2007 Korea
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dress fitting.  as soon as we arrived in Korea, we were busy to prepare for our wedding.  Thankly my mother-in-law took care of the hard parts.
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View of KwangJu from Kate's old room.
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The other side has a mountain.  It was raining most of the first few days.  Very foggy at the top.  
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living room
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Downtown of KwangJu. No crowd due to rain. It was my first time spending outside of Seoul.  The dialect of this southern city intimidated me first.
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Sticker photo shop
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Plaque to mark the downtown area
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Kimbop(aka sushi/maki) in triangular shape
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A swanking new bus terminal.  S Korea has one of the best public transportation system in the world.
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KwangJu does not have many big buildings.  This big structure stands out.
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MooDeungSan-the birthplace of southern Korean cuisine, which is best of the whole Korea.
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i say 40% Buddist and 40% Christian in Korea.  The foreigners are always amazed seemingly large percentile of Christians.  I invite them to come visit Korea to count the church in Korea.  Many, many churches in Korea. But of course, the buddist temples do look better.
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Not 100% sure how it works but names are written on the paper flower lantern with prayer topics.
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The temple was built in 1443.  And even this architure is only designated by the city to be a historical site.  America would put it as national landmark.
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Seen in the smaller house is a mother who are praying 100days straight for her child's college entrance exam.  In Korea, getting to a good college mean a good job, which leads to a good life.
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I paid my respect. No bowing since I am a Christian.  
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The wedding hall/banquet building where I got married.  
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Greeting the guests with father-in-law.  My parents could not make it due to illness.  :(
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Kate's mother
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Kate's younger sister
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Kate's brother and his wife
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KTX. bullet train.
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what you get for $10
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Inside the Korea Art Center building
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Changing of guards at South Gate of Old Seoul
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the "Time Square" of Seoul
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the "Time Square" of Seoul.  It's 8am.  No wonder, it's deserted.  
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Compare this svelte sparkling clean subway station in Seoul to NYC.  Flat screens, double doors, air-conditioned, ...  On second thought I will stop even comparing.  
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ChunKaeChun - It was under the asphalt road when I moved to US 18 years ago.  It was basically a sewer.  This shows the progress of Korea.  
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Seoul Tower: yes only the tourist goes there.  No right minded Seoulite goes there.  Nothing much to see.  
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But we enjoyed since we are tourist. :)
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The symbol of the divided Korea.  This train set idle ever since railroad route was severed ~50years ago after the power nations decided to divide Korea.
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Changing of the times.  food and medical supplies to N Korea.
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Many old timers who still have relatives or most likely political activists (since the former are disappearing fast) put up all of signs.  This is the farthest point allowed to civilian to N Korea.  
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DMZ right in the background.  The soldiers are taught to "shoot first and ask questions later".  The last N Korean infiltrator was shot dead in 1995.
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DoRa Rail Station: once N Korea opens up the rail route, this new station will be the gateway station to N Korea and beyound.  
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A nice traditional Korea tea serving restaurant in InSaDong.  This cafe is themed as railcar.
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Korean "Broadway"
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The southern most tip of Korean peninsula.
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studio tour for the drama "Sea God".  Note this is a Chinese village, where a famous Korean general/trader founded on Chinese shore some 700 years ago.  
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path leading to green tea garden
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BoSung green tea garden
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wow... only 10min ride to the seaside restaurant from the mountain top BoSung green tea garden.
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Back to the garden after the topnatch sea food, true green tea time
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Beauty of Nature
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a small pond in front of Kate's grand-aunt's house. (the 2nd younger sister of kate's father's grandmother)
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where Kate's grandfather used to live.  It's now abandoned.  The whole village is fast becoming a ghost town.  I think the average age of any Korean farming village is 70.  No young people want to live in a farm.
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entrance to Kate's grand-aunt's house.