Gyeongbukgung ...then...Youido

got an assignment to accompany Dr. Sari, a lecturer from Atmajaya Univ. Jogjakarta, who's in Seoul for a seminar at HUFS. 

been here twice in two-week-time ㅋㅋㅋ

...afterwards. ..ran to Youido for an interview session.

Hmm...it looked cool.

I love spring.

Gyeongbokgung (part 2)

Gyeonghoeru pavilion in the middle of the pond within the complex of Gyeongbokgung.

it was indeed a beautiful sight.

The pavilion was used to throw a feast for royal occasions...or when the king entertained the foreign escorts. ..that's what I learned.

Lydia's Mom and sister. I took the picture out of passion to sort of 'immortalize' the moment.

The empty benches along the edges of the pond during this early spring really made me want to lay myself on them.....taking a nap.^^

I mean..it was so warm and the sky being blue...just a perfect time to chill out.

The pond....

Mama and her best friend, mbak Ulfa @ Kyunghee

It's true, so they say, that..to enjoy the spring of cherry blossoms at Imundong, one does not need to go as far as Youido or to other town since right at the back our backyard, there are trees adorned with cherry blossoms.^^ 

What I mean by backyard is no other than our beautifully cherry-laden Kyunghee University. Well, this is Mama who's been eager to go here just for the sake of capturing the image of herself with the cherry at the background, of course.^^ 

And this is Mama's best friend, mbak Ulfa--who likes going out, too, as I found out. 

What do you think, mbak Ulfa? this one is worth-going to?*

Lots of trees are adorned with these white angels dangling from atop.... 

Walking right through it seems like ascending into a heaven on its own. 

*For reference: these pictures are taken from my wife's collection stored at her app. 

The After Show Mayhem....^^

First: before the show. the nice girls taking picture after getting in line for their turn to take a pic with Lotty and Lorry. 

Now comes the after-show mayhem: hmmmm...I mean the mayhem in a positive sense; in the sense that all children seemed to be broke loose and started wandering and running around onto the stage to...well, try the musical instruments... 

Korean cultural performance was just over and as soon as the show was over..the children started to go onto the stage and....well, started to beat the drums..... 

Running into the arrayed drums like the ones above.  

I think it would be a marvelous idea to take one of these back home. * dream on.!! 

They were fascinated by the sounds of the drums as they beat them. And they kept on doing it over and over again.... 

The performing stage at Lotte World is huge enough to accommodate thousands of spectators to the show. Seen from this angle, it looks small, though. 

wait...what is this picture doing here? Freya, where are you doing?

학교에 가죠!!!

to the school, Daddy!!!^-^

벚꽃? 어디?

벚꽃? 무슨 벚꽃이야? 벌써 4월 13일인데 아직까지 주변에 벚꽃이 없다는 걸 보니 좀 이상하다고 생각해. 물론 남쪽엔 벚꽃죽체까지 열렸는데 복쪽에 있는 도시들은 언제까지 더 기다려야 할지 모르겠다. 싱송생송(?)같은 급한 마음이 생긴 애들이 여의도나 롯데월드에 가자고 했지만...볼 것이 없다면 거기까지 와 버렸으면 ...어떻게 하죠?
참...날씨도 아직 추운데다가 바람도 많이 불렀고...
밖으로 가는게 좋지만 ...돈도 들 지도 모르니까...그냥 방꼭만 있는데 더 낫지 않을까 싶다. 티비나 책을 보고 숙제 (오마이것)까지 하는게 더욱 흥미롭고 가치가 있는 시간이 아닌가 싶다.
오늘 토요일 4월 13일인데 햇빛이 쨍쨍 밝히게 ...

Still at the Spring festival 2012

What could be more tempting than staying out late in the midst of the blooming Sakura? And that's exactly what we did in Youido Spring festival last month:) ^^ Yes, this entry is still about how much admiration we are giving to the short-lived Spring that has now gone^^

We went there in the late afternoon so as to be able to stay a little bit later to enjoy the dazzling arrays of Sakura being showered with lights at nights. The pink, yellow, white projections of the flowers' colors did enhance the warm feeling we felt that night.

Group photo is a rare thing for us --since I am mostly the photographer. So, at times we had to have guts to ask other passers by just to take our pictures. Just like this time. 

This one, too. Though so dark and looks so hard to make out what that was...at least this particular pic has become one of the treasures we were sharing that night. 

What could I expect from a 5 MP smartphone.--considering the latest version of 8MP pic installed in most smart phones. 

Another look or angle that I took while going back or staying away from the crowd. It was windy and chilly, actually. But..to our surprise, lots of and more and more people were flocking into the street where the festival was being held. 

As a token of proof of our 'witnessing' the blooming of the flower in Spring 2012, we took the pics more than my camera could afford-- to speak frankly.

This time: I wonder what Eyra, Freya, and their Mom were doing. The seemed to be staring at something up there. Something that may got hooked on the branches of the trees, maybe? Nope. None of them. They were just 'posing' for the pic.

Eyra & Freya surely had the great time of themselves. 

They did some stunts that would just blow me away. Well, though it wud not be seen right here...)

Eyra and Freya who look just like each other started the main dish: taking lots of pictures

.... it is not that important as to what they watched there, but...most of the corners they were in during the festival....were giving them a background to take pics.

Like this one. All white fowers. Dotted the lane. dotted the night sky @ Youido

Me. My wife took the pic. (for sure)

my wife. I did the pic. for sure. as I mostly do. 

Sakura Cherry Blossoms or

벚꽃 (Beotkott) or that's how the flowers are called in Korean language. Words could not express the exhilarating feeling of being in the Flower festival at Youido. Well, apart from the main event of seeing the blooming Sakura or cherry blossoms, lots of others flowers inside the pots were 

all available to be  enjoyed. 

 The kids did love the flowers. See the balloons? They were also parts of the action.

 The purple flowers dotted the street while Sakura with all of their charms dotted the lines of the streets along the way.

 Eyra and her Mom were (of course) among the throngs of people who were flocking and queuing to take picture. waiting for your turn to get yourself exposed to the fragrance of the flowers...

 Beautiful they were! But, too bad we did not even know or let alone being ourselves aware of their names albeit the fact that we did cherish them for being so pretty.

 The streets were dotted with the line up of artists--painting artists--who would more than willingly to make a sketch and draw yourself out of it just in time while your mind wandering around elsewhere...

 Freya never failed to captivate me as the photographer^^ She's adorable, she is.!

 Another angle that we should not have taken. Had we known their names....^^ too shame...^^

This time around, Eyra seemed to have found some kind of niche on her side. She turned out to be enjoying the afternoon walk along with the Sakura lines...

Sakura or 벚꽃 (Beotkot) or Cherry Blossoms in Spring Festival at Youido, Seoul

Spring Sakura Festival in Yoido Park, Seoul- South Korea. 

Well, We got to squeeze ourselves into the throngs of people who were mingling, jammed packed at the park well known for its dazzling show of Sakura Spring. Who would not want to spend the whole day right here in the not-that-chilly outdoor activities while enjoying the magnificent and majestic blooms from Sakura in Korea. It was a great time for us, indeed. 

We were there for about 4 hours or so. We arrived at about 5 pm, two hours before sunset so we could get most of the afternoon glimpse of great sight and sound and smell of the festival. Then, for the next two hours, we could see the different atmosphere of being drenched and soaked into the midst of night-view of lighted or beamed Sakura flowers. Indeed, it was a sight not that easy to forget. Lots of clicks from the camera dotted the scene that day. 

 Look at the trees dotted along the street of Yoido. What a mesmerizing sight indeed it was.