KOREA HERALD

This is the 50th in a series of articles highlighting tourism spots in Seoul. The guide for planning weekend trips in the capital city will help readers rediscover Seoul. ?Ed.

Though cosmopolitan and crowded, Seoul city has some places where you can take a quiet walk. They are Buamdong street behind the Blue House, Namsan street and Jeongdong street, which runs from the entrance of Deoksugung (Palace) to Kyunghyang Daily News. These are good to walk along anytime, but best during fall.

Buam-dong

Seoul is a bustling metropolis of more than 10 million people, but only 10 minutes by car from the center of Seoul, Buam-dong seems to exist in a different time altogether. The quiet and exotic atmosphere of the neighborhood seems to turn back time. A haberdashery, a mill, and a hardware store are clustered together, creating a small town feel. Closer inspection reveals the area’s modern touches. Between the old-fashioned stores you can find cupcake shops, while cute cafes stand next to refined restaurants.

The Buam-dong Community Service Center is a good place to begin walking. Going up the shallow hill leads to rather old, low lying houses along the Inwangsan slope to the right and small, long-standing shops to the left. You can overlook the Buam-dong area from the ridge of the hill. Affordable housing built in the 1960s, luxury residences built in the 1970s, and traditional houses from the Joseon Dynasty mingle together, making an interesting architectural collage.

Changuimun is the starting point of Bugak skyway. It is also the only gate that has preserved its original look among the four small gates within Seoul’s city walls. The name means, “Door that exposes the right thing,” and is also called “Jahamun,” after nearby Jaha-dong. Here you can enjoy views of the gate, the city walls and the mountains they snake along. To walk along the northern stretch of the walls, you need get your ID checked before entering. Adults over 18 years old are permitted only if they have photo ID, such as a resident’s card or a driver’s license.

Returning from Changuimun, there are several paths. The first landmark you will see is Whan Ki Museum. It plays the role of an old steward in Buam-dong since it was established in 1992 by Kim Hyang-an, wife of the great abstract artist Whan Kim Ki, after he passed away in 1991. It displays masterpieces by Whan Kim Ki year round and holds various project exhibitions. Unfortunately, it will be closed until Nov. 16th on account of construction.

Back on the main road is an old mill that sells rice cakes from the small side door that are made the same morning.

Following Buam-dong gil you can look at the beautiful changing leaves that color Bugaksan mountain. Traveling further, you are greeted by Jazzy sounds and the deep aroma of coffee coming from a nearby cafe. The road continues to “Sanmotungi” a caf? made famous by the popular TV drama “Coffee Prince Number One.”

Leaving the cafe you travel uphill through the clear air, to Baeksasil Valley. If you are lucky you can see rare salamanders here, and it is a great place for fall foliage. Streams from the valley run between the heavy woods leading us to a big rock on which “Baekseokdongcheon” is written. “Baekseok” refers to Bugaksan, and “dongcheon” means excellent scenery. Baeksa Hangbok Lee, a famous prime minister from the Joseon dynasty, built a pavilion and lived here. You still can see the cornerstone of the building and some stones from his pond.

The sound of Seoul is by now far out of range. Occasionally cooing collared doves and bugs make sounds, while the wind rustles through the woods. Stepping with a thankful mind through a place like this not far from the heart of Seoul city, the sound of fallen leaves under your feet gives you a more tender feeling.

Jeongdong-gil

Designated as “a path not supposed to be swept of fallen leaves” by a writer, Mr. U-Ryung Lee when he was minister of culture, it is like a small forest. Stone walls and stone benches on which you can take a rest occasionally make an even more wonderful environment. People have often come here for a stroll since they added bends to the road to mimic the waterway of Poseokjung in Gyeongju and reduce car speed.

This area also is also part of the northern Seoul cultural belt. It has a city museum, Jeongdong theater, and movie theater.

Next to Baejae park is Chungdong Church, the oldest church in Korea, with a history over 100 years. In October, 1887, a missionary started this church by holding a worship service at his house in Chungdong. It also influenced the history of architecture in our country. The current church is a red brick building with a stone stylobate and a three-storied bell tower. Its construction began in December, 1895 and finished in September of the following year. The church is popular for weddings, particularly as the steps of the bell tower are unusual sight in Korea.

Near Chungdong Church is Chungdong Theater. It was built to replace the first modern theater in Korea, Wongaksa, in 1995. The stage system is equipped for all kinds of performances.

Continue toward the direction of Sinmun-ro, you will reach Nanta Theater. The road from Chungdong Church to the Starsix Jeong-dong movie theater has Gingko trees of, whose leaves turn yellow in late October and fall in billowing clouds like snow, with piling up in drifts on the sidewalk.

