Seoul Has A Rich Cultural History

Circled by rugged mountain peaks, Seoul itself is an ancient city built in the late 14th century under the Chosun Dynasty. With a population of nearly 11 million, it boasts a blend of well preserved antique buildings and palaces juxtaposed with state of the art skyscrapers, deluxe hotels and shopping complexes. Beautifully landscaped parks, temples and fortresses vie for attention with museums, art galleries, and shopping arcades bristling with bargains.

Including historic sites, and tourist attractions, sightseeing on your own is relatively easy in Seoul, where the public transport system is safe and efficient, and taxis are plentiful. Some of the points of interest are, the national museum which houses one of the finest collections in Korea. The Kyongbokkung Palace, a favorite with visitors. Built in 1305 by King T'aejo there is a ten-storey stone pagoda and several lovely pavilions. In the beautifully landscaped gardens, is the national Folklore Museum which depicts the daily life of South Koreans through the ages.

East of City Hall lies an area rich in cultural lore and antiques. The C'hangdokkung Palace is best known for its secret garden (Piwon), 78 acres of renovated beautifully landscaped garden with pavilions ponds and wooded areas are open to small groups. Within the grounds is the separate royal residence, Nakasonjae where the last remaining members of the Choson Dynasty royal family still live. Nakasonjae is sometimes open to the public for special occasions. Adjacent is another royal palace, the Ch'anggyonggung. Here you can take a glimpse into the life and arts of the royal families. A pleasant cultural area is Taehakno, where tree lined streets house small sidewalk cafes, restaurants and galleries. Closed to traffic on weekends, it has become a place for pedestrians to enjoy the works of local artists, dance groups, poets and other performers. Just west of the bustling shopping area of Insa Dong, is Chogyesa, the headquarters of the main Buddhist sect of Korea (Chogye). I t is the main temple within the city limits and is famous for its Lantern Festival.

Suwon , 48 kilometres south is the fortress of Suwon. Near Suwon is the Korean Folk Village, a kind of living museum which recreates life as it was several centuries ago. Potters, millers, weavers and other craftsmen work here just as their ancestors did dressed in the national costumes of the time. There is an outdoor market place with artifacts and tasty snacks for sale, nearby are two amusement parks. Ich'on about 59 kilometers southeast from Seoul is famous for its pottery kiln and hot springs. The kilns specialise in Koryo celado ware and Choson Dynasty ceramic reproductions. Watch the master potters at work and select the most desirable pieces for sale.

Kyongju, if you have time for only one trip outside Seoul, Kyongju the capital of the Shilla Kingdom should be the choice. Here is a "museum without walls", a treasure chest of historic remains with tombs, monuments and temples. The Pulgoska Temple complete with magnificent pagodas and the home of a serene stone Buddha, Sokkuram Grotto are especially interesting sites.

Pusan, 480 km southeast of Seoul lies Pusan, second largest city and major port of Korea. It is here that the yachting events will be held. Other attractions at Pusan include international hotels, fish markets, beaches, hot springs, national parks, cultural centers, and historical sites.

SEOul On CEllulOid

Whereas people from Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan are crazy about Korean dramas and pop music, people from Denmark, France or Canada are more likely to have watched Korean films before arriving in Korea. With a busy and internationally successful film industry, Seoul and Korea have become the backdrop for quite a number of movies. SEOUL takes you to some of the most beautiful settings in Seoul that were used in films by three of the most prolific contemporary Korean filmmakers.

