I share with you some more pictures I took in my last trip to South Korea.
Metro station entrance
Seen near N Seoul Tower.
Inside N Seoul Tower. Recommended visit if you want to enjoy some great night views.
Taken inside N Seoul Tower using a mirroring ceiling.
Three months ago I visited South Korea, it was my second time visiting it. I think South Korea is more a country to live in for a while to truly enjoy it, that a country to visit briefly. It surprised me that South Korea has many similarities with my home country, Spain. Both countries have a similar population (around 50 million people), they have similar GDP (South Korea’s GDP being a little lower) and both have experienced an astounding economic development in the last 20-30 years. Korean multinational companies like Daewoo, Samsung or LG are slowly eating global marketshare to the big Japanese corporations.
When I have been to Incheon airport near Seoul it looked to me like one of the best airports I’ve been in my life. Next to the airport a new international business center is being developed. Known as “Incheon business hub“, it hosts multiple corporations, startup offices, museums, universities, research institutes… It looks like a great start to develop something that could be in the future an Asian Silicon Valley. One of the inconvenients of the airport, which is about to be solved during this year, is that there is no direct railway from Incheon airport to downtown Seoul.
I love Seoul, it is a city with a great atmosphere where you can spend many days having fun. The main tourist atraction in Seoul is Gyeongbokgung Palace, which although it isn’t as stunning has the forbidden city in Beijing, it’s pretty impressive. The Korean architectural feel is somewhere in the middle between Chinese and Japanese architectural styles.
Most of the Japanese people that travel to South Korea only do it to go shopping (it’s relatively cheap compared to Japan) and to enjoy Korean food. Japanese people are crazy about Korean food, specially Korean yakiniku (barbecued meat), kimchi, samgyeopsal, burkogi… I really enjoyed the food but maybe sometimes it was a little too spicy for me, almost everything is spicy!
Samsung Fashion
Murakami in Korean.
Alberto and Marc enjoying South Korea.
Alberto, Flapy, Albert, Elisabet, Marc and me at the summit of a mountain near Seoul.
I visited Miyajima last fall but I did not have yet time to upload the pictures I took and share them. It is one of my favorite places in Japan, it is near Hiroshima and you can visit Miyajima easily staying in a hotel in Hiroshima and taking the ferry. But the option I took I think it is much better, I stayed in a hotel in the Miyajima island. Staying in Hiroshima is boring so I would suggest to stay in one of the hotels-ryokans in Miyajima and enjoy the island when it is quiet. During the day Miyajima is filled with tourists coming with the ferry for daily trips. But during the night there is not much people in the island and you can enjoy walks next to the sea, bothered only by deers and tanukis and enjoying views like this one:
Miyajima (宮島), also known as Itsukushima (厳島), is a little sacred island. It has tons of Shintoist shrines and some Buddhist temples. The whole island is considered to be sacred land and in fact the name says it Miyajima (Miya宮: sacred shrine, jima=島：island).
The island in itself is a Shinto shrine, many Gods live in the island and some people even consider that the island is a God. It is not allowed to die or give birth in the island, animals can’t be killed in the island and trees can’t be chopped. In fact there are tons of monkeys, deers and tanukis wandering freely in the island. Shinto tradition considers deers as God messengers.
The most famous shrine in the island Itsukushima, a world heritage. It is considered one of the most beautiful sceneries in Japan and also in the whole world. It was built more than 1.500 years ago and of course it has been rebuilt many times. The big torii gate is the most photographed part of the shrine, when the tide is low you can even walk until the door.
In the old times it was not allowed to walk on the island, that is why the Itsukushima temple is all built above the water of the sea in the beach like a pier. To enter the island a little boat passed by the torii gate to purify and enter the sacred territory. The torii gate is 16 meters tall and it is designed to be able to resist typhoons.
This are some of the pictures I took in Miyajima last fall:
Low tide.
My friend Albert and me in front of the famous torii gate.
Mini-shrine I found in a hidden beach.