We arrived yesterday afternoon to find our car waiting to whisk us (well, the first half of the journey was whisking; the second half was crawling along a four-lane highway) to our hotel and our room on the 29th floor with a view of the river and, to our surprise this morning, mountains:
We found ourselves in an interesting residential neighbourhood full of tiny parks with lots of gym equipment and instructions on how to use the various machines.
We were also surprised to learn that we were in a green food zone:
You know we always want to know what signs mean- and this one was fascinating – good on the government! It means that there’s a school and businesses within 200 metres are restricted or discouraged from selling high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, excessive caffeine, or unwholesome snacks.
Anyway – a delciious barbecue pork meal set us up well for a good night’s sleep but to no avail. So this morning we knew we had to get the sun on our heads and set off, intrepid travellers that we are, on the Metro to head for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.
The Metro is fantastically easy to use and full of helpful videos about how to behave: no farting, no smelly food, no pushing, no manspreading, no talking, wearing your backpack properly (ie on your front) and many other prohibitions. There were also seats for pregnant women.
Perhaps more alarmingly were the videos instructing us how to behave in case of fire or other emergencies and how to give CPR. On the platforms, there are entire units for emergencies:
And then we remembered how close we were to North Korea …
As the opening photo shows, we stumbled across a beautiful planted area complete with people in traditional dress (enormous numbers of places to hire the dress). A number of contemporary sculptures were dotted about:
But we were on our way to see the wonderful Korean artist Do Ho Suh – some of you will have seen his exhibition at Tate Modern recently. This one was extensive with some of the same exhibits but there was one which captivated us in particular. Check out the wallpaper behind me:
Now look at a close-up of the same wallpaper:
If you are interested, there’s a good YouTube video here.
The rest of the day was spent finding our way down to the Cheonggechyeon Stream which cuts through central Seoul and walking along it for a while – pictures to follow at some point.
We might be more adventurous tomorrow – depends on the jetlag. But wonderful to be here enjoying Korean hospitality and Seoul liveliness!
Wonderful start to your adventures! I went to that wonderful exhibition at the Tate with Miriam and Sue’s niece-in-law, Sally. I nearly missed the detail in that wallpaper, situated on the wall outside the exhibition, until Sally pointed it out. The houses were fascinating.
Yes, I love Do Ho Suh’s work – both intricate and moving: the exhibition was packed and included more of his ‘thread’ work than at the Tate I think ( though I may have misremembered). We’ll probably go back to the Museum since we were too tired for the gift shop…
Looks lovely! You obviously dived in straight away! Good start!
Yup, I’d call it diving in – and M hasn’t mentioned the trip to Uniqlo,,,
Excellent first day in Seoul, and your post is a helpful entry point for my trip to Seoul next week. Thank you. Sleep well
We’ve been very lucky with the weather – gorgeous autumn sunshine yesterday and today and we’ve been enjoying small Seoul neighbourhoods rather than bigger sites. So much to see in this great city!
Can’t believe you actually took on an art gallery the first day (of jet lag!). The Who-We wallpaper is very cool – do you suppose he got the 37,000 consent forms for the images?
Well, Tara, I’m not entirely sure about the consent forms though they too could form an attractive wall covering I think? We also managed a Uniqlo visit ( to buy this and that) and some small neighbourhood walks – pretty tired after all that however…
The shot of the people in a field of wildflowers all in traditional dress looks like a still from a film! Given that there are many places where you can hire it, can we look forward to seeing you in the get-up?
Well, we’ll see ( a more or less polite way of saying ‘ No! Not in a million years!)