Wayfaring Travel Guide. Interesting vacation places, spa and resorts » South Korea

Island of the Gods

Asya — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:26:49 +0000

Jeju Island is a popular vacation spot for travelers to South Korea and one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean newlyweds. The area includes finest lava tube system of caves anywhere, multi-shaped rock formations and dark-colored lava walls. The Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes together comprise 18,846 ha and are added to UNESCO’ World Heritage List.

The island is mix of dramatic landscape, lush subtropical forests, lava caves, sandy beaches, spectacular craters, and majestic waterfalls. Also there is the Mount Halla – the highest peak in Korea, poised in the middle of the Island.

The frequent rains and temperate climate make it very similar to the Hawaiian Islands. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities: hiking on Halla-san, riding horses or just lying around on the sandy beaches.

“The Toilet”

Asya — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:46:29 +0000

It’s a really strange building located in Suwon, South Korea, only 40km of Seoul. It’s the “first appearance largest toilet sculptures” organized and owned by Sim Jae-duck, chairman of the World Association of toilet. Today, around 40% of the world’s population doesn’t get to use hygienic toilets and he used this symbol of disease to bring forth the reality of two million people.

This toilet-shaped house costs $1.6 million and spreads over 420 sq m. In the center of the house is a glass-walled bathroom which features a device producing mist to make sure users do not feel too exposed. The glass structure offers four deluxe toilets—one of which includes a misting device that helps users “feel more secure” and electronic motion sensors that lift and lower the lid when needed. Also you can rent the house for an absurd $50,000 a day.

Boeing 747 Restaurant

misha — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:53:17 +0000

Jon Dunbar is a great traveler and photographer. Today I’m going to present you his last urban exploring in South Korea – the Boeing 747 restaurant, looming huge over the highway, and yet dwarfed by a swarm of apartment buildings all around.

Jon says: “Thanks to the helpful people at Urban Exploration Resource I discovered that this was the second Boeing 747 ever made and apparently the first to be flown commercially.”

This is somewhat surreal shot: it almost looks like this Jumbo 747 landed on a poor little building, which still tries to be cheerful with all these painted Pokemons and a satellite dish:

The menu, and typical restaurant bar trinkets.

South Korea’s National Treasure No 1

Asya — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:06:59 +0000

This impressive gate, with its magnificent Korean-style roof, is the oldest wooden structure in Seoul. It’s dates from the construction of Seoul’s old city walls in 1398. Originally a grand entrance to the city of Seoul, today Sungnyemun GateÂ marks the southern boundary of the old city center. Due to its historical and architectural value, it’s been designated Korea’s National Treasure, like a symbol of Korea’s blending of the ancient and modern.
The gate, itself, is made of granite blocks forming a huge granite block with an arched passage through the middle. Resting on top of this structure is a traditional two-story pavilion. It was rebuilt after being almost totally destroyed during the 1950-1953 Korean War and in 1962 was declared as South Korea’s National Treasure.
A fire on Feb. 10, 2008 destroyed Seoul’s historic landmark gate, the more than 600-year-old Sungnyemun gate. Some 30 fire trucks and nearly 130 firefighters were called in to battle the blaze, needing five hours to put out the blaze. The Seoul Metropolitan Government will make every cooperative measure with the Cultural Heritage Administration to rebuild the Gate. Official estimate to the restoration will cost $21 million and take 2-3 years.

Seoul Design Olympiad 2008

misha — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:08:02 +0000

Seoul is being named the World Design Capital 2010 and these days host a three-week-long-event at their Jamsil Olympic Stadium. The event sought to encompass all areas of design, including architecture, industrial design, fashion/textile design, graphic design and more.

The competition categories include Earth (environment), Water (communication in flow), Wind (experience in media city scape) and Fire (objects in urban culture).

Jeong-Hwa Choi’s work covers the entire stadium in recycled bottles and materials.

The City of Seoul is also well known for extraordinary achievements such as legendary rapid growth in economy back in 70’s that is often compared to ”The Miracle of the Han River” as well as the great success in hosting 1988 Olympic Games Seoul which become even more famous during the recent 10 years for world leading advances in IT industry, now has the vision to become the design city of the world.

Â Culinary design is also included in the exhibitions (AVING Korea took more photos here).

These vegetables were delicately carved and placed together to create a unique composition.

SDO is a design culture festival for people from every place. This event is hoped to stimulate the economy by emphasizing design’s importance and its utilization by the city.

Here are some interesting facts:

â€¢ Number of objects: 1,763,360
â€¢ Total weight: 75,680 kilograms
â€¢ Workers needed to install: 3,638
â€¢ Number of Trucks: 488
â€¢ Days to install: 40
â€¢ 4 Elements represented: fire, water, air, earth

Seoul Commune 2026 – future project

Asya — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:03:56 +0000

Green Towers will be located in the southern part of Seoul, South Korea, in a large-scale urban redevelopment zone that is possibly one of the most densely populated places on Earth. The Seoul Commune 2026 project by Mass Studies is just sheer genius. Covering 393,400 square meters of land and bound by the Han River on the northern side, 15 towers of varying height -from 16 to 53 floors-function like one giant house in this park-like setting.

Seoul Commune 2026 was presented at Art Center’s Open House exhibition which explores the integration of architecture and technology for creating more future-appropriate housing. The project proposes a solution to increasing urban density, rethinking personal space as a hive of small private living areas augmented by larger communal spaces. The hexagonal openings are filled with various types of glass, glass panels are placed in sunny areas for energy efficiency.

The towers’ functions are separated into public, private, and commercial, offering purely-private rooms called “cells”, communal spaces for public activity and welfare/medical facilities. The base of the 15 towers, where the park merges with the towers, creates the widest spaces of the site. Above, the first floor is 75 meters wide and extends up to the height of the first five stories. The ground floor space is reserved for pedestrians. Three walkways converge there and circulate around each tower’s elevator core.

This concrete architectural and urban proposal that entirely reconfigures, and consequently develops the existing towers in the park form. The organically-shaped towers take the classic architectural idea of towers in the park, and literally turn the park into the towers themselves, offering a cheeky yet profoundly sustainable and forward-thinking solution to community development.

Covered Botanical Building

misha — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:32:20 +0000

This is an extraordinary building located in Seoul, South Korea. Architects Minsuk Cho and Kisu Park are the designers of this flora-clothed multifunctional structure. The building was done in Octomber 2007 with green roofs and living walls to another level.

Vegetation has been used to cover both the external and internal walls. It looks like the building is growing up from underneath and it’s sitted on an alley near by Seoul’s rapidly transforming Gangnam district.

This marvel house has three floors of the Ann Demeulemeester housing shop on the first floor, a restaurant above, and a Multi-Shop in the basement. The designers incorporate as much nature as possible into the structure within the constraints of a low-elevation, high-density urban environment.

The green species are geotextile plant and herbaceous pereunial for the living walls. The building is defined through the convergence of natural and artificial, interior and exterior, rather than demonstrating a stark contrast between the dualities.