Gwanghwamun restoration
by jckim
Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung (Palace).
The restoration project will return the historic gate to its original site 14.5m to the south and 10.9m to the west and turn it 5.6 degrees clockwise.
and A 500m long and 27m wide public area named Gwanghwamun Plaza will be established in the middle of Sejongno in downtown Seoul by the end of 2008.
Language Tip2
by jckim
1 ( il )
2 ( i )
3 ( sam )
4 ( sa )
5 ( o )
6 ( yuk )
7 ( chil )
8 ( pal )
9 ( gu )
10 ( sip )
100 ( baek )
1000 ( cheon )
10000 ( man )
43500wom: saman-samcheon-obaek won
Jongno3ga: Jongno-sam-ga
Bongcheon4dong: Bongcheon-sa-dong
An-yeong-ha-se-yo: Hi! Hello!
Gam-sa-ham-ni-da: Thank you
Eol-ma-eip-ni-kka?: How much
Yeogiga-eodi-eip-ni-kka?: Where are we now?
Ye: Yes
A-ni-yo: No
Gas station girls
by schwein
One thing strange about Korea is that there are no self-serve gas stations.
Even stranger, is that they hire local cute girls to dance at the entrance to get customer's attention.
I'm not complaining.
Driving a motorcycle in summer is nice. Even nicer when you have to get gas.
Sadly the only pics I have of this are recent, just after Fall hit. They are all wearing jackets...
I'll be sure to get many pics when Spring hits.
Korean Money
by Ewingjr98
Korean bills come in only 1000, 5000, and 10,000 Won notes. Coins come in 50, 100, and 500 won. Since the exchange rate is around 1150 Won to a dollar, you'll see that it takes a lot of paper to pay your rent or buy major items. Luckily, there are bank checks for 100,000 and 1,000,000 won, not really money, but it's the next best thing.
A new 5,000 Won note has been used since 1 Jan 2006 and A new 1,000 Won note was recently revealed and will go into circulation in 2007.
Better Prepared Than Sorry
by i-s-a
Pack as lightly as you can. For autumn...it is best to try layering than bringing all those bulky sweatshirts and jackets.
Bring good, sturdy and comfy shoes for everyday walking. Eye drop - I didn't realize that it is necessary to bring one. I visited in autumn and my eyes felt so dry and itchy all the time.
Plastic Strips (Band-Aids) - bring lots and lots of these medical wonder ;0). I'm prone to blisters but then I never thought I'd be doing loooong walks in Korea. Before end of my trip, I have used up at least half box of strips.
Medicines - When I had to buy a pain reliever in one of the pharmacies, I had difficulty getting one because the pharmacist couldn't understand what I was saying. I tried different kinds of tricks, saying the brand name, generic name, saying body pain, fever, motioning, etc. In the end, I asked for a pen and pencil and bingo! he managed to understand me. The only problem is that, I could not take the medicine before I actually checked from my Korean friend if the man gave me the pill that I wanted.
Lip balm - your lips could easily get chapped with the cold weather.
Oil, lotion - for moisturizing, prevents you from having those dry and itchy skin. For Digital Camera Users, bring a high capacity memory cards as there would be many photo opportunities in Seoul. It is also good to bring blank CDs as you can burn your photos daily to free those precious memory cards. Note: all of the above are of course available in Seoul. Bring them nonetheless to save time, effort and money.