Destination: Insa-dong (Seoul, South Korea)

In case you’re wondering what ‘dong’ means, the closest meaning would be ‘ward’ or ‘district’. Therefore, Insa-dong is ‘the district of Insa’ or ‘the ward of Insa’ – a local government unit...

Destination: Seoul Grand Park (South Korea)

Seoul Grand Park (대 공 원) is the largest park in Seoul, and possibly Asia. With a massive assortment of sights, it’s impossible to see it all in one day. Therefore, I’ll blog about what I saw now, and when I go back I’ll make a part 2 🙂 One of the...

Destination: Buddhist templestay (Lotus Lantern International Meditation Center)

I owe many thanks to Minji for helping with setting up the destination this week and driving us out there. Thanks, Minji! In all my life, I never thought I would ever get to see how Buddhist monks lived up close and personal. It seemed too foreign, too exotic, as...

Destination: Cheongpyeong Lake / Sunday Beach – a fun excursion to the quiet life (South Korea)

Located about an hour and a half from Seoul, Cheongpyeong Lake offers the chance to truly get away from it all and be at peace with nature. Complete with green mountains, traditional Korean houses, a beach / open field, and of course Cheongpyeong Lake, there’s...

Destination: Deoksugung Palace (Seoul, South Korea)

A 360 degree panaroma of Deoksugung Palace – click for the full pic (give it a second to load – it’s the result of about 12 individual pictures!) At first, I got the words ‘palace’ and ‘temple’ confused quite easily. Now that...

Destination: Myeong-dong – home to entire square blocks of nothing but shopping (Seoul, South Korea)

Whether you prefer shopping with a street vendor, in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, or even underground (a totally different feeling altogether), it’s all here, and it’s all close. Here’s the kicker: it’s not even the biggest one!...

Destination: Jogyesa Temple (Seoul, South Korea)

Today’s destination was brought to you by the good folks who practice a religion rather different from our Western world of Christianity. Jogyesa temple is located near the very center of downtown Seoul, and unlike many Buddhist temples / shrines – usually...

Destination: Cheonggyecheon – the urban stream of downtown Seoul (South Korea)

Cheonggyecheon (청계천 in Korean) has become one of my favorite places. It’s essentially a stream that runs 5.8 kilometers through downtown Seoul and eventually empties out into the Han river. It’s home to many pieces of art, both in the water and on the...

Destination: Hi Seoul Festival (City Hall area, Seoul, South Korea)

The three-day weekend was quite busy between relaxing and playing jokgu as reported in an earlier blog, but my plan of seeing something new every weekend still hasn’t changed. This weekend: the City Hall area, or more accurately, the Hi Seoul Festival. The...

Destination: Hongik University (the night life) – Seoul, South Korea

Instead of checking out a new place this week (which I did anyway – I’ll blog about that later), I thought about checking a place I’d been before at a different time. Welcome to Hongik University / the Hongdae area – the night life edition. The...