Korean National Museum

In front of a model of Korean traditional house

Mirror from Baejae Dynasty??

Some sort of animal statue from 3 dynasty

Chairs

More Ceramic Vase

The Queen's Dress

Andong Mackerel Dinner

The Jewels worn by nobles

Man on a horse- I bought a copy of this last summer from Namdaemun Market last winter

The King's Crown from Shilla Dynasty

Ten Story Tower

Ceramic Vases

King's Chair

The Museum Entrance

The Korean National Museum

Small Buddha Statues

Cheongjajeong at Reflecting Pond

It was another rainy day, so I decided to do some indoor activities.  I went to Korean National Museum in Icheon.  This museum is pretty big.  I spent about 5 hours there, but still couldn't see everything.  I might have to go there again before I leave Korea.  They had lots of artifacts from 3 dynasties and international artifacts, and buddha statues, etc.  At the end of the tour, I stopped by museum gift shop ( since no museum tour is complete without stopping by gift shop), and purchased gifts for kids, nothing fancy, just notebooks and a pen and a fan.  Whiling touring the museum, I got hungry, so I stopped at Korean restaurant (that's the name of the restaurant) inside museum, and ordered Andong Mackerel meal.  I was so hungry that I ate every bit of meat left on the mackerel. After 5 hours of tour, I decided to head back to my hotel.  When I left the museum, I was able to avoid rush hour, but subway was still very crowded.  Fortunately, it stopped raining when I was heading toward the subway and when I got out of subway station.  I'll definately go back there to finish looking at Buddha exhibits.

Rainy Days in Seoul

Portraits of King Sejong and the queen

2 masks that I got from Insadong

Rainy Day in Seoul

After toning treatment.  My skins looks a little bit brighter.

It's been raining 3 days straight now in Seoul.  I've been staying in my room and only going out to go to dermatologist clinic.  I had my 2nd toning session yesterday.  It's light, about 30 second laser treatment followed by about 40 min. of intense facials.  My skin looks and feels better....now, I know why people get facials regularily at the clinic.  Although it's been raining, I decided to venture out today.  I'm planning to go to Korean National Museum.

Dinner with my brother

Building with spiderman??

4days after the skin treatment, my face is still kinda red and swollen

I met my brother today and had dinner with him and his wife.  Tonight's dinner was agujim.  No pictures of tonight's dinner because I was very excited about seeing my brother and eating agujim that I forgot to take pictures.  What a shame!  It was great, just as I imagined.  We had some makguli with dinner.  After dinner, we went to coffee shop called Twosome.  I had yogurt ice cream and a cake.  It was great..I think Koreans make the one of the best cakes and ice cream in the world.  On the way back to the room, I saw something interesting.  There were a building with some sort of big screen tv with shadowy human figures climbing up the building like spiderman.  The picture doesn't show things well, but I'll post it anyway since I don't have many picture to post it.  Most of scaps from freckle removing procedure are gone.  My brother and sister-in-law both insisted that my skin looks more cleaner since 2/3 of the freckles on the side of my face are gone, but I can't really tell because the area  where the scaps were are now kinda red.  This procedure is different one from Fraxel.  Usually, it takes 3 procedures of fraxel or IPL over the period of 3 month in order to see the effects of treatment, however, since I don't have that much time, I'm going to get mixture of one fraxel and IPL, and facials,etc.  I haven't seen any benefits of fraxel treatment, but Dr. Park said I'll see some differences over period of month, although not too much differences since I'm not getting the full treatment.  I'm counting on that since it was pretty painful procedure.

Korean Cultural Fair at Insadong

Cornhair shaped Candy- It's apparently what the king and the queen used to eat

Insadong Street

During TaekGyon Demonstration

Entrance to Insadon

BukChung Nori

North Korean Refugee Fund

Buckwheat Noodle Cold Soup

SSamjigol- tilted 4 story cultural center

Yesterday's destination was Insadong.   It was the one of the hottest day in Korea.  According to the news, most Korean went to the beach, about 1 million visiting Haeundae beach in pusan, but Insadong was still very crowded.  Yesterday was Seoul's 3rd annual culture fair, there were lots of handcrafted goods for sale.  I purchased 2 Korean traditional mask shown in Bukchang nori play.  Yesterday's lunch was buckwheat noodles.  The soup base is cold soy milk.  I used to eat this a lot during summer when I lived in Korea.  My plan is to try different food everyday, so I can take pictures of each food.  While I was walking around Insadong street, there were street performances.  One act was about protesting North Korea's human trafficking.   There were even someone who was selling mountain squirrels.  After I've finished shopping, I still had 2 more hours until the main event which is called Bukchung Nori, so I walked around more and purchased T shirt with Summer written in Korean, 2 Korean fans and a  handcrafted ring for Brenna.   While waiting to watch Bukchung Nori, there were Taekgyon Demonstration.  Taekgyon is another Korean traditional martial art.  It's different compared to Taekwondo.  Taekgyon is a  little bit like dancing.  The movement are more smoothe and fluid.  During the demo, there were little breaktime.  4 American guys who came to Korea to learn Taekwondo came out during the break, and show their Taekwondo skills, even though nobody asked for that.  After the Demo. was over, I had still 50 min. until the show.  I wanted to record the whole show, so I decided to sit around the main stage.  The Bukchang Nori was very interesting, especially the one with 2 lions were very entertaining.  This event was about an hour long.  After the show was over, I was ready to head back to my hotel.     

Korean War Memorial Museum and Itaewon Antique Shopping

Kebab

Welcome to Itaewon

Drum

Hourglass shped Drum

Korean Mask

Patriot An JungGeon

Giant Drum

The Fountain

Model of Admiral Yi Sunshin's Turtle Ship

Itaewon Dunkin Donuts

Statue of Korean Soldiers

Airplane

Tanks and Missiles

King Sejong

Old Military Uniform

Museum Restaurant

Museum and Namsan Tower

KwangGetoDaeWang Bi

Samkakgi and Museum

War Museum Entrance






I went to Korean war memorial museum in Samgakji yesterday, it was bigger than I thought.  At the entrance, there were big memorial tower with 2 sets of statues.  Outside museum, there were displays of tanks, airplanes,ships and missiles.  As you enter the door, there were giant drum and statues of soldiers who died during the Korean War.  After you pass the passage, there were round dark room with water fountain in the middle with painted ceiling.  It explained the myth of how Korean history began.  I usually don't like to spend lots of time inside museum, especially war museums, but this one was very interesting.  I spent about 3 hours here looking at everything.  After that, I took a subway to Itaewon.  I grabbed my usually iced mocha.  After I rested for a while, I stopped by an antique store where Robert and I bought Korean chests over 16 years ago.  I bought 2 framed paintings of the King Sejong and the Queen.  I walked down Itaewon for more interesting stuff, but my legs were hurting and I was getting tired of carrying the pictures.  Before getting on the subway to the hotel, I went into Kebab corner to grab chicken kebab, it was very good.  When I got to hotel, I was so pooped out that I laid down on the bed and fell asleep.  My whole body aches, but yesterday was another very good day.  Today is 3rd Annual Korean Culture Day.  In different areas of Seoul, there are concerts, street shows, etc.  I plan on going to either Insadong or Hongdae to watch some of the events.