a street in Korea

Walking home from Cheonho Station. This street is parallel to the Han river, and goes past the Olympic park (in the direction of the photo). The trees are Gingko Biloba. Yes, the cars park on the sidewalk. The street wasn't very busy yesterday, due to Chusok. All of the businesses were closed.
Once it passes the Olympic Park, it curves to the right and goes on to Jamsil, and then to the Sports Complex. The trees on the left are, again, Gingko Biloba. The trees on the right, I'm not sure what they are, but they have GIGANTIC leaves. I keep thinking I'd love to take a leaf home to press, but I have nothing big enough to press it in. Maybe put it under the glass on my dresser?

a river river or palace palace???

For some reason, I keep seeing things like this in Korea. When written in English, they use the full Korean name of something and then add what it is afterwards, even though it is already part of the name. For example, 'gang' is river. The Hangang is the main river going through Seoul. For some reason, it is often called the Hangang River. Why??? It isn't the Han River River. Then there are the many palaces around the country. 'Gung' is palace. Why do they always say Changdeokgung Palace, Gyeongbokgung Palace, etc??? Silly.

in the Changdeokgung complex

A peek at what's behind the Nakseonjae pavilion.

Details at Changdeokgung

Part of the building complex around Injeongjeon Hall. Side View

The roof of Huijeongdang Hall (king's quarters).Side ViewLooking Up

Changdeokgung

Gotta love holidays. A 1 day work week was soooooooooooooooo nice; finish a weekend, go to work for a day, and then have another, VERY LONG weekend. But, I only have 2 days left of my break. This break is going by so quickly. I can't believe it is already Friday. I didn't do very much these past few days; mostly just sitting around playing on the net, reading, watching movies, sleeping. I did get out a few times to do some shopping... for food and a few other things that I needed.
Today I decided I had to actually do something, so I went to Changdeokgung, or Changdeok Palace (gung is palace in Korean), one of several palaces in Seoul. I went there once before, almost 5 years ago. It is a little bit different from when I went before, in that the leaves were still green this time. Before, all of the maples were bright red. The only thing that I don't like is that you cannot just wander around on your own. You can only see it all with one of the tours. There are, I think, 3 English tours every day. I managed to get there just as one was starting. As a result, it is difficult to get a good picture as there are so many people around to get in your way. Changdeokgung is supposedly the best preserved of the palaces. The royal family still lived in part of it until 1989.

[Injeongjeon Hall - the main hall, where coronations and such were held.]

[Infront of Injeongjeon Hall. The markers indicate where which people stood during the ceremonies. You cannot always rely on other people taking pictures for you... yes that is me. I wanted the whole building in the photo, but as you can see, it didn't end up that way.]

[Details on the front of Huijeongdang Hall - the King's quarters.]

[The front of Daejojeon Hall - the Queen's quarters. What it says is something to do with the place where important things are made. The Queen's quarters was also the King's and Queen's shared sleeping quarters. So basically, the baby making place.]

[In the secret garden. The Buyongji Pong and the Juhamnu Pavilion, built in 1776 (the palace library).]

[Nakswonjae Pavilion - built in 1847 as a residence for the king's concubines. This is where the last queen lived until 1966, and the last princess until 1989.]

Arr Matey...

My pirate name is:

Mad Mary Bonney

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

part of the fidius.org network

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

The new U.N. Leader to be South Korean

South Korea's Ban close to being new U.N. leader

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said on Tuesday he bore "a heavy sense of responsibility" after an informal ballot that virtually assured he would become the next United Nations secretary-general. ...
In Monday's Security Council straw poll, Ban got 14 positive votes, including from all the council's five members with veto rights-- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. ...
"He is the hardest-working person at the ministry," said one South Korean diplomat. "If you don't count his personal aide who has to be at his residence at 5:30 in the morning."
The diplomats say he is very popular within his ministry which also handles the trade affairs of South Korea, a country that has depended heavily on exports to lift it from the ruins of war in the early 1950s to rank as Asia's third biggest economy. ...

