Good news! After years of dating, our Korean friends finally decided to get married. Since the bride is living in Germany and the groom is currently working in Saudi-Arabia, they considered having the ceremony in Europe. Fortunately they chose Korea instead. I was happy that they kindly invited us – I had never visited Korea before, let alone experienced a Korean wedding, so I was stoked about finally getting to go.
Conscripts are a common sight in Seoul.
The wedding itself was a very interesting mixture of modern and traditional. The traditional part of the ceremony was especially fascinating to observe. I didn't get photos that would be worth of sharing, though: this time I made conscious effort to avoid causing trouble so I left my big lenses and flash unit home. The wedding venue was lovely, it was new but built in traditional style and located along a small stream on the mountains right outside Seoul. Such a great experience, I'm really grateful that we were included.
My wife and I stayed in Seoul only for three nights, so time was very limited. Because there were lots of international guests, the bridal couple had organised activities for days before and after the wedding. Unfortunately due to our tight schedule we missed some of the fun stuff – a real bummer! The hospitality of the hosts was way beyond expectations: organising a wedding is a huge project in itself, but taking care of a group of foreigners adds an extra level of complexity. For me one of the definite highlights of the trip was a moonlight tour in Changdeokgung Palace and experiencing the Huwon Secret Garden in all its nighttime glory, so tons of thanks for that!
My relationship status with Korean food is "it's complicated". There are some genuinely delicious dishes, but I don't believe that everything tastes better if you just add more kimchi. Anyway, all the food we ate in Korea was yummy, so perhaps it is just done wrong abroad.
When I was on the 9th grade, we had to prepare a school presentation about a post-WW2 topic of own choice. Normal students would pick subjects like the hippie movement of the 1960s or the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then there's always that one kid who is a little bit... well, special. For some reason I wanted to cover the Korean War, and not just the beginning or aftermath but all of it! I used four or five A3 size papers including detailed maps about the troop movements and changes in front lines. I hoarded a quarter of the wall space allocated for the whole class. In the end, the teacher probably had only two options: either give me full "10" score or report me to the school psychologist. I'm glad he didn't choose the latter.
I don't know what about the Korean conflict picked the interest of teenager me. A small country divided by an internal conflict, ending up as the battleground for world powers. Insane brutality right after the devastation of the second world war. Perhaps Korean War just felt exotic; it was known as the "Forgotten War" and it wasn't turned into movies and entertainment the same way as Vietnam War was. Be as it may, my interest in the history was one reason that I really wanted to see the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), so we joined a guided tour there. Photography is forbidden in most parts of the restricted zone (unless you're taking pictures of North Korea: Rocket Man's realm is free game!) so unfortunately I don't have much to show about the excursion. The high point (=the lowest point) of the day trip was a visit into a North Korean infiltration tunnel. We were 70m under the ground, right below the border, in a narrow tunnel dug by the People's Army – highly recommended if you love confined places!
One of the landmarks, N Seoul Tower.
South Korea and Japan share many similarities but there are also differences. The hotel we stayed in is located in the famed Gangnam District of Seoul. We had a five minute walk to the nearest subway station, and along the way there were literally tens of plastic surgery clinics! Absolutely nuts! I've been told that the modern Korean society is so competitive that you need to do everything you can to stay in the rat race, including tweaking your own appearance. I'm fortunate I was born next to the North Pole, because I would not have survived long in such an environment. Although now that I started thinking about it, I would definitely need a face lift. Anyway, in the end, everyone wants to have a new face like the K-pop celebrities and in my opinion that's just, well, a bit sad.
The on-going crisis with North Korea was not really visible in Seoul. The current leaderships of North Korea and USA have taken the Korean conflict to new, uncharted waters. North Korea has now arguably the capability of hurting Japan and some regions of USA. At the same time USA has drastically changed their foreign policy and the core of their new diplomatic effort is hurling Twitter insults. According to some experts a new war on the Korean peninsula is a real possibility. However, the people in Seoul keep going like nothing has changed: Seoul has been under the threat for so long that the locals are used to it. I sincerely wish that the conflict will eventually be resolved peacefully; the cost on humanity would simply not be acceptable.
Myeong-dong shopping district. An abundance of cosmetics and food stands. My wife loved it (...and I didn't).
Seoul with my new budget prime Panasonic 20mm f/1.7. No the bokeh balls are not perfect but good enough for an amateur.
Local snacks at Myeong-dong
South side of Seoul.
King Sejong the Great and his sundial.
Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance. Gyeongbokgung was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Unfortunately I arrived too early, so it was still closed. Since I had very little time, I decided to walk to Changdeokgung Palace instead.
Entrance of Changdeokgung.
At Changdeokgung
Main palace.
The wedding venue was built in similar style as Nakseonjae Hall.
And then a taxi ride to the actual wedding venue! It was a beautiful place.
Setting of the traditional part of the wedding ceremony.
Wedding dinner.
Another picture of the wedding venue.
Exploring four seasons in the after party.
The next day we took a guided tour to the DMZ. Photography in the area is very restricted so I have only a couple of pictures. This is the Liberty Bell of Imjingak.
Border in the front, North Korean Kijŏng-dong (Peace Village) in the back. The village is just as lively as an average Finnish municipality, so the South Koreans believe it was built just in propaganda purpose. You never see anybody actually living there.
Value of a civilisation is measured in the size of its flagpole. The Panmunjom flagpole is world's fourth tallest. The flag alone weights about 270kg so you need some fairly strong winds of Communism to make it wave. Praise Juche, I got lucky.
Panorama of the border. North Korean city of Kaesong in the distance.
Back in Seoul. Guards of Deoksugung Palace.
At Daehanmun gate.
Gwanghwamun Plaza.
I revisited Gyeongbokgung Palace during the actual opening hours. Free entrance, if you wore a traditional Korean costume. Most of the girls in Korean dresses were actually Japanese and Chinese tourists.
Gyeonghoeru Pavilion.
Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Some seriously delicious pork belly!
We got to visit Changdeokgung Palace for a moonlight tour on the last night. It was such an exquisite experience, I would warmly recommend it to anybody visiting Seoul.
The guided tour also included traditional music and dance performances.
Buchaechum, traditional fan dance. I'm personally more a fan of modern Korean dance art (I LUV PSY)! ♡♡♡
Secret Garden of Changdeokgung.
That's it again. Gamsahamnida, thanks for reading!