Virtual Nomad

  September 30th, 2022   At last we can break our silence and shout out “It’s show time!” For almost three years of the pandemic we all just have borne staying at home, being silent and no socializing. Since early this year we have started stretching arms and getting ready to go out. September 24th South Korean government lifted the outdoor mask mandate and timely local governments and communities are planning to host festivals across South Korea.   Here one of big annual festivals of Seoul is taking place in Daehakro. It is Welcome Daehakro Festival.   Daehakro is another globally famous downtown in Seoul, other than Hongdae and Gangnam. Daehak means a university or a college and ro means a street. Long time ago departments of Seoul National University, the top university of South Korea, were around the street, ever since that it has been named as Daehakro . Most of departments moved to Silimdong later though.   Welcome Daehakro Festival offers an exciting va...

September 28th, 2022   The Korean Golden Holiday Season Is Coming! In South Korea, Autumn is the golden holiday season for nine-to-five regular workers and students. Besides Chuseok , the Korean Thanks Giving Day, two national holidays —  Gaecheonjeol (The National Foundation Day of Korea, October 3rd), and Hangeulnal (Hangeul Proclamation Day, is in October 9th) — are in the middle of Autumn. Moreover if a national holiday is absorbed into weekend, the government designates the following Monday as a substitute holiday. This year Hangeulnal is on Sunday, so the following Monday, October 10th is the substitute holiday.   September 26th the government lifted the outdoor mask mandate. You don’t need to wear a mask outdoor, even though you still must wear a mask indoor. Workers and students are excited planning what to do, where to go, where to travel and what to eat on holiday. Local governments, businesses are also planning various events for people to celebrate the h...

Gimposi, Gyeonggido September 18th, 2022   After the early morning tour in the observatory and park, Aegibong Peace Ecopark , to see North Korea, we drove to one of the most popular bakery cafes in Gimpo, called Susangongwon Cafe to buy some bread for late breakfast.   This place is a huge entertaining complex consisting of a bakery cafe, a brunch restaurant, a bakery factory and a kids’ cafe. Susangongwon Cafe is very next to Daemyeong Port , which is a very famous port in the west coast of South Korea, where fishing boats come and go, and fish markets and restaurants are lined up. We Koreans call a fish market susan-sijang . So I can tell the cafe’s name from susan .   Susangongwon Cafe features many ocean themed works such as fish sculptures on the ceiling, boat tables, a big screen showing ocean animals including a humpback whale, white and blue colored walls and floors, stuff like that. This cafe was already well known for its unique ocean inspiring features drawing...

  Gimposi, Gyeonggido September 18th, 2022   A month ago we visited Odu Mountain Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggido, and posted the story on this blog. Alex recommended a short morning trip to the brand new observatory and park in Gimpo, the city nearby Paju. It is called Aegibong Peace Ecopark.   This is the observatory where you can see North Korean territory in the nearest distance with naked eyes. Like my city Paju, Gimpo is facing to North Korean border. There is a pretty narrow and shallow river called Jogang between Gimpo and Gaeseong, Hwanghaedo, North Korea, which makes people can swim across the river, hypothetically I mean. Amazingly we could see North Korean villages very closely as soon as we arrived the rooftop of the building, even though the weather was overcast a little at that time.   Of course you can see more closely North Korea with telescopes set on the rooftop. One of many great things of Aegibong Peace Ecopark is that they set ...

A panorama of Byeolmadang Library with 13-meter huge book shelves, a pair of escalators, a big artwork and Starbucks cafe. This library is a sunken style with glass ceilings. COEX Mall, Samseongdong, Seoul September 11th, 2022   Byeolmadang Library is one of the most famous libraries in South Korea, located in the center of Starfield COEX Mall, Samseongdong, Seoul. Its13-meter(42.65ft)-height bookshelves contain around 70,000 books. Tables and chairs with outlets for electric devices to be charged are everywhere in the library so that people can study or work there freely. And there are elevators for the disabled.     Once you get into this library, you may feel surrounded by stars because of its decoration with lights and unique ceiling. The name, ‘Byeolmadang’ is byeol ( 별 )+ madang ( 마당 ). Byeol means a star and madang means a field or square where people gather. Now you can guess where the name came from. This library is founded by Starfield! Starfield is one of the...

  The Musical Fountain of Unjeong Lake Park in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, August 18th 2022 A brand new attraction of Paju, but it is already a trend in across South Korea. As a Paju resident I am so proud of this facinating structure. The Musical Fountain a.k.a. The Singing Fountain is a performancing fountain with colorful light and laser and music.  There are some of the world most largest and famous performancing fountains, for example, The Fountain of Wealth in Singapore and The Dubai Fountain in Dubai, UAE. The one in my city, Paju is a small local verson of those things. It was the next day of its grand opening when we - me and Alex and Soo - were out to the lake park to see the spectacle. No wonder the park was so crowded with people mostly from Paju, and the atmosphere was delightful. Paju is a silent and peaceful, small local city. But look at the pictures above. It pretty much looks like a fancy night of a world big city like Bangkok. This kind of fountain is definitely fanc...