Saturday was a whole load of fun with really good company! It was Korea's founder's day, so there was a fireworks competition held at Yoeido in Seoul. Lirong, Mel and I really wanted to check out the Leeum musuem because the buildings were designed by famous architects such as Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas. So we took a long subway ride, switched trains 3 times, and finally met Yongseok and Byongwoo at the museum in Seoul. Yongseok and Byongwoo are Lirong's friends whom she met when she was travelling in Vietnam! They're studying in the Air Force academy, and it's kinda like a university also, just that on top of having normal lectures, they learn how to fly planes too, like fighter jet pilots! On top of that, they're on full government scholarship and have to go through interviews and examinations before they are finally selected. In other words, only the cream of the crop can get in I suppose. Haha, so they pretty much have the whole package cos they're rather good looking, smart, and really nice and gentlemenly! But... they're only 20! hahahah!

The museum trip was rather boring because we were really hungry, and every art piece that I saw reminded me of food!!! I think there was a painting or sculpture by a guy called Jean Debuffet or something along that line. And then suddenly Byongwoo said " ahh PEAGUPAKKKK" (which means hungry in korean), and then covered up "Jean De-" leaving only "buffet". Hahaha it was really quite funny. I couldn't remember much about the art in the museum because in the first place we were more interested in the architecture of the museum itself. We didn't manage to get into the Rem Koolhaas building cos that one usually only opens when there are special exhibitions. We did get a glimpse from the outside though. I think out of the two buildings we entered, I kinda prefered the Mario Botta one, as compared to the one designed by Jean Nouvel. Mario Botta's design was his usual signature brick cladded facade, just that this time round, he created a curved form, inspired by traditional korean pottery if I'm not wrong. I like how the walls slant slightly on the interior, which made me feel slightly giddy actually, but I guess his intention was to direct our eyes towards the centre of the rotunda, which has a skylight on the top. I really liked how the spaces are created around a high volume space in the middle and each gallery is like a strip of space circling the rotunda. When you are in the gallery spaces, it is dark, but as you approach the rotunda, you start seeing natural lighting flowing into the gallery space, and its very poetic how you are just drawn towards the stairway in the rotunda (that brings you to the other galleries on other levels) and how natural lighting just flows so gently into the spaces, while allowing the deeper parts of the gallery to still be dark. It's hard to describe, guess one just has to be there to experience it. But here are some interior shots of the rotunda I found online.

Credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/472448683_0f751a31b4.jpg?v=0

Credit: http://www.sidhin.com/Calumn/building/images/leeum_4.jpg

Credit: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1128/762407150_fdb0b51b4f.jpg?v=1183998395

The one by Jean Nouvel on the other hand felt really messy. I felt that the spaces weren't very organised and somehow there wasn't really a clear indication of where to go etc. It felt like the spaces had no guiding principle behind them. But well that was just my own personal take on it, I might be wrong haha. Still, one particular thing I like about the Jean Nouvel one was how the spaces had different volumes and different heights, so it allowed a lot of interaction between the different levels.

After the museum, we made a trip to myeong dong for Indian food! We had 4 different kinds of curry, tandoori chicken and butter naan, garlic naan, and honey naan! Haha but not many pictures cos we were too busy eating to do anything else.

Then with a full stomach it was time to head to Yoeido for the fireworks! We managed to get a good seat climbing up this terraced slope and sitting on the crash barrier, which was really tough on the bum haha. And on that night I realised how thoughtful and sweet yongseok is. The night before we met, he text Lirong saying that it'd be cold watching fireworks by the Hangang river, and reminded us to dress warm. In the afternoon when we met him, he was carrying a big bag and I was wondering to myself why he brought so much barang barang along. But when we were waiting for the fireworks to start, he suddenly fished out two blankets from his bag! He actually brought the blankets cos he thought we might we cold! On top of that, he brought along cookies and snacks too. Haha I was really impressed by how thoughtful he is. Whoever becomes his girlfriend is really really lucky larh haha.

Mel and I waiting for the fireworks display to start.. It was going to be an hour long!

That's Byongwoo at the extreme right, and Yongseok next to him.

All of us, except Lirong who is taking the picture!

The expressway next to the river. When the fireworks started, all the cars just stopped to watch the display. No one cared about the traffic haha.

That's me, and Byongwoo's shoes with the cityscape in the background! And the insane amount of people who gathered for the display. Somehow I like this picture haha.

And finally, the fireworks! I think it was one of the most magnificent display I've seen. There was one part where they put fireworks under the bridge and the whole bridge lighted up like a waterfall of sparklers! It was soooo gorgeous :) Some of the fireworks just looked so beautiful it was as though God sprinkled gold dust from heaven :)

Yep so we parted after the display, with Lirong, Mel, Sungwook and I heading back to our prison in Ansan, and Yongseok and Byongwoo heading back home. I really had an awesome day, and each time we hang out with Yongseok and Byongwoo it's always a lot of fun. Can't wait for the next outing! :) :)