Tig in Korea

[Tigranes]

Not a lot, as I don't take kindly to cameras and most of them have me looking like I've just been to the gulag

 

Now Shryke can assassinate me one lonely night.

 

1. Chung Gye-Chun, a newly constructed waterway in the heart of Seoul.

 

 

2. Inside Gyung Bok-Gung, one of the major palaces in past Korean kingdoms. A walkway inside, really.

 

 

3. Some cathedral in Jun-ju, apparently pretty darn famous. Deserves to be, too.

 

 

4. In which Sun-ha shamelessly exposes graffiti!

 

 

5. In which Sun-ha has a crippled arm, but is out of stimpacks.

 

 

6. In which Sun-ha celebrates phallic symbols. Same place as (1).

 

 

7. What a tree, Humbabaloo

 

[Xard]

good pics, awesome places, creepy grins

[Gorgon]

Is that the artificial river that runs across Seoul I watched a documentary on discovery channel about.

[Gfted1]

Cool pics, you kinda look like a young Bruce Lee. Whats the graffiti say?

[Meshugger]

Even though i cannot understand it, but because of my courses in japanese, i can at least spot the difference between Chinese Kanji, Japanese Katakana and Hiragana and Korean.

 

I bet an internet cookie that the grafitti says something in the vein of "Lee was here".

 

Nice photos, btw.

[Gorgon]

I wonder if it's phonetically based.

[Aristes]

Hangul uses an alphabet. It's been about 20 years since I've read it, so I don't know what it says exactly, but it starts with Han G*ok chang ee something. Yes, it is phonetic.

 

Great pics, Tigranes. It brings back memories of cherry blossoms and soju. It is alarmingly sentimental, so I will therefore beat a hasty retreat. Thanks for sharing, man!

 

EDIT: Stupid. G*ook is a language filter item, apparently.

Edited December 18, 2008 by Aristes

[Enoch]

Nice tree. A Ginkgo, no?

 

My neighbors have a huge one about 6 feet from the property line. Unfortunately, it's a female, which means that every fall it drops a crapton of foul-smelling fruit all over our yard. My shoes still stink from the last time we gathered them up.

 

Pretty leaves, though.

[Shryke]

muahaha now if i ever see you on the street i'm gonna run up and tackle you

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Unfortunately, it's a female, which means that every fall it drops a crapton of foul-smelling fruit all over our yard.

 

I think that about describes women in general, if you replace "every fall" with "every end of the month".

 

Nice pics, by the way. I miss the days when I used to take pictures, going off somewhere without a plan and just making visually documenting the journey. That eventually stopped once my girlfriend decided she wanted to take pictures of my grim visage at every turn

[kirottu]

I your shirt pinkish or was that just the "camera" acting up?

[mkreku]

Not enough naked girls.

[Tigranes]

Yes, that is the artificial river.

 

The graffiti says, tone preserved, "Korea is, like, sort of awesome".

 

It was in the middle of a reputable arts / crafts centre plaza thing.

 

Korean is phonetic, and in fact very logically constructed to be phonetic (benefits of a language whose framework was set up by one guy).

 

Pink shirts are a sign of manliness and intelligence.

 

Second round of pics tomorrow when I get around to it.

[LadyCrimson]

I saw the title "scandalous" and was expecting drunk lampshade dancing pics or something.

I'm disappointed.

 

Seriously...nice pics. I really like the first one, great scenic portrait photo.

[mkreku]

Second round of pics tomorrow when I get around to it.

Those better include naked girls

[theslug]

You look like a very nice young man Tigraines. I thought you'd be a lot older, much like your avatar.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I saw the title "scandalous" and was expecting drunk lampshade dancing pics or something.

I'm disappointed.

 

What about me, I thought he was going to do a cover of Prince's music in a Korean sailor bar!

[Humodour]

Sun-ha celebrates phallic symbols.

 

Always important.

[Musopticon?]

I really like those trees, reminds me of maples, except ours are scraggy and old and tend to prefer being parasites to the hawthorn hedges.

 

By the way, and I know this might cause a highjack(and less nekkid girls), is East-Asian Buddhist architecture very universal, or does Korea share a very involved history with its neighbours? The old spots look very reminiscent, but I've always thought that Korea had enjoyed certain cuktural isolation or at least seclusion, nevermind a certain warmongering kingdom to the west. Truth to be told, I probably know less of your corner of the world than you do of mine.

