The Toronto Seoulcialite: Canadian travel writer finding food, fashion, and fitness on the road!
Let’s Run: A case where going “Off Track” is a good thing.
The new facilities at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul, which opened Friday June 3rd, 2016, are clean and quiet. This is a far cry from what I would have imagined having been to some of the casinos throughout Asia. A few juicy details to note before jumping into the nitty-gritty.
On Saturday I participated in a press tour organized by the municipality of Seoul in collaboration with the Korean Food Foundation. Seoul Bloggers and Photographers went for a meet, greet, walking tour of the old city, and lunch. I’m so incredibly honoured to have been invited. We had a wonderful day with a great tour guide and I managed to cross off even more places I had been hoping to visit. Having lived in Korea for a year, I’d like to present Round II of my Bucket List, this edition being all Seoul. As I’ve already managed to visit many of the places on my initial list, I’ll give a little information and/or an opinion on each, and then list the remainder at the end. One thing’s for sure – it’s never a dull time living in Seoul!
Korean couples love to get dressed up and wander around the old, traditional towns, as well as the Palaces and the Temples. All this was amplified by the hoopla of Buddha’s Birthday Weekend which has been celebrated as a festival since the Unified Silla era over 1,300 years ago. Yep – he gets the whole weekend, the festival, the parade, and all the beautiful lantern displays at nearly every temple the month leading up to his birthday and for for many, the weeks beyond (at Jogyesa they’ll be around until May 22nd). I guess it’s like leaving your Christmas lights up on your front porch all year long, just a lot less honky-tonk and a lot more beautiful!
We could see a number of spots we had never explored, one of which was Fountain. The stone staircase looked like it could be a really cool spot, but we were meeting at Ramie’s so we didn’t immediately stop in.
Well, it happened. Much earlier than I had anticipated, way earlier than I’d hoped, and so much earlier than I’m ready to understand. It was bound to happen. I had read many articles about it. Most foreigner friends don’t plan on staying in Korea for more than a couple of years, if that. I just…
You’re going to have to kiss a lot of frogs before finding your Prince (or Princess!). Thankfully there is a mixed bag of great people in Korea. Photo by Joel Gale Photography I was very hesitant to write another list post but after the quick success of the last one (and e-mails from followers – thank…
I’ve been staying in on Saturday nights to take full advantage of Sunday mornings and it’s been paying off. The past couple of Sundays have been pretty spectacular. Great friends, great food, lots of walking – just a grand ol’ time before heading back to work on Monday (let’s be candid – my job is…