Annyeong Haseyo Seoul! South Korea.

Taking advantage of a long holiday weekend, and just days after North Korea attacked Yeonpyeong Island, I arrived in Seoul. Despite ongoing threats from the North, Seoul appeared to be business as usual, save for BBC and CNN streaming the details throughout this hi-tech and wired city.

Seoul is distinctly its own, as are each of it’s unique neighborhoods. Less east meets west and more old meets new. Palaces, restored to pristine condition, butting up against the latest architecture and technology. An example unto itself is the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art: a glistening showcase of modern architecture merging three buildings designed by three internationally acclaimed architects. Like the other contrasts I experience in Seoul, the ‘new’ contents showcase contemporary works (from Koreans and major foreign names) and transition to the ‘old’ traditional Korean art including scrolls, pottery and jewelry.

Food merges (or emerges!) in the same way: traditional tea ceremonies served using time-honored ceramics give way to tea lattes in modern teahouse settings served in fashionable new pottery influenced by the past. The latest craze is so omnipresent, it’s easy to believe it’s culturally their own. Coffee houses, coffee chops, coffee stands on every corner and dozens more in between. Additionally, Seoulites are on a Belgian waffle kick – enough to make one question the city you’re in – stacked high with multi-colored fruit sweets and whipped cream.

Seoul is an exciting and vibrant city, steeped in tradition while embracing the future with a flair all its own.

Annyeonghi gyeseyo (Bye-bye) 

11/2010