# TM in Korea



## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Hello y'all, I hope you're doing fine. Apart from my German thread, here I want to share some photo impressions I took in one of my favourite countries, South Korea.
I took all these pictures on a trip in 2018, so hopefully I can provide you with an escape to a pre-corona world here.

Index:

*Incheon*


*Daegu*


*Gyeongju*
* *


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

*Arrival in Incheon*

I arrived at the fabulous Incheon Airport, as will most international visitors. Incheon regularly comes in at the top in "best airport" rankings across the world, and certainly gives you a modern welcome to the country.


I'm sure fans of contempuary architecture or airports could make an entire picture thread of just this airport, but that's all I have for now:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Aftwerwards, I had the pleasure to drive across one of the longest bridges in the world, the over 21km long Incheon bridge.


The bridge leads from the pininsula where the airport is located to the huge new development of the Songdo district of Incheon.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

I was there in the humid heat of summer, so jetlagged me only started to explore my Songdo when it was already dark. 
I want to excuse the poor picture quality, I should really invest in a better camera.

Songdo is an extremely modern developement, meant to show Korea's advancement as a country. It is so modern that they even have underground pneumatic waste disposal, making trash pickup trucks unecessary. The cityscape is dominated by the supertall Northeast Asian Trade Center with 305m height.


The center of Songdo is taken up by a central park, which offers many freetime activities, such as boating.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

While Korean urban planning favors "tower in a park" stiyle developments, the towers also include midrise podiums, so that streets are often lined with buildings, creating a better urban feel than what you're used to from tower in a park developements elsewhere.



In the center of Songdo is a new complex built in traditional Korean style. It contains among others an hotel and restaurants. I think it's a very nice touch to anchor the super modern Songdo to Korean traditions this way.


It makes some interesting contrasts as well:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Many trees are lit up by LED-chains, creating a nice atmosphere:


It's a popular spot to hang out at:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

*Daegu*

Unlike what might seem obvious, I skipped going to Seoul at first and headed to Deagu, Korea's third largest city with 2.5 million inhabitants. Don't worry though, we'll visit Seoul later.

Daegu, like all Korean cities has experienced an enormous growth spurt in the least decades. Just a little more than a hundred years ago, it was a small settlement without much of an urban structure, consitsting of simple straw-roofed Hanuks. You can already see that Korea has been a focus of christian missionaries for a long time.


Daegu was heavily destroyed in the Korean war, however some of those brick buildings built by missionaries fared better than most of the rest. This is the church which is already visible in the 1907 picture:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Here is another example; this time in neo-gothic:


Interestingly, what I assume to be the former residences were built in a much more eclectic style, mixing western and Korean architecture:


Another very positive observation: Korea has beautiful and very well kept green spaces:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Christianity was gaining popularity here until recently, so they built this architecturally very interesting post modern/ neo gothic Cathedral:




Judging by my portrayal of Deagu so far, you migh think that I was there in some capacity for the church. However, that's not true, I just explored the city randomly and these buildings are still prominent in the cityscape, even with many modern highrises around.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Of course, Buddhism is also popular here, so you can find some new-built temples (as well as many historic ones, which we'll see later)


If you're interested in the city's history, there are "heritage tours" through Daegu with several historic buildings and exhibitions.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

I found Daegu to be a city full of contrasts and it has plenty to offer to lovers of urban jungles.

The urban landscape can look anywhere from this:


To this:


I'm sure many Koreans aren't proud to see neighbourhoods such as the last picture, but experience has shown that these have the potential to become thriving districts if you put some energy into it. I'm a fan of narrow alleys in any case.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Daegu has a public transit network which consists of two heavy rail metro lines and one monorail. It creates great urban scenes:


The monorail is above grade all the way and is a great way to see some of the city.


Notice the very diverse structures here:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

If you want to escape the density for a moment, then you can just go to one of the citie's very nice parks, like Dalseong park here. 
The main entrance is a gate in traditional Korean style:


Everything is very well kept, it's a true urban oasis.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

I can hardly imagine how much work goes into gardening and grooming all these trees and other plants.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

One of my favourite things to do here was to try and catch glimpses of the surrounding city out of the park.

Sometimes you see the skyline in the background:




And sometimes you get nice views into the wonderfully chaotic urban structure here.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Before we head to the city center, let's explore around a little bit more. 

Korean cities are very interesting in ther urban fabric. The are loosely organized by a grid of wide artery road, however in the middle of those "super block" pretty much anything goes. 
It can result in interesting urban photography situations like this:


Here we can see another example of modern Korean developent; tall residential towers with commercial podiums at the street level. While I am a staunch hater of commieblocks, I think they manage to combine the advantages of traditional urban environments and commieblock style developements as well as possible.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Similar situation here. Might be not everyone's taste but I like the feel of a big city. Also notice the PC cafe, something very common here and sorely missing in Germany.


