The Beginning of the end

Wednesday was supposedly relatively quiet day before the grand rush to the Finnish line of boarding the flight home.

What's odd about this picture of Gyeonbokung Palace? No cars or Tourists.

We began by easing into the day for some, that is Amelie and me. Liz ducked out early to catch the. Owning light and take some pictures. Probably a good idea s two big babies do get a little frustrated with constant pauses in our daily travel (of course our stops are important and necessary).

Actually Amelie needed a sleep in following the excitement of Everland. I needed a little too as writing blogs and transferring photos to backups to transport home took some time into the wee hours of night.

Feeding Der, Seoul Forest

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed over to Seoul Forest. This is an era touted as a forest, an ecological haven within the city. To us 'forest' cunjoured up images of dense trees, multiple species and a haven for wildlife. In reality it was more like our botanical gardens in victoria, covering an area similar to Royal Park.

the layout is similar to A combined Royal Park and Botannical Gardens with areas of picnic grounds, playgrounds, sport grounds, specialist plant zones, water/wetland recreations and displays for animals/insects and plants. .ike our gardens it is an area for learning and recreating.

Athleticism of KUNG hip hop show.

It was worth a visit as some of the public art within in the form of sculptures was quite interesting. The butterfly house and Insect house managed distractions for a while. as did viewing the water treatment plant for the Cheonggyecheon Stream. of note was the bank of Solar panels that purportedly is almost self sustaining.

Dont sit in the Front row Trixie, you never know what may happen.

We did not feel compelled to visit the water works and museum of the Seoul Forest, being happy to take in the grass and trees. It was fun to watch the myriads of kindergarten aged school groups enjoying the opportunity to play and explore nature. We remain fascinated how children so young seem to cope. They walk considerable distances, yet remain largely well behaved and cheerful.

Photos with the cast of KUNG

Child to adult ratios seem much higher that we experience in Australia, maybe 3 adults for groups up to 25 children. Identiy of kids in case of losing one is key. children are all in uniforms, some of which seem especially used for excursions. Names and emergency contact details are usually work on lanyards around the neck, or pinned to shirts and blouses. the most inventive use of emergency contact was one school that had gone to the extent of using special clear transfers stuck on the backs of shirts/blouses. Once home these could be easily removed to wash the clothing.

Ameli began to lag, so we headed for home. Liz gave me the opportunity for a little solos shopping time while they headed home for an arvo siesta. as it turned out this was vital for Amelie into the evening.

We attended our final performance of the trip organised by Charlie, from Han-ho and INKAS. This performance was called KUNG. It was largely hip hop dancing around which a story of high school bully becomes good bloke attempts to ties it all together.

a little cocktail after the Show.. actually a Strawberry-ade

Of course the kids loved the spectacle and athleticism of the performers. All that writhing on the floor, jumps, head spins and handstands had one word coming to my mind..... Neck brace. Certainly there should be a warning to not try this at home! Well not till you have had a lot of training. The kids came out suitable hyped and ready to party.

We finished the evening exploring the streets of Hongik. This area has largely grown around the university of the same name. It has all the energy and vibrancy of youth. Many streets surrounding the university support the client base. Bars, eateries, school supplies and, of course, fashion shops. don't come to this area expecting to buy tweed jackets or golf attire. It is all sportwear and funky fashion.

By repute this area doesn't hit its straps till about 1am, so our foray to just after midnight only proved to be a taster. What was most disturbing was the total lack of Korean food. there were hamburger joints, pizza bars, Italian and of course coffee shops. It seemed the closer you get to the Uni, the less Korean food there is. Mind you the so called Italian we had for supper required quite a bit of imagination to fathom. Curry noodles (udon) is Italian?

Poor Amelie was in party mood until..... THE WALL. she crashed big time, so the only option, gladly for us too was to head home. gotta love Korea, all this night life, wandering the streets with a high confidence of safety. It one aspect of their culture I wish we could duplicate back home.

Mum... I can climb all the way to his Bottom. Seoul Forest

 

 

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