ROK #1: Hi Seoul 2007

Here starts our update from our 8 days trip to South Korea during Golden Week.
We thought we would spend a few days in the big city(Seoul) and then head for the mountains, the temples and the coast. Instead we ended up staying in Seoul the whole week, - so much for our longing for backpacker-days. (We did change hotel bed four times in eight days though, which must fully legalise our backpacks and hiking boots...).

The thing is, that as we arrived in Seoul, the 'Hi Seoul 2007' festival opened, with plenty of shows and activities, showing Koreas ancient culture and traditions to the public. So when everything is served on a silverplate - why chase it across the country?
The festival's opening ceremony took place close to Seouls 63-floor building, from where the night-view was quite impressive.A lighted boat parade toured the river, a stage was set up, air ballons was part of the decoration and a food fair offered traditional Korean food, where we managed to avoid silk worms and dog meat, but had a go for the chicken feet in chili sauce. Our Japanese teacher had warned us that Korean food tend to be very spicy, but we had no idea food could be THIS spicy. We had to give up eating it after an unsuccessful attempt to dim the fire with cold beer. A Korean couple had a good laugh when they saw the hardly touched plate.

A structure decorated with colourful ribbons on which thousands of residents in Seoul had written their wishes left a beautiful impression. When the bands started off at the stage, the crowds gathered. Korean rock and pop was great fun - indead when it included a friendly dance with a korean salary man, but most impressive was the drum-group. The beat are said to derive from the rhythms of the work in the fields.
Here is a clip from the show,- we filmed it with the camera, so the quality is not top tuned... we hope it leaves a good impression anyway:Heading away from the crowds a Korean Tv station made a brief interview with Barbara. Her 5 seconds of fame.
The low temperature had taken us with surprise, so we missed the grand opening fireworks. Nevertheless our first day in Seoul had been very positive and left us with an impression of a down to earth modern capital with friendly helpful residents and the most tasteful doughnuts on earth.