This is Ian, Lindseys early week has been boring, shes already a slave to the Korean working market. So here's my quick and ugly run down on the first 3 days on my own in Korea.
Monday, I embarked on an adventure to the COEX mall and World Trade Center. The COEX mall is an absolutely gigantic underground labyrinth of shops and eateries that stretches for nearly a kilometer under several blocks of Seoul. It is very nice, very American-esque shoping mall, except for the whole subteranean shopping experience. The real reason I wen
t there was for the largest aquarium in Seoul. Shocking, I know. Well needless to say, the Korean take on aquariums is a bit different than the American. American aquariums generally strive to create as natural an environment for the fish and animals as possible, Koreans seek comedy I am pretty sure. While they did have the standard environmental specific areas, they also had some rather interesting choices of fish tanks; such as the refrigerator fish tank, the harp fish tank (which actually played music as fish swam past light beams), the phone booth fish tank, and the ever popular PC fish tank. All and all a rather interesting experience. Lindsey and I surmised that they either take incredibly good care of their fish or turn through them pretty fast. I am putting my bet on the latter.
Monday, I embarked on an adventure to the COEX mall and World Trade Center. The COEX mall is an absolutely gigantic underground labyrinth of shops and eateries that stretches for nearly a kilometer under several blocks of Seoul. It is very nice, very American-esque shoping mall, except for the whole subteranean shopping experience. The real reason I wen
t there was for the largest aquarium in Seoul. Shocking, I know. Well needless to say, the Korean take on aquariums is a bit different than the American. American aquariums generally strive to create as natural an environment for the fish and animals as possible, Koreans seek comedy I am pretty sure. While they did have the standard environmental specific areas, they also had some rather interesting choices of fish tanks; such as the refrigerator fish tank, the harp fish tank (which actually played music as fish swam past light beams), the phone booth fish tank, and the ever popular PC fish tank. All and all a rather interesting experience. Lindsey and I surmised that they either take incredibly good care of their fish or turn through them pretty fast. I am putting my bet on the latter.
Tuesday, was my visit to the Korean War Memorial & Museum which was the coolest thing I have seen so far here in Seoul. An absolutely collasal structure, with grounds filled with fountains and serentity ponds next to obsolete military equipment. Tanks, missles, he
licopters, and a wide variety of aircraft, including a full B-52 bomber. Inside was a museum detailing the history of Korean warfare, since the conflicts with the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty up to the modern Korean military 'superiority'. They are very proud of the Republic of Korea (ROK) army and its ability to beat the North Koreans should it come to that. Its was a pretty interesting museum, if not a little long. They had replicas of ancient Turtle Warships used to defeat the Japanese, and re-enactments of the battles during the Korean War. For the folks more interested in the humantarian side they even had a mock refugee camp you could walk through to experience what the women and children of the korean conflict went through. It took about 3 hours to experience the history of Korean warfare, and by that time I was fairly spent and decided to retire.
Wednesday, was a big more low key and unambitious. Just a short jaunt to the National Museum of Korea, which features ancient artifacts and historical works of art. I wasn't exactly engrossed by the historical artifacts and art work, not really my style, I am more into the war museum's death and dismemberment theme. Regardless, the most impressive thing there was actually the building itself. An oppulent, modernistic, and absolutely mammoth building. Quite gorgeous actually, the interior was all white marble and they clearly spared no expense. After 3 hours of basically being bored and with the afternoon heat and humidity at full force I decided to retreat to the safety of my air conditioned hotel room. Its way too hot here. Thats all for now folks.
licopters, and a wide variety of aircraft, including a full B-52 bomber. Inside was a museum detailing the history of Korean warfare, since the conflicts with the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty up to the modern Korean military 'superiority'. They are very proud of the Republic of Korea (ROK) army and its ability to beat the North Koreans should it come to that. Its was a pretty interesting museum, if not a little long. They had replicas of ancient Turtle Warships used to defeat the Japanese, and re-enactments of the battles during the Korean War. For the folks more interested in the humantarian side they even had a mock refugee camp you could walk through to experience what the women and children of the korean conflict went through. It took about 3 hours to experience the history of Korean warfare, and by that time I was fairly spent and decided to retire.Wednesday, was a big more low key and unambitious. Just a short jaunt to the National Museum of Korea, which features ancient artifacts and historical works of art. I wasn't exactly engrossed by the historical artifacts and art work, not really my style, I am more into the war museum's death and dismemberment theme. Regardless, the most impressive thing there was actually the building itself. An oppulent, modernistic, and absolutely mammoth building. Quite gorgeous actually, the interior was all white marble and they clearly spared no expense. After 3 hours of basically being bored and with the afternoon heat and humidity at full force I decided to retreat to the safety of my air conditioned hotel room. Its way too hot here. Thats all for now folks.
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