Seodaemun Museum of Natural History

Imagine for a moment that you are the curator of a natural history museum. As visitors enter your museum, what visual image do you want them to see?

(Think of a cliché.)

A T-Rex, perhaps?

Oh yes.

Definitely a cliché, but clichés exist for a reason.

The Seodaemun Museum of Natural History has its star attraction right here in the main hall. Big, bold and aggressive, the King strikes a menacing pose letting first-time viewers know who’s really in charge of the local tyranny around here. As we entered the building, the group before us let out a chorus of "oohs" and "aahs", and Vee and I upon seeing the "terrible dragon" (trans. lit. from Korean) stood in awe of it for a few moments. The astonishment soon turned into curiosity...and determination...to get on the dinosaur...

...or at least create the illusion that we had.

Natural history museums come in all shapes and flavours.  The museum that I grew up with back home was a rather serious and academic affair. Hushed voices, long corridors, people on their best behaviour and beautiful exhibits.

The Seodaemun museum, too, has beautiful exhibits but there the similarity ends. The museum has a much more family-oriented atmosphere and, by family, I really mean for children.  For a day's outing with the children, the museum is an excellent choice. Parents can leave the stroller at home as they've got plenty for use there.

There are buttons to push and panels to open. Hanging skeletons of ancient flying monsters suspended in air. Mini movies of exploding planets and others of massive volcanoes. Dinosaur poop, long-lost sea beds, human skulls, tiny frogs, real live sharks, geological specimens and other wonders too numerous to mention. There were children everywhere of all ages running around and examining everything yet none of them looked in the least bit bored. That’s about as good a recommendation as you are likely to get.

The museum building is quite new, having been built in 2003. This shows in the lighting and floor layout of the building. Everything is accessible and easy on the eyes. It’s not a big museum but great care and imagination has gone into the displays, and there is something for all tastes here. This is Korea so technical wizardry is used to good effect to help inform and entertain.

It’s one thing to see images of animals both ancient and modern on television but nothing beats getting up close and personal with the real thing. Have a yen for Orthoceras (and who doesn’t?) Or perhaps Triceratops is more your “bag”? When was the last time you got a decent fix of Stromatolites, hmm?  The Seodaemun has some first-rate specimens.

One important thing that the museum has worked on is context.  Unlike a random collection of curios that some eccentric millionaire might store in a private collection, the displays clearly show the time frame and environment from where the animals came from. This helps create a contextual framework and leads the visitor to a greater appreciation and understanding of the animals themselves. For me, the dinosaur family tree, the display of the evolution of whales and the pre-historic sea-beds were excellent examples of this kind of forethought and good planning.

To round things off, there’s a children’s library, a gift shop, a coffee chop and a roof-top playground dinosaur “petting zoo”. The museum covers several different floors, but there is a large modern lift available and the floor layout seems well-suited to wheelchairs.

We hope you have a wonderful time at the museum as we did. This outing may just bring out the kid in you.

Status: Recommended.

Location & Directions
서울시 서대문박물관길 25연희3동 산5-58)
Bangmulgwan-Gil 25 Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul Korea 120-113
Phone: 02-330-8899
Website: http://namu.sdm.go.kr/

From Sinchon Station or Yonsei University Main Gate, take Bus #3 and get off at 자연사박물관 (ja-yeon-sa-bang-mul-gwan). The stop for this is not labeled in English, but the stop after (Seodaemun-gu Office) is. So if you find yourself at Seodaemun-gu Office, you'll want to get off and walk back to the museum's stop.

 This is what you should see when you get off the bus.







Follow the road up. You will want to cross the road first to get on the right side as the steps that Vee is standing on in the picture come to an end.






What you should see as you're climbing up.







The view from your left.








Once at the top of the hill, you'll turn left through the main entrance and walk another hundred yards or so. You'll pass restrooms and a playground on your right. From then on, there will be signs to point you in the right direction.





Admission

'Aporia' Art Exhibit by Artist Lee Jung

Nobody goes to art galleries. People typically prefer to stay at home on the week-ends. Even at gunpoint, the very thought of leaving the comfort of TV and Internet and getting out there for a cultural experience is anathema to most people.
However, today that trend was officially bucked.

Today, your noble Cee invited the incomparable Vee to get up and go out…to visit an art
gallery. Vee did a bang-up job of finding a small, art gallery in a ritzy part of Seoul and we both went out to make a day of it.

 The art gallery was tucked out of the way from the main drag. Took us a few false turns to find the place yet find it we did. The place was small but we had it all virtually to ourselves. Freedom of movement was not an issue and we could comment on the exhibits openly without fear of disturbing anybody.

The art on display had a consistent running theme of neon-lit phrases lying isolated and out-of-place in bleak and deserted natural landscapes.

Odd.