Bukchon & Seongbuk-dong
In "3 Iron" (Kor. Bin Jip or empty house'), the 2004 film by the infamous Korean director Kim Ki-duk, a rather taciturn guy rides through the city of Seoul on his silver-colored, spot-free BMW, attaching advertisements for delivery Chinese, chicken and pizza on doors in such a way that they cover the door lock. It's his method to spot temporarily empty houses that he then uses to live in. While riding from neighborhood to neighborhood, this motorcyclist draws a perfect picture of the different characters of the city, almost creating a sociological profile of Seoul. He drives through well-off neighborhoods like Seongbuk-dong or Pyeongchang-dong in the hilly north of the city, but also explores poor neighborhoods, old, decaying apartment complexes just years away from complete destruction, like the Jeongreung Sky Apartments, built in 1971, just a stone's throw away from the rich lodgings of ambassadors and movie stars. The m ost famous area explored by the motorcyclist, who is at some point is joined by an unhappy wife he picks up on his forays, is Bukchon, the hanok village between the two palaces. They walk down Gahoe-dong 31-gil, a rather steep alley lined by hanok , traditional Korean houses, newly restored to their former beauty. At the top of the hill is a stunning view of Seoul's inner city's high rises, including the landmark Jongro Tower and Namsan N Seoul Tower, forming a nice contrast with the sturdy roof tiles of the hanok in the foreground. Bukchon, translated as "northern village," is the area of town where in the times of the Joseon Dynasty (13921910) the yangban , the aristocratic elite, used to livein convenient vicinity of the royal court. It is an area that seems to have kindled director Kim Ki-duk's creativity.

Bukchon is best explored starting from Anguk Station, Line 3. If you exit through Exit 6, after a few meters you will reach a Tourist information booth. There, maps of the area are handed out, making it easiest to find the famous Hanok alley at the top of the mountain.

Seongbuk-dong can be reached from Hanseong University Station, Line 4, Exit 6. Walk up the main road for about a kilometer.

Suyeon Sanbang will be at the right, in a small alley across from Deoksu church. Open from noon to 10:30pm. T. (02) 764-1736.

His more recent movie "Dream" (Kor. Bimong , 2008) also takes place there. "Dream" is basically a "journey that takes you along the many remaining hanok in Seoul", as one Korean blogger poignantly put it. As the workshop for the male protagonist, a seal maker, served a gallery-caf in Gahoe-dong that has since closed down; the female protagonist designs her fashion in another modernized hanok , as well; some scenes take the viewer into the rooms of luxury hanok -hotel Rakkojae; and the hanok -style town office of Hyehwa-dong has been transformed into a police station.

"Dream" also visits places in Seongbuk-dong. The two main figures, connected through a s t r a n g e d r e a m m y s t e r y, v i s i t a d o c t o r / psychologist/shamanist who set up her office in Yi Tae-jun's hanok , the Suyeon Sanbang. Yi Tae-jun was one of the most prolific writers of Korean modernity, building a rather large mansion there in the 1930s that incorporated modern Japanese influe ncesmost visible in the glass (and not paper) windowsinto the traditional architectural style of Korea. His granddaughter turned this home into a cozy teahouse. It feels like entering someone's living room; the home-made tea further emphasizes that. In the movie, however, the space feels cold and scary, due to the energy the shaman counselor exudes. The twisted and surreal film ends with white ice and a red bridge Seongsan Bridge in the west.

Hangang River
Bridges along the Hangang River are the backdrop for many a movie. For Bong Junho's "The Host" (Kor. Goemul , 2006), one of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies in recent Korean film history, the bridges become the main scene of action, allowing the viewer to see them from new perspectives, climbing through them and under them and across them. A monster that mutated from waste jumps out of the Hangang one day and abducts a child, hiding it in some corner under a bridge. As the story continues, the child' family uses all the weapons at their disposalbe they arrows, bullets or improvised Molotov cocktailsto find the child and kill the monster. They hurry along the southern banks of the river, passing or traversing almost every bridge, from Seongsan in the west to Banpo in the east, which becomes the rainy scene of an unsuccessful attempt by the family to shoot the monster. One of the little kiosks at Hangang Park on Yeouido serves not only as the family's source of income but also as their home and the headquarters of the search. Unfortunately, these little stores have been replaced by modern and smartly equipped convenience stores in the course of the reconstruction project on the Yeouido river banks. Nonetheless, Hangang River Park is always a worthwhile trip, with the water taxis taking you across longer distances, for example toward Olympic Park in the east or Seonyudo Park in the west.

