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Saying Goodbye to Summer with Blooming Cosmos
The winds have shifted and the cooler breezes have been blowing in to say autumn is here and winter is on its way. With autumn comes some amazingly colorful mountain views but also to delight, the cosmos bloom. It’s a flower that holds on until the end and seems to wave goodbye to summer and welcomes us in to autumn. It’s one of the last flowers to enjoy before the plants begin to wilt and turn brown winter ice and snow make their own beautiful scenes to view.The pinks and white of the blooms conjure up memories of the recent spring and summer fun we had frolicking outside with bare feet…
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Seokguram Grotto: Seoul’s Version
Seokguram Hermitage (경주 석굴암) is one of those places that makes it onto every list of top 10 temples, Buddhist sites or wondrous views while in Korea. If you haven’t heard about it yet, head over to my friend Dale’s website and read more about it there. As I’ve read the name and heard it again and again, though haven’t yet been the site myself, I recognized it when I came across the name in Korean as I sat on the side of Mt. Inwang in Seoul. Seokguram… Seokguram (인왕산 석굴암), when I realized why I recognized the name it made me all the more confused as to why there…
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A Landscape Revealed
At the foot of Mt. Inwang (인왕산수성동계곡) an interesting thing happened a few years ago. During demolition of the Ogin Sibeom Apartments in 2008, a scene very similar to that of the artist Gyeomjae Jeong Seon’s (1676 – 1759) in his “Eight Scenes of Jang-dong” appeared. During the rapid growth and industrialization of the area, the scene on the side of the mountain had been covered over with an apartment building in 1971 and wasn’t viewed again for more than 30 years. Upon razing the building a stone bridge was uncovered and the city, which had bought the land back for reclamation, decided to turn the area back into the beautiful natural…
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Marche@ Munchies: A Monthly Artisanal Market
This artisan market is relatively new, only starting in October of last year, but they sure have a following. Vendors selling handmade soy candles, bags, aprons and other crafts sit next to vendors selling organic treats and drinks for those food lovers out there. The Marche@ (마르쉐@) Market in the Maronnier Park in Hyewha once a month is the perfect place to spend a Sunday, especially now that the weather is nice, eating good food for lunch and meeting some really great people. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. These funds go to maintain the site.…
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Gwanghwamun Flea Market Fun
Every Sunday from March to October, traffic is blocked going southbound and tents are erected for a big flea market on the Gwanghwamun Square just in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace. From 11 o’clock in the morning to 4 in the afternoon, visitors can peruse a wide range of goods. Vendors sell everything from old clothes at bargain prices to homemade accessories, teas, candles, lotions, potted plants and seedlings and more. What’s more, every Sunday is different. There’s something for everyone and even food from around the world on sale to munch on when the midday pangs of hunger strike. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage…
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Flowers In Jongno
This past Sunday the sun was shining, parka weather said goodbye and a warm breeze was blowing so naturally I couldn’t help but head out for a walk. I headed to Jongno to see what was going on and for the most part I found a lot of people planning their gardens and purchasing seeds, plants and fertilizers, which got me oh so excited for my rooftop garden. I haven’t tilled the dirt that the owners before us left up there just yet so I’m not quite ready for the seeds, so instead I enjoyed the scene and purchased some succulents for inside the abode. While I was out I…
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Bitter, Sweet, Seoul
If you have an hour to spare and I hope you do, this is what you should watch today. Culling together clips from over 11,000 videos submitted, directors Park Chan Wook and Park Chan Kyong, known together as PARKing CHANce, made this movie using 141 clips from Korean and international submissions to represent Seoul and I think they did an amazing job. It’s not just the pretty view of the city or even the pretty people of the city, it’s real life and real moments with black and white clips of historical moments in Korea from archives to today. There are the kind people we meet on the streets and…
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My Top Ten Adventures of 2013!
2013 was a great year for traveling. Not only did I get to see some fantastic places in Korea, but I also enjoyed quite a few trips abroad. Here are the top 10 places, here and abroad, that I saw in 2013. What a year! 1. Fukuoka, Japan: We started off the year with a trip to Fukuoka, Japan in February. It seems as the end of winter nears we always start to get a little cabin fever, not that we live in a cabin, or that we completely hibernate all winter, but we just need to get away. I had been to Fukuoka before, as had my husband, but this…
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A Hidden Lake That’s Not So Hidden Anymore: Jusanji Lake, Cheongsong
Popular scenes from the movie “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring” were shot at the Jusanji Lake (주산지) located in Juwangsan National Park and up until then, this lake was pretty much a secret to everyone except the locals in the Cheongsong area. It’s not a secret anymore though. A common stop on tours out to Cheongsong, Jusanji Lake is… not much to write home about but holds a special place in Korea’s heart. You’ll see why. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. These funds go to maintain the site. Thank you for your support.) How…
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The Flowers, They are a ‘Bloomin
Spring has taken it’s pretty little time making it to the Korean peninsula this year, and from what my grandmother tells me, it’s pretty much the same in Ohio right now as well. On Tuesday last week, I headed to Yeouido to see if the flowers had opened yet, and though the festival had started there, the flowers were not all a bloomin’ to welcome spring. Some of the trees had taken the initiative and opened up, but not the whole street as I’d seen in the past. I stayed all of ten minutes and then headed home. Wednesday came with a burst of sun and higher temperatures than we’d…
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Dongrimsa Temple in Gimhae, South Korea
Sitting just 400 meters away from the more popular Eunhasa Temple on Sineosan Mountain, or Fish of the Gods Mountain, is Dongrimsa Temple (동림사). As it is smaller and was quieter without the people milling around on Lunar New Year, it felt as if we’d arrived to a shop afterhours. Also said to be from the time of King Suro in the Gaya Kingdom, it was supposedly established by King Suro’s wife’s, Heo Hwangok, brother, monk Jangyuhwasang. It features a tall statue of Jijang-bosal, the God of the Afterlife, in the courtyard surrounded by six smaller statues of Jijang-bosal that are the most telling feature of the temple. The statue is rather…