Islam

I sometimes post things to do with Islam and Muslims and such. I am Christian. I am not Muslim, but I hate what is going on in the world, and I hate the points of view that many people have. I think that people need to be more tolerant, and more willing to understand their differences and similarities. You cannot blame all problems on a certain religion or race. All religions have had their problems; all races have had their problems; but generalizing doesn't work. It only makes things worse. Most of the Muslims that I know are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Everyone I met in Egypt couldn't care less that I was not Muslim. They only cared that I was a decent person. When I ask them about things I have read in the Quran, and things I have read on the net, they say that it is wrong, that it is not Islam. It all depends on who is interpreting the writings, and what their interpretation is. I have heard that many things in the book are very open for interpretation. Those that want violence, find a way to justify it by interpreting the book in that way.
Anyway...
from West, some Muslims share radicalism blame: writers

Indonesian poet Acep Zamzam Noor said the Islam taught in the country's Muslim schools or pesantrans was a moderate form which used different ways such as poetry to teach children about god.
He said if there was a clash it was between the moderate and extreme way of teaching Islam.
Others said one reason for the yawning gap was the fact that a certain section of Muslims was trying to impose its idea of the truth on the rest of the world.
They said violence, especially suicide bombings, was against basic Muslim principles because Islam forbids despair and Allah is always merciful and forgiving.
"We've acquired a particular notion of truth which serves us in a particular way. Trouble is that some Muslims think they own the truth. The idea of owning the truth is the crux of the problem," said Sardar.
"If you believe you have the perfect truth and you believe you have the right to impose it on others, then there's a problem. This notion negates the very essence of Islam."

Deok (Korean Rice Cake)

Rice is everywhere here. Rice cake is everywhere. It varies from thick noodle like cakes in some main dishes, to fancy desert cakes. I don't like all rice cakes, but some are great. I really like the little white/pink/green cakes that have a liquid sugar in them (eunhaeng juak?). Songpyun, generally stuffed with bean, chestnut, sesame seeds and sugar, is also quite nice. Just plain white rice cake is another that I like.
Interesting!!!

Deok and Related Customs
1) Expelling Evil Spirits: Traditional Korean toilets had two large footstools with a big and deep hole in between. It was shaped such that children sometimes fell into the hole and injured themselves. People believed that the toilet ghost was hungry and wanted a child to eat. When such an incident happened, people brought in an exorcist who performed an exorcism. They also made a special rice cake called dung deok (excrement rice cake) that they shared with neighbours for the purpose of expelling bad luck for the child.

More information on rice cake.

Anmyeondo beach party

They only served one kind of beer at the party... for 5000 won a bottle!!! It was Moosehead Lager, a Canadian beer. There must have been some Canadians involved in organizing the event. They also had cocktails for the same price. The food available was hotdogs, kebabs (4000 won) or pitas (5000 won). They did have bottled water for 1000 won a bottle, but they ran out fairly early in the evening. Not a smart thing to run out of water. Those in charge seemed to be a bit confused about many things throughout the entire party. They weren't very organized, I think. It was great fun, but not quite what was advertized. It was on a bit of a deserted beach (no little stores or anything around to buy your own drinks or food or water). Even the bus driver had no idea how to get there and was driving around for a bit trying to find it.
The little stage was set up just above the beach. Everyone set up their tents along the edge of the beach (safe from the tides). You couldn't get very far from where the music was as the area was quite small. There was plenty of room infront of the stage for dancing, of course.
Not far from the dance area, they also had a little sheesha/hooka tent set up. What's a beach party without one?!! :P
I think D and I finally went to sleep around 5 or 6 AM. The music was still pounding away, of course.
They started packing up everything at around 10:30 or so. It was supposed to be 24 hours of music... 12pm to 12pm. Didn't quite work out that way. They had expected a lot more people to show up, as well, I think. Not sure how they would have dealt with more people, as they ran out of things with the numbers that were there.