The vast hangang Park can best be reached from Yeoinaru Station, Line 5, Exit 2 or 3. Walk east and you will pass Wonhyo, Hangang Iron, Hangang, Dongjak and finally Banpo Bridgeall of them backdrops for "The Host." Nonetheless, Hangang Park is always a worthwhile trip, with the water taxis taking you across longer distances, for example toward Olympic Park in the east or Seonyudo Park in the west.

Namsan Cable Car
Hong Sang-soo is truly a master of variation. He manages to narrate the same story over and over again, in ever different constellations, with different settings, and (mostly) different actors. The backdrop of his movies is usually the archetypical Korea of the 70s and 80s that is slowly disappearingsimple, often almost rotten motels; down-to - earth restaurants with interchangable names like "Our Restaurant"; drinking holes. Yet the movie that he is most famous for, " Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors" (Kor. Oh! Sujeong , 2000), features two scenes that are very easy to recognize, making them stand out against the otherwise u n s p e c i a l s e t t i n g s e v e n m o r e . O n e i s Gyeongbokgung Palace, the biggest of the five palaces in Seoul. The other one is Namsan Cable Car. Taking the cable car to reach the top of Mt. Namsan, is, for the main female protagonist Sujeong, a trip that lets her gain a distance from what's be en happening. Rising high up above Seoul serves as a metaphor for her making up her mind. Coincidentally, the cable car gets stuck midwaya hint to the fact that reaching new heights is not always positively connoted. The film is shot entirely in black and white, strangely setting the story into a non-time, detaching it from historicity. This is successful only to a certain degree. If you take the cable car in 2010, ten years after the film was shot, the utter speed in which this city changes becomes starkly apparent. Time is relative, after allwhat is a decade elsewhere, is an era in Korea. And this is what is most strikingthe fact that these films almost serve as a visual memory of the city.

Other film settings
Kim Ki-duk's "Samaria" (2004) is set partly in the garden-park on the island of Seonyudo, attached to the southern river banks by a rainbow-shaped bridge. The two girls of this movie play in weeds, hide behind sculptures, and walk through in the golden ginkgo leaves of early fall. "Modern Boy" (2008, dir. Jeong Ji-woo, feat. Kim Hye-su), a historical movie set in the time when Korea was colonized by Japan, follows around a dandy in the Seoul of the Jazz Age. Locations that most Seoulites are familiar with Myeong-dong, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul Station and the rooftop garden of the Shinsegae Separtment Store in Myeong-dongare shown (or painted in the background) in their original form.

- The article courtesy of Seoul magazine

Korean Gardens

The Korean garden is more than just a scenic location. For Koreans of old, it was amicrocosm of the universe, an architectural embodiment of the Korean world view. Man's influencing touch is kept to a minimumrocks, streams, ponds, and trees are left as close to their natural state as possible; artificial additions, meanwhile, serve to highlight or complement nature, not dominate it. By tying together the natural and man-made, the garden expresses man's harmony with his natural environment, an ever-present theme in Koreantraditional culture.

Characteristics of Korean gardens

Kim Yong-duk, former president of the Traditional Garden Society and himself the owner of the beautiful Haksajae home and a tale of Seoul Korean Gardens Simple and natural, Korean gardens embody the traditional view of the cosmos Written and photographed by Robert Koehler garden on the island of Ganghwa-do, explains that the traditional gardens of Korea, China, and Japan share four common characteristics: water, rocks, plants, and structures. The differences, however, are in the details. In a Korean garden, for instance, the Korean red pine features prominently, while in Japanese gardens, cherry blossoms are more prominent, and in Chinese gardens, juniper trees. Kim says it "takes some time to get the feeling" of each nation's garden, but there are more general philosophical differences. Japanese gardens are more manicured, while Chinese gardens tend to be overwhelming in all aspects. Korean gardens, however, stress naturalizationthere is a less human approach. Korean gard ens will typically feature a pond, trees, and rocks, left in their natural state or placed in a manner approximating nature. Overlooking the scene, usually on a hill or by the side of the pond, a simple pavilion will be built to provide a panoramic view of the scenery. In larger gardens, such as the famed Huwon Garden of Changdeokgung Palace, several pavilions will be built, each offering its own unique view of the landscape.

