Final Week

During this week, I finished drafting the traditional and modern part of the book and started to research information about traditional dance, music, and food.

For traditional part, I added Chandukgung and Namsangol traditional village. By going on the Seoul bus city tour, I could visit more places. I also made new part called night culture of Seoul which include club answer, club volume and COEX.

After I got back to Busan, I started reasearching information and about traditional dance, music, food, and liquor. For example, traditional liquor is called Dongdongju. Dongdongju is a traditional liquor in Kyunggi province of Korea. It was named Dongdongju because the grains of boiled rice are floating on the drink's surface. I also tried some dongdongju and took pictures at restaurant in Insadong.

Also, I researched some recipes for Bulgogi, Kimchi, and Bibimbob.

For the next part, I introduced traditional music such as Samullori and Pansori and traditional dance called Buchechum. I researched internet and some relevant books. For example, Pansori is a traditional vocal music which the singer sings a long narrative story. Pan means the place where songs and performances take place. The music that is played on Pan is called Pansori.

Finally, I fisnished drafting the book. I added Seoul subway map in order to provide transportation information. On satureday, I went to publisher to make a copy.
It was a fun week

The last day!

Because I had to catch my flight this afternoon, I went to a publisher called dream publisher early in the morning to print and make a copy of my book. It took about an hour to edit and make the book. Finally, I got the copy and I am going back to States this afternoon.

Friday

Today, I went through the rough draft to edit some parts to make the final draft. For clubs and COEX, I made new part called night culture of Seoul. I wanted to introduce some parts about nightculture of Seoul. Also, I put Seoul subway map and Han river Ferries Tour. In order to provide transportation information, I put the Seoul subway map. There were many available routes for ferreis tour. I also provided fare and amount of time it takes. I finally finished the book. I will visit publisher tomorrow to print and make the book

Thursday

Today, I researched history and information about traditional dance called Buchechum or Fan dance. Buchechum is performd by women dancers who wear colorfully decorated clothes. I wanted to watch a performance of Buchechum. However, there was no performance during this month. I put more details and pictures of the traditional dance in my guide book. Tomorrow, I will revise the rough draft of the guide book to make the final draft.

Wednesday

Today, I researched informationa about traditional dance of Korea such as Samullori and Pansori. These two musics are the main traditional music. While I was in Busan, I saw a Samullori performance at Haeundae beach. Samulori was farmer's music played on the four main musical instruments of Pungmul: small gong, a larger gong, an hourglass-shaped drum. and a drum. Also, I put pictures and information about Samullori and Pansori in my guide book.

Tuesday

Today, I researched three main traditional food and alcohol of Korea which are Bulgogi, Bibimbob, Kimchi, and Dongdong Ju. My mom gave me advice about how to make three traditional food. With her help and internet research, I could find the recipes for each food and history behing Dongdong ju. With these information, I put traditional food part into my guide book. I also used pictures from internet and pictures that I took during Insadong visit. Tomorrow, I will write about traditional music of Korea

Monday

Today, I finished drafting modern parts and traditional parts of the guide book. Modern part includes N tower, Cheon gye chun, Dongdaemoon shopping mall, Han river, COEX, clubs. The traditional part includes Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung, Insadong, Namsangol traditional village, and Chandeokgung. new parts that I added were Namsangol traditioonal village and Chandeokgung. I put pictures ad brief information about this place. Tomorrow, I am going down to Busan to learn about traditional food.

Weekly Reflection

This Week, I visited many famous places and started to put things together in make a guide book of South Korea. The new places that I visited are Gyung Hoe Ru, Seokjojeon Area, Namsangol traditional korean village, Nam san tower, and Han river. I put Gyeong Hoe Ru, Seokjojeon Area, and Namsangol into traditional part of the guide book. Also, I put Nam san tower and Han river into modern part of Seoul.

I also wanted offer night culture of the city. In order to provide the useful information, I researched some famous clubs in Seoul such as club volume and club answer. During this week, I also drafted the parts about COEX, Dongdaemoon Shopping mall, and Cheon gye chun. I also visited Chung Hwa dae which is the president's residence and work place.

I took many beautiful pictures of the traditional and modern parts of seoul. My favorite one was the picture of gateguards at Duk Su Gung which is shown above. I also liked the picture of Seokjojeon Area which I took during the visit.

For traditional parts of the guide book, I drafted parts about Gyeongbokgung, Deoksugung, Seokjojeon Area, Gyeonghoeru, and Insadong. Among these places, the most impressive one for me was Gyeongbokgung which was the official principal palace of the Choseon dynasty which exhibits the finest architectural skills of the time. I also loved Insadong. At Insadong, tourists will sense the weight of tradition and feel the elegance and sentiment unique to Kroea at traditional Korea teahouses, craft shops, antique shops, and various art galleries.

I am planing to visit other famous places to put more on my guide book.

Saturday

I went on a Seoul Bus City tour which is at Sae Jeong Hall. It took about 3 hours to go around all the famous places in Seoul. I could revisit the places that I had been already. The new places were Namsangol Traditional Korean Village and Chung Hwa Dae. At Namsangol traditional korean village, I could experience the perfectly renovated traditional houses of Korea and living culture of the Choseon dynasty. Chung Hwa Dae is a place where the president of South Korea works and lives. Tomorrow, I will visit modern places and learn about some traditional dish and recipe.

Second Friday

Today, I wrote about Gyeong Hoe Ru and Seokjojeong Area as I said yesterday. Gyeong Hoe Ru was a part of Gyeong Bok Gung which was used for King's entertainmnet. Seokjojeong Area was used for King Gojong's sleeping quarter. These places were visited by many tourists from japanes, chinese, and many other countries. I also put pictures of these buildings that I took during the visit. For modern Seoul part, I added club answer that many younger generation people go and dance. Suprisingly, I could meet many foreign people at the club. Tomorrow, I am planning to go Seoul bus city tour to visit Han Ok village, Chung Hwa Dae, and other places.

