The first stop was to Cheong-nam-dae, which used be the presidential villa (looked more like a resort to me) until it was converted to the Presidential History and Culture Hall in 2003.
Our next stop was lunch! I think our SCC team members finally was getting use to this traditional shoe-off sit-down set up. Note that we were all sitting against the wall on the left side :-O
Next stop was to a cafe and a funny thing happened. When we sat down, a barista came over and left an ordering pad and a pen. She asked us to write down the order and walked away :-O An interesting concept.
We noticed there were a couple of dogs outside under a shade. They looked to be a Korean breed called Jin-Dok. Surprisingly, they did not bark at all. Of course it reminded me of our family dog Kiwi.... Who's really cuter? No contest.
After a nice cafe latte, we headed to Muneui Cultural Assets Complex.
Picture below shows two holes in a wall. What's interesting about them? Well, the cannon hole on left is flat which allows you to shoot out straight while the hole on right was angled downward so you can shoot at the enemies below. Pretty ingenious....
Picture below shows three columns of steps. The one on right is to go up while the one on left is to come down. How about the center one? It's reserved for the royals.
The building below was moved twice (I think) from the basin pictured above before a dam was built. The "move" was apparently not too difficult as the structure was all built without any nails. Thus, the movers had to simply disassemble and reassemble. Kind of like a Lego set.
One of our SCC teammates felt an urge to strike a pose. I think he felt the "energy".
Group photo below. Four new faces are two volunteer interpreters who did an awesome job. What's the best way to learn English? According to one of the volunteers, it was from watching Hollywood movies! The 3rd gentleman is our Mr. City who arranged this whole day for us. And the 4th lady with a hat & a pair of white gloves is the tour guide. I think two ladies up front wanted to strike another pose for the camera.
Doesn't the house above look beautiful? I thought so. Once I read the description shown below, it became even more special. In Korea, there are many "Kim's", but there are also many different family trees. Mine is Gang-Neng Kim Shi. According to this sign, the house above belonged to one of my ancestors! Wow. How cool is that? I bet my dad will be proud :-)
I have to thank our Event Manager (pictured below) as he was the one who pointed that out to me. BTW, for those single ladies out there, he is "single and available". I can vouch that he will be a great husband and a father! I am not kidding. He's also a cool dresser. And, yes, he does have a cool hair do.
????? Did they also drink soda and coffee back then?????
Another interesting fact: the house on left was occupied by men (grandpa, dad, and son over the age of 7, so in other word, it was a "man-cave") while the house on right of the divided wall was occupied by women only. Interesting indeed. But, now I am not sure where babies came from.....
Our tour guide below wishing us farewell....
Next stop was to infamous Jikji Museum. Apparently, world's very first book printed using metal type was printed at a temple in Cheungju (pictured below) around 1377 A.D. Amazing....
Next stop was doing some fish feeding frenzy (I am not referring to the fish). It was more like we were trying to find out who can feed the most.
A near by "wedding hall" which I think had two weddings occurring at that time. Let's just hope that the brides, grooms, and guests all went to the right wedding ceremony.
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