’,...

Destination: St. Patrick’s Day festival in Seoul, South Korea(2010)

St. Paddy’s Day was celebrated at Cheonggyecheon in downtown Seoul – and what a party it was. Although the mixture of Korean hip-hop (above), Korean acapella, traditional Korean music (a pungmul band), and Irish music was a bit quirky, the crowd stayed...

Destination: Seosomun Park – a sculpture park for the locals (Seoul, South Korea)

Every now and then I get a question asking me if I always give positive ratings to the destinations I visit. My answer? Not always and not in every case, but in general I’m very impressed with Korea’s selections of places to see. This is one place that is...

Destination: Gongsanseong — an interesting old fortress (Gongju, South Korea)

Gongsanseong (공산성) does not rank high on the ‘most seen by foreigners’ list. Then again, neither does the city of Gongju. Naturally, the Lady in Red and I had to check it out. Originally called Ungjinseong, the mud fortress was used by King Munjuwang (reigned 475–477...