What I ate in Korea

[strumpusplunket]

In short, Japan is more interesting. For a tourist, Japan > Korea.

...

You see, I find this just pure awesome. In the middle of a shopping mall no less. This is besides the whole Otaku and Anime scene. I always allow an afternoon in Akihabara to just browse and window shop even though i don't buy any Manga or Anime there (don't understand a word), I just like the area and love looking at the figurines.

Korea, has not much of that. There really no place like Akihabara or DenDen Town. The history are limited to the palaces and a couple of temples. Japan has lots of Castles, Temples, Shrines, Pagodas just everywhere. Kyoto alone probably have more Unesco World Heritage sites alone than all of Korea.

We honeymooned in Japan, many years ago and absolutely loved it. I thought that shrine was going to be the one in Nishiki Market in Kyoto at first. I also thought that was awesome, just walking down a narrow street full of shops and stalls, and then you look around a corner and... a shrine with a 1000-year history! I've been itching to go back for years. Even learned the language for a few years.

It's very expensive for a family of four, though. Given we've lost our holiday this year we're now planning a family holiday there the year after next. I will look out for your Japanese food thread in anticipation!

 

[mid_gen]

I've been to Japan twice but never seen the parts that most people show pictures of.

Both times were to Hokkaido in winter for snowboarding. First time was just into Niseko and out again. Second time went and explored some bleak fishing town (Otaru) and checked out the Sapporo ice festival.

Need to go back and see the rest of the country sometime. The food is incredible, getting off the mountain and devouring mountains of gyoza, lazing around in the onsen. Loved it.

The snow is absolutely amazeballs as well.

 

[Raymond Lin]

We honeymooned in Japan, many years ago and absolutely loved it. I thought that shrine was going to be the one in Nishiki Market in Kyoto at first. I also thought that was awesome, just walking down a narrow street full of shops and stalls, and then you look around a corner and... a shrine with a 1000-year history! I've been itching to go back for years. Even learned the language for a few years.

It's very expensive for a family of four, though. Given we've lost our holiday this year we're now planning a family holiday there the year after next. I will look out for your Japanese food thread in anticipation!

That shrine is quite big compare to that one, and it is in the middle of the market too. Regardless of size, they are preserved and they are all kept and looked after. Korea unfortunately don’t have this. There are the odd massive palace, temples and the odd neighbourhood with old houses that clump together but it feels like everything is post WW2 and it ends up every neighbourhood looking very similar. The 2nd to last day I was walking, actually in one of the more interesting neighbourhood, the Bukchon Village, one of the few that survived WW2/Korean War. I saw 3 people talking in English and literally as I walked passed, one of them said “this city is very dull, looks the same everywhere”. I wanted to butt in a said “I KNOW!”

I know it is not their fault that their country had so much conflict in the 20th Century, but it really shows in their architecture. Japan too has the same feel if you walk around in local neighborhoods, they do look similar but they are broken up by plenty of old traditional buildings, and a lot of them still builds the design but with modern techniques. Then there are a random Shrine all over the place

Any old Korean houses still around today are tourist destinations, like Bukchon Village, people still live there. The closest thing to that would be like the Gion District in Kyoto but people mostly go there to spot Geisha (and ruining it because they harass them for photos, so now photos is banned in Gion)

I've been to Japan twice but never seen the parts that most people show pictures of.

Both times were to Hokkaido in winter for snowboarding. First time was just into Niseko and out again. Second time went and explored some bleak fishing town (Otaru) and checked out the Sapporo ice festival.

Need to go back and see the rest of the country sometime. The food is incredible, getting off the mountain and devouring mountains of gyoza, lazing around in the onsen. Loved it.

The snow is absolutely amazeballs as well.

Hokkaido is on the list, the most northern part i've been to is Sendai but next time.

 

[iSaff]

Korean cultures these days are certainly trendy but a lot of the things I find is hard to find on the ground in Korea. Korean cinema itself, you don’t interact with it when you are in Seoul, I mean there are lots of movie locations in Korea if that’s your thing. Learning Korean too seems cool, but like Japanese, outside their respective countries, their language is next to useless compared to English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, unless you go to a Korea restaurant. I had a quick look into their language and it is quite simple to learn, the entire language was designed that way because originally they used Chinese and to simplify things and to create their own, they had a scholar who created Hangul which is the modern Korean language. You will still see the odd Chinese character here and there however but compared to Japan, it is much less.


Oh yes, their traditional outfits, big dresses, it is strange that they are very colourful, but modern Korean fashion is very muted in comparison.


On this trip I used the Sigma 24-70 Art. Normally I just use a 35mm.

I don't know, i think learning a language is such a struggle, at least for me there has to be a motive beyond utalitarinism, an enjoyment and appreciation of the cultue and people. I take your point cinema and wider Korean culture, but i'm curious if they point a cultural dynamism of its people, so I'm always curious to hear about experiances like yours. I invested in a Nikon Z6 last year after many years away from photography, I'm trying to decide what lenses to invest in next year for travel, though my trusty kit 24-70 f/4 has been a solid starter. Thanks for sharing your work and experiances, very inspiring.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I don't know, i think learning a language is such a struggle, at least for me there has to be a motive beyond utalitarinism, an enjoyment and appreciation of the cultue and people. I take your point cinema and wider Korean culture, but i'm curious if they point a cultural dynamism of its people, so I'm always curious to hear about experiances like yours. I invested in a Nikon Z6 last year after many years away from photography, I'm trying to decide what lenses to invest in next year for travel, though my trusty kit 24-70 f/4 has been a solid starter. Thanks for sharing your work and experiances, very inspiring.

I like to learn Japanese, just because I like their culture so I can understand that, but I also want to visit Japan lots so I would be able to use it too.

I know 4 words in Korean. The words for Hello/Bye (its the same word), Thank you, Fish cake and middle age women.

We honeymooned in Japan, many years ago and absolutely loved it. I thought that shrine was going to be the one in Nishiki Market in Kyoto at first. I also thought that was awesome, just walking down a narrow street full of shops and stalls, and then you look around a corner and... a shrine with a 1000-year history! I've been itching to go back for years. Even learned the language for a few years.

It's very expensive for a family of four, though. Given we've lost our holiday this year we're now planning a family holiday there the year after next. I will look out for your Japanese food thread in anticipation!

Thread now up!