Korea Sparkling

Before I landed in Japan, I spent some time in Korea with my family and did some sightseeing.  We spent most of our time in Seoul going to markets and seeing the different neighborhoods.  As a side note, the title of this post is the slogan of the Korean tourism industry.  Korea was truly sparkling and I hope I get to go back one day.  Now let’s get to the pictures!

As  I mentioned, we went to several of the marketplaces to get a feel for the city.  We saw some traditional Korean dancing and drumming near one of the markets.  It was so lively and fun that I didn’t want to leave.

dance

 We also went up to a historical site and saw a wonderful show filled with traditional dance, music, and martial arts!

 The show started off with these great musicians who really knew how to fire up a crowd. 

music

 Next, a beautiful dancer came out to do a fan dance. 

fan

 She had the crowd in a peaceful state of mind with her graceful moves and her skillful handling of the fan.  Everything was going as expected until she turned around wielding a sword!  It’s not everyday you see that.  It turns out she was just as graceful with the sword as she was with the fan.

sword

 If I had to pick a favorite part of the show, it would be the martial arts sequence.  How can I put this as eloquently as possible?  It was SO COOL! 

flag

fight

 Thank you Korea for a wonderful time!