Philosophical background

Underpinning the Korean traditional garden is a Korean world view, indigenous to the country and reinforced by imported ideologies such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, that reveres nature and seeks harmony of man in his natural environment. In "Korean Gardens: Where Man and Nature Become One," Chung Jae-hoon, Professor of Traditional Landscape Architecture at Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, writes:In particular, Song Confucianism's view of nature strongly influenced Joseon gardens. It was through these influences that Joseon art was created, with its naturalistic style untouched by artifice, while a worldly, practical lifestyle flourished, based on
moderation and diligence. Indeed, this led to the development of a highly humanistic and straightforwardly naturalistic culture.

To see the epitome of this philosophy, head to the Juhamnu Pavilion in Changdeokgung Palace. Set atop a terraced hill overlooking Buyongji Pond, the two-story pavilion and pleasure pond is a favorite of former Traditional Garden Society president Kim. "It is particularly typical of the neo-Confucian idea of harmonizing humans, and nature, such as the shape of the island and pond," he explains.

Seen from the pavilion, Buyongji Pond is a square, representing the earth, while the circular island in the middle, with its beautiful solitary pine tree, represents heaven. The Juhamnu was the king's personal library and is located close to the palace, at the highest point in the garden. Below the Juhamnu are several other pavilions, each with its own function and meaning.

Beautiful Korean gardens near Seoul

These are several gardens in and around Seould where visitors can get a better appreciation of the beauty of Korean landscaping.

Changdeokgung Huwon:Generally considered the apex of Korean traditional gardening, this royal pleasure palace behind Changdeokgung Palacedesignateda UNESCO World Heritage Siteconsists of several ponds and associated pavilions, the most famous of which is Buyongji Pond. Each season presents a different and uniquely beautiful view.

Hours: Guided tours of the garden are given between 10am and 4:30pm (closed Mondays).
Admission: 5,000 won, plus 3,000 won to get into Changdeokgung Palace itself.
Getting there: A short walk from Exit 3 of Anguk Station, Line 3.

Seongnagwon:This retreat garden in Seongbuk-dong consists of three separate areas, an entrance, inner garden, and rear garden. One of the few remaining examples of Joseon-era villa architecture left in Seoul, it is a remarkably tranquil place where you can relax to the sounds of chirping birds and running water. The garden is currently undergoing restoration, which is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2010.

Hours: To be decided
Admission: To be decided
Getting there: Take a taxi from Hanseong UniversityStation, Line 4.

Hee Won Garden:Located on the grounds of the Ho-Am Art Museum in the Seoul suburb of Yongin, this spectacular piece of Korean traditional gardening was built by Samsung in 1997. The extensive grounds are home to a lotus pond, pavilions, Korean stone walls, pagodas and other stone ornaments, and even a rare peacock.

Hours: 10am5pm (closed Mondays)
Admission: 4,000 won
Getting there: Take bus No. 1113 (Gangbyeon
Station, Line 2), 1500 (Hanguk Univ. of Education,Line 3), 1500-2 (Sadang Station, Line 2), 5002,or 5800 (Gangnam Station, Line 2) and get off atEverland. Shuttle buses to the garden depart from Everland's entrance.

Video SEO is Growing in Social Media Acceptance

Video SEO in social media is growing in acceptance and importance to the consumer. Many companies are turning to different forms of social media marketing to promote online brands. Company websites are becoming more than static brochures. They are changing and growing, featuring more interaction with their audiences. Websites now contain a variety of forums like blogs, discussion forums, blog and page comments, and video. Companies are providing more information and they are letting their customers talk back to them.

Video is now becoming the new way to communicate information. Because we live in a wired or actually a wireless world, marketers are turning to both the web and mobile marketing, and video, to tell their stories. Not only is this a good way to share information and promote your brand, video marketing leads to higher search engine rankings, which means more website visitors and increased sales. Video SEO is following closely on the heels of the video re volution.

