Ice bar

The last day was spent shopping some more in Shillim and the COEX mall. In the evening we finally had Korean beef BBQ for dinner, an absolute must for any Korea visit. In the evening we ended up in the sub zero ice bar in Hongdae. Another one of those places I have always wanted to see, but would never have expected in Seoul: a bar entirely made of ice. Walls, decoration, glasses, everything - and minus five degrees inside. Sadly, we were so late that we soon turned out to be the last and only customers. At least this gave us plenty of room for pictures :)

Seoul and more

We spent the next day visiting the demilitarized zone, trying on traditional clothing in Insadong, a quick stop at the SNU and clubbing in the NB club in Gangnam. Another led us to explore the Deoksugung palace, stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream, look for traditional souveniers in Insadong, have stuffed chicken for dinner, drink Dongdongju in our little traditional bar in Nok-Du and spend the night in the Cocoon club in Hongdae. Yet another day we were lucky enough to visit Samcheongdong with Jerang and her sister Lydia. Thanks to our knowledgable tour guides we got to have a great lunch and a very traditional Korean desert: sweet & warm bean soup. Way better than it sounds. Sadly, we had to part eventually to get the last tour through Biwon (the secret garden). On the way back home we got the chance to witness a Buddhist prayer service in the Jogyesa temple.

Rafting

Something I always wanted to do, but never got around to it, I finally did here in Korea as a group trip: rafting. It was as awesome as one could have wanted. Two days of heavy rain had paid off by raising the water level significantly making the trip quite a bit more exciting than it might have been otherwise. Either way the surrounding nature was absolutely gorgeous. Other than rafting trips the place also offered freshly harvested chilis. Upon returning to Seoul, we toured Namdaemun, Myeong-dong and ended up in building 63 for another drink with a glorius view of the city at night.

Katrin's visit

The next day, the next highlight: Katrin came by to visit Seoul for a week. Sadly, her arrival was accompanied by the heaviest rainfall I had seen in Korea so far - including my last visit and any conferences. It rained when I got up, poured on the way to the airport and did not stop for two days straight. The little creek running past Nok-Du had turned into a raging river on the evening of the first day. So we were forced to tour Seoul indoors. This meant COEX mall and Samsung tower on the first day and Lotte World on the second. Finally, in the afternoon of the second day the skies cleared a bit and we were able to enjoy an amazing view of Seoul from the Gyrodrop tower, before plummeting toward the bottom at a speed that took your breath away. In the evening we walked around Dongdaemun and ended up in Doota for some very late night and early morning shopping.

Colleagues

Highlights continued from day to day as on Monday Christoph & Ann had an 18 hour stop in Seoul on their way back from Australia. We met up in the evening for a Korean BBQ dinner, a quick stroll through the city and finally a drink in the bar of the Samsung tower. Only negative part of the evening was that at the end of the day I had to find out that the bathroom in their youth hostel room made mine here look pretty pathetic...

River cruise & concert

On Sunday I managed to convice everyone to go on a Han river cruise, or rather a 70 minute boat trip. Weather was wonderful, but the view was not a impressive as I had hoped, since it's hard to see past the first row of buildings. The view of Yeouido was already worth the trip, however. And, of course, the boat ride got us closer to the olympic park, where Jeannette & I had tickets for the Lady Gaga concert!!! It was amazing. First, the olympic park was quite nice and the olympic hall turned out to be nicely cooled and rather crowded. Then came a pretty decent Korean singer for 30-45 minutes and finally Lady Gaga. The crowd was in a fantastic mood: jumping, dancing, screaming, singing along and Lady Gaga, well - what can you say? The music is way better than I expected and even her outfits were more crazy than I would have imagined. All in all an awesome show. I hope I'll manage to visit another music event before I leave. Btw: if you are wondering, what happend to my camera, that I can take such awesome pics of Lady Gaga on stage, the answer is: nothing. They were taken by Jeannette :)

More Germans

First off: I have not died nor lost connection to the internet, times were simply a bit busy in the past weeks and I'll try to catch up on the blogging. First thing that happened was that finally some other Germans arrived here, more precisely five DAAD students. Jeannette works in the same group as me and also came to visit the office on her first day. Thereafter, we met the others for some mandu. The next day we toured around Seoul, found cool bathroom signs in the Deoksugung palace, saw the changing of the guard including traditional musicians playing on huge mussel shells. Then we toured the Seoul plaza, the little river and the Insadong area to finally return to Nok-Du for some dak-calbi :)

Culture day

On Sunday it was still greyish with the permanent threat of severe rainfalls, so I decided for a more or less indoor tour. I started by taking the Metro to seodaemun, where the independence park and gate, honoring the Korean freedom fighters against Japanes oppresion, are located. Close by is the seodaemun prison history hall, a former prison complex built entirely out of red brick by the Japanese to imprison, torture and execute members of the Korean resistance. As is apparent from the description of the events that have happened here, wounds caused by the Japanes rule have not yet healed. Next stop for me was the Deoksugung palace, which turned out to be the main palace, that I have already visited during the my first conference tour here. Since I was also surprised by heavy rain, I decided to explore the palace museum instead and have a traditional dinner in the cafeteria. As on Saturday, the weather cleared in the evening and I took a stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream only to find a photo exhibition regarding the Korean war. Quite fascinating black and white pictures probably taken by someone accompanying the NATO forces. All in all a very instructive day.

