Ski Southeast Messageboard

Work sent me to Korea this week for a conference at Seoul National University. Not sure if was worth hauling the camera- the light on the morning I hiked up the mountain behind the university sucked, and I discovered that I am a terrible urban street photographer- I really need to study up on how/what to compose.



But anyway, some shots:



First off, a couple of panoramas to kind of set the stage. Seoul National University sits at the base of Mt. Gwanaksan, the peak of which holds a number of radio towers as well as a monastery. You can see the towers in the left/middle of the panos below:











Evidently it's not uncommon for it to rain in the main city and be snowing at the University.



On Tuesday morning I hiked the mountain- the forecast was for clear skies, but unfortunately with a city as big as Seoul the smog creates its own cloud.



There was a neat spring on the way up:















I wonder if there is a story behind the rock piles on the way up the mountain:











Unfortunately, when I got to the top the light was about as bad as you could get for photo opportunities, and I didn't have time to really explore- it was a quick up and down.



The radio towers:







If you look closely in the previous picture, you can see the monastery hanging off the side of the hill:











Unfortunate that the light was so bad, because the colors are nice:



















Again on the "unfortunate I didnt have more time" side of things, I wish I could have gotten a chance to really explore these monasteries:











Took a tour of the university on Thursday, including the history museum:



The entrance (fyi, these are all iphone pics):







Can't remember the exact date of these texts, but they are oooolllld:











Stone tablets:











Creepy puppets and masks:











The smog actually results in a lot of nice sunsets:







The conference was regarding the topic of ship seakeeping, so we took a tour of the marine hydrodynamics center, including their tow tank:

The last night I finally got out to explore the streets of the city a little bit. I'll admit: urban photography is HARD. Much harder than landscapes, IMO- just very difficult for me to find interesting compositions.



Korea is actually very westernized- you end up seeing a lot of signage in English:







Lots of traffic in Seoul. This is pretty late in the evening:







For all I know, this sign says something terribly offensive:











Don't worry, finding beer is still easy:















Again, important things in english:







We ate at this place, a Korean BBQ:







You pay for a meat, then get a crazy spread of side dishes. The dish just to the left of the grill, with the three white blobs, is squid. Weird texture:







More cruising around:



















These were outside another Korean BBQ place:















Rule of non-US nations: these things are EVERYWHERE:











Rule of Asian/Pacific-Island cultures: be prepared for lots of seafood, and lots of weird textures:



















This church looked so cool at night:











Relatively quick trip- left here on Sunday, time change put me there Monday afternoon (14 hour direct flight, DC to Seoul), there until this morning, then direct flight back to DC (left Seoul at 10:40 AM on Friday, arrived here in DC at 10:47 AM on the same day).



Korea is actually a really nice place to visit- the people are very nice, the public transportation is abundant and easy to navigate, and there are plenty of interesting things to see.

Great job. Your urban stuff is pretty interesting even if you don't think so.

Those are nice pictures. I have never left the country. I have heard Korea is a great place to visit. One of my co-workers was there last month. I read his guide book on Korea. Looked like a place to visit to me.



I bet the food was good. I like Asian dishes and sea food. Yummy!

Did you wear your green coat> did they run from your tall self screaming "Godzirra!! Godzirra!!!



Sorry

Right accent, wrong country.

I enjoyed the pics! Seoul is an interesting place to visit. I was there a few years ago for a two day stopover between Singapore and the USA. I crammed in as much as I could in two days - city tour, several palaces, Korean Folk Village, Seoul Tower, and some nightlife. Your pics brought back memories. Thanks for sharing!

Part of my bucketlist is to ski Japan,I'll have to add Korea to that list now.Also would like to visit China,Thailand,Vietnam,Nepal and Tibet.

I'll have to agree about the scooters/motos. Before I came to Spain, I had no idea how widely used they were outside of the US. Also, every person driving a scooter or moto is absolutely insane here in Barcelona. They drive super fast, cut off everybody, and make their own lanes in between the other (already very narrow) lanes. Insanity.

Very nice, EC. Great shots.