Seoul II - Buddha's Birthday

The big man himself!!

We headed to Seoul last weekend to take in some sights, et pour observer ce qui se passait pour la fete du Buddha. A busy weekend, mais on s'est beaucoup amuser. Seoul est une ville d'environ 15 millions habitants, and man did it feel that large!! Will write notes throughout the picture display...sorry, lots of photos.

The south gate of what used to be the fortress. Auparavant, les rues voisinantes la contournait completement. In the last few years they have cut one of the roads off, which makes it easier to access it. They were changing the guards as we approached.

Market madness

Fountain near City Hall

Entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Eat your heart out, Forbidden City!!! None of the buildings are original structures. It was first completed in 1395, but the Japanese either burned it down or tore it down at various points in time during their occupation of the Korean peninsula. The last original structure, the only one not torn don by the Japanese, was the main gate at the entrance of the palace. It has been taken down recently and they are in the process of restoring it. The pictures do not do it justice, they are doing a remarkable job restoring it.





Behind us is the Honeymoon suite, where the king would spend some quality time with his many concubines.


Even the monks have their digital cameras...

An old temple that was so well decorated with many a lantern. Les photos donnent une petite impression, mais croyez nous, l'effet durant la soiree avec les lanternes illuminees etait fantastique.

The usual suspects, again, with our friend Adam...or Gibbs...



Earning a living

A small parade on the Sunday.

One of many Buddhist organization tents, this one was the Tibetan.

Super busy shopping district, I believe called Myeongdong.

Recycling, anyone?

Baseball, Busan style!!

We went to our first baseball game today, and what an intro it was. The chaos feel that Korea can give you definitely carried over to how they host a baseball game. Today is children's day in Korea, and the stadium was absolutely packed to cheer on the Busan Lotte Giants. They have three sets of tickets, two of which provide assigned seats and the other is general seating. We discovered today that they sell more tickets than they have seats, and we found ourselves sitting on a set of stairs. Typical food at the ballpark included ice cream bars, beer, dried squid, fish paste on a stick and a few other Korean treats. We stuck to a beer and the peanuts Amanda brought in. From the singing to chanting the players' names, from the organized chaos to using orange plastic bags to cheer on the team in the later innings, this was one entertaining afternoon!!

Like I said, the place was sold out!!

The plastic bags are an environmental disaster yet usefool tool to wave around and cheer or pick up your garbage when the game is over....very Korea.

Our Children's Day game buddies. The young lady shared her ice cream bar with me (She did not give me much of a choice...).

When in Busan....