Not the sort of thing I commonly expect to see. However, commonly
expected sights I can get at home any time. I came to see something new. This indeed was new.

The phrases embedded within the exhibits were banal. Banal declarations of love that insipid lovers are culturally straight-jacketed to whisper to each other. Declarations of love that are repeated a thousand times a day in the lyrics of fuzzy warbles on your radio and Internet play-lists. Traditional, short, saccharin sweet phrases that, once swallowed, leave only a slight bitter after-taste.

These phrases were taken from their natural environment and dumped somewhere bleak, cold and lonely in the wilderness-in glaring neon no less. The effect was puzzling and at first, both myself and Vee were at a loss to understand the point of it all. Had we reached a dead-end here? Chosen a bad gallery for our first, tentative foray in the art world? Should we leave the gallery in puzzlement and disappointment? No, there was no need for such drastic measures.

As we quickly learned, all good culture vultures should feel free to leaf through the
handout that is given freely at reception to help visitors understand the motivation and background of the artist in question. In this case, the handout proved to be the key to it all. It may feel a little bit like cheating but going to an art gallery shouldn’t be treated like an exam. If somebody gives you a guide on what you will see then take it. Read it! Valuable information may well lie within.

Both I and Vee left the gallery with satisfaction and enjoyment. What at first glance
appeared to be something rather mundane and strange turned out to be thought-
provoking and novel. It was something new to see. A chance to get out of the house and
engage with the out-of-the-ordinary.

Check out the photos and comments by the artist. If you are in town, grab a friend and see it for yourself.

Status: Recommended.
Website and directions: One&J Gallery

츠키지 Japanese Restaurant

 (Seoul, Ln 3, Anguk Stn, Exit 2)

Living in Seoul, I am privy to the wonderful selection of international restaurants the city has to offer.  Cee and I were on an excursion to Jae-Dong, one of the historic districts of Seoul, to check out a particular art gallery when we both agreed that we were very, very hungy. It was past 1pm when we alighted the train in the subway at Anguk Station and ascended up the stairs out through Exit 2. The number of families that were out and about was more than usual and everybody seemed to be in a good mood. Cee suggested that we have Japanese for lunch, and as we did a sort of 180-turn scanning the street for such a restaurant, we instantly spotted one diagonally across the street from us. It was housed in a building fronted with blond wooden slats and beside it was a deck on which one or two tables were placed. We crossed the street and walked about 30 or 40 yards until we reached the restaurant. We checked out the display menu that read in Korean and stepped inside.

 The interior of the restaurant was sleek and clean. An elevated area with tatami mats for people to sit down on lined the wall on the far right side and western-style tables and chairs inhabited the rest of the floor.  In the back, two sushi chefs stood at their station behind a glass-fronted display case. They seemed busy putting together a few orders. A matronly female hostess seated us at a table and a younger waitress handed us a menu in Korean and Japanese. Cee and I sat looking at the decorative features of the place, and I sort of marveled at the blue neon decorative piece above Cee's head. It was the only non-Japanese element in the establishment that I could see apart from the patrons, and it read, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." It seems to be high fashion these days for restaurants in Korea to add English writing to their walls. The blue neon reflected surprisingly well off the black iron railings,  dark leather-brown chairs and seats, and grey charcoal countertops at the sushi station. 

Egg-white custard (I think.)

Because Cee and I could not read the menu very well and they had no menus in English, we decided to just go ahead and order a 25,000 won-per-person "set menu" not knowing exactly what we were going to get. We were given two egg-custard appetizers to start us off, and when I was finished, I pulled out my Canon and took a couple of snapshots of the chefs and decorations.

The chefs agreed to stand still for me after I made a few failed attempts to take focused snap shots of them in action. In addition to these photos, I took a photo of a collection of bottles placed neatly around a wide pillar covered in Japanese signs.

Our 25,000 won "set menus" came out and Cee and I dug in...Japanese style... with chopsticks. The presentation of the food was simple yet pleasing to the eye and the sushi was very, very fresh. Cee and I enjoyed it all. We each received twelve pieces of sushi including marble tuna, salmon, and shrimp, along with side dishes consisting of taro root, dried and pickled persimmon (I think), salad, acorn gelatin, two soups (miso and noodle), and broiled eel. And although I had to be reassured that some of the fish was not going to overpower the senses, in the end I tried and finished all but one piece.

I recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting a nice and relaxing sushi lunch or dinner to complete their day out in this historic part of the city. Jae-dong is filled with trendy shops, cafes, restaurants, and galleries. Here you can find hand-made jewelry, bags, clothing, and other apparel. On nice days, the place is filled with families, tourists, lovers, and folks like me and Cee looking for a restaurant to review and art to view.

 Locations & Contact info:
서울시 종로구 재동 109번지 1F   Tel 02 742 2335
서울시 강남구 도곡동 418번지 1F  Tel 02 579 3345