Textures of Seoul

The Korean peninsula has many mountains and lots of granite. It’s understandable that granite is used for building and surface treatments. There are also many other kinds of materials for construction, bamboo, wood varieties, and other types of stone.

These look like primitive totems don't they?

Yet the sense I get is that Korean builders really enjoy using textures for their own sake. Sometimes it might be to reference a style of architecture, other times it makes sense as a no-slip surface. But I don’t think that the beauty of natural textures is lost to these builders or overwhelmed by their practicality.

This is a very fancy floor in a modern office building.

Here is a more or less random selection of surface treatments that I have photographed.

Public building

Ground detail

Fence post and walkway

Street bench and memorial?

Don't know what this is

Corner of building

Small tree wrapped in straw for winter

Side of building


Door detail

Straw mat around tree

Stone carvings

A street

From sidewalk to building entrance (with toes of shoes)

A street

Side of building


A sidewalk planter

Restaurant window, surely an architectural reference

Detail of restaurant window

An entryway to a restaurant


A shop using half-timber architecture


A shop using half-timber architecture

A stone lined embankment

A back door, a utility door

A corner


A corner

A palaza

A public thing, not really sure.

A curb and street.

A door on a street with shops

An alleyway

Seollal (Lunar New year) 2007

Seollal, is the Korean name for Lunar New Year (or Lunar New Year’s day, I’m not sure). At any rate, it's a colossal celebration here in Seoul. Businesses close for days at a time, people travel to be with family, special foods are prepared, special clothes are worn and ancestors are honored. I went where many other Korean’s went on this day, to Gyeongbokgung. That is: the primary palace of the Jeoson Dynasty. It was fun, made even better with plenty of sunshine and lots of folks dressed up in traditional clothing.

Gyeongbok Palace

A very colorful style of architecture

A Blue Dragon

There are many stone carvings here that represent real or mythical animals. I promise to do a posting about them when I can get some more information. It's safe to say that they are guardians of the palace.

The King sat here

Traditional clothing

It would seem that people delighted in wearing their traditional costumes. I’m saying that because I talked to one woman who was very happy about wearing her traditional dress today. I saw a teenage girl carefully attend to her dress so one of the bows was just right. This culture seems to lack the cynicism of the west. Korean sincerity is such a beautiful quality; I sure hope they are able to preserve it.

A young boy

An elaborate dress

Father and daughter

In one area everyone was playing games. Traditional games I suppose. There were also areas set up for arts and crafts.

These girls were on a sort of stand up teeter totter

A Hakisak game

This family was playing hakisak. It’s a game you play in a circle and kick a small ball with your foot. The object is to keep the ball from hitting the ground. I tried it but it takes practice to even be a little bit good at this game.

Are they playing the game of Go?

Throw the stick in the cup

This game just isn't easy

A spinning top game

This game requires that you keep the top spinning by hitting it with a stick. Man, these Korean’s really go in for some tough games!

A mysterious pile of rocks and totems

This totem scares away evil spirits

Most ancient religions seem to be focused on dealing with evil spirits or spirits of the departed. An interesting feature of Seollal is that it temporarily suspends that idea and lets down the guard so ancestors can come and visit with the family.

The gang I was with decided to let down our guard too and have some barbequed chicken on a stick. Now that's living!

A Sign of Spring

In Korea springtime comes early. One way to tell is by the kites in the air. The company I work for had kite masters come and let the employees build some kites. A few days latter they were flying them in a large festival.

Employees build kites

Kite Master

The festival was held in Seoul on a large island on the Han River. There was a great turn out. Lots of families were in attendance. At first everyone flew their own little kites. Then the kites were taken down (actually a security guard took my kite down because the announcements to take them down were in Korean) and long strings of kites filled the air. It was really something.

A young family gets thier kites started

Time to bring the kites down

The long strings of kites are released

Hundreds of kites

This kite represents General Lee Seonggye

General Lee Seonggye is a very important figure in Korea's History. In 1392 he was sent to China to campaign against the Ming Dynasty, but instead he returned to overthrow the Goryeo king and establish a new dynasty. He named it the Joseon Dynasty. The Joseon Dynasty was the last before the Japanese invasion in 1910. Most or the palaces and public monuments seem to refer to this Dynasty.

A fellow brought his parachute to fly like a kite. It was quite colorful.

It was a fun day, but the wind was cold and I was glad to return to comfort on my hotel room.