Sights in South Korea
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Gyeonghuigung
This detached palace was completed in 1623 and used to consist of a warren of courtyards, buildings, walls and gates spread over a large area. But it was destroyed during the Japanese annexation and a Japanese school was established here. Only the main audience hall, Sungjeongjeon, and the smaller official hall behind it along with a few paved courtyards, walls and corridors, have been restored. The entrance gate, Heunghwamun, has toured around Seoul, including a stint outside the Hotel Shilla, but was moved to its present site in 1988. Recently, outdoor performances of Daejanggeum, a musical based on the popular TV series about a royal cook, have been held in the palace…
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Cheonjiyeon Pokpo
The 22m-high Cheonjiyeon Pokpo, west of Seogwipo, is a 15-minute walk via a path through a beautifully forested, steep gorge. After heavy rain the waterfall can be impressive, but at other times it's more noisy than wide.
This waterfall is to the west of the old town, at the end of a beautifully forested and steep gorge through which a path and bridge have been constructed. After a heavy rain, the waterfall can be impressive, but at other times it's only a trickle. Cheonjiyeonpokpo (Cheonjiyeon Falls) is especially pretty at night, when its unusual subtropical foliage is lit up. Cheonjiyeonpokpo is a 10 to 15-minute walk west of the centre of the old town, near the…
reviewed
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Central Buddhist Museum
The new Central Buddhist Museum has three galleries of antique woodblocks, symbol-filled paintings and other Buddhist artefacts. In one corner is a teashop, Namu (732 5292; teas W3000-5000; 10am-7pm Mon-Sat). In another corner is the Information Centre for Foreigners (732 5292; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat), staffed by English-speaking Buddhist guides. Making lanterns and prayer beads, doing woodblock printing, painting and drinking green tea are usually possible. The activities are free but donations are welcome. Ask about having a meditation lesson and a four-bowl Buddhist monk meal (W30,000). A temple stay can also be arranged.
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Iho Beach
The nearest beach to Jeju-si along the west coast is blessed with an unusual mixture of yellow and grey sand, which means that you can build two-tone sandcastles. The beach is a decent size with shallow water that makes for safe swimming, and changing-room facilities are open in July and August. Further out to sea you can pit your free-diving skills against haenyeo divers searching around the rocks for seafood and edible seaweed. A small fishing port is on one side, and terns dive for fish too.
Buses (around ₩850, 20 minutes, every 20 minutes) leave Jeju-si bus terminal for Iho Beach - get off at Heonsa Village stop and it's a 150m walk to the beach.
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Seonnongdan
The altar is not worth visiting except for one day in April (which varies with the lunar calendar) : the re-enactment of the ceremony when Joseon kings came here to pray for a good harvest. A royal procession heads to the altar, where food offerings are laid out in special brass containers. Musicians in red robes play traditional instruments, and after the Confucian ceremony the onlookers tuck into seolleongtang (beef soup) and makgeolli (fermented rice wine) free of charge, just as in Joseon days. From the subway exit, walk straight as far as the notice board and turn right. When you come to a fork, go right. The altar is a 300m walk on the right.
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Gwangju Art Museum
The Gwangju Art Museum, part of an ugly art plaza with concert and performance halls, displays highlights from the avant-garde Gwangju Biennale. Thought-provoking exhibits could include a portrait of the back of someone's head, a cow made of leather or a landscape inside a suitcase.
Take bus 23 (around ₩900, 10 minutes, every 15 minutes) from outside the bus terminal, and get off at the Gwangju Art Museum stop (Munhwa Yesul Hoegwan), a 15-minute walk from Gwangju National Museum. Bus 50 (around ₩900, 20 minutes, every 30 minutes) runs from the train station to the Folk Museum or bus 55 runs from Geumnamno to the National Museum.
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E
63 Building
One of the tallest and most stylish skyscrapers in Seoul, the 63 Building has recently been given a makeover. A 15-minute walk from the subway, it has three major attractions: Sea World, an aquarium that has penguin feeding at 3.30pm and seal, sea lion and diving shows hourly; IMAX, showing hourly movies on a gigantic screen with English-language commentary in an earphone; and Sky Art, which combines a 60th-floor observation deck with changing art exhibitions. A triple ticket makes for a big day out, especially if it includes the 63 Buffet Pavilion ).
