New year's eve

On December 31 st., I decided to visit one of the last big temple complex I hadn't seen in Seoul. I went to Deoksugung palace, situated right in the middle of the city, downtown. Again, there was a big temple in the center of the complex, along with a few buildings around it. There was also a small museum presenting paintings from different eras and countrys, so it was interesting.
I then walked down a pretty busy street, where people were preparing for new year's eve.
I reached Namdaemun market, about a km later and streamed through the narrow streets filled with shops and food stands. Very busy area, it really felt and smelled like Asia.
The night came and I had decided to go at the City Hall, to celebrate outside with a few people from my guesthouse. Unfortunately, they had to go back to the guesthouse first, after we had dinner, and we couldn't meet at the rendez-vous point, with the subway line beeing invaded by townsends of people. I could meet up with Peter though, so we enjoyed the festivities together.

It was quite a spectacle, as everybody was launching fireworks here and there, for at least an hour before the countdown. When it came to a minute, the launches increased and it was insane when the new year finaly came. I have it on tape, but the pictures aren't bad either. It was nice and very different from what I'm used to. It then took me an hour and a half at least to get out of there and try to reach a bar, as the police had thoughtfully closed the nearest subway station, making a giant human traffic congestion.
The bar I went to was laim but it doesn't matter, I got to see what I wanted.

I woke up very late yesterday and tried to go see the Olympic museum, but lucky me again, it was closed. I should've thought about it. So I moved three stations further and took pictures of the Olympic stadium, very important to me, the big sports guy that I am ;)
I couldn't stop thinking about Ben Johnson, and how crazy it must have been almost 18 years ago when he pulverized the 100m world record with a time of 9,79 sec. Amazing. We all know the rest of the story.
So that's it for now, One more day in Seoul and then I'm moving all the way down to the south, to a city called Busan. Find it on a map...........



Photo section:

In front of Deoksugung palace
The entrance gate
A little bit of history
The temple, in the center of the complex (and the city)
A building next to it
Namdaemun market
Where is the exit?
Nice snack, silk worms
Seoul Station
Crazy fireworks on New year's eve
The celebration goes on
Massive police deployment
Nearby the City Hall
The Olympic museum (that I didn't see yet)
Big monument in the Olympic Park
View from underneath
The Olympic stadium