As a German, I'm always happy to find a piece of home abroad every now and again, even when it's a pretty stereotypical association 😅 


But then again, I guess Germans move up on the "romantic scale"?


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

One of Daegu's modern landmarks is the "ARC cultural center" which is a free-formed edifice located at the confluence of two rivers. At night, it is illuminated by LEDs and the surrounding area is a popular meeting spot.




The colorful illumination could be a nod towards Daegu's slogan:

In the background you can see the Daegu TV tower.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice thread about Korea


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## A Chicagoan (Aug 9, 2016)

TM_Germany said:


> hopefully I can provide you with an escape to a pre-corona world here.


You sure succeeded! Those Songdo pictures are stunning... I've never wanted corona to be over as much as I do looking at your pictures!


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

A Chicagoan said:


> You sure succeeded! Those Songdo pictures are stunning... I've never wanted corona to be over as much as I do looking at your pictures!


Thank you! Korea is a wonderful country. I'll share more places that I'll hope will make you want to travel again.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Unlike the larger cities of Busan and Seoul, Daegu has a monocentric structure, with a central downtown that dominates any other secondary CBD. It actually reminded me quite a bit of Germany, as the downtown largely had mid-rise and low-ride buildings with several pedestrianized streets.

A stage in the streets:


It's a very vibrant area:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

As you can see, most of the buildings are pretty new, altough with different styles and very different massing. This creates a very heterogenous streetscape.


The streets are relatively narrow and "human scaled"


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Daegu made a good effort to make their downtown attractvie, with several art installations etc.


And I found a mini-flatiron!


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Daegu can get unbelievably hot and humid in the summer, while it can get Siberian temperatures in the winter. To escape those climatic extremes, several downtown streets have an undergound level, with even more shops and even public spaces:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

if you prefer to stay out in the open, the streets are shaded by plenty of trees.


Every now and again, there are public water sprinklers which can give you some relief from the heat.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

The last picture was taken in a very nice downtown park. I really liked to dense canopy and the great grooming of the plants.


Apparently, public stages are quite common:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

The center of the park is marked by this square, with a fountain containing a stone globe in the middle:


I really like these situations, where you look at the city through a forest:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

After all this modern Daegu, let's go looking for some traces of history again.

In the central area of the city, you'll find a traditional hanok every now and again, although I guess many of them are new buildings. This holds a small history exhibition.


There are models and pictures of historic buildings, although the text is only available in Korean.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Hanuks are typically slightly elevated wooden buildings with screen doors and clay tiled- roofs:


Sometimes they are centered around a courtyard, which historically was also used for various purposes and now create very cozy urban spaces:


Those Hanuks now creaty an interesting juxtaposition to the modern buildings of the city.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

More old vs. new:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Those houses are often quite "introverted" and oriented away from the streets. You often need to step through a gate to get to the more enclosd courtyards.


This is extremely lovely:


Here, a restaurant turned their courtyard into open seating:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Sometimes you see a more westernized building from the late 19th/ early 20th century:


I reckon this street is from the same era, although new construction and renovations have made the buildings look less historic.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Here are some pictures of the nice restaurant in the Hanuk:



The courtyard looks very pleasant, although nobody is actually sitting outside as it is blisterengly hot:


From the inside you can see the typical roof construction with the round beams:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

The last trip in the Deagu area is to the mountain of Palgongsan. This is an important mountain culturally with lots of buddhist temples, statues etc. We're going to visit the temple complex of Dongwhasa.

The complex wlecomes you with this large gate building:


I really love the traditional east asian hipped gable roofs, they create such nice silhouettes:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

The railings are actually carved (or cast) dragons:


The athmosphere of the place is really peaceful:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

More nice roof scapes:


The underside of the roof overhangs are wonderfully painted:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

This gets more elaborate when the building is more important. This mint-green colour is very common in Korea:


This is one of the main shrines. You can see how much more complexx the ornamentation is here:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

This building looks properly old. There has been a temple here since 493, although I don't think any building here is this old.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

I'm unfortunately not that knowledgable about Buddhism, however I think many of the other buildings apart from the temples themselves are actually housing for monks and the like. This temple used to be one of the places where public servants-to-be could take the famed admission exams.
In the background you can also see much more recent buildings that have been built in traditional style:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Next we'll visit the Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond. This was originally the main palace complex of the rulers of the Silla kingdom, orginally built after 670 AD. Unfortunately it was mostly destroyed, what we see today is a reconstruction of a small part of the complex in the 1970s.



