Saturday, November 14, 2009

A few weeks of Fall

It seems as leaving Korea has turned me back into a tourist. I have been running around Seoul with a new teacher at our school, Kelly. It seems we are a perfect match for sight seeing as I am trying to see the last bits before I take off and she hasn't seen much yet as a newbie. So far, we have tackled another palace and the biggest buddhist temple in Seoul. I have to say that the fall leaves made all the pictures I took much prettier. Oh, how I love fall in any country!

Here are a few of the pictures I have collected as my Korean tourist career comes to an end. I don't think there are many sights listed in the Lonely Planet that I have missed these last couple of years. Korea has been well covered.

First stop was the Gyeongbokgung Palace in the traditional district of Seoul. The palace was built in the late 1300s, but as many national monuments a majority of the palace complex was burnt down during the Japanese invasion. Starting in 1989 Gyeongbokgung Palace was included in an initiative to rebuild many of the important buildings destroyed by the Japanese. When I was there I guess 40% was finished and it will be completely restored in the next 20 years.

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Before the palace we stopped at a tea shop and I drank this delicious chrysanthemum tea.

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The main building in the Palace Complex

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Beautiful fall colors.

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Palace Walls

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Palace Pond and Pagoda

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Big Pagoda

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I love these rock men.....I always think their expressions are funny

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Showing Korea some love!

A few weeks later, on a rainy and windy day we headed out to Bongeunsa, a Buddhist temple across the street from a popular mall in Korea. This had to be one of the nicest temples I have seen in Korea. It is obvious that a lot of money gets donated to keep the buildings up and things in good shape. At the charity shop there were some flashy brands for sale, leading me to believe that some of the wealthier Koreans call this temple home.

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I love that I got out to take some pictures during the few weeks of fall in Korea.

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Huge decorated doors at the entrance of the temple.

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Prayer room windows

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Temple Building. There were a lot of more interesting buildings to take pictures of but they were in use and it felt disrespectful to snap pictures of people trying to pray.

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Tiger toe stones for good luck

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Rock Buddhas... I have seen these all over Korea.

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The largest Budha in Korea....

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I am going to miss these Buddhist decorations. This is the entire ceiling of an underpass.

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