It's all about Seoul

I got back to work today and I still have Thailand on the brain. The vacation was a fantastic adventure in a ludicrously beautiful environment, which I will tell all about very soon. In the meantime I promised a recap of my trip to Seoul Tower, and I won't disappoint. This venture happened two weeks ago, so the details are fuzzy. However, the pictures should help me get through this and I can get on to the really important task of rehashing my holiday on the island.

I went to the tower with my neighbor Pam, and I even included a lovely picture for those of you who thought she was a fictional character. The tower is located on top of a mountain, which has stairs all the way up and a series of different gardens, parks, monuments, and vantage points that seemed to get better and better as we went further up the mountain. The view from the top of the mountain was incredible--we could see all of Seoul, maybe even all of Korea. The panorama behind Pamela is a view seen from about midway up the mount, and the other view is from the top.

You might notice a similarity between these scenic photos and the ones taken from atop of the hogwan. You'll notice a bunch of buildings and sprawl crammed really close together with mountains in between and in the background. This is typical Korean and a microcosm of the country. It is a blend of vastly populated, overcrowded and polluted urban landscape mixed with an affinity and appreciation for nature. For instance, there is this mountain, which has natural wonders and an incredible view, yet is located in the middle of the city and has people walking all over the place.

The third picture is one of yours truly being a goofy poser in front of a monument. The monument is of the inventor of the wheel, I believe. Or perhaps he was some sort of ruler, or emporer, or maybe a soldier...possibly a religious leader or Korean liberator. Maybe I could have taken a moment to read the inscription next to the monument. But what's the point? I would have forgotten it by now anyway. Whatever this guy did, I'm sure it was really neat, and I hope he's happy wherever he is that he is now immortalized in the blog--just in case the statue wasn't enough.

Anyway, this is all old news. For those of you who have suffered through the last week with no new blogs, this is a bonus week. One entry won't possibly do justice to my vacation, so I'm composing a multi-part Thailand series, which will hopefully commence tomorrow. I have many photos and stories to share, so look forward to having your socks knocked off, or something like that.