There are beautiful reflections in the water:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

I'm unfortunately not too knowledgeable about the details of the palace, so I'm just letting the pictures speak for themselves:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

As I already mentioned, the complex was originally much bigger than this, there is a model on display illustrating how it would have looked like:





It seems like there were originally more reconstructions planned here, however that is unlikely to happen anymore due to opposition from UNESCO.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates; well done


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Our next stop is the gorgeous temple complex of Bulguksa. The current temple was completed in 774, however the wooden structure was destroyed, rebuilt and altered dozens of times over the ages. The stone foundations and pagodas however still date back to it's original construction.

The front of the main building is an imposing sight:


A large stone staircase leads up into the building.


The main complex encompasss several courtyards with covered gangways in between the buildings. They are very useful for granting reprieve from the sun in summer and the snow in winter.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

On the right we can see the main temple building in the middle of the complex; to the left is one of the original stone pagodas:


Here we are looking back at the main entrance:


Here in a panorama:


Behind the central building is this large edifice, I think these used to be living quarters:


I can never tire of the architectural details of traditional Korean architecture:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Apart from the main building, there are many historic sites spread around the forested mountains in the area, which you can visit by hiking there.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

There are several tombs scattered around the hills:




The reward of the hike is of course the good view:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

We're now headed back to Gyeonju proper.

As the city used to be the Silla capital, it was also the burial grounds of their rulers. The Silla royals built tombs into large earth mounds, which are mostly in a cluster on the souther edge of the city. They are now in a park and you can also visit the interiors of the tombs.

The tombs basically look like small hills from the outside:


Stone portals are the entrances:


The insides hold exhibitions about Silla burial culture; they also display the original buriyal goods:


The whole area is a very nice park; as I've always experienced in Korea it is well groomed and beautiful.




Adjacent to the park are many new buildings in neotraditional style. I really like how they enhance the atmosphere and of course the craftmanship is impressive:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Our last stop in Gyeongju will be a visit to the Gyeongju National Museum. As I already mentioned in the introction of the city, it used to be several times it's current size during it's heyday. The museum has a large model depicting how it looked like at it's peak, which is definitely worth a visit.

The urban layout was a strict grid system, with a main axis leading towards the royal palace:


Notable are also the several tall pagoda towers:


Residential buildings are usually quite simple and not to different from what we've seen in Gyechong village. Single story Hanuks are clustered around a central courtyard and enclosed by walls around the lot. Also visible are the class differences: the buildings with dark roofs are clay-tiled, which only whealthier families could afford. The lighter roofs are made of hay.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates once again


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## Kylelaurent (Aug 28, 2018)

TM_Germany said:


> There are several tombs scattered around the hills:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My wife and I used to go here every year and take a picture in the same spot. Unfortunately, we don't live in Korea anymore. Lovely pictures.


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Kylelaurent said:


> My wife and I used to go here every year and take a picture in the same spot. Unfortunately, we don't live in Korea anymore. Lovely pictures.


^^what a small world! I hope I could evoke some memories in that case!


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

We would like to see more updates


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Finally I can give you that update 😅


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Our next stop is Busan. It is Korea's second biggest city, although with around 3.4 million people the gap to Seoul is large. Busan is located in the south-eastern corner of the country and is famous for it's seaside location. The port of the city is one of the world's largest and many of Korea's most popular beaches are located here. 









Busan - Google Maps

The local geography of the city is quite unusual, as the city is spread out along the coast and squeezed in between several hills. It doesn't have a clear center and is a very policentric place.









Busan - Google Maps


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Busan has a very multi-faceted cityscape. One of the faces of the city is it's futuristic and ultra-modern side. While Busan doesn't have a very coherent skyline, it actually is the supertall capital of Korea, beating Seoul by quite a margin.

Here you can see the "Marine City" developement which itself includes a supertall. On the left is Gwangan bridge, which is another landmark of the city and one of the most recongnizable in the country.






Here is a daytime view from said bridge, such all glass developements certainly do have a special kind of aesthetic:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Busan of course also has extremely vibrant areas, with a huge variety of shops, restaurants and leisure offerings.




This can be in the form of very modernized and thoroughly "designed" streets:






But often you also have these very charming and organic small alleys:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

Busan is also known for it's markets. They come in all shapes here.

I happened upon this very archaic looking one, which is a very unique experience in itself:


More commonly they look like this. They are cool places to explore the offerings and wander around:




Street food is of course also available, both on markets and outside of them:


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## TM_Germany (Nov 7, 2015)

There are also some much more formalized looking covered markets. Many of them are open during the night.


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