Han River Boat Tour + Kindergarten Randomness

There are a lot of park areas along the river which are great places to spend warm weather days. You can rent tandem bikes (still need to do that), rent kites to fly, take a paddle boat out into the river (the swan shaped boats look pretty dope), rollerblade/skateboard/walk along the boardwalk, or just set up a blanket on the grass to people watch, read a book, have a picnic, or just relax.  These are photos from the Han River boat tour I took with some of the girls from work.

That's 63 Building (sixty three is for the number of floors it has). It was the tallest building in Korea till 2002.  The observation deck is supposed to be a nice place to get a good city view.  It also houses some good restaurants, an IMAX theater, and an aquarium. 

If you can't tell, those are kites in the sky. I think those are the LG twin towers, but they look a bit distorted in this photo.

Koreans love photo ops. The second it took me to take this photo was the only second of our entire 90 minute trip that the neon lights heart structure was not occupied by small Korean children or couples. (The peace sign made many appearances in that heart).

National Parliament Building. 

Completely unrelated to the tour, I asked my kindergarten students to describe a picture (underwater photo with fish [and some bubbles]) and William bursts out laughing, holds his nose and says "Fish is BRRREAKING wind!" It was adorable. I have no clue where he learned that from, I definitely have never said that before.  Also, when I showed them a photo of a butterfly, Aileen yelled, enthusiastically and with confidence, "BUTTERFLOWER!!" I love my kindergarten students, I will miss them. 

Hi Seoul Friendship Fair

Hi Seoul puts on weeklong festivals, with various events, four times a year (winter, spring, summer, and fall). The Friendship Fair was part of the spring festival. It was held at Seoul Plaza. There was an art exhibit featuring drawings of sites/places in Korea that were drawn/painted by children from all over the world. There was also a mask-making booth and a display of different cultural masks that people could take photos with. The main events were the performances that were put on by international singers/dancers/bands.

This little girl was so cute, she was dancing to the music. And the monkey on her back reminded me of the movie Juno (if you don't know why, figure it out, it will impress me).

These performers were from Taiwan. The older man was grabbing his belly because he was making a joke about it being full of kimchi (yeah, i love hyperlinks). He really cracked himself up. Then he started singing and he blew me away. He had this incredible deep voice and sang with such sincerity and passion. I couldn't understand what he was singing about, but it was beautiful. 

This guy had to have gotten tired of making that face all day. I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes.

Picture Frame guy!

These were performers from Turkey. They reminded me alot of Greek dancers (they danced in a circle, which was led by a guy with a handkerchief [I felt like I was at a Greek wedding when they did that]). The music was great, I loved their colorful costumes and their dance was fun to watch. They were definitely one of the crowds' favorites. I could tell people were digging them.

This woman was watching the Taiwanese performers. The music seemed to deeply resonate with her, she looked so content and peaceful.  I understood, completely.  I love those moments, witnessing them and experiencing them. I didn't quite capture her how I wanted, there were too many people between us, but this shot still makes me smile.

New Favorite Hood: Samchung-dong

Today was perfect, maybe even the best Sunday I've had here. The weather was beautiful, I discovered a new favorite place, and I saw Indiana Jones (I still want to know how the Russians got past the tribe without the skull).

The definite highlight of my day was the afternoon, which I spent shooting in Samchungdong. It's a great neighborhood just north of Insadong, next to Gyeongbuk Palace. The streets are littered with cute funky shops, colorful coffee shops and restaurants, jazz cafes, and art galleries. It definitely has it's own personality compared to a lot of other Seoul neighborhoods, which all look the same and lack character. There is also a lovely park which I plan to return to with a good novel or sketch book and quirky museums (Owl Museum, Museum of Chicken Art, and Eros Museum) that I plan on checking out. What I liked most was the diversity in the architectural styles of the buildings.

Here is a little photo tour:

Everything was colorful: the signs, gates, doors, windows.

And there were hidden treasures in the alleys.

And a charming peaceful pond in the park.

With lily pads.

 And fish too, but the water was too murky to capture them.