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Jagalmadang
While anti-prostitution laws were recently tightened and the sex trade is supposed to be gone, Jagalmadang is one of Korea's 'big three'; the other two are in Busan and Seoul. Apparently the streets of Jagalmadang were once paved with small stones so that any girls trying to escape (or customers trying to get some action for free) would be heard. Although the lights are mostly pink, not red, it's a curious scene and can be interesting for foreigners, even women.
Don't expect gratis nudity though - the women read, slurp noodles or text-message on their mobile phones.
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Lotte World Adventure & Magic Island
Lotte World Adventure & Magic Island is a mainly indoor Korean version of Disneyland, complete with ‘flying’ balloons, 3D films, laser and music shows, screen rides, fantasy parades and thrill rides that go down very fast or round and round and up and down very fast. The scarier the ride, the longer the queue on busy days. The outdoor Magic Island is in the middle of Seokchon Lake, and that part may close in bad weather. The carousel has been popular with dating couples since it starred in the TV drama series Stairway to Heaven.
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Dodong Mineral Spring Park
Get a birds-eye view of Ulleungdo by taking the cable car from the park to Manghyangbong peak. If watching the beautiful sunset has made you all emotional, let it out at the karaoke lounge. The park's namesake mineral-water spring is near the top and some claim drinking it has all sorts of medicinal benefits.
There are also two free museums in the park - the elaborate Dokdo Museum and Ulleungdo's simple historical museum. Both islands have fascinating history, but given that the exhibits are only in Korean, non-Korean-speakers may find them a little impenetrable.
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Gwang·an
Among the city's seven beaches, Gwang·an is the best option for access and quality (the other beaches are Dadaepo, Songdo, Songjeong, Ilgwang, Imnang and Pebble Beach). Although the ugly wall of commercial development behind the beach diminishes the daytime experience, Gwang·an really shines at night. The multicoloured light show illuminating the bridge is grand. The shortest route to Gwang·an is Line 2 to Geumnyeonsan station, Exit 3. Rotate 180 degrees at street level and turn right at the corner; the beach is five minutes down the road.
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Gwangju Folk Museum
From the Gwangju National Museum take a 15-minute walk through a tunnel under the expressway to Gwangju Folk Museum. It uses dioramas, models, sound effects, videos and more to show off Jeollanam-do's traditional culture, from music to medicine, from toys to armour. Historical photographs at the end reveal how quickly Koreans have morphed from feudal farmers to 21st century whiz kids.
Around the Folk Museum is a pleasant park that contains the Biennale Exhibition Hall. Walk back down through the park to the Gwangju Art Museum and the bus stop.
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Sejong University Museum
Sejong has a superb collection, especially the hanbok display, which takes up an entire floor and includes outstanding royal clothing. Rarely visited, the museum should be more popular – the furniture arranged into rooms, the wooden, leather and silk shoes worn by the different social classes present vivid images of Korea’s feudal past. A poem displayed at the museum praises it as ‘a place of wisdom, beauty and virtue’ where visitors can ‘listen to the thousand-year-old ancestors whispering quietly’.
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Seongnamsa
This must-see temple is a visual masterpiece. The 800m (.5mi) walk along an interlocking stone path from the park entrance to the temple is sublime. At the temple's main gate, pause half way up the stairs and take in the image of a multi-storeyed pagoda and bamboo trees juxtaposed against the mountain.
Seongnamsa is an easy day-trip from Busan. The bus climbs a steep road carved into the mountainside with stunning views of peaks and valleys smothered in a green forest. Be savvy and sit on the right hand side of the bus for the best views.
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Oedolgae
About 2km west of Seogwipo, the 20m-tall volcanic basalt pillar called Oedolgae juts out of the ocean. Like other unusual-shaped rocks there's a legend associated with it - a Korean general is said to have scared away Mongolian invaders by dressing the rock up to look like a giant soldier. Oedolgae is a pleasant walk through pine forests to a beautiful cliffside lookout.
Bus 200 or 300 (both around ₩850, five minutes, eight daily) run to Oedolgae or else it's an easy and pleasant 30-minute walk from town.
