Gatbawi (Mokpo) – South Korea

In South Korea, Gatbawi is a natural sandstone and Tafoni formation found near the mouth of Yeongsan River. Gatbawi means “hat rock” because it is a rock shaped like a hat. Also, there is a traditional Korean costume item worn like a hat resembling a Satgat, or a traditional Korean conical bamboo rain hat. The two individual formations are named Jeongbawi and Satgatbawi. The larger rock is called the "father" and the smaller is called the "son". Gatbawi is one of the "8 famous spots of Mokpo" and was designated Natural Monument Number 500 in April 2009.

Gatbawi is a natural tafoni small cave-live feature found in granular rock such as sandstone, with rounded entrances and smooth concave walls formation between 6 to 8 meters in size. There are two folk legends surrounding the origins of the rock formations that compose Gatbawi. There is a story associated when a long time ago, a young man lived with his sick father and sold salt. However, he was a poor but kind man who would do anything to help his sick father.

The young man worked as a farm hand for a rich house to save money to cure his father's illness. He did his job in an excellent manner but, in the end, his master didn't pay him. Unfortunately, when he returned home after one month, he found his father’s body was already cold. Then, he was repenting his decision that he had been foolish to not caring for his father for one month.

The least he could do was to try to make him comfortable in the afterlife. Unluckily, as he was moving his father’s body, he slipped and dropped the coffin into the sea. He felt awful about his father’s underwater burial. To make amends, he remained in that spot, wearing a bamboo hat until his death so that he too could not see the sky. Sometime after his death, two rocks rose up at Gatbawi.

Another interesting story attached with the rocks tells, when Buddha and a disciple traveled across the Yeongsan River, they took a rest in this place. After that, they kept on their journey leaving behind their hats. Thus, it is said that their hats became the rocks making them be identified as the monk rocks.

The Bridge of Gatbawi

A pedestrian bridge called “Boyaenggyo Bridge” leads out over the sea surrounding Gatbawi. Earlier to the bridge being built in 2008, Gatbawi was only accessible by ferry. Since the addition of the bridge, visitors can visit Gatbawi on foot. Source: - CP

Jeju Island, South Korea

Jejudo Island is also known as Jeju Island in Korean Peninsula. Jejudo (also known as Jeju Island) is a volcanic island. Jeju Island has a surface area of 1,846 sqkm. It is the largest island 130 km off the coast and the main island of Jeju Province of South Korea. The island was formed entirely from volcanic eruptions approximately 2 million years ago. The area mainly consists of basalt and lava. The island contains the natural World Heritage Site Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. Jejudo has a moderate subtropical climate, even in winter the temperature rarely falls below 0 °C.

 

It is warmer then rest of Korea with four distinct weather seasons. Winters are cool and dry while summers are hot, humid, and sometimes rainy. Moreover, 95% of all rocks and stones on land today are made from lava, as you can see from the dark color and natural holes or erosion on the surface of the rocks. Jeju’s natural landscape, from its volcanos, to mountains and valleys, make it a hiking paradise.

It is a popular holiday destination and a sizable portion of the economy relies on tourism and economic activity from its civil/naval base. A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 m above sea level. 360 satellite volcanoes are around the main volcano. Historically, the island has been called by many different names. The Jeju Island mind-blowing nature and surreal landscapes has given it the prize of 3 UNESCO sites and, most notably, listed as one of the 7 new wonders of nature! 

 

Jeju island has only 600,000 residents – which is roughly 3% of Seoul’s population on land that’s 3X the size of Seoul’s metropolitan area. There is no hustle and bustle. There are no tall skyscrapers. There are no honking horns, or even traffic for that matter. Nobody in Jeju in a hurry — which is a really nice change of pace from bustling Seoul. Despite attempts to market the island as "the Hawaii of Korea," climatologically and geographically it bears little in similarity to the Hawaiian Islands in the U.S.