Rainy days

I was wondering when I would find out why this is called the rain season in Korea. Saturday I found out. When I left my apartment it was pouring. Despite my umbrella, remaining dry was impossible. Streets turned into rivers and there was no sign of stopping. Staying indoors seemed like the thing to do, so I headed for the COEX to visit the aquarium. Despite the fact, that the rain had pretty much stopped when I arrived, it wasn't such a bad idea at all. The aquarium featured all kinds of things from piranhas over moray eels, beavers, sharks and lots of little colorful fish to crocodiles actually getting along well with giant turtles. Not to mention the fancy Korean burger place 'kraze burger' not too far away from its exit ;)

Random little things

It may seem hard to believe, but I do not spend every day exploring yet another amazing temple, shopping center, recreational area or district of the city - especially on weekdays ;)
So I figured it might be worth pointing out a few of the little things that make the days here different from those at home. The first is simply a quite improvised street sale of melons. The second is - since I decided not to spend so much time on food - one of my most favorite drinks. Iced Kiwi juice. It consits of ice and at least one full kiwi and maybe more depending on where one buys it. Certainly tastes very fruity or better: kiwiy. Third is one of many impressive-looking motels, which seem to pop out all over Seoul at night. Fourth is a royal seal of some sort. It made it into this blog to mention the fact, that official documents here are not signed by the person occupying the required position - for example the dean of a university - but instead carry a seal corresponding to that position. Looks a bit more stylish than a simple signature.

The secret garden

Sunday, I finally fulfilled my wish to see Biwon, or as it is referred to more often in tour guides: the secret garden. It is one of the few places that may only be visited with a tour guide since it is so exceptionally beautiful and also quite close to the Chong Wa Dae, the official residence of the Korean president. On my way there I came past a wedding cultural hall, the significance of which becomes particularly apparent, when one is aware of the fact that 25% of Korean are Buddhists another 25% percent Christians and the rest doesn't stick to any organized religion. Upon arrival at the Changdeokgung palace, whose grounds contain the secret garden, I was delighted to find out that English tours were more common than Chinese ones. Nonetheless, there were only three per day and I had to pass some time before I could enter. The only slight disadvantage to this palace is that even the English tour attracts quite a few people as I thought I'd demonstrate in the first picture of the palace grounds. Inside the palace which actually served as the main palace of the emperor for a few hundred years one can see the throne along with many traditional wooden buildings with beautiful rooftops holding little statues to ward off evil. The true treasure of this palace is the secret garden, however, which perfectly blends into the surrounding nature and emanates an aura of peace and quiet. Walking through the secret garden means wandering through the forest, past ponds, beautiful flowers and ancient trees. A very kind couple also made it possible to show you the first proof that I am actually here. Looking back, it was probably the most beautiful palace in Seoul. Another advantage is the proximity to Insadong, Seoul's shopping street for traditional items and self-made sweets. It was there that I met a friend of mine from the student days in Santa Cruz. An American who studied with me in Santa Cruz, currently on vacation in Korea, while actually working in Vietnam on a documentary film. How amazing is that? The evening continued with a California roll sushi dinner and a well-deserved first cold stone icecream of this visit.

Lotte...

Last year we had been to Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, the I-Park Mall and the COEX, but we had never gone out of our way to visit Lotte World, Lotte World Department Store and Lotte World Hotel. This had to change and so I went there on Saturday afternoon. Stepping out of the subway I was immediately overwhelmed by the shiny entrance area of Lotte department store, mart, world, hotel etc. underground with no obvious way to the surface nearby. Instead, I was welcomed by a fancy fountain with greek-style statues and made my way through an array glittering stores toward Lotte world. It was quite an amazing sight. There is a huge ice-skating rink on the bottom floor along with an entire amusement park on the top floor, all combined under a huge glass roof. Needless to say, there was also a bowling alley, a swimming pool, a movie theater and an impressive number of restaurants. Among them everything from Lotteria, a Lotte fast-food burger chain, to a Mövenpick Marché (!!!), a rather upper class buffet restaurant, which I thought existed only in Germany. Making my way to the surface I passed Star Avenue, an entertainment venue geared toward marketing Korea's most sought-after stars. Finally on the surface I was to be amazed yet again by an artificial island in the middle of a lake connected by a tram to Lotte World. The island featured all kinds of different rides as well as fantasy castles and bars. I returned inside to go up to the 12th level of the Lotte department store, unable to leave without spending a little money, and ended my trip peeking into the - as my map likes to call it - 'super deluxe' Lotte World hotel. I returned to Nok-Du with a little side trip via Apgujeong, intent on watching a movie in the huge Cine City, but sadly I either knew the english movies or did not want to see them (Harry Potter occupies way too many theaters) so I just strolled down Rodeo street and returned home.