Hallyu in Paris

The Kpop wave has settled in Paris. In Chinatown, shops that used to sell Honk Kong music now had definitely more Korean items than anything else. Just see the shop's display! And they have all the idols collectibles! Hallyu collectibles shops in Myeongdong can't even compete with this one in Paris. They have SHINee note books, JYJ tumblers, F(x) pins, 2PM pens and even the pig-rabbit! Ah, these Chinese merchants, they never lose an opportunity!

 A puzzled Chinese ahjussi in front of all this

Korea - Random 4

Cute things I've found here and there in Seoul.

 

The little bell sign is the symbol of the center district of Seoul

Some serious kicking

 While waiting for a friend , I found out there was more to the giant interactive information board in subway stations. Besides the basic maps and weather info, there are also tabs if you need to know how is your luck today. It's all complete with the Chinese zodiacs, astrological signs and even the fortune cookie. So, are you superstitious?

Korea - Random 3

The Gangnam area is full of clinics for plastic surgery. It starts from inside the subway station where there are all the advertising with "before/ after" pictures of surgery services they propose. I think this one was the best with its name "Cinderella". But I thought Cinderella was just about getting the right shoe?

Korea - Random 2

A car ferris wheel!! Little scooter is not tall enough to get on it so it had to wait

on the side :)

Korea - Random 1

 Guess where are these cute figures in front of?

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Answer is the police station. They don't have these in front of every station. This one was near Gwanghwamun.

Happy Bunny Year!!

 Actually at Colette, Paris

Wish everyone lots of energy and wealth to hop around wearing lovely jewelry like these bunnies.

Masks from Nepal

I haven't gotten around to post about the exposition I saw last week of December. It was at Quai Branly (now, my favorite museum) titled "Dans Le Blanc Des Yeux" about primitive masks from the Himalaya region.

It always awes me how people from so long ago and so far away could have made art or objects that still speak to us today. One particularity of theses masks was that they were mainly masks for entertainment. Often, masks are traditionally tied to sacrifices and other spiritual rituals. These ones were almost all smiling and fun and not scary at all.

Only after uploading these pictures that I noticed

how beautiful the turquoise lightings were.

The various aged wood colors pop out nicely from it.

Daytime Hongdae

It's strange how this area can seem completely different from day to night. I like the bustling crowd at night better but this day tour let us discover some kooky places.

 That is not a church but a bar restaurant.

The guy obviously has to park his car in the street so

he can show off his matching garage door...

Pinky

Pinky tailed fellow met in Jeonju. He was kind of grumpy, I guess he didn't like what his/her master did to his hair. Poor guy, he's already an albino... But I think it's quite a funky style.

Giant bibimbap in Paris

This afternoon the Korean cultural center and Jeonju city prepared a giant bibimbap in front of the St. Eustache church. I arrived a bit late but fought through the crowd to get you these pictures, and of course a sample of the food for myself.

notice how the women are busy working, the men stands waiting

Bibimbap mixing

I wonder how much gochujang (pepper paste) has been added in there. They were about 10 women doing all the work.

 

This is the sample!

Then everyone enjoyed their bibimbap. I don't know how much impact this kind of event can produce. From what I saw, there were a lot of youngsters who came were already familiar with the asian culture. Of course there were some people who just happened to be strolling around. Maybe this will get the Korean restaurants here more clients. But this isn't good for my selfish me who wants to keep the good things to myself.

Moon festival is coming up

The Japanese version: usagi manju from Minamoto Kitchoan. The yuzu filling was awesomely light and fresh.

Barbie's car?

Spotted this morning in front of the

Westin, Paris

It matches almost perfectly to my blog design ^O^

Beware Italian children

Italian little boys are in shorts and Italian little girls have braids and a tiny purse.

Indeed, this is fashionable Italy!

^o^

met this fellow in the subway

How can this thing be so ugly and yet so cute? ^o^

I think I can love any dog in this world.

New York / Paris - A380

I didn't realize I was going to board the giant plane until I heard the little guy behind me said it was the biggest plane ever in the whole world. See the cam video during take-off, it's so cool! It's like a giant version of Disneyland's Peter Pan.
Actually, once inside, I didn't feel it was that big. But you can see that there are many, many people around you... I might get nervous now...

Waking up to a pink sky

My seat was at the wing, and what a wing! In fact, when I'm really seating back on my chair, the wing covers up 3/4 of my window. Note: if ever boarding an A380 again, never choose wing area seats.

Then we landed quite softly, then as usual in Paris CDG, you have to tour around the for another 15min before the plane is actually parked. I've noticed firemen trucks following around us, but I guesses it was because the plane is exceptionally large, and quite new, they are doing this as a routine. But once we have parked, the captain announced that the tires "just" burned a little, and that he asked the firemen escort "just" in case...

 

see the little red trucks? there are some behind the plane too

Today's dessert

Guimauves: I don't like to eat them, but I love to look at them.

Their colors are so lovely!

wonder how chemical they are though...

 

Gyeongju - ???

On peut voir des graines (ne me demandez quelle sorte) sécher par terre un peu partout.

 

les petits vieux installent leurs graines

Dream clouds

En arrivant, le ciel était trop beau, les nuages faisaient des effets de traces. On ne voit pas ce genre de nuages à Paris. Du coup, en bonne touriste qui s'étonne de tout et de rien, j'ai pris en photo.

Bon, je sais, la photo est pas top...

Mais je vous assure que c'était très beau, magique même!

???

Guess what is this shop!

Mr. Umbrella

Oh mais c'est que mon public est très exigeant dis donc!

C'est vrai que j'ai pas eu le temps de mettre des commentaires encore. Tout à l'heure, je squattais au starbucks mais pour publier les photos c'est déjà long avec l'unique Go qu'il a le NB... là, meme au fond du village traditionel, je chope du wifi qui dit "très faible" mais c'est autant qu'à périgny je crois haha. On est bien au pays des trucs high tech. j'ai lu que c'est la + grande concentration de cellulaires et de hotspots au monde ici. les gens vont avoir des cerveaux tous grillés dans 2-3 générations.

Sinon, revenons à cette photo. J'ai pris ça quand j'étais dans le bus qui m'emmenais de l'aéroport Incheon à Seoul. Le vieux monsieur avec sa mobylette toute rafistolé de partout et un chargement de toutes sortes de parapluie. (Il faut peut-être l'agrandir pour voir) J'ai trouvé ça marrant.

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