Seoul Korea: Day 2

Day 2 in Seoul Korea was as good as day one. The COEX Aquarium features 3,000 tons of water with 40,000 water creature of 650 species.  The COEX Aquarium is a unique venue of Edutainment in a humongus SHOPPING MALL!

The sight-seeing sites visited included:
Cheongwadae Sarangchae
Namsan Hanok village
New Seouil Tower
COEX Aquarium
Kimchi Museuim
Han River Cruise

The Cheongwadqe Sarangchae showcases the lives and accomplishments of former Korean presidents and documents the modern splendor of Seoul.  It also has information about the past, present and future accomplishments of Korea and Seoul.


There is a slightly spooky back story about this building which is built in this funky manner to cover up some nefarious ancient curse located under/behind/somewhere-near-by. If you know about it, enlighten us.

Koreans like their drums BIG

A river cruise is always a nice diversion. The Han River divides Seoul between the old city and the newer Gangnam 

There be the dock

These seagulls know exactly when the boat leaves the dock and provide excellent entertainment catching hunks of bread in mid-air.

This is the awesomest entrance to an aquarium I have ever encountered. Fish swimming in to giant columns and overhead between them. INCREDIBLE. And this massive aquarium is built within the humungus COEX mall.

Loved this unique aquarium display:

Didn't expect to find bats in an aquarium:

Ever heard of Doctor Fish? They nibble on dead skin. Tourists love to sit on the side of fish tanks with their legs in the water and let the little guys tickle 'em as they nibble off the dead skin from legs and feet. This display shows how it's done:

This was a spectacular walk "under da sea"

Crab Tango

There's even a kimchi museum in the COEX mall. The history of culinary fire in Korea.

Why?

The Namsan Hanok Village had several old homes of the ruling class on display within a large park setting.

Your basic upper-class living room complete with really old map of Seoul. 

Kimchi storage teepee:

Stylish, comfortable shoes of our tour guide.

Equally comfortable Korean couch:

I thought that was an interesting feature carved into the side of this old cabinet.

High above Seoul is the massive Seoul Tower

These are thousands of LOCKS with messages of love and devotion that couples attach here and on a wall elsewhere near Seoul Tower when the young man proposes marriage to his sweetheart at the top of the Tower.

Cool film technology on the wall of the Tower's elevator waiting area lets you see all kinds of views from the top.

Korean soldiers are so relaxed and confident compared to Chinese soldiers.

We ended the tour with a visit to a palace museum.

We discovered the symbolism of the Korean flag.
Top left:           HEAVEN-Justice / Spring / East
Bottom Right:  EARTH-Fertility / Summer / South
Top right:         WATER-Life / Winter / North
Bottom left:     FIRE-Wisdom / Autumn / West
White background = National Purity
Center = Yang & Yin of the people

Nice views of Korea we won't see on this trip:

The gal on the left is the mother of the fellow on the right. She was one tough mama, and pretty famous in Korean history. She raised a good son who did a lot of good for his country and his picture is on their 10000 bill.

A sneak peak at what U.S. money might look like in the not too distant future?

A dynamic map of the beautiful city of Seoul: