Siem Reap

Just visited Siem Reap with a friend of mine. Its a place that is rich in culture and handicapped with painful war history. It is a developing city that has high service standard. There are millions of tourists that visited Angkor Wat yearly, this year proved to be a tough one with global recession and H1n1. We visited the place in the low peak season and managed to get some good discounts while shopping.

The street is bustling with many tuktuk drivers who are busy trying to get business. Ladddiiiieeee, you want tuk tuk ride? That's the most widely heard pick-up line that we heard. I took a while to get used to the place, the dust, the uneven roads and sporadic rainfall coming from the skies.

Along Pub Street, quite a number of children are asking us to buy postcards/magnets etc. This proved to be quite a common scene throughout my stay in Siem Reap. Kids trying to make extra buck by selling touristy items to tourist. I refuse to buy from them as it further encourages them to stay away from school. Quite a dilemma.

Heard the life story of my tourguide, indeed not an easy life to be born during that era. Some people said it is Karma. I somehow cannot reconcile karma and war together. This is also why how people convert to other religion from Buddhism, as other religions seems to provide more hope and salvation to their already injured souls.

Definitely a city worth visiting.

秋

秋

秋的美

你是否欣赏？

它在夏以冬之间徘徊着。

夏的活力离开了，

冬的悲伤等着我们。

秋

你代表什么呢？

Mansan Mansion, Chunyang.

Trees and leaves never fail to amaze me.

Fall, the season before Winter,

welcomes me gently into it's arms.

Love the smell of the leaves,

Love the colour of the leaves.

From green to yellow to red and brown,

The wheel turns.

A new shoot will poke its head out soon.

Awaiting

A brand new beginning,

The cycle continues.

Woods in Chunyang Village

Very happy to be in the woods!

The Temple in the village

On the way to the mountains

The stove that warmed the little hut which we stayed over.

Love the trees

Wonderful yellow flowers

The room which we stayed in. Warm blankets/beddings!

Mansan Mansion

My Fav shot - Tree /lamp/sky

Main house

Copy of the orginal signboard

The signboard

Note how Han characters dominated in the historical Korean aristocracy

The owner Mr Jiang and my lovely translator :)

Welcome to Chunyang, a village that's 3 hours plus away from Seoul. We woke up early and took a train to a bus terminal and took the outskirt bus. In this village, there's this traditional Korean mansion which you can stayover and experience the lifestyle for a day.

Met Mr Jiang (well I can read his family name in Chinese and not in the Korean way), he's the decendants of a noble family. Apparently his ancestors (great grandfather) was given the status of a noble and hence the decendants are now considered as part of this noble family. So what's the deal ? It is a very proud thing to be decendants of the noble family. Hence, the eldest son is expected to take over his father once the father is too old to run this household. Here, they hope to preserve and promote the culture of the traditional Korean household. When asked if he expect his son to take over , he dismissed the question readily as the answer is obvious. To him, the beauty of this village/household/culture/lifestyle supercedes a metropolitan lifestyle. Different views of life. I thought to myself, if I'm old and retired, it's pretty cool to lead such a lifestyle! You are surrounded by the beautiful woods and mountains! Of course I must bear in mind that being the 'daughter-in-law' would mean to resume a big responsibity of serving the household, especially with countless customary duties. Hence it is definitely a consideration before you say yes to the marriage. Urban city girls like us enjoy the fuss and style in a modern city! Neon lights and billboards will be forsaken if you choose to move to a village. Are you ready for it?

Korean culture has been facing the challenges of Westernisation and globalisation. In this homogenous society, the culture is one that has strong distinct features of Confusianism. Here are some points to note.
1) The culture that denotes deep respect for the elders - Not to be rude to elders, give way to the eldery and having special elderly compartment seats in the subway as a good e.g (Apparently if you are a fit young lad occupying the seat, you will be deemed as disrespectful for occupying that part of the cabin!)
2) Paternalistic society, strong emphasis in the role of man as the head of the family. The emphasis of the role of the eldest son as the new head of the family; the duties of husband and wife are spelt rather uniformly across the society. This is evident in many Asian society but in this day and age, this characteristic is still staying strong and evident!
3) Status and marriage, know your place, marry to the right ranks.

Above is based on my observations in the 2 trips I made to Korea in the past 3 years plus my informal QnA with my Korean friends overtime.

Feel free to disagree and correct my ignorance.

I love visiting villages. The lifestyle is simple and the nature that surrounds me cannot be described by using words.

Enjoyed my stay. :)

More parks, trees and old men.

Extended my stay for another day and spent my 5th day exploring this area. I was sort of lost trying to get to Changyeonggung from Jungyo Shrine. Apparently there's another famous palace knows as Changbokggung, classified as one of the UNESCO world heritage building. Unfortunately it was closed. And seriously, doesn't make sense to close some palaces on certain days when they are in the same area. People like me probably will not make another trip to Seoul just to see that palace again! Darn.

Somehow the area where I was at seemed to be a really local place. I wandered around and found myself in some back alleys with some little foodstores. I did not flash my camera as I am alone, in this foreign place. Haha the food store owners did not look very friendly as well, I couldn't figure out what they are selling as well. Darn.

Anyway gotten some nice pictures so I cannot complain at all. Enjoy the serene shots, despite my hungry pangs towards noon time.

What to do, just my luck.

Changyeonggung Palace



These are the different markers for different official ranks.






Really like this tree, it has a strong character.













Jongmyo Shrine Park


Somehow the park was filled with old men who were quite well dressed, in their smart hats.



Love the colours










On my way trying to figure out where the other palace is located...
Found some nice treats...

Parks and Palaces

I must say that the parks and palaces are stunning in pictures due to the nice seasonal change. The autumn setting is really awesome. Well the trees in Seoul haven changed much colour versus the ones in the outskirts.

Here are some shots of Gyeongbokgong Palace and Insadong on my second day in Seoul.
















My fav shot of a random kid







Insadong


Losta classy boutiques and cafes.



Near a school



Near Cityhall


Westin Chosun (Shrine behind the hotel)


It's pretty fun to look at a map and try to figure out the way. The weather was a little cold but doable. Reminded me of the days in Beijing when I combed the Forbidden Palace on my own. It's annoying cos no one can take a proper picture of you, especially I'm holding a DSLR. Haha, so this set of photos focus mainly on the nice scenery I have witnessed. Hope you all enjoy it. More parks and palaces pictures in the next entry.

Well, the palaces are really similiar, influenced by strong Chinese architecture style. Not surprising given the closely related history in the past.