Jogye-sa and Insadong

Poor Arlene has been cooped up in the apartment while I have been running all around Seoul so we went out to Jogye-sa and Insadong last Saturday.

Frank and David in front of Insadong



A Pagoda said to house relics of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni

After looking around Jogye-sa we walked over to Insadong, a street famous for its souvenirs. It was only about a five minute walk away but it took ten because the red light to cross the street is so long. After crossing the streets we stopped at a bakery and had bread with pumpkin filling, cake bread (which had a lot of cheese in it but was completely unlike cheesecake) and patbingsu, a dessert made with vanilla icecream, beans, ice and a few other things. Its very good, especially on a cold day. We'll have to take a picture the next time we have one but David was too squirmy at that time and so Arlene had to feed him and me!

The street is closed to cars on Saturday and Sunday so there is more space for the crowds. You can't see it from this picture but it is really crowded.

Another street scene and a vendor.

There was a free concert that day complete with free refreshments put on by Daesong, a company that I think makes bathtubs (among other things)

A group of people dressed in traditional costumes were apparently trying to drum up (literally, or rather gong up?) tourism in Andong which is known for its traditional culture).

Here we can see a better view of some of the parade participants.

After buying some souvenirs we intended to go to Kyobo books. However, I took a wrong turn and we ended up going south instead of west. So we just went home after eating dinner at Lotteria. We were really exhausted on the way home and things were really busy. Fortunately a nice ajuma (middle aged Korean woman) gave her seat to Arlene (we usually can't assemble the stroller on the subway so Arlene was holdin David). We were confused as to which direction to go in one subway just as a train was pulling up and so a nice man helped us out and made sure we got off at the right stop. So all in all, things are going well but now I need to concentrate more on my research.