Namsan

Standing in the center of Seoul, Namsan’s proximity is sometimes its undoing. Being so close by and so familiar, it is sometimes undervalued. Nevertheless, it has wonderful places to relax and spectacular views. Walking up the slopes you can look down upon Seoul actively moving under your feet, and you can even see the city’s satellite towns from Namsan tower.

The woods of Namsan are dressed with unique colors every season. The most common way to visit is to start from Namsan Botanical Garden on the west side and use the stairs.

As the highlight, Seoul tower puts the whole world under your feet. After dark, you can enjoy the night view of Seoul.

Speaking of the night view, there is a secret to enjoying the beauty of Namsan 100 times better. At dusk, you can experience the magnificent spectacle of the sun going down behind Yeouido and Mapo from Namsan library.

Buam-dong Information

Homemade Dumpling House

Since it opened in the corner of a residence about ten years ago, it has become a popular dumpling house expanding to two whole floors. It is always crowded with people who prefer cleanliness and a taste without MSG.

* Phone Number: 02-379-2648

* Homepage: http://www.sonmandoo.com

* Address: 245-2 Buam-dong, Jongno-gu Seoul

* Open hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Shortcake

A cafe, “Shortcake,” that opened 3 years ago, sells a variety of cupcakes. The cute products are little expensive but they are wonderful just to look at.

* Phone Number: 02-379-1329

* Homepage: http://www.shortcake.kr/

* Open hours: 12 p.m.-9 p.m. (close: Monday)

Club Espresso

This is the one of the best known places in Buam-dong. The interior is decorated with bags of coffee beans from each country and small ornaments. However, the secret to its popularity is the freshly brewed coffee made from coffee beans roasted within one week, and original coffee beans from locations you cannot find in regular coffee houses.

*Phone Number: 02-764-8719

*Address: 257-1 Buam-dong, Jongno-gu Seoul

*Open hours: 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

-710 another man

This is a cafe and restaurant that prides itself on its baked breads and tasty coffee. A reasonably priced lunch set is popular. It is located at the alley near the entrance to Whan Ki Museum.

*Phone Number: 02-395-5092

*Homepage: http://www.710anotherman.com/

*Address: 239-9 Buam-dong, Jongno-gu Seoul

*Open Hours: 11:30 p.m.-11 p.m.

By Jung Bo-sang

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KOREA TIMES
10-29-2009 20:46

Mung Bean Pancakes With Clams and Shrimp or “Bindaetteok”

This is an excerpt from “Korean Cuisine: Healthy Food, Full of Flavor,” (Yekyong Publishing, 224 pp., 28,000 won). The book is on sale at major bookstores such as Kyobo Bookstore, Youngpoong Bookstore and Bandi & Luni’s. ― ED.

Normally, this is a very homey and hearty dish which can include any available vegetables or meat. Artist Yuran Lee brought this dish to another level by making it very refined and delicate. Coarsely chop the ingredients. You should be able to enjoy their individual tastes.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4-5)

a handful “SUKAT” (chrysanthemum leaves) or DILL

1. Soak the beans in advance and then drain. Grind the beans with 1¾ cup water in a blender leaving a little texture to the beans. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Prepare bacon strips. Leave some bacon fat in the pan and cook the chopped onion until soft. Let cool. Prepare scallion, zucchini, putgochu, shrimp and clams. Add all the ingredients to the ground beans together with sugar, salt and pepper except sukat (or dill) and oil.

3. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Pour out one heaping tablespoon of batter per pancake to make each approximately 2½”/6.5 cm in diameter. When the top surfaces are beginning to dry, place a sukat (or dill) on top. Turn the pancakes over and lightly brown the other side.

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Japan Times

Festival faves: Gao Yuanyuan in “City of Life and Death” MEDIA ASIA FILM LTD.

Pusan fest revels in all films Asian

South Korea’s biggest box-office hit of the year is the disaster movie “Haeundae,” which has been seen by 11.3 million Koreans. The title refers to the beach-resort area of Pusan, where from Oct. 8-16 the 14th annual Pusan International Film Festival took place. In fact, most of the festival is held in Haeundae, and on the second night I watched a computer-generated reproduction of the hotel where I was staying toppled by a 50-meter-high “megatsunami.”

John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh in “New York.” YASH RAJ FILMS PVT LTD.