Some companies are slow to accept video, let alone video SEO, since it is still relatively new. However, online video and video SEO make perfect sense. Americans spend many hours in front of their televisions. Reality TV has taken television into a whole new direction. People want to see actual reality (or what they believe is reality). They want to experience and learn from what is actually happening, not what is acted out. We have become a visual learning society. So it is only natural that people want to "watch TV" on their computers, including finding new information and communicating. This new evolution of media brings new opportunities to marketing and makes video SEO an important tool in the marketing toolbox.

Video SEO will give you a strong edge in marketing strategy. Not only are you reaching people with the videos you produce, but by hosting your videos on sites like YouTube and Vimeo, and then embedding them on your blog or website, you are giving your site a video SEO boost.

You can give your video SEO efforts a bigger boost if you tag these videos with your chosen keywords, and include links back to the site where the video can be seen (i.e. your site). You can also share links to the video on your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, and post it on your Facebook "Like" page. This will not only expose your video to more people, but will tell search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo that both the video and your website are important. The more links you get back to your main website, the higher it will appear in the search engine rankings. And because Google owns YouTube, you have the added bonus of your videos being indexed quickly and easily, which can only help your v ideo SEO efforts even more.

Video SEO ends up helping you do a few things at once: promote your products or services, boost your search engine rankings, and help you reach more people by being some of the first in your industry to use these techniques.

The Internet is always changing, which is why you have to stay on top of the technology and tools behind it. Even things like search engine optimization techniques and tactics, including video SEO, are changing all the time things that were accepted and expected are now not only old news, they can even get you banned from the search engines.

If you find you do not have the time and energy to devote to SEO, then consider an SEO professional. Not only are they well-versed in the latest developments in the search engine world, like video SEO techniques, they know other professionals, like video production companies, that can help you create entertaining and informative videos that keep your visitors' interest o nce they arrive at your site.

Video SEO is an Important Way to Boost Search Engine Rankings

Video SEO (also known as video search engine optimization) is an important way to boost rankings for companies trying to rank higher on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. In fact, video SEO is becoming more important as more and more Internet users are watching online video.

According to a recent report from TubeMogul.com, nearly 40% of all video streams were referred by Google, followed by Yahoo (5.6%), Bing (2.3%), and Facebook (0.4%). The rest came from direct traffic. So, if you want to succeed at video SEO, Google seems the best place to be. However, don't forget Yahoo and Bing. Even though their ponds are smaller, that also means it's easier to be the big fish and win the video SEO battle on those two search engines.

You can do some great video SEO just by getting backlinks to your videos through social media promotion Facebook, Twitter, Bookmarking Sites etc. and then making sure you have backlinks from your video site to your regular website or blog. These backlinks can improve search engine rankings for any site you do this for.

Why is Video SEO Important? A few years ago, videos were these huge, impossibly cumbersome things that you could only share if you had special video players and broadband Internet, which only a few lucky people had. Video SEO was largely unnecessary, because people couldn't watch videos very easily.

But, we're seeing a confluence of events that make video SEO necessary: more people have cheap broadband, videos have become smaller, and it's now possible to stream videos on mobile devices.

According to ReelSEO.com, 80% of Internet users are watching online video around the world. Part of that is because Generation Y (people between the ages of 11 - 27) outnumbers Baby Boomers, 81 million to 78 million. So we're starting to see more and more people use smart phones and mobile devices to watch online video.

There are several free video sharing sites around, all of which are excellent candidates for video SEO. Of course, there's the big dog, YouTube. So many people are aware of YouTube, it's a must-submit for any of your online videos. But smart search engine optimization pros also use other video sharing sites like Vimeo, Viddler, or PhotoBucket. There are dozens of video sharing sites that make video search engine optimization easy.

Just like the diffe rence between Google and Yahoo/Bing, when it comes to video hosting, YouTube has the biggest audience, but it's harder to get seen. If you host your video on a smaller site, like Vimeo and Viddler, you have a much better chance of being that big fish in the small pond.

Consider Specialized Sites for Video SEO. We also like specialized sites like VideoJug.com for how-to videos, ScienceStage.com for science, teaching, and research, and Blip.tv for independent television shows and movies.

