Chuseok for expats in South Korea

Chuseok holidays start from Last week of September,(September 29 - October 1, 2012)
 Chuseok (추석), is the biggest festival of Korea.

It is called the Thanks giving day or also called the Harvest festival. The Koreans say prayers and thanks to their ancestors by offering food, or flowers to the ancestors graves.

The Korean families conduct ancestor's worships at their home and hometown.

In modern days, Korean family get-together and celebrate by cooking special foods  and playing games at home. Some Koreans visit the temples and offer prayers.

You can eat a lot of sweet dak(rice cake) at this time and also songpyeon.

RICE CAKE OF SOUTH KOREA

Top 5 Korean customs and traditions in Chuseok Holidays:

• Charye is the Ancestor memorial service which is performed by Korean families at homes.
• Beolcho is cleaning the dust around the grave
•  Seongmyo is visiting ancestral graves
• Ssireum is Korean wrestling
• Chuseokbim is the Korean dress, special for the festival



All the family is well-dressed in Korean traditional clothing's and offer prayers.The festival is a totally family affair. Hence Korean friends get busy with the preparations and celebrations.

Being an expat, Chuseok holidays can be boring as they are long holidays. I miss my home in this festive season. Most of the expats prefer visiting their home country in these holidays.

If you are staying in Korea in the Chuseok holidays, it might get boring as most of the shops & restaurants are closed and trains, buses etc all are overbooked. There are many traffic jams on the road, as Koreans are travelling to their home town. Even homeplus, Emart etc are closed for few days.

Good thing about Chuseok is that the Korean Govt. organizes several events and activities for Chuseok Holidays especially at the National Parks, National Museums and Korean folk villages, in order to promote Korean culture. They offer discounts for the foreigners to visit the National museums and parks. Also there are many Folk games, programs, and performances held at Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and Deoksugung Palace.

Last year, I was in Seoul for Chuseok 2011 and I really enjoyed the Korean traditional parade at Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace is really magnificent and magnanimous. In chuseok time it was very beautifully decorated. See some glimpses of my visit:



Chuseok 2011 at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Also you can get information about the Chuseok events on korea4expats website. I have found the site has many good information for expats in Korea.
See the link below for more information about the events:
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-things-to-do-chuseok.html

Happy Chuseok in advance!
Enjoy!
kojeblogger

Hawaii of South Korea, Jeju-do

Jeju-do is the National pride for most of the Koreans. Jeju-do is the best tourist place in South Korea.There are many World Heritage tourist points in Jeju-do.
The Koreans consider it as the Hawaii of  South Korea.
According to my view point, I cannot consider it totally Hawaiian style but Semi Hawaiian.
The points which make Jeju-do similar to Hawaii are as follows:

• Jeju-do is located in Southwest side of South Korea. It Is the tropical region with strong sunshine similar to Hawaii

• Jeju-do has many Beautiful, clean beaches with white sand  and also have freash sea-food similar to hawaii

Udo





• Jeju-do is a volcanic island similar to Hawaiian Islands. Hence Jeju also have the Lava tubes similar to Hawaii.



Volcanic mountain

• Its famous fo hiking, horse riding, golfing,snorkling, scuba diving etc and has many sports activites like Hawaii. Jeju hot springs are also very famous.
• Jeju has famous ports and harbours. It offers special cruise trips and submarine trip which are awesome.

Submarine trip

• Some museums in Jeju-do are similar to Hawaiian museums
• There are many beatiful waterfalls to similar Hawaii

Waterfall

Jeju -do is the biggest island in South Korea. 

It has the resemblance to Hawaii Island.

Jeju-do is different from normal South Korean cities and also considered the best place for honeymoon couples.

So if you are in South Korea I strongly recommend to travel to Jeju-do.  

Enjoy!

kojeblogger

http://kojeblogger.blogspot.kr

Top 8 Unknown facts about South Korea

There are many facts and figures which are well known about South Korea but there
 are some unknown facts. I have listed top 8 unknown facts on which I keep thinking and pondering:

•  Christianity was propagated in many Asian countries but it got well rooted in Korea.
• It is one of the safest country in the world. The crime rate is very low. Though Koreans drink a lot of alcohol but they generally are disciplined. The Koreans are very honest and well behaved. There are very few cases of cheating or theft.
• Korea was invaded several times. It is surprising how they fought and became the world's 11th wealthiest country in the world
• Any foreigner for Koreans kids is Migu -Ki i.e American. The geographical knowledge about other countries of Korean kids is little poor. Korean teens have a lot of knowledge about USA.
• Most of the restaurants in Korea are run by woman. Woman play a strong role in controlling money at home. Though in the past the Korean woman didn't have much say in the family issues.
• Korean eat a lot and drink beer, soju etc but still they are considered the slimmest country. Most of the Koreans have flat tummy and maintain good body line.
• Why most of the Korean men eat food so fast?
• Korean woman are among the top cosmetic users. The Korean woman are very cautious about the make-up which they put daily and keep applying it in the public places.

These unknown facts are based on my experiences in South Korea. 

If you have the answers to these unknown facts just let me know.

Regards,

Kojeblogger

http://kojeblogger.blogspot.kr

Teddy Bears in Jeju-do, South Korea

My favourite in Jeju-do was the Teddy Bear Museum. The super cute Teddy bears were waiting to greet us. 
The museum contains two galleries, a museum gift shop, and a museum cafe.

The museum had many Teddy bears which were moving and showing some cute situations.

There were teddy bears portraying Mona Lisa, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Munroe, Gandhi, Mother Teressa etc.

I just loved and cherished the amazing displays of the Teddy Bear in a unique style.

 The cutest Teddy was of  America's 26th president, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and NASA astronauts.

Wedding of Teddy's

 I was really excited to see the Korean Teddy couple, it was very cute.

Korean bride and bride groom

 I loved the Teddy Bear fashion models which displayed the scenes very well. It also showed the green room and the fashion show.

Teddy Fashion Models

 The best one was the Mona Lisa teddy bear. It depicted her picture so well.

Teddy Mona Lisa

All the teddy bears were really cute and lovely. I was totally in Teddy's world.

I enjoyed it a lot. Hope to visit again someday.

For more information:
http://www.teddybearmuseum.com/Etc/English.asp

Refrigerating Ice Museum in Jeju-do, South Korea

I visited Ice Museum in Jeju-do. The depictions were wonderful and fanciful. I was amazed to see the ice structures. The carvings on ice were beautiful.

 At the entrance, an employee of the museum distributed the blankets to each person. The temperature inside the museum was -5deg. It was really freezing temperature. I was really impressed by the ice sculptures in the form of Teddy bear, Jeju Hallabeong, beautiful angels, ducks etc.

Jeju Hallabeong

Ice Teddy bear

 The ice sculptures were impressive. There was a beautiful ice castle which had ice bed, ice sofa and ice table.

Ice sofa set

Ice sculpture

Ice castle

The ice depictions were beautiful. The best part was the Ice bar shop. It looked so real.

Though the ice museum was small but it had a lot to offer.

Also I was freezing in the refrigerating museum.

I just loved it.