“Haeundae” is the Korean film industry’s latest challenge to Hollywood hegemony, at least in Asia. It is also one of the most pirated movies in the region, and each of the 354 movies screened at the festival, considered Asia’s most significant film event, was preceded by a public-service announcement in which laughing movie stars encourage viewers to be “good downloaders.”

They can afford to be gentle. Asian films, and Korean films in particular, are doing well right now. Production financing remains robust and ticket sales are rising. Following the removal of the government’s quota for domestic movies several years ago, Korean films slumped, but are now back with a vengeance. July-September box office receipts topped $281 million, making it the biggest third quarter in the history of Korean cinema.

This success is qualified. Western markets are buying fewer Asian films. Despite comments made by comedian-director Hitoshi Matsumoto that he made his surrealist comedy “Symbol” for “an international audience,” the mood at PIFF was that there’s nothing wrong with designing movies for the home crowd. As a spectacle, “Haeundae” may not compete in the West with Roland Emmerich’s upcoming blockbuster “2012,” but the better Korean films at the festival weren’t out to compete with anyone, which is why they’re beating Hollywood on their own turf.

“Thirst,” the latest from director Park Chan Wook (”Old Boy”), which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, was shown at PIFF in a new expanded version. Park’s baroque style and fondness for gore was well served by the tale of a Catholic priest (Song Kang Ho) who volunteers for a vaccine test and ends up as a vampire. The movie’s mixture of big themes, acrobatic sex, fountains of blood and black comedy is a structural mess, but it’s unlike any horror movie you’ll see anywhere.

Two other world-class Korean directors had films at the festival. Hong Sang Soo’s newest cynical sex comedy, “Like You Know It All,” may be his most self-reflexive. Its hero is a director who is asked to participate in a jury at a film festival and spends his time drinking and getting into trouble. This art-imitates -reality idea was turned around during the postscreening Q&A when Hong apologized for being incoherent, saying he’d been drinking the night before. Bong Joon Ho, whose 2004 monster movie, “The Host,” was one of the few Korean films ever to be a hit overseas, returned with a nifty murder mystery called “Mother” that perverted the standard maternal image presented in Asian movies.

China has such a huge potential audience that it doesn’t worry about the West, and some of the Chinese-language movies at PIFF were lavish historical epics. Director Yonfan’s “Prince of Tears,” the first film he’s made in his native Taiwan, deals with that island’s “white terror” in the mid-1950s, when the Nationalist government executed thousands for suspected Communist ties. Yonfan focuses on four individuals caught in the upheaval and films it as a lush romance that would have impressed David Lean.

The most discussed Chinese film at the festival was “City of Life and Death,” which tells the human story behind the 1937 Rape of Nanking. The movie is already a hit in China, though some Chinese are offended by what they see as an over-sympathetic portrayal of the Japanese invaders. Director Lu Chuan even received death threats. An impartial viewer may be confused by this reaction. Japanese soldiers impassively kill Chinese prisoners en masse and gleefully rape civilian women, but Lu’s main purpose is to show how wartime fervor easily tips over into group madness.

Lu’s accomplishment is especially impressive compared to a non-Asian movie at PIFF that covered the same story: Germany’s “John Rabe” focuses on the Nazi businessman who tried to protect civilians in Nanking. It’s more of a hero story than an overview of a historical event, and it appears that “City” is being picked up for distribution in Japan while “Rabe” is not, at least for now. Another film about a military atrocity, “A Little Pond,” addresses the massacre of dozens of peasants by the U.S. Army at No Gun Ri during the Korean War, an incident the Americans still dispute.

More recent wars were the subject of several Central Asia films. “Opium War,” directed by Afghanistan’s Siddiq Barmak, whose “Osama” won the 2004 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, chronicles the unlikely meeting between two U.S. helicopter soldiers and a family of opium cultivators living in abandoned military vehicles. The displaced civilians in Iraq’s “Kick Off,” which won the New Currents Award and the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award at PIFF, are mostly Kurds living in an abandoned stadium while suicide bombers terrorize the nearby city of Kirkuk. Neither, however, was as viscerally powerful as Israel’s “Lebanon,” which looks at the 1982 Israeli invasion of that country from inside a tank.

But the film that best represented the Asian ascendance was “New York,” a big-budget Indian movie produced by PIFF’s 2009 Asian Filmmaker of the Year, Yash Chopra. Though not strictly a Bollywood movie, it contains enough musical montages to satisfy Bollywood’s prerogatives. It’s a post-9/11 terrorist melodrama that partly sympathizes with the terrorists, a sentiment that would be unacceptable in Hollywood action films, whose production values “New York” mimics with considerable skill. It’s the other side of a now familiar story.

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