Seodaemun Prison History Hall, Seoul

Seodaemun Prison History Hall was constructed under the name of Gyeongseong Gamok(traditional name of prison) during the Japanese invasion, bore the pain and sufferings of many korean patriotic ancestors who were imprisoned and died in pain from cruel torturings. 

This prison was built in 1905 by Japanese Imperialist Government and after Korea independence in 1945, it was converted into a museum in 1998. It consist of 5 prison buildings, 1 execution building, 1 central building for prison guards and 1 administration building. The cells in the prison building were less than 3.95 sq yards each and were built to conduct physical torture and impose psychological and mental suffering to Korean patriotic fighters.

The number of inmates exceeded the space available and by the end of 1908, each cell housed at least 8 inmates. Without the space to sleep, inmates had to rotate for sleep and many died under poor conditions or starvation.

As for the patriotic ancestors, they were labelled as special criminals and were imprisoned in solitary prison cells with no electricity, sunlight and toilet. The 'wall coffin' was designed to make them lose their sense of feeling as they were left standing in the narrow space for 2-3 days and there was hardly space for movement.

In some of the cells you get to listen to the inmates' horrific screams due to tortures like pulling out of nails. It was too much for people with timid hearts.

In the execution room there was a display of how the inmates were being executed during that period and people can sit on that chair to experience the feeling.

Next I walked to the execution building which was built in 1923 and it bore the spirit of patriotic fighters with a never-ending grievance against the Japanese invasion.

The secret corpse removal exit was constructed by the Japanese to carry out the corpses to the public cementery outside the prison immediately after the executions. It was covered to conceal their brutality but was restored in 1992 when the Independence Park was established.

Japanese constructed a new prison building in 1916 to imprison and torture the female inmates and the cells were built with a height of less than 1.48m which didn't allow inmates to stretch their backs.

Finally this monument was built to remember the Korean patriotic ancestors's spirits. It is important to go there with an open-minded heart regardless of your nationality because we are not going there to judge anyone but to remember the spirits of these fighters who fought hard for the freedom of Korea and to continue to keep the peace and freedom they had fought for.

Directions to get there: Take subway line 3, alight at DongNimMun(독릴문역;) station and exit from #4. From exit #4, turn right and you will pass by the monument, then turn right again and keep walking for about 5 mins and you would be able to see the entrance. (You can also check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhjXClpNK6k)

곰탕 / Beef broth, Seoul

     At first, when I heard this name, I thought that this soup was made from bear meat because '곰' means bear in Korean and it's the only one I knew. However after checking my dictionary, I realised that it also means broth in korean. Whew... I am safe.


     The restaurant we went to is near NokSaPyeong station (subway line 6) exit 2. The directions to the restaurant is as below: Walk straight, turn left at the traffic light, keep walking for about 10mins.

     This restaurant is really popular as I saw men in suits in the restaurants or Lexus cars outside the restaurant. In Korea, if you see restaurants with a lot of older men, you can guarantee that the food is authentic so check that out before stepping into any restaurant.

The menu is limited but the dishes are great. 

     We all ordered the beef soup and it was served within 10 mins. Fortunately we went there earlier as it was filled with businessmen by lunch time.  In Korea, main dishes always come with a few side-dishes and you could always ask for free refills.  The beef soup is basically made from beef bones and it includes beef parts like the stomach, intestines, tail and meat.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    In the soup we added green onions, red pepper and sea salt. In this restaurant, they don't add MSG to their soup broth which is why it's so healthy, delicious and popular. 
 

In case you get lost, there is a pizza school restaurant nearby. So drop by Itaewon and try this authentic Korean dish!

Namsan Tower in Seoul

Popular drama ‘Boys Over Flowers’ has been adapted from popular Japanese comic ‘Hana Yori Dango’ and created a major hit throughout Asia since 2009. Working in a travel agency also means that we get to experience the tour before we advertise it. So there we were, around -10degC at Namsan Tower in Seoul. At first we took the glass elevator up to the cable car station and then we took the cable car up to Namsan Tower. It was free to take the elevator and it cost about 7000won for a round-trip cable car ride.

I think this was my 1st time seeing Namsan/NSeoul Tower at night. It was amazingly beautiful and the view around that area was magnificent!

We were starving so we went to Oriental Roo first for dinner. The food was great with lots of Asian food varieties like tempura, sweet lemon fried chicken and seafood fried rice.

After we finished our dinner, we walked around and took some pictures before we entered Seoul Tower. It cost about 12,000won (including Teddy Bear Museum) to go up to the 15th floor of the Seoul Tower. The museum was filled with adorable teddy bears and you could experience the history of Seoul with the bears.

On the 15th floor, you could see the Han River and Seoul filled with the cars and streetlights. It was definitely worth going up to the tower!

For drama lovers or for the night view, it's definitely a nice spot to go on weekends with your family, friends or loved ones. Have a nice evening!

You can also enjoy the film on http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AFD06F88B4916431.