As you likely heard, former South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, committed suicide last weekend. His funeral was held today. On Sunday night, I was walking past Jogye-sa, the main Buddhist temple here in Seoul, and found hundreds of people queueing with flowers in hand, waiting to bow before his photo to show their respects. The windows of the temple were open, and a monk was chanting, as you can hear. Unfortunately the amplified chanting overpowers the saddest music ever, which was playing near his effigy. You can sort of hear it if you listen well. It was touching to see all these people bowing and crying and laying flowers. I walked past other, similar, memorials later this week. It seems they were set up all over Korea in temples and palaces.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Rest in peace
As you likely heard, former South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, committed suicide last weekend. His funeral was held today. On Sunday night, I was walking past Jogye-sa, the main Buddhist temple here in Seoul, and found hundreds of people queueing with flowers in hand, waiting to bow before his photo to show their respects. The windows of the temple were open, and a monk was chanting, as you can hear. Unfortunately the amplified chanting overpowers the saddest music ever, which was playing near his effigy. You can sort of hear it if you listen well. It was touching to see all these people bowing and crying and laying flowers. I walked past other, similar, memorials later this week. It seems they were set up all over Korea in temples and palaces.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Yufo Temple (Jade Buddha Temple)
By now you should know how much I adore temples. Seeing as my 12 travelmates weren't particularly interested in temple-visiting, I woke up early one day and taxied myself to Yufo Temple, which was heavily into preparations for Lunar New Year:
A morning trip I'm glad I made!
A morning trip I'm glad I made!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Look uuuuuup!
...to the top of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, home of one of the highest bars in the world, "Cloud 9."
Our Seoul par-tay:
...and counting!
And, up to the 87th, here we are, with a gorgeous view of the city:
In the end, we settled for the Piano Bar on the mere 53rd floor ;) because there were no good seats left in the clouds. :)
Our Seoul par-tay:
...and counting!
And, up to the 87th, here we are, with a gorgeous view of the city:
In the end, we settled for the Piano Bar on the mere 53rd floor ;) because there were no good seats left in the clouds. :)
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Shanghai, or "Red Lanterns Everywhere"
When I visited Shanghai, it was Lunar New Year, so there were red lanterns hanging from nearly every building. So pretty!
On our first day, we went inside this massive marketplace/park to have a look-see. The architecture was stunning. And yes, that is a DQ. We don't have DQ in Korea (and so we shouldn't...I'm not a big fan of massive American chains invading and taking over the world), but I (hypocritically I think), did have a Blizzard...my first in years. ^^ Just so you know, I also had loads of the Chinese street food first. ;)
...but this is one street food I did NOT have. Take a close look.
Yes...it's meatball soup, with the head of the cow stewing in it. hehehe I opted for fried veggie dumplings instead...
On our first day, we went inside this massive marketplace/park to have a look-see. The architecture was stunning. And yes, that is a DQ. We don't have DQ in Korea (and so we shouldn't...I'm not a big fan of massive American chains invading and taking over the world), but I (hypocritically I think), did have a Blizzard...my first in years. ^^ Just so you know, I also had loads of the Chinese street food first. ;)
...but this is one street food I did NOT have. Take a close look.
Yes...it's meatball soup, with the head of the cow stewing in it. hehehe I opted for fried veggie dumplings instead...
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