Chuseok (추석): The Korean Thanksgiving (Sep 30, 2012)

Today - september 30th - is Chuseok (추석) often called the Korean Thanksgiving. It is one of the 3 main Korean celebrations.

It is traditionally a celebration of the harvest and it is the time for families to get together and celebrate their ancestors.

In march 2011 started the construction of Lotte World Tower (롯데월드 타워) - also named Lotte World Premium Tower.

Once completed, this skyscraper will be 555 meters tall, becoming the 2nd tallest building in the World after the Burj Dubai.

10 days ago Gangnam Style was reaching 200 million views on Youtube and was ranked 1st in US and Australia Itunes Top 10.

However the phenomenon has not reached the top yet. The music and the video continue to break several new records all over the world...

The news came up recently that last year South Korean men spent $495 million on skincare; making South Korea the largest market in the whole world. This amount could increase by 75% this year according to Amorepacific, South Korea's biggest cosmetics company.

Building in Seoul - Dongbu Financial Center

Here is a serie of building photos taken in Seoul. I tried to select buildings having special architecture.

I hope I can take other pictures later so I can post several articles about it.
Click on the pictures to enlarge!

Since Korean uses a different alphabet you cannot type Korean on Windows 7 with the default keyboard settings.
Fortunately it takes only 1 minute to add Korean Keyboard input method in Windows. Here you will find a video tutorial and a full description to achieve it.

Gangnam Style's video clip is about to reach 200 million views on Youtube, and still the fever keeps rising!
Right now Gangnam Style is ranked 1st in Itunes Autralia and US top 10 songs. How far will it go ?

PSY's worldwide success just surpassed all the previous records set by Korean singers. Gangnam Style just ranked 64th on the latest US Billboard chart. The previous best rank for a Korean singer was set by the Wonder Girls (ranked 76th).

PSY's song is now in the US iTunes Top 10! It will certainly be difficult for other Korean artists to beat these new records. Maybe PSY's next song?

Only two weeks after the Bolaven typhoon passed by Korea, another typhoon is expected to strike the country.

Though it is currently not as strong as Bolaven, this new typhoon named Sanba is expected to get stronger in the coming days (between Sunday and Tuesday).

So for those who are - like me - expats in Korea stay safe during the week end!

Source : Chosun Media

The best parodies and covers of Gangnam style

When he released Gangnam Style, PSY didn't expect that his song would have such a great success all over the planet (almost 160 million views on Youtube).

The video clip became viral and many video parodies and covers have been posted until now. Here you will find the best Gangnam Style's videos ranked by categories : funny, video game, music mashups, sexy, parody, cosplay, country parody, instrument, flashmobs...

I will post a serie of articles on what to do / what to see in Seoul and in Korea. For the 1st article I will write about something that I consider worth to see in Seoul, but still quite unknown : The banpo Bridge (반포대교).

Indeed usually tourists don't know much about it, and don't go to see it. Even many of my Korean friends haven't seen it yet! You would miss something if you leave Korea before getting there.

As a foreigner, one thing that surprised me when I first visited Seoul is that I couln't find and postcard or souvenirs to send to my family / friends.
Even when visiting the tourists spots, there was no postcard there! Then my korean friends let me know a street in Seoul dedicated to that : The place you need to go is named Insadong (인사동).