picspam from Korea and China, as promised to Mai but never delivered!
Okay, I know at least ronsard is waiting for picspam from Korea and China, so I'm going to deliver. RIGHT. NOW. Also, be warned that my camera died halfway through Seoul and it wasn't until Beijing that I got other cameras, so some of the photos won't be mine.
Jongno-gu, Seoul.
This is the district that we stayed at in the YMCA Tourist Hotel. It was basically a bar district, with tons of clubs, bars, and convenience stores. I didn't do a lot of clubbing, since drinking and I don't mix, but it seemed like a pretty awesome place.
City Hall.
This is the entire group imitating a bunch of statues. We're nerds.
Gyeongbokgung Palace.
The first of many shots of this palace. The place was fucking incredible, you guys-it was built during the Choson dynasty, I believe, and survived countless invasions by the Chinese and Japanese until its rebuilding in... whenever. I dunno, holy shit the architecture. The next four-ish pictures are all Gyeongbokgung too.
bonhwa_seong should understand this picture.
I think I like this picture so much because you can see the city center of Seoul in the background. In Korea, unlike in America, the historical/cultural side of the country is right next to the developed, advancing part of it-it's a part of their national identity. I wish America was more like that.
These were two dudes we ran into at Insa-dong. They were making dragons' beard, which is honey wrapped around chopped nuts and is apparently a traditional Korean sweet? They were super hilarious, though, spoke decent English and sang us a song about making dragons' beard. The guy with the curly hair was amazing.
This is the National War Memorial museum. It's a pretty boss place, actually. It was interesting to learn about the war history of Korea, especially the Korean War itself. I met a guy here who was training to be a tour guide in English, but he was also fluent in Japanese-so I told him that I spoke some Japanese, and he proceeded to give me a tour in half-English, half-Japanese. It worked really well :P
The view from Seoul N Tower, the highest point in Korea.
On our way to Gyeongju, which is on the coast of the East Sea, I kept seeing all these shrine-like things out the window of the bus. Finally, I asked Hyeong Kyeong, one of our tour guides, what was up with that, and she told me that Koreans bury their ancestors on hills near their farms to keep watch over the family. I think that's awesome.
These were fucking delicious.
This image pretty much sums up my trip. Colin in the front being an idiot, Santy (real name was Santiago) in the background being like "wtf", and a temple in the background just being temple-y.
Some of the rock stacks made by the monks of the temple. Another cool story: Immediately after taking this picture, I tripped, twisted my ankle, and elbowed three rock stacks over. I'd make a shitty Buddhist.
Immediately after our trip to Gyeongju, I broke my camera, and it wasn't until Day #3 in Beijing that I coaxed Harrison into giving me his camera so I could take pictures (since he hated taking pictures). Which means what I'm missing are pictures of the DMZ and pictures of Seoul National University, as well as pictures of the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the hutongs in Old Beijing, and Siheyuan Square. Well, I do have pictures of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Old Beijing and Siheyuan Square on disposable cameras on my dresser, but I have to get those developed before I can do anything with them, so. Pictures starting from Day #4 in Beijing, get!
Some of the Temple of Heaven, with bits of Beijing in the far distance.
Dinner.
The Bird's Nest at Olympic Park. This was what we did after our farewell dinner from Beijing-went to Olympic Park, hung out and took photos.
Following this are almost entirely pictures of pavilions from the World Expo in Shanghai-taken mostly for my friends, to represent their native (or roleplayed) countries.
For perfectassassin: Poland!
Somewhat inexplicably, England.
Turkey!
Again, somewhat inexplicably, inside of Hungary's pavilion.
Dr. Chen, one of our trip leaders, and the random Turkish ice cream dude. He was fucking hilarious lmfao.
For nodicehoney: ...I forgot who this is.
For gilgrado: The Philippines!
The easily-recognizable China Pavilion.
The view from on top of Shanghai's TV Tower, where we had dinner our last night in Shanghai.
