MangoVine
Adventures in East Asia

Entries in South Korea

 23 July, 2009
Thursday Leeum Samsung Museum of Art - Designed by Three Renown Architects
The Leeum Samsung Museum of Art was recommended to us and it wasn't listed in our guidebook. As it turned out, it was well worth our time although we couldn't take any photos inside the exhibition space.

Leeum-Entrance

The museum is billed as a dynamic art complex that houses two major exhibitions, one for traditional Korean art and the other for contemporary and modern art from Korea and around the world.

Read more... 23 July, 2009
Thursday Baseball Batting at Insadong
During our stroll down Insadong-gil, day turned to night as we passed what looked like an open-fronted garage but with the unavoidable sounds of lots of "bashing". Curious, we stared at this scene which appeared devoid of the source of sound, until we realised that all the noise came from above it.

Baseball-Underneath-Insadong

The net (seen above the space in the photo below) was capturing fallen baseballs and channeling them towards a funnel and hence the noise was coming from a baseball hitting facility above.

Read more... 23 July, 2009
Thursday Cheonggyecheon Stream Laser Light Show and Projections
After an early evening exploring Insadong, Linh and I headed south to reach the complicatedly-named Cheonggyecheon. It's a six kilometre stream that resulted from a massive urban renewal project and though it attracted much criticism, it opened in 2005 and has become a popular and public modern recreation space with both Seoul residents and tourists.

Cheonggyecheon-Stream-View-Projection

It wasn't hard to see why. Though I had previously thought that this was "just a stream", there was something appealing about the set-up and how we walked down off the streets of Seoul and were able to use stepping stones to cross the stream.

Read more... 22 July, 2009
Wednesday Totoman Toy Museum, Insadong
Just north of the Ssamziegil cultural complex in Insadong, along Insadong-gil, we stopped off at the 3rd floor Gallery Cafe, before inspecting the playful looking 2nd floor Totoman Museum.

Totoman-Museum-Overview

Looking through its glass door entrance, we initially thought Totoman was a toy shop, but the cashier at the front desk explained in simple English that there was a 1,000 KRW (50p) charge to look around. So, Totoman the museum, it was.

Read more... 22 July, 2009
Wednesday The Artistic and Crafty Insadong
Insadong - an area swarming with artistic shops and craft stores selling all kinds of paper artwork, brushes and Korean folk crafts. It was also the site of our first choice hotel which was fully booked!

Insadong-Gift-Shop-Overhead

Located close to Anguk metro station (Line 3), we found ourselves first at the north end of Insadong gil, a long pedestrian intersection that winds down through much of Insadong.

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