 

Yours is cooler, though. And has a section in the British museum.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Musopticon?

[Tigranes]

Korea and China had a lot of traffic, and because of China's size and military might, they had a big influence on Korea during, say, the 10th to 16th centuries. e.g. Korean was actually a spoken language among the 'plebs' for centuries, until a King finally got down to making an alphabet, then converting the nation. Until then, everything was written in Chinese letters (or, uh, Kanji). Japan was *completely* secluded from the outside world for centuries, only being discovered by Chinese and Korean sailors... so Japan borrowed a massive amount of Chinese and Korean culture, though it still managed to branch out quite uniquely, for all that.

 

Anyway. In terms of architecture? Quite similar. In terms of, say, clothing? Quite different, curiously (Chinese clothing had various external influences, such as the technically 'barbarian' occupiers in the 16th (?) century imposing those now-famous 'pigtails'). Pottery? Korean pottery was the pottery... in China. Since Japanese culture is much better marketed in the West (an excellent feat by them in the mid-20th century), I can say, Korean is as unique as Japanese is. It's going to appear similar, but lift the hood and there're a lot of weird things going on.

 

All dates given are probably centuries off, and I forget all specific names. It's been a while.

 

Second round of pics. That's probably all of the 'well-taken' photos.

 

1. There were four great gates around Seoul back in the days when people had walls. Two are long dead, and some hobo set fire to one this year (literally), so this is the only one remaining one. The East Gate.

 

 

2. In which Sun-ha visits street food vendors. They are awesome, if you know the right ones.

 

 

3. In Korea, you can pay to hit things with your stick. Two bucks.

 

 

4. Inside Gyung-bok Gung, since Steve has been there. The royal palace - the green trees pic was taken elsewhere within it as well. The palaces are quite different from Western ones. There are no 'high-rise' buildings; the outer walls are only about two metres tall, and inside are a number of sand courtyards separated by inner walls. Inside each courtyard you will have relatively small buildings, often only the size of one or two rooms. The point was that living quarters and kitchen and so forth are all in separate buildings, and buildings, if you could afford the land, weren't cramped together. So you had a lot of walking space and privacy.

 

 

5. Some crazy traditional Korean game that I've never seen before. Later, I conspired to hit those girls with my stick.

 

[Humodour]

South Korea is pretty decent. Except if you cheat on your partner, you go to jail.

 

Not a good country for sex, IMHO.

[Azure79]

I want to go home now.

 

Need more pics of your drunken revelries and karoake. Stop sightseeing and drink more.

[Tigranes]

I refuse to pander to the facebook phenomenon of plastering blotched drunk faces all over the intarwebs!

 

Also, apparently I can't incriminate myself, so yeah.

[Musopticon?]

Korea and China had a lot of traffic, and because of China's size and military might, they had a big influence on Korea during, say, the 10th to 16th centuries. e.g. Korean was actually a spoken language among the 'plebs' for centuries, until a King finally got down to making an alphabet, then converting the nation. Until then, everything was written in Chinese letters (or, uh, Kanji). Japan was *completely* secluded from the outside world for centuries, only being discovered by Chinese and Korean sailors... so Japan borrowed a massive amount of Chinese and Korean culture, though it still managed to branch out quite uniquely, for all that.

 

Anyway. In terms of architecture? Quite similar. In terms of, say, clothing? Quite different, curiously (Chinese clothing had various external influences, such as the technically 'barbarian' occupiers in the 16th (?) century imposing those now-famous 'pigtails'). Pottery? Korean pottery was the pottery... in China. Since Japanese culture is much better marketed in the West (an excellent feat by them in the mid-20th century), I can say, Korean is as unique as Japanese is. It's going to appear similar, but lift the hood and there're a lot of weird things going on.

 

All dates given are probably centuries off, and I forget all specific names. It's been a while.

 

Thanks, Tig. I knew there's a different history behind every winner, just never went out of my way to find out.

 

 

Also:

5. Some crazy traditional Korean game that I've never seen before. Later, I conspired to hit those girls with my stick.

 

[Matthew Rorie]

Nice pictures; hope you enjoyed your trip! I always have a good time when I go overseas, even if it's almost always for work.