Second Thursday

On Second Thursday. I visited many historical sites such as Gyeong Hoe Ru and Seokjojeong Area. Gyeong Hoe Ru was in Gyeong Bok Gung which that I visited few days ago. After the visit and some research, I could find out that Gyeong Hoe Ru was used for royal banquets and entertainment for foreign envoys. It was recontructed in 1867. There were many foreign tourists from America, China, and Japan. Seokjojeong Area was in Duk Su Gung which I also visited few days ago. Suprisingly, opposite to other traditional contructions, Seokjojeong Area was a western style building. This building was used by King Gojong as sleeping quaters and an audience hall. I also took many pictures at these places. Tomorrow I will write about these sites

Second Wednesday

Today, I wrote pages about Gyeong Bok Gung, Duk Su Gung, more about In Sa Dong, and Sae Jeong Hall. There were many exhibition and concerts at Sae Jeong Hall. In order to write about the history behing Gyeong Bok Gung, Duk Su Sung, and In Sa Dong, I needed to do some research through internet. I could find a lot of information about Gyeong Bok Gung. I would like to introduce the history about Gyeong Bok Gung briefly. Gyeong Bok Gung was built in 1395 which is three years after the Joseon Dynasty was founded by Lee Seong Gye, when the construction of the main royal palace was completed in the capital of the newly founded dynasty moved from Gaeseong to Seoul which was known as Hanyang during that time. I also put pictures that I took. Tomorrow I will visit more places and write more.

Second Tuesday

Today, I started to draft the guide book of Seoul, South Korea. With the information that I gathered during last week, I finished writing parts of modern Seoul chapter. In order to provide transportation information and history background of the places, I researched through internet and books. I wrote explanation about Chungaechun, Dong Dae Moon shopping centers, COEX, and club Volume. Tomorrow, I will visit more places to include in my book.

Weekly Reflection

First week of senior project was very fun and interesting. I was surprised by large number of tourists who are visiting seoul and how they love traditional and modern aspect of seoul. My visits during this week can be divided into two parts: traditional Seoul and modern Seoul.

For traditional Seoul, I visited In-Sa Dong, Kyung Bok Gyeong, and Chang Duk Gyeong. For modern Seoul, I visited Nam San Tower, Han River, Chun Gae strea, Dong Dae Moon Shopping mall, and Abgujeong. I wanted to introduce some background of histroy about the traditional part of Seoul. So I did research on the palace of Cho-sun period. There were huge amount of information about the period and the king who was ruling at that time. In order to make it simple for foreign tourists, I gathered all the information and extracted interesting ones to include in my guide book. Also, I took many interesting pictures of Seoul that will be part of my guide book. The book will show both picture and explanation about many famous places in Seoul.

Another thing that I did during the week was providing information about transportation. Tourists can use taxi, bus, or subway. Because of the traffic in Seoul, it is better to use subways to visit places.

For modern part of Seoul, I visited places that are visited by younger generation. I also went to famous restaurants in Abgujeong and InSaDong to introduce traditional korean food and fusion food. Next week, I will try to learn recipes for tourists.

Next week, I will visit more places in Seoul and write a guidebook.

Nam San Tower and Han River

I went to Nam San Tower today which is visited by many tourists. At Nam San Tower, you can enjoy skyview of Seoul. There are many good restaurants such as Italian, Korean, and Japanese. I also went to Han River which divides Seoul into South part of Seoul and North part of Seoul. You can enjoy many activities in Han River such as biking, swiming and fishing. Nam San Tower and Han River is visited by many young tourists. I am planing to visit more places tomorrow by joing a Seoul city tour.

Friday / Abgujeong

On Friday, I went to Rodeo street in Abgujeong that is visited by younger generation. There are many fusion restaurants clubs, and shops. Most of the bars here are open till morning so tourists who enjoy drinking should visit here and clubs. Clubs in Abgujeong area invites many famous DJ such as Benny Bennasi or Cattaneo. I also wanted to introduce famous restaurants around this area so tourists can easliy find it. In order to do that I researched famous restaurants in Abgujeong and gathered information about them. There were korean restaurants, Japanese restarurants, and many other countries' cusines. Today, I will visit Kyung Bok Gyong which is a traditional palace of Cho Sun Period.

First day

Today was the first day at HANA travel agency, one of the biggest travel agencies in South Korea. It was a very interesting experience for me because I had such a few experience working as a intern at a huge company like this. My sponsor in Seoul introduced me to the chair person of the department. Today, he introduced me about many famous places visited by foreign tourists. After the meeting, I went to few places that my sponsor suggested me such as Dong Dae Moon shopping malls, Chung Gae stream, and In Sa Dong. My favorite place was In Sa Dong where I could meet many tourists. I also enjoyed drinking Korean Traditional meals with Korean traditional alcohol called Dong Dong Ju. Dong Dong Ju is made from rice. It has a very long history. Me and my friend also took pictures of famous stores where they cell traditional products such as dishes, mask, and candies. These places will be parts of my travel guide book. Tomorrow, I am planning to join japanese tourists group and visit many other places.

Arriving at Seoul

Finally, I arrived at Gimpo International airport in Seoul last night. I am going to start my project today. I am going to HANA travel agency this morning to meet my sponsor and work as a assistant guider to draft my guide book of Seoul. I could not start my project last night because of some internet problem. However, it is all fixed so I will have no problem writing blogs every day. I will write the blogs that I missed on saturday with some extra work. I am going to write th blog after I work on my project.