Morning
Its silent on the train.
Few people speak. There is very little sound as we speed along at 300 kms an hour.
The scenery passes us by like a fast – moving television screen, green fields, water sodden paddy, large cities, tunnels and flashing light as we go through the mountains rather than over it and everything is just so tidy.
Most of the houses have blue roofs, so different to our red ones.
The male and female attendants on the train turn silently, bow and back out of the door as they leave the carriage. Its formal and quaint.
The family in front of us are asleep, The small boy in his Mothers arms, Dad with his head bobbing and the Mother propped firmly in the seat.
We begin yet another leg of our Journey. We have a wonderful apartment in the city of Seoul, its large and spacious affording us our own bedroom and facilities to cook if need be. We can prepare our own breakfast and sit in our jamas and chat about the day. Luxury. Oh, and we also have vegemite and good coffee.
I think shopping is the order of the day today. Walking, photographing and experiencing. Luxury for four very busy ladies
We are staying in the Insa-dong quarter of Seoul. It was originally two towns whose names ended in the syllables “In” and “Sa”. They were divided by a stream which ran along Insadong’s current main street. Insa-dong began 500 years ago as an area of residence for government officials. During the Japanese occupation, the wealthy Korean residents were forced to move and sell their belongings, at which point the site became an area of trading in antiques. After the end of the Korean War, the area became a focus of South Korea’s artistic and cafe life. It was a popular destination among foreign visitors to South Korea during the 1960s, who called the area “Mary’s Alley”. It gained in popularity with international tourists during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
On arrival in Seoul, we deposited our bags and began the ‘experience’ each person taking our own interests from the environment we find ourselves in. There are so many things to capture, the social environment, the cultural, the natural and the physical. It was a public holiday and the main areas were packed to capacity. It was difficult to photograph so in the end I sort of gave in and just shot what I could. The first stop was the dumpling shop for lunch. The dumplings are known as Mandu and I’ve added a link for the recipe. I think they are quite healthy.
The clothing designs are incredible and the four of us like the same style. It’s mostly linen and fine cotton but I will cover that in further posts when I find out more about it.
People watching is one of my favorite pastimes. I love the faces of these men, I wonder what stories they have to tell.
I’m not sure what these are called but they looked interesting.
We think they were making rice cakes… it looked a little dangerous though.
This was a green tea latte and below is green tea cream which accompanied our scones.
Well that certainly wasn’t the end of the day. We had an adventure to find the perfect hamburger for dinner, a stroll through the market and a stop to buy cute eyewear and a visit to an Italian coffee shop selling fabulous coffee and tea.