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stylin in korea

By Carl Fisher

March 30^th, 2019

gangnam

My hotel happened to be situated in the Gangnam area, which is coincidentally the only part of Seoul that I had ever heard of. I'm not sure what all the noise is about, but there were still sights to see and shopping to be done. Fortunately for the latter, I was close to Starfield Coex Mall, one of the largest indoor malls in Asia.

They deliver, although I'm not sure why anyone would want to go to all the trouble.

DMZing it

I could not visit Seoul without taking a side trip to the DMZ, which was only a half hour bus ride away. Fortunately, there were no provocative aerial displays happening at the time and I never really set foot in the DMZ area. Well I did sort of. I traversed down a tunnel that was dug by the South Koreans to meet up with a covert one that the North Koreans had dug. It was one of four that they know of.

While we couldn't walk around the DMZ we were still able to get a pretty good view of the area. I even saw some actual North Koreans. They are much smaller than I thought they would be, although it may be because I was looking through binoculars.

city views

Changes

Good timing meant that I was present for the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung palace. It was not a simple matter of two uniformed guards changing places with a curt nod of the head to acknowledge the other. There was much fanfare, with flags, drums, horns, and synchronized stepping.

palatial

One thing I found odd was that it seemed to be the thing to do to get dressed up in "traditional" outfits and walk around the palace grounds. Selfies and groupies were a must when so adorned. There were several shops nearby from which you could rent the full outfit. And you didn't have to be Korean to do so (although those who weren't looked totally out of place).

details

haring do

I've been to Keith Haring shows in San Fran and NYC so I didn't have high expectations that I would see anything new in Seoul at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. I was pleasantly surprised. I continue to be impressed by the quantity of work that he was able to accomplish in the short time that he had.

Haring deux

Templing

Arriving at my hotel at eight on a Sunday morning didn't give me a lot of activity options. Luckily for me, I was able to use the fitness center. It looked much like any other such facility, but what caught my eye was a rather large statue that was visible right across the street. Turned out, there was a buddhist temple a few steps away (Bongeunsa) and the object that had lured me was a 23 m Maitreya Buddha statue. I squeezed in a visit the morning of my departure and was blown away by all the color.