Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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buksida
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

Post by buksida »

KanDoo wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2023 9:23 am Selfies . . . maybe ought to get over it.

Right, people are obsessed with them, especially the women. Vanity is the leading characteristic of these younger generations!

Why go to a place of outstanding beauty to take a picture of yourself, never really understood it, but then I am a bit old school.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Yes, and it seems renting traditional clothes out for these selfies is becoming big business. You also had the same thing in Japan, and I even experienced it at the Nasatta Forest. I must say, the traditional clothing does help to enhance the appearance somewhat.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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buksida wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2023 9:26 am
KanDoo wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2023 9:23 am Selfies . . . maybe ought to get over it.

Right, people are obsessed with them, especially the women. Vanity is the leading characteristic of these younger generations!

Why go to a place of outstanding beauty to take a picture of yourself, never really understood it, but then I am a bit old school.
Yes, I was in Lisbon for a couple of days last month and visited the castle which is on a hill with spectacular views of the city. It was full of Portuguese students who spent the whole time taking pictures of themselves, I had to wait half an hour for them to get bored and move on.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Not trying to justify it, but presumably in the selfies, they get the buildings in the background?


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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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BigBoy wrote
You also had the same thing in Japan
These things have been popular in mainland China for some years, as well. People pay a lot to rent the costume, have their hair done and get make up.
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Danny boy wrote
Not trying to justify it, but presumably in the selfies, they get the buildings in the background?
That is true. Already in the 80's I asked some Chinese when they showed me their holiday photos, why are they always in the photos. The answer was; "To prove other people that I was there."
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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We were lucky to see the changing of the guards which was quite a spectacle but by then the cold was biting and it was time to seek the shelter of a subway and head back to the apartment for a couple of hours. The temperature in Seoul seldom got over 6 degrees during the day and it was the coldest place we experienced on the trip (aside from that first night at Fuji!)

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To follow: Myeongdong Walking Street
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

Post by Dannie Boy »

Very colourful tunics.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Dannie Boy wrote: Wed Dec 27, 2023 8:48 am Very colourful tunics.
Yes, those pictures remind me of some Korean historical movies I've watched in the past, they just need the subtitles!
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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In the evening we headed over to the Myeongdong Walking Street, a sprawling maze of market stalls selling clothes, trinkets, and tourist tat. We were here for the Korean street food and there was so much to choose from. Korean food is more bread and dough-based than Thai which is rice-dominated, probably due to the colder weather and needing something stodgy in your belly.

There were hundreds of stalls selling pancakes, eggy bread, lamb and beef skewers, dumplings, octopus (they eat a lot of octopus in Korea), tteokbokki, crepes, pork rolls, and all manner of sweets.

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To follow: Lotte World Tower
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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For our final day in Seoul and of this epic road trip we headed over to the Lotte World Tower, the fifth tallest building in the world at 555 meters according to Google.

Being a Monday morning, there were no epic queues or crowding which made a nice change. ‘Seoul Sky’ tickets to the top and four floors of observation decks and cafes worked out at 26,000 won (around 700 baht) each. Most places in Korea gave us a 10% discount if we used a MasterCard which is what we had for the trip – a multi-currency one from Kbank for Thais called ‘You Trip’. There was an option to walk across an open-air sky bridge with harnesses on the highest level but it was too cold and I am too old for that!

The high-tech elevator whizzed us to the 118th floor in an ear-popping sixty seconds. Exiting the elevator was a little disorientating at first as the view was like something you would see out of a plane window just after takeoff.

We were just under half a kilometer high on a crystal clear day with zero smog and you could see for miles. The view was dizzyingly spectacular as the tower blocks below us looked like toys.

The tower was part of a larger Lotte Mall complex with duty-free shopping and no end of food. It also had a supermarket where we could load up on last-minute shopping before our return. Korea is very similar to Thailand in that wine and spirits are taxed to hell but their local juice called Soju was cheap so we grabbed a few of those. However, unlike Thailand, there are no silly taxes on confectionary and chocolate so we loaded up on that also.

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To follow: Seoul
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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DSC_0874 - so unusual to see you being allowed to wear shoes on to a glass observation deck. You normally have have to wear the special white things.

DSC_0880 - is that a theme park?

The first few photos I was thinking how light the traffic was, but then towards then had a complete change of mind.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Yep, a theme park that looked like a kids toy from up there, you can even spot the crowds of people in it.

The traffic in Korea was much worse than Japan, but nowhere near as bad as Thailand.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Did you bring one of those Lambo’s back with you (Grey or Green) - do you know whether imported luxury cars are subject to the same levels of taxation as here?
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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Bitcoin isn't high enough for one of those yet :duck: But even Lambos are cheaper in Korea as the import tax here is horrific.
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Re: Photo Trip Report: South Korea

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On the way back we stopped at the iconic Dongdaemun Design Plaza. With its alien ship-looking curves and surfaces, it provided some good photo opportunities.

Our final meal in the country was of course the Korean barbeque. We found a local place close to the apartment and immediately realized why this style of eating was so popular here. Outside it was 2 degrees, inside you had an open fire in the middle of your table with as much beef and pork as you can eat and plenty of Soju to keep you warm, what could be a better way to round off a monumental road trip?

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Well that's all folks, thanks for reading. Will round it off with my usual observations and comparisons to Thailand.
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