Korean Fashion

Some Youtube videos that might be interesting for those who are interested in Korean fashion and street fashion:

K-pop medley

Found funny video on Youtube:

Choir perfors k-pop hit songs such as 2NE1,  SNSD,  IU&Seulong, 2PM, SHINee, Secret, GD, 2AM.

 

Day of Dokdo 독도는 우리 땅

독도는 우리 땅
I can't help writing a post in such a day!!!


For me, who defended graduation thesis on the Dokdo issue this day is also meaningful as for Koreans~

October 25was officially claimed as a Day of Dokdo in 2010.
Why October 25?
On Oct. 25, 1900, King Kojong issued Imperial Edict no. 41 incorporating Dokdo into Ulleung County and appointed Bae Kye-joo as its first commissioner.

a paper cup from Kyungpook National University

Nowadays Japan claims its right on Korean Dokdo as well on 4 Russian islands (the Kuril islands)

Gongju National Museum

My next post about great time that I spent with guys from Korea Brand Expedition

Gongju National Museum was established in 1934 as the Gongju Historic spot Preservation Society.

It is located closely to Tomb of King Muryeong.

Our group has a task to visit the museum. For me it was the first experience in attending excursion WITHOUT English translation!!! Oh, it was hard, but thanks to Mrs. Hye-Yeong Lee, I understood practically everything !!

By the way, you can watch an interview with Mrs. Hye-Yeong Lee by KOBRA team~

*All rights belong to iamksh88*


Well, in the museum you can see lots of artifacts and belongings of the royal family.

King Muryeong

up: Golden Diadem Ornaments, national treasure No.154

 

above: Gilt-bronze shoes 

Golden Earrings, National Treasure No. 156 

Royal gold shoes

Stone Seated Buddha, National Treasure No.979

 The statue of Buddha you can find in Gallery 2, where ancient culture of Chungcheongham-do is exhibited.

This galleries are of great interest for historians, archeologists and those who are interested in Korean ancient history. But is science is not your cup of tea or you visit  the museum with children, I strongly recommend you a special gallery, where you can "try" traditional culture~
*for curious foreigners it's also a must*

find this banner in the museum

Hanok Staying in 공주 한옥 마을

Once our international team stayed at 공주 한옥 마을 - Gongju Hanok village.
Hanok is traditional Korean house.

Information from wikipedia: Korean architecture lends consideration to the positioning of the house in relation to its surroundings, with thought given to the land and seasons.
The interior structure of the house is also planned accordingly. This principle is also called Baesanimsu (배산임수), literally meaning that the ideal house is built with a mountain in the back and a river in the front, with the ondol heated rock system for heating during cold winters and a wide daecheong (대청) front porch for keeping the house cool during hot summers.
Houses differ according to region. In the cold northern regions of Korea, houses are built in a closed square form to retain heat better. In the central regions, houses are 'L' shaped. Houses in the southernmost regions of Korea are built in an open 'I' form. Houses can also be classified according to class and social status. 

It was a first time for me to live in traditional house. To be honest, I thought that it might be something old-fashion)) But when we entered our room, I changed my mind. Look:

 I knew that there are no beds in traditional houses, so i was not surprised. But if you are not accustomed to sleep on the floor it might me hard for you.. What I iked the most is ondol - heating for the floor.

door to outside

 Even TV and phone were available)) We saw a  Korean show ( idon't remember the name)~
There were some drinks in the fridge.

wi-fi room

Wi-fi was available in the only room, where all teams were busy with making content and sns~~

So, it's not all cultural experience for those day!!
Do you know what is it?

It's traditional Korean game

It's not the easy (Ez4))) game~
A cafeteria was also looked as traditional house

We were served with very unusual dish that I have never seen, nothing to say about trying it!

Guess, what was inside?
Rice!!

One of the most delicious food I tried in Korea!

In conclusion I'd like to say that if someday you will have a chance to stay at hanok, don't loose this opportunity!! It's unique experiense for foreigners who wanna learn Korean culture deeper and feel the spirit of Korea~

무령왕릉. Tomb of King Muryeong

Tomb of King Muryeong is one of the main sights of Gongju city.

King Muryeong

King Muryeong (461-523) was called Sama or Yoong when he was alive and Myryeong is his posthumous epithet. He enhanced national prestige overseas by preserving public peace and strengthening national power during his 23-year reign.

Interesting fact: king Muryeong passed away on May, 7 in 523 AD, but he was entombed on August, 12 in 525 AD.

There are 7 tombs of kings and the royal family of Baekje in Songsan-ri Burial Mounds. One of them is a tomb of King Muryeong.

ticket to Muryeong Wang Reung

Admission fees:

Adults:
individual - 1500 KRW
group - 1400 KRW

Teenagers (13019 years old):
individual - 1000 KRW
group - 900 KRW

Children (over 7 years old):
individual - 700 KRW
group - 600 KRW

Gongju best Kalbi

Korea Brand Expedition. Day 3. Gongju

 We arrived to Gongju to visit the Tombs of King Muryeong and try Gongju kalbi (Chungcheong-do is famous for this~)

We chose this restaurant:

The service was perfect and meal was veeery delicious~

We interviewed Mrs. Kim Hye-sik, the owner of the restaurant (she is, moreover, talanted poet and photographer. Thanks for splendid photo-book!!)

Mrs. Kim Hye-sik is cutting kalbi especially for foreign guests (Poland and Russian)

<My dream is to make my restaurant the best in Gongju>

Interior

1. Since when did you run the restaurant?

I run this restaurant as my mother started cook gukbapjip. in the market. It was 65 years ago... We restarted our restaurant after Korean War. I'm the second generation who run this business. Moreover, I moved the restaurant to a place where it's intensive traffic.

2. What are the most important that restaurants do?

I'm sure you liked it. Also able to experience the local culture with a restaurant that is very good.

3. Where the best thing you ever been the boss of the restaurant?

Why have small-area restaurant I like to stick to food culture. It represents the region's food to guests from other regions and foreigners.

4. When do you feel worthwhile?

The most worthwhile is that making a food I represent our city - Gongju. Eating out late and go to college has also studied management.

5. Why do you think of food seokgalbi representative?

Nowadays to serve guest with just kukbab is not enough. They prefer to order some meat, I,e. bulgogi or kalbi. They just want to enjoy lots of different menus and to make a choice. So I think, I we should offer wider range of Korean food. That's why we specialize in seokgalbi. Additionally, this are very popular dished abroad. Simply, seokgalbi is a kind of adventure to fit the taste and trend of people.

6. What is your final dream?

In Japan traditionally restaurant is family business: from father to son, from one generation to another. There are restaurant with 200 years history restaurant. I think that we should run our business in the same way. I'd like my daughter to continue running our restaurant.

Mrs. Kim Hye-sik with Korea Brand Expedition from Korea and Poland and a manager Kang Dong-sik from Presidential Council on National Branding

7. Finally, you'll read this article, Please say a few words to foreigners.

The food itself is treated as a tourism sight itself recently. Foreign travellers usually pays attention to sights and cultural treasure, but I think that cuisine helps to understand culture deeper.

Mrs. Kim Hye-sik with Korea Brand Expedition team