These three sites alone are great video SEO sites, because you can show off your home repair or cooking skills on VideoJug, demonstrate your radical new theories on virus morphology and jelly donuts on ScienceStage, or introduce people to your new web TV shows, which showcase your writing/directing/acting/wicked video uploading skills to viewers on Blip.tv (we liked Coma, Period).

As videos become easier for marketers to produce, and easier for consumers to, well, consume, vi deo SEO is becoming a necessary part of any online marketing campaign. Just remember to create videos that are short and easy to watch, fun and interesting for viewers, and hosted on one or more video sharing sites. You'll see your efforts pay off time and again.

Search Engine Optimized Video (Video SEO)

There are several articles written on SEO and very few on Video SEO; why? The reason is earlier search engines were fighting to deliver better content but now, when the winner Google has captured almost 80% of the English speaking market, is trying to enhance its services for better user experience.

Video is certainly one of these upcoming offered search services. After Text content became popular for Free and Paid Search results, Google started enhancing free image search and social media presence. Now it is Video, in queue. Most of the users are now more interested to watch interesting video and learn rather reading less interactive text. Video social media sites like Youtube.com, Metacafe.com etc are already running on top but now popular search engines has developed new technology for displaying optimized videos in search result pages.

What is Optimized Video result? Optimized Video result or video SEO is that in which a search engine shows Videos in search result listing. In this process only relevant videos are listed in search results. But search crawler cannot read Video content then how it reads the video relevancy? The solution for that is; the crawler would read a video sitemap (which will have keywords and description etc.) and surrounding web page text content of that Video. So, it is now more technically advanced and effective way to understand the relevancy for non-human but smart search crawler. How Video can get better ranking search engine results? This can be done by tech professionals or subject matter experts. There are a lot agencies or professionals offering these services as low budget. But before hiring any agency to optimize a business video, always take expert advice. Who would be beneficial for this search engine enhancement of Video results?

The professionals who teach "How to do" and create video tutorials as well and also Small businesses; who have limited budget for TV and Media ads but still want more customers or buyers. What are you waiting for? Go and start learning more OR if you are busy then approach a highly professional video production and marketing service provider who can create a great short video for your business and optimize for search engines so that the customers can reach you from another New Media.

Google Video sitemaps for video SEO

Imagine how well accepted is the video content on the web, because it's more attractive than the publicity just using with text material. There are many videos and content available on the web but not much informative to attract the users towards them, we find while searching on the web much useless content and without the relevant information, although we are searching the informative content, there is a huge increase recorded regarding online video uploading on the web.

Now goggle introduced another sitemaps for comprise in their indexing and servers who are called video sitemaps. Goggle publicizes it as a sitemaps has the videos with additional plus points for getting top search engine ranking, a lot of natives would be happy by knowing the difference between the big search engines and how they rate them between each other's Google comes first due to its user friendly environment and fast working regarding the search.

Now come to the video SEO, due to an imperative and rapid growth the online video optimization is necessary for the success. Let's take a look to some important point, which will help you to optimizing video online.

The video content should be according to the topic full of information, which caught the visitors, for the appetizer make sure that your content consisted of useful information. If you want a positive impact than your video content should be revealed slowly and step by step process, which is very useful and attracting for the visitors also the video contents that conveying the view regarding a particular topic is also beneficial.

Present and upload your video with an appealing title so that the video can be capable of catch the visitors to your site, that title holds the related keywords regarding to your products or services, etc. You may wishes to optimize your video according to the terms which the users like to use while searching, so the key phrases should be concerning to these terms which make that searching process easy for the users.

Although HTML content is also preferred with the search engine, but definitely you need your video to be ranked well, there you need to provide the search engine something special to listing and ranking. If the video is not full of attraction for the client it will be considering as a worse and time wasting. The video should be in short form maximum of one to five-minute durations and uploaded with smaller parts and labeled accordingly, this will result in viewing this video with pleasure and also keep the user to looks that video from the start to end.

For search engine optimization the video optimization is many reliable features, by thinking about the demands and needs of the customers you can optimize your video content in a positive way, so uploading via Google Video sitemaps for video SEO is helpful for you to searchable your video content by the users easily. You need to be active and holding the information about the trends while optimizing your video on the web.