And thus ends my incredibly picture-heavy post about Korea and China! When I get my disposables developed I'll do Picspam Part Two.
Jongno-gu, Seoul.
This is the district that we stayed at in the YMCA Tourist Hotel. It was basically a bar district, with tons of clubs, bars, and convenience stores. I didn't do a lot of clubbing, since drinking and I don't mix, but it seemed like a pretty awesome place.
City Hall.
This is the entire group imitating a bunch of statues. We're nerds.
Gyeongbokgung Palace.
The first of many shots of this palace. The place was fucking incredible, you guys-it was built during the Choson dynasty, I believe, and survived countless invasions by the Chinese and Japanese until its rebuilding in... whenever. I dunno, holy shit the architecture. The next four-ish pictures are all Gyeongbokgung too.
bonhwa_seong should understand this picture.
I think I like this picture so much because you can see the city center of Seoul in the background. In Korea, unlike in America, the historical/cultural side of the country is right next to the developed, advancing part of it-it's a part of their national identity. I wish America was more like that.
These were two dudes we ran into at Insa-dong. They were making dragons' beard, which is honey wrapped around chopped nuts and is apparently a traditional Korean sweet? They were super hilarious, though, spoke decent English and sang us a song about making dragons' beard. The guy with the curly hair was amazing.
This is the National War Memorial museum. It's a pretty boss place, actually. It was interesting to learn about the war history of Korea, especially the Korean War itself. I met a guy here who was training to be a tour guide in English, but he was also fluent in Japanese-so I told him that I spoke some Japanese, and he proceeded to give me a tour in half-English, half-Japanese. It worked really well :P
The view from Seoul N Tower, the highest point in Korea.
On our way to Gyeongju, which is on the coast of the East Sea, I kept seeing all these shrine-like things out the window of the bus. Finally, I asked Hyeong Kyeong, one of our tour guides, what was up with that, and she told me that Koreans bury their ancestors on hills near their farms to keep watch over the family. I think that's awesome.
These were fucking delicious.
This image pretty much sums up my trip. Colin in the front being an idiot, Santy (real name was Santiago) in the background being like "wtf", and a temple in the background just being temple-y.
Some of the rock stacks made by the monks of the temple. Another cool story: Immediately after taking this picture, I tripped, twisted my ankle, and elbowed three rock stacks over. I'd make a shitty Buddhist.
Immediately after our trip to Gyeongju, I broke my camera, and it wasn't until Day #3 in Beijing that I coaxed Harrison into giving me his camera so I could take pictures (since he hated taking pictures). Which means what I'm missing are pictures of the DMZ and pictures of Seoul National University, as well as pictures of the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the hutongs in Old Beijing, and Siheyuan Square. Well, I do have pictures of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Old Beijing and Siheyuan Square on disposable cameras on my dresser, but I have to get those developed before I can do anything with them, so. Pictures starting from Day #4 in Beijing, get!
Some of the Temple of Heaven, with bits of Beijing in the far distance.
Dinner.
The Bird's Nest at Olympic Park. This was what we did after our farewell dinner from Beijing-went to Olympic Park, hung out and took photos.
Following this are almost entirely pictures of pavilions from the World Expo in Shanghai-taken mostly for my friends, to represent their native (or roleplayed) countries.
For perfectassassin: Poland!
Somewhat inexplicably, England.
Turkey!
Again, somewhat inexplicably, inside of Hungary's pavilion.
Dr. Chen, one of our trip leaders, and the random Turkish ice cream dude. He was fucking hilarious lmfao.
For nodicehoney: ...I forgot who this is.
For gilgrado: The Philippines!
The easily-recognizable China Pavilion.
The view from on top of Shanghai's TV Tower, where we had dinner our last night in Shanghai.
And thus ends my incredibly picture-heavy post about Korea and China! When I get my disposables developed I'll do Picspam Part Two.