Korea for the 4th time - May and June 2022 - Page 10

Here is an amazing combo of 2 previous rants. I.SEOUL.U and the weather museum. Sadly, not open at the time I was passing.

In keeping with things I talk non stop about that are of little or no interest, here is a hessian mat laying ceremony in progress. Another item ticked off my bucket list.

The path to the first palace went through a cultural village. Woman would not get out of the way for my photo.

And after much ado about nothing, here is palace #1, Gyeonghuigung. Now bear in mind these are the lesser palaces of Korea, I have previously visited the main one, Gyeongbokgung on a previous visit. Gyeonghuigung has no entry fee.

Perhaps because it is free, no one goes to see it. I had the place all to myself.

Most of the palaces are in walking distance of each other, I guess it is the old city.

On my way to the next palace over I passed a tram at the Museum of Seoul. This museum was open, and was free because most of the exhibits are being re-done.

The best exhibit is the diorama of Seoul. I wondered if I had been here before. I have checked and do not think I have. I have been to similar places in Shanghai with similar diorama's.

And the Edo museum in Tokyo also has diorama's similar to this one. That is enough diorama's.

Gravity was high today.

The second palace on my journey is Deoksugung. This one has an entry fee of about $1.20 and has a lot more people. I kind of think the free one above was nicer.

However, Deoksugung is a rare beast, as it was still a palace for the emperor when western influence had entered Korea, there is this building, and out the back a dining hall that looks like what we would call a 'Queenslander' house in Australia.

There is also a lake with gold things in it. Crap photo for some reason.

Out the front I got to participate in the changing of the guard. They were honoured that I had chosen to attend.

OK, that is the palaces done, now off to the Tombs on the other side of town. Specifically the Seolleung and Jeongneung tombs from the Joseon dynasty which only ended in 1897. The park is large, and the entrance is quite a walk from any subway station, even though the other end of the park is on top of a subway station. Strange choice. There were a lot of office workers wandering the park in groups having outdoor meetings. Like the palaces, the entrance fee is about $1.20.

I think this is the tomb keepers house. His main job is to feed the stray cats.

The interesting thing is, the way the tombs are constructed you cannot really get a good view of them. This is the top of Seolleung tomb that houses King Seongjong who died in 1495. You can kind of get a view of this one by leaning over a fence.

This is Jeongneung which houses King Jungjong who died in 1544. He was not originally ENTOMBED here, but moved here by his third queen who outlived him. This is about as close as you can get.

And here is one more photo of old Jungjong. Today's update was factual, relevant and enthralling, on that we can all agree.

Well hello there, it is the 6th tallest building in the world.

The lake is split in two, first I set off around the quieter part. It is a nice place, with markers for runners around the soft path made of tyres.

I headed under the bridge that splits the lakes in two. There is a piano under the bridge outside for people to play on. No one has pushed it into the water. Also it was dark and grey this evening, but no rain.

First signs of Lotte world on the busier side of the lake.

I think I took a photo in this exact spot last time, at 7AM.

Tower from afar. I was never going to get far enough to do it landscape, so it can never be used as the title photo for this post on the main page.

A bit more amusement park with nice sky.

That is pretty low pollution, 1. Clear views all day. So clear you can see me in the reflection.

Here is what this lake area looked like in 1981. I should mention it is a favourite of youtubers, they do the big xmas light thing here and also the trees around it are all cherry blossom's.

Time to head into here and find my dinner. The statue is of Wolfgang von someone not music related. I do not know why.

Lotte has made a boat out of recycled plastic, and parked it on the lawn. Now... if you make something out of recycled material and do not actually use it, you have damaged the environment further than not recycling at all. This is hard for a lot of people to grasp.

There are 3 malls of varying degrees of luxury, this is the low rent one of course, it is much like any other Lotte mall. Avenue L is the next rung up, and then there is one in the actual tower that the likes of me cannot even glimpse.

My dinner came from a food truck. Not really, but it came from a fake truck in basement level 2. It was ok, healthy, the pic had a lot more vegetables than I was given. Final meal in Korea, and I am eating off of cardboard with a plastic spork.

Kodak no longer make anything, they do not make cameras or film... until now! They have been reinvented as a fashion brand. I feel this is likely to happen to a lot of iconic brands that go out of existence.

And because I could not let a Kodak clothes store be the last shot of the night, here is an almost getting dark Gangnam street as I return to my hotel.

Incheon airport is still not very busy, although I think Korea has upped the cap on flights above 25% pre covid levels now.

Lots of parts of the airport are closed down. Here is the main food court. There are no lounges open. I got a coffee from Baskin Robbins, the ice cream shop, the only actual coffee shop open had about 9000 people wanting a coffee.

My plane is here, so that is good. Check out the rain for my send off.

I had enough time to complete the giant lego maze before boarding.

And now, here is the opened 2 weeks ago Singapore airlines gold lounge for partner airline flight ELITE STATUS wankers like me which as mentioned above is nowhere near as nice as the actual Singapore airlines silver kris lounge for people that earned their wanker status on Singapore airlines flights. That is enough for now.

I originally intended for this pathetic photo, same as the first photo but returning home on the bus to be the last photo. But no.

The skybus made a horrible crunch noise, and rolled to a halt, on a highway off ramp near the Costco in Melbourne. It was a dangerous spot. The driver and the bus company were trying to get the police to come to block the road to transfer people to another bus that was on the way. This was going to take 45 minutes. SO I WALKED! And that is how we must end.