Korean company

I've had a few guests in my Korean apartment in the two years I've been there, but most have been visiting from other parts of the peninsula. In June, I had my first bona fide, foreign guest: my mom! We started our adventure in Seoul, where I took her to tour Gyeongbukgong palace. This is actually a compound of structures, and they perform a reenactment of the changing of the guard. We almost decided not to visit this site because of all the riot police around it, but it worked out in the end. The Koreans were really upset over the import of American beef.....

In addition to the palace, we took a hike up to a shamanist temple. This turned out to be way more uphill than I had anticipated, but the rocky outcroppings and remains of the old city wall up here were well worth the effort. And of course we shopped. The tourist guidebook will tell you that three of the five top tourist attractions in Seoul are markets! I took mom to Insadong, which is a market geared toward art and traditional Korean crafts, and Dongdaemun, which is a huge clothing market.

Then we headed down to Daegu, where most of the site-seeing revolved around my daily life: my school, Bong-duk market, the river walk, etc. We went downtown to shop the fabric market and sing some karaoke, and we even visited a little traditional village. Mostly we ate, but one of the most interesting things about Korea is the food! Mom was a good sport and tried a little of everything...even the fermented crabs and boiled silk worm larvae. :) Don't worry, I also fed her many delicious things like ginseng chicken soup and galbi.

While in Daegu, we took a day trip to Gyeong-ju, about an hour outside of Daegu. It was the seat of one of Korea's many dynasties, and it houses a HUGE number of interesting and ancient sites...so many that we didn't even see a 10th of what's there. We visited Bolguksa, a UNESCO world heritage site and gorgeous Buddhist temple, as well as some royal burial mounds. I want to go back and see the sculpture grottoes located a short hike above the temple.

Afte spending a week in Korea, we attempted to leave for Japan, but I forgot both my medicine and my passport, so we were delayed a day....mom was a good sport about that one too. :)



This slideshow is of the whole trip, so the pics for both Korea and Japan are here...and remarkably in the order of the trip! If you click on the pictures, it will take you to the picasa album where you can see the big versions, or you can pause it and move forward manually. :)