Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Afternoon trip to Seoul......



Soon, I hope to have a bike....anyway, just walking with a friend to catch a bus to Seoul. About a 30 minute bus ride and a bit longer for the train/subway. Cheap transportation, about 1.80$ for the bus to Seoul.


Cool looking apartment building in Bundang (my area) on the way to the bus stop. Kinda cool cut out in the building. Bus stop is about a minute walk, next to the bike shop "SAY MTB" where I will have my new mtn. bike built up, hopefully real soon. The shop guys are cool. I have a feeling it is the local shop after visiting some others. Kinda like the SG in Boulder. Cool to be apart of in my hood. Erin goes on weekend rides with them, so something to look forward to.....
Cool looking flower on the way......there is some natural beauty to this big city! Over 10 million people, damn that's a lot.........

A statue of one of the rulers who defeated Japan due to the boats he constructed (model of boat is below him) . Huge palace at the end of the road that I will check out at some point. In the distance, looks like a cool mountain. I see a big rock face...excitement builds......

The reason for an afternoon trip to Seoul. A new friend, my neighbor Erin, is meeting a couple of friends to check out the Monet "from instant to eternity" exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art. Happy to tag along to meet some new friends, check out Seoul and some art.....My first week in Korea is really shaping up.

Cool water fountain, sure my nieces and nephews would love to play here....

This is the location of the Bosingak Bell Tower. The bell was rung to tell the time. Built in 1396 during the Joseon Dynasty. Also rung to signal the opening and closing of the city gates....some history for you....


One of the may modern looking buildings in Seoul. I hear there are quite a few, this one caught my eye. I hear there is a fine dining restaurant on the top, on the list to check out. The name of it is the Jongo Tower.

Picture below.....
Nice River walk in Seoul. I guess there was a show done on this where they wanted to cover up and re-route the river to be able to build more, expand the city. The Cheonggyechon Stream. A long park about 5.6km runs along both sides. Read Below.....I found this on Wikipedia....very interesting!

Cheonggyecheon was covered over with concrete for roads and, in 1968, an elevated highway was built over it. In July 2003, Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak initiated a project to uncover and restore the stream. It was a major undertaking as not only did the highway have to be removed, but years of neglect and development had left the stream nearly totally dry and 120,000 tons of water had to be pumped in daily.[citation needed] The stream was opened to the public in September of 2005 and lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification. However, there was considerable opposition from the previous mayoral administration of Goh Kun, which feared gentrification of the adjacent areas that housed many shops and small businesses in the machine trades.

The restoration helped Lee become a nationally renowned figure, making him a serious contender for the presidency, but did not come without controversy. In May 2005, just a few months before the project was to finish, Seoul vice-mayor Yang Yun-jae and local politician Kim Il-ju were arrested on bribery charges related to the project.[citation needed]

The project is estimated to have cost over 900 billion won (approximately US$ 900 million). In addition, about 12 trillion won (US$12 billion) is expected to be invested to re-develop the 792,000 square meter region near the stream into a major commercial and residential area over the next five years.[citation needed] Some Korean environmental organizations have criticized the project for its high costs, calling it purely symbolic and not really beneficial to the city's eco-environment.


Watch out for scooters cruising the walkways.....


Thanks for viewing.....until next time...............

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