Thursday, July 16, 2009

Exploring Seoul: Samcheong-dong

In just four days I will start work as a copy editor at the International Herald Tribune's Korean partner, the JoongAng Daily. I'm super excited to make my professional debut in print journalism and can't wait to return to the newsroom. But going back to work means I will have a lot less free time to explore Seoul.

So I decided to take advantage of the good weather yesterday and explore the Samcheong-dong area of Seoul. Right off the Anguk station on Line 3 (we live at the Ewha Woman's Univ. stop on Line 2, for reference), this neighborhood is full of art galleries, trendy coffee shops, and tiny museums.

I wanted to see the neighborhood's Jeongdok Public Library, which is supposed to have beautiful gardens, but sadly it was closed. So I let my feet be my guide, and ended up halfway up a mountain at the Silk Road Museum. This three-story museum was the size of a house -- in fact, I'm pretty sure someone was living on the fourth floor. Something about the display of the objects and the smell of the place made everything seem more real than in your average museum. Fur-covered trunks and stone carvings sat out unprotected, and burial icons were laid out on sand. Perhaps it was the mountain air, but I felt an almost mystical transcendence getting lost amongst the muskets and guardian deities.
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1 comment:

  1. NickJuly 16, 2009 at 6:57 PM

    (1) CONGRATS on your job!!!

    (2) Great/cool photos...

    ReplyDelete

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