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Kukkiwon
The Kukkiwon dojang (hall) hosts a regular schedule of taekwondo displays, training courses and tournaments. Visit on Wednesday from 10am to noon to see a training session by the world’s best taekwondo demonstration team. Expect to see graceful movements, spectacular pine-board breaking and acrobatic high kicking that defies gravity. The museum (admission free; open 9-11.30am & 1-5pm Mon-Fri) has photos, cups, medals and uniforms relating to the sport. English is spoken if you telephone.
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Myeong-Dong Catholic Cathedral
This elegant, red- and grey-brick Gothic-style cathedral was built between 1894 and ’98 by Chinese bricklayers. Inside, the traditional vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows contrast with the modern air-conditioning and the TV screens. The cathedral provided a sanctuary for student and trade-union protestors during the long period of military rule after the Korean War, and is now a national symbol of democracy and human rights. Come at 9am on Sunday for English-language worship in the chapel.
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Museum of Korean Embroidery
A tiny one-room museum with painstaking examples of a neglected and unheralded female craft and embroidery books to browse. In the good old days nearly everything was embroidered – clothes, shoes, boxes, pillow-ends, screens, pin cushions, toys and thimbles. Delicate patchwork pojagi (wrapping cloths) had many uses and some were made out of silk or ramie (cloth made from pounded bark). From the subway exit turn left and then take the second alley on the right.
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Mokin Museum
Mokin are carved and painted wooden figures and decorative motifs that were used to decorate sangyeo (funeral carriages). Carved by humble village craftsmen, they are a unique folk art drenched in Buddhist and shamanist beliefs. Carved flowers represent wealth and yearning for a perfect world, while birds represent messengers from this world to the next, fish symbolise life and learning (as they never close their eyes), and tigers and goblins scare evil spirits away.
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Syngman Rhee Memorial Hall
This small private museum has lots of English descriptions and is dedicated to South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee (1875-1965). Jailed by King Gojong for his political activities, later he became an independence leader and the Japanese colonial government put a price of around ₩300,000 on his head. He was South Korea's president during the Korean War and up to 1960 when he fled with his Austrian wife to Hawaii after widespread public demonstrations against his rule.
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National Palace Museum
The new National Palace Museum has royal artefacts that highlight the wonderful artistic skills of the Joseon era – royal seals, illustrations of court ceremonies, and the gold-embroidered hanbok (traditional clothing) and exquisite hairpins worn by the queens and princesses – but very little English signage. Note this museum closes on a different day to the palace and that a small admission charge of W2000 may be reintroduced.
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Museum of Korean Traditional Music
Next door to the Seoul Arts Centre, the National Centre for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (www.ncktpa.go.kr) is home to this museum, where visitors can see and listen to traditional Korean musical instruments that are rarely heard today. The eo is shaped like a tiger and played by banging its head with a stick and then running the stick over the notches on its back. Check the NCKTPA website for music lessons for foreigners.
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Hae·undae
Hae·undae is the country's most famous beach. During the peak travel season in August, umbrellas mushroom across the 2km beach while frolickers fill the water with truck-size inner tubes rented from booths behind the beach. It's a fun family outing with 500,000 friends, though the marketing bumph portraying Hae·undae as a world-class resort is bunk. Line 2 to Hae·undae station, Exit 3, and walk to the beach.
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Folklore & Natural History Museum
This wide-ranging ecomuseum in Sinsan Park has well-labelled exhibits on Jejudo's varied volcanic features including volcanic bombs, lava tubes and trace fossils. Fortunately the volcanoes have all been dormant for the last 1000 years, although earthquakes were felt in the 16th century. Other highlights to look out for are excellent wildlife films, the bizarre oar fish and panoramas of the island's six ecological zones.
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Museum Of Korean Buddhist Art
The permanent exhibition is displayed in one section, and just down the street is the second section which hosts changing exhibitions. The entry price includes admission to both. The permanent exhibition is small but the paintings and carvings, many 200 years old, suggest that Korean Buddhist art is undervalued by the global art scene. The Yeonam teashop has homemade teas - hibiscus petal tea is worth trying.
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