It’s no surprise that Jeju is a popular honeymoon destination for both Koreans and foreigners. The island is built for romance. Cute coffee shops, restaurants, stores and even a theme park called Love Land! Jeju island is in such high demand that there are more daily flights from Seoul to Jeju than any 2 destinations in the world – can you imagine that? The island offers visitors a wide range of activities: hiking on Halla-san (South Korea's highest peak) or Olle-gil(routes), catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, riding horses, touring all the locales from a favorite television K-drama, or just lying around on the sandy beaches.

 

Rusted Hull of Old Ship in Seoul Korea

The hull of an old, abandoned ship was freshly given a new life as a spectacular pavilion for the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, in Korea. The abandoned ship is located in Seoul, the Temp’L features the rusted steel vessel magnificently turned upside down and uses its hollowed insides as the setting for lively greenery and soothing seating space.

The “Shinslab” Architecture was the creative brains behind the converted into this structure. Therefore, to transform the hull, they put their efforts first sawed it from the corroded ship and selected to let its raw, reddish exterior remain. Thus, the interior saw the most radical changes, including a fresh coat of white paint, a spiral staircase, a balcony and trees tall enough to meet the ceiling.

The results of the restoration are a visually spectacular collision of rustic and contemporary aesthetics. However, “Shinslab” is hoping that it will inspire peoples to reflect on the act of recycling specially, how it can be perfectly used in architecture. Moreover any great cultural leftovers can lose their function.  Further, in the same way, a material can also lose its original value as time passes. But the real fact that the destiny of cultural vestiges is to be dismantled should make us reflect upon what we need to left for future generations.

Manjanggul Lava Tube Cave in Jeju Island

The volcanic island of Jeju, is well located 130 kilometers from the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, has a widespread system of lava tubes. These natural conduits through which magma once flowed are now empty caves that are some of the largest in the world. However these caves, apart from providing opportunities for scientific research, are popular sightseer destinations.

The most inspiring is the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System formed by the flow of basaltic lava when the Geomunoreum volcano erupted more than 250 thousand years ago. Amazingly the volcano has an elevation of 456 meters and lava flowed down to the coastline 13 km away, and while doing so, created plentiful lava tubes. The Manjanggul Lava Tube represents the largest cave in this system. Because it is stretches 8,928 meters and its passages are up to 30 meters high and 23 meters wide.

manjanggul-lava-tube-4The insides of the tube is ornamented with multi-colored carbonate decorations and countless cave formations commonly found in lava tubes. They’ve included lava stalactites and lava stalagmites, lava columns, lava flowstone, lava helictites and lava blister, cave corals, benches, lava raft, lava bridges, lava shelves and striations. So at the end of the one of the passageways open for tourists, is a gigantic lava column shaped when a large amount of lava spilled from the upper level down to the lower level. This menacing column stands 7.6 meters high and is the biggest known in the world.

Moreover some 30,000 common bent-wing bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) have taken eternal residence inside the tube, establishing the largest colony of bats so far recognized to be living in Korea. Almost 38 types of cave creatures have been recognized inside the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, the most common of which is the Jeju cave spider (Nesticella quelpartensis).

 Source: Charismatic Planet

Moonlight Rainbow Banpo Bridge Seoul South Korea

Banpo Bridge Water Fountain is world’s longest fountain bridge located in downtown Seoul along with Hangan River. This is really a unique bridge which operates both side of bridge and it is more than one kilometer long. The project was launched in 2007, for the purpose of to revive the river area for locals and tourist. It was installed in September 2009, to further beautify the city, and connecting the Secocho and Yongsan districts. The water is directly pumped from river and incessantly recycled. It is first double deck bridge construct in South Korea and given name of “Moonlight Rainbow”. The lovely fountain shoots down 190 tons of water per minute to the river and shoots as far as 43 meters horizontally. In the night the fountain colors transform to that of a rainbow by the 200 lights that radiate several colorful effects. The Moonlight Rainbow Fountain set a Guinness World Record with nearly 10,000 LED nozzles that run along both sides that is 1,140m long.