63 Building

David and I went to the 63 building in Seoul. It had amazing views of the city. It was well worth paying the 14,000 won for entry.

Palaces of Seoul

Now I have visited all five palaces. There are many palaces scattered around Seoul. All of the palaces are beautiful. Some people say once you have seen one you have seen them all. I don't think this. Even though they are all extremely similar they each have something unique about them. I think Gyeongbokgung Palace is my favourite. I just wish I had more time to view them in different sessions!

Deoksugung Palace

Gyeonghuigung Palace

Changdeokgung Palace

Changgyeong Palace

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Apgujeong and Ewha

David and I discovered two new parts of Seoul, Apgujeong and Ewha. They both have amazing restaurants and even more amazing shopping. We ate at a restaurant called 2nd. The food is delicious. I can't wait to got back!

Oooppppsss...

I done this to a guy!

Ilsan Park

We love Ilsan Park. At the moment it is extremely beautiful because the cherry blossoms are in full bloom! Ilsan park is always pretty no matter what session it is. At the weekend David and I hired some bicycles and ventured around the park. It was such a relaxing day.

Umbrella Umbrella Umbrella

How cute are these. I couldn't decide which on I wanted so I bought myself one and David bought me one. Then I went back and bought a third one! Naughty I know!

Buddha's Birthday

We celebrated Buddha's Birthday by attending a Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. It was such a fantastic day! We started the day off by making our own lanterns. Believe or not I won a prize for the 'least' beautiful lantern...How rude!!! I didn't mind winning this title as I got a cute mirror and comb out of it! Andrea and Mary got a prize for the most colourful lantern. (Grrrrr...!) David’s, Brian's and Keith's lantern didn't win anything!!!

After an intense few hours making our lanterns, we explored the rest of the festival. A lot was happening. There was a Buddhist cultural street fair. The streets were decorated with all different kinds of traditional and modern lanterns. There was a wide range of Buddhist music being played and people were dressed in diverse religious traditional clothing. Also there were a variety of foods from all over Asia available. YUM YUM!!!

In the early evening there was a spectacular parade. The lanterns range from small hand-held lotus shapes to much larger lights carried by groups and giant lantern floats in the shape of tigers, dragons, elephants and Buddha’s. The parade continued into the last hours. David and I didn't stay until the end. We headed home with our lanterns and hung them up immediately.

Kimchi Making

David and I learnt how to make traditional Korean kimchi. We went to Insadong, one of the better preserved areas of Seoul. The place was called 'Yoo's family.' It was a traditional Korean building and had many kimchi pots placed around it. David and I learnt to make kimchi with a Japanese couple. After we made our kimchi our mentors gave us green tea and kimchi pancakes. This was such a fun and unique experience!

The ingredients we used to make our Kimchi was, cabbage, radish, sugar, salt, oyster sauce, fermented prawns, spring onion, chili flakes, garlic, leek.

Seoul Grand Park

Today David and I went to Seoul Grand Park Zoo. A tiger stalked David, a gorilla waved to say hello, some bears jumped up and down and a lion gave us a personal roar. It was a funny day!