Kimchicrew

Seoul Bus

mariamargareta — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:52:02 +0000

There are some type of bus in Seoul. If you want to get around Seoul or want go to other suburban area or maybe you want to explore some of metropolitan satelite cities near Seoul area, you may know this info. Seoul bus can be devided with different kinds of colors, they are :

Green Bus operates in downtown of Seoul. You can find this kind of bus and it connects you to residential areas, subway lines and bus terminals. The green color stands for the mountains surrounding the city.

Blue Bus will connect from downtown of Seoul to suburban area. The blue color represents Seoul’s skyline and Hangang (River) to symbolize security and freedom.

Red Bus or can be said as an express bus, is a convenient bus which connects people who live in neighboring cities. This bus serves routes between major areas (downtown, Gangnam, Yeongdeungpo, etc) and metropolitan satellite cities (Ilsan, Bundang, Uijeongbu, etc). The color red exudes energy of speed.

Yellow Bus operates in downtown of Seoul and will connect you to tourist spots, shopping and business area. Yellow simbolize for dynamic and friendly image.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=onX7Nj9kU64

Operating hours : start at 4:30 a.m. with the last bus of the day making its round at 1 a.m.

Getting on & off the Bus / Paying your fare

Get on the bus using the front door, and pay your fare by either scanning your transit card or paying in cash. While you can pay your fare in coins, you cannot pay using bigger bills like a 5,000 won, 10,000 won or higher. If you’re not using a transit card or don’t have your card on you, take out a 1,000 won bill and get ready to pay with that. When the bus is approaching the stop at which you’d like to get off, hit one of the buzzers. Most of the time, the next stop will be announced on the intercom in both Korean and English. If you use a transit card, make sure you scan your card once again when you get off.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WXHq6lANI

References :
www.kias.re.kr
www.hikorea.go.kr
www.lifeinkorea.com

Photo :
ko.wikipedia.com

Video credits :
MIPTV 2011 – ICONIX – Little Bus Tayo Opening uploaded by KoreanContent on Youtube.
Seoul View from bus uploaded by seoulpolchak on Youtube.

Hanbok, The Beauty of Korea

mariamargareta — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:09:31 +0000

The great video about Hanbok which made by heart, love and for the beauty.

Hanbok Video Part 1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JO67TGhB4

Hanbok Video Part 2

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIt8Tilw2A

Video credit :
Uploaded by HeavensAria on Youtube.
Photo credit :
me.hancinema.net

[Interesting facts about Korea] 가마솥 Gamasot

mariamargareta — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:47:23 +0000

Is the rice black eve though the gamasot is black ?

Gamasot is used for cooking Korean dishes or for boiling water, it is a cast iron pot and fairly large and deep shape appears suitable for the extended family system in Korea. It can be found in Korean traditional house (Hanok) and it’s difficult to find it especially in use one. A cast iron pot has low thermal conductivity, it doesn’t easily transfer even strong heat. Slower cooking type is appropriate for this traditional cooking equipment. The gamasot holds the heat in itself and transfers it to food little by little.

Let’s go back to the first question I mentioned before. “Is the rice black eve though the gamasot is black ?”

Even though the gamasot looks black and unrefined, rice steamed in it can be white and pure (the taste and texture of the rice is more different than modern way of cooking)

and as a proverb can be said it’s not appropriate or danger of making hasty judgement that since the outside is bad, therefore the inside must be bas as well, or simple word “don’t judge the book by it’s cover”.

It’s interesting, isn’t it ? ^^

Reference :
An Illustrated Guide to Korean Culture, Seoul, South Korea.

Photo Credit :
jckim-membersvirtualtourist.com.
hanielfrancesca on flickr.

What to say on Seol(설)

kimchigirl — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:35:30 +0000

What to say on Seol(설)

Seol (설; or 설날(Seollal)) is lunar New Year’s Day and one of the biggest national holidays in Korea. On that day, families gather, no matter what, despite bad weather or worse traffic jam. No wonder, it is quite awkward to lots of foreigners when 24/7 liten-up-Korea shuts all doors and stops all work. It is a holiday for family and everywhere you go on Seol you say

새 해 복 많이 받으세요!
(Sae hae bok mah-ni ba-deu-se-yo!)

which means, ‘Happy new year!’, of course(remember it is new year, although it’s after the lunar calendar).
복(bok) is ‘luck’ or ‘fortune’ and 해 here, means ‘year’. So literally, the sentence above would be translated as ‘Get lots of new year’s good luck(fortune)’.
You can also say,

설 연휴 잘 보내세요!
(Seol yeon-hyu jal bo-ne-se-yo!)

which means, ‘Spend your Seol holiday well!’, but you would use this sentence rather at work, to your coworkers, when you are finished with your job and heading towards the door, one step closer to the heart-warming holidays.
연휴(yeon-hyu) is the word for holidays. It is a combination of 연 for continuos and 휴 for rest. You can infer that continuos rest would be a series of days to relax.
Gathering on Seol is one thing, the other important one is 세배(Seh-bae), which is a bow to the elderly that you do on New Year’s day. Traditionally, the Korean culture is very shy in bluntly expressing their feelings and it has been only a few decades that hugs and kisses have become a form of showing their love. 절(jeol; bow) was a way to greet and express your respect and love towards the elderly, and that’s exactly what Korean people have done on new year’s day. So the bow(절) on new year’s day was given a special name, 세배. In Korea there’s nothing more adorable than a little child trying to do 세배(at least the pose is just cute), and there is nothing lovelier when you get 세배 from your child(no matter if it is 3 or 30).

Usually, after you do 세배 to your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and so on, you give each other words of blessing. Theses days, the person who received your 세배, will give you some pocket money, the 세뱃돈(seh-baet-don; 돈(don) for money) if you are still a child. If you are already grown up, however, and earn your own money, it’s customarily that you give them some pocket money. The amount is totally up to you. There are also some scamps who would even do 세배 to an older sister or cousin, just for the sake of getting some 세뱃돈.
So if you are ready to get some love from your family’s senior members speak it out loud:

‘세배 받으세요.’
(Seh-bae ba-deu-seh-yo.)

14th January, The Diary Day

mariamargareta — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:56:15 +0000

Besides valentine’s day and white day, couples in Korea have special moment to celebrate every date of the 14th every month.

Today is a Diary Day or a Candle Day, celebrated every the 14th of January, couple meet each other, exchange their new diary and hoping that they will get a joyful lovely day through the year. Candle is also a symbol of warm and hope for the year ^^