21 Oct 2009, Posted by Matt in Buddhist Temples, Gyeonggi, Historic Korea, Nature, Seoul, 6 Comments

Fall Color at Mt. Gwanaksan

20091021_gwanaksan

Although I’m completely unqualified to do so, here’s a quick Korean language lesson.

The word “san” (산) in Korean more or less means mountain. That’s why every mountain in Korea has the “-san” suffix, e.g. Seoraksan, Bukhansan, Jirisan, etc. Trouble is, living here I’ve become familiar calling Korea’s peaks by their Korean names (fancy that!), so calling Jirisan “Mount Jiri” just doesn’t feel right. When translating to English, however, it’s unclear that it’s a mountain without the obligatory “Mt.” title. So what’s my awkward compromise? Mount (Mountain Name)-mountain… something tells me my opinion on this will change shortly.

Anyhow, given that autumn color has started here in Seoul, I wanted to put up some photos from a quick trip last year to, ahem, Mt. Gwanaksan (관악산), located in Southern Seoul.

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12 Jan 2009, Posted by Matt in Food & Drink, Gyeonggi, Historic Korea, 3 Comments

Incheon: Gateway to Northeast Asia

incheon_wolmido One of the wonderfully funky buildings that line the beachfront on Incheon’s Wolmi Island.

How about we escape the sub-zero temperatures of Seoul for a reminder of a warmer time several months back? This time around we hop on Seoul Metro and go west to the port city of Incheon: the city that’s striving to be the gateway to Northeast Asia.

As one of the world’s largest cities, it can’t be easy being in Seoul’s shadow. But Korea’s port city of Incheon, just 36 kilometers west of Seoul, is making a name for itself with an ambitious plan to become a regional business and logistics hub.

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