Korea LIFE's

Hanok (Korean traditional house) village in Jeonju

deul — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:46:43 +0000

I have visited Hanok (Korean traditional house) village in Jeonju on last sunday.

Jeonju is located in the middle of Korea (Jeollabukdo).

http://hanok.jeonju.go.kr/FLSite/default.aspx?lang=ENG

This is Hanok.

There are lots of traditional tea-rooms, resaurants,shops,small museums, etc…

Jeonju is famous for Bibimbab, so you can try original Bibimbab there.

There are interesting places not only for foreiners but also for Korean people.

2010 f1 in Korea: airports close to Mokpo,Youngam

deul — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:38:26 +0000

1. 인천 국제 공항 Inchon International Airport(Seoul, Korea)

http://www.airport.kr/eng/

Only International flight.

(if you want to transfer to demestic flights, you have to go to Gimpo airport.

you can reach there by taxi,airbus,subway. it takes 30 min.)

From Inchon Airport to F1 :
3hours 50 min. by car(taxi or bus[Inchon airport,Kangnam Express bus termial in Seoul-Mokpo Express bus terminal)
2hours by KTX train [Yongsan station in Seoul - Mokpo station]
40 min. by flight [Kimpo airport in Seoul - GwangJu airport,MuAn airport]

View Larger Map

2. 김포 공항 Gimpo Airport(Seoul , Korea)

http://www.airport.co.kr/doc/gimpo_eng/index.jsp

domestic: GwangJu, MuAn, BuSan, UlSan, JeJu,

internatinal : ToKyo(Haneda) Japan.

View Larger Map

3. 무안 국제 공항 Muan International Airport(Muan near Mokpo , Korea)

Domestic : Kimpo
Japan : Osaka(Kansai),Tokyo(Haneda)
China: Sanghai, Beijing, Hainan

From Muan Airport to F1 : 30 min. by car

View Larger Map

3. 광주 공항 GwangJu Domestic Airport(KwangJu near Mokpo, Korea)

http://www.airport.co.kr/doc/gwangju_eng/index.jsp

schedule: Kimpo , Jeju

From GwangJu Airport to F1 : 50 min. by car

View Larger Map

2010 f1 in Korea: Suggestions for accomodation

deul — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:36:18 +0000

1. 현대호텔 목포(HyunDai Hotel in Mokpo), close to F1

http://www.hyundaihotel.com/mokpo/

View Larger Map

2. 샹그리아 비치 호텔 목포 (Shangria Beach Hotel in Mokpo) central in Mokpo City.

http://www.shangriahotel.co.kr/
View Larger Map

2010 F1 Location in South Korea

deul — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:39:40 +0000

Location of Korea
View Larger Map
Youngam is close to Mokpo City (and near KwangJu).
View Larger Map
[2010 f1] is here!
south of Mokpo.
center of this map.(right side of grey squares parts)
Sampori
View Larger Map

Cars in South Korea

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:35:01 +0000

: Equus VS380

Hyundai Genesis Coupe’

Formula 1 Circuit in Jeolla-do near Mokpo, in Yeongam South Korea

claudio — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:57:29 +0000

Mokpo is a small town in South Korea, but it will become more and more familiar to F1 fans from 2010. The lenght of the track, now still in construction phase, will be 5.45 km (3.39 mile). It is located in Yeongam County , South Jeolla Province.

The Korean International Circuit is located near an Industrial zone, but not far from Mokpo downtown (20 - 30′ by car).

The tracK layout:

Work in progress:

Some other photos of the track under construction, taken on October 2009.

Chan-Wook Park (박찬욱)

admin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:55:33 +0000

Chan-Wook Park is one of the most popular filmmakers in his South Korea. Actually I heard about him before coming here. His big succcesses are well know in Italy, too. Ok, of course, who usually watches Carlo Vanzina’s movies does not know Chan-Wook Park .

The most famous movies are those included in the so-called Vengeance Trilogy (even if It was not originally intended to be a trilogy):

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) Original trailer (korean)

Oldboy (2003) Original trailer (korean)

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) Original trailer (korean)

Subjects are sometimes brutal but the the style and the feeling and music is wonderful. Wathcing them is a must before coming to South Korea. My favourite one is Old Boy.

LINKS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chan-wook

Snow in Mokpo (목포시)

admin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:43:21 +0000

I have not seen such a sudden and big snow in Italy for long time even if my hometown is located in the northern part. It seems I had to come here in Mokpo in order to see a good white blanket.

Mokpo has more or less the same latitude as Palermo in Sicily Italy, but the weather conditions ar very different in winter time.

Compare for instance the weather report today (December, 7th 2008)

Palermo

Weather for Palermo, Italy

- Add to iGoogle

17°C

Current: Cloudy
Wind: W at 37 km/h
Humidity: 55%

Sun

14°C | 8°C

Mokpo

Weather for Mokpo, South Korea

- Add to iGoogle

-3°C

Current: Mostly Cloudy
Wind: SE at 6 km/h
Humidity: 75%

Sun

9°C | 8°C

The snow covered Mokpo for about two days: December 5th and 6th.

Some pictures taken from Shangria Beach Hotel:

Korean Names

claudio — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:46:44 +0000

A korean has two names: the family name is followed by a personal name.

Most of the family names are of one syllabe like Park (박), but a few unusual ones have two syllabes like Hwangbo.

The most diffuses family names are:

Kim, Gim ( 김 )

Lee, Yi, Rhee ( 이 )

Park, Pak ( 박 )

Choi ( 최 )

Jung, Jeong, Chung, Cheong ( 정 )

If the family name has two syllabes, the personal name has only one, so that either way there are three syllables in the full name.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

It is generally considered rude to address anyone by their given name in Korean culture, especially if you are speaking to elder people, and anyway to adults.

Among adults of similar status you can address the other by the full name, with the suffix ssi (씨) added.

Whenever the person has an official rank, usaually you address him/her using the name of that rank (such as “Manager”). Several times you will hear the honorific nim (님) added. In such cases, the full name of the person has to be appended, although this can also imply that the speaker is of higher status.

Among children and close friends, person’s birth names are commonly used.

Korean national flag (태극기)

claudio — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:39:28 +0000

The korean national flag, Taegeukgi (태극기) takes its name from the taegeuk circle in the center of the flag. It is divided equally and in perfect balance. The upper red section represents yang and the blue lower section represents yin, an ancient symbol of the universe.

The powerful cosmic forces that oppose each other, achive perferct harmony and balance: darkness and lightness, heat and cold, day and night, positive and negative…

The trigram bars give you the same ideas of opposition and balance. The three unbroken lines stand for heaven; the opposite three broken lines represent earth. At the lower left the fire is represented and at the top right the water. The white background shows the purity of the Korean people and their peace-loving spirit.

The flag was suggested by Qing Dynasty diplomat Ma Jianzhong in 1882 and the Taegeukgi was officially declared the national flag of Korea by King Gojong on March 6, 1883. The Taegeukgi was both a symbol of the independence movement and of resistance during the Japanese occupation and mere possession of the flag was punishable by death.

A popular variant in Korea is the Sam-Taegeuk (三太極), which adds a yellow lobe, representing man, to the red and blue.