Inspirations Travel Tours specialising in holiday packages and tours to the Mediterranean, North African, Middle Eastern and Scandinavian countries. A Hundred Cities Within Seoul. In the foreground were old houses, then a church steeple in the middle distance, a common sight in a country that is nearly a third Christian. Beyond lay the Han River and too many high rises to count. In five or 1. 0 years these old houses will be gone, he said. This is a city of destruction and reconstruction. As the call to prayer sounded, Mr. Bong led me away from the mosque and onto a narrow street, Usadan ro No. The businesses we passed fell roughly into three categories. There were specialty shops haberdashery, hardware where it appeared neither staff nor signage had changed in 5. There were restaurants of more recent origin serving kosher Korean food or Turkish kebabs. And then there were the newest arrivals a three month old wine bar, a juice bar, a tattoo studio slash art gallery called Soul Ink, a clothing shop in which every item was either black or white. One cafe sported a name that, as near as I could figure out, roughly translates as maybe were open today two invitingly fluffy white Samoyeds named Cloud and Storm work part time, according to the barista. The neighborhood hovered in that sweet spot just before people start complaining about gentrification. Here it all mixes very naturally, Mr. Bong said. Nunnamujip. KabbYR0L38.jpg' alt='Five Minarets In New York Full Movie Part 1' title='Five Minarets In New York Full Movie Part 1' />Sujebi. Seoul. N Seoul Tower. NAMSAN PARKLeeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Seoul Central Mosque. Aoi Sora. Resurrection by Juyoung Lee. CHINANORTH KOREANORTH KOREASeoul detail. Five Minarets In New York Full Movie Part 1' title='Five Minarets In New York Full Movie Part 1' />Han River. SOUTH KOREASOUTH KOREAJAPAN4. We walked farther down the street to a bar called Aoi Sora with a triangular sign. It specializes in daytime drinking, Mr. Bong said from Monday to Thursday, it closes at 7 p. Get the latest international news and world events from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and more. See world news photos and videos at ABCNews. Dave Matthews Band, also known by the initialism DMB, is an American rock band that was formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer. Inside, by the light of a single large square window at the back, he ordered clams in their shells and a bottle of clear alcohol with a ginseng root winding through it, which was not on the menu but was created by the bartender, who in his off hours teaches a class in traditional booze making. We sipped from small ceramic cups, and Mr. Bong talked more about his changing city. Every alley has its own story, he said. Over eight days in Seoul, destruction and transformation were regular themes. Ms. Shin, the novelist, explained her city this way In Paris or New York, when you have an appointment with a friend, you can meet her in the same place that you did a year ago. In Seoul, you cant, because there will be something new there. New Yorkers may quibble, but her point stands in Seoul the change is especially fast and comprehensive. But, Ms. Shin said, those same qualities are part of the citys dynamism and energy. They are also ones essential to her work. Ms. Shin, 5. 2, is the author of Please Look After Mom, which sold more than a million copies in Korea and was published in English in 2. In it, an old woman from the countryside comes to visit her grown children in Seoul. She makes it as far as the central train station and then disappears, lost in the matrix of the shape shifting city. Seoul is an important backdrop because I wanted to represent the clash between generations, Ms. Shin said. Photo. The showroom at Resurrection, the fashion brand founded by Juyoung Lee. Credit. Adam Dean for The New York Times The city is not all frenetic evolution. There are serene oases in its parks and greenways, on the grounds of its centuries old palaces and in its museums. Ms. Shin asked me to meet her at the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. It displays Korean art through the centuries, as well as contemporary works by both Korean artists like the video art pioneer Nam June Paik and international stars like Andreas Gursky and Louise Bourgeois. When we arrived just before opening, an air of tranquillity prevailed. A small group of us Ms. Shin, a poet friend of hers, an interpreter and I followed an English speaking guide through the Mario Botta designed wing that houses mostly traditional art. Other parts of the museum complex were designed by Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas. The first piece we saw was an ethereal celadon ewer from the 1. Beneath a soft spotlight in the darkened room, it looked almost translucent. Under the Goryeo dynasty, which lasted from the 1. Korean artists adopted the Chinese method of making the glazed, pale green pottery, then refined the craft to the point that many art historians consider Korean celadon among the finest ever made. Though a well of knowledge herself, our human guide had also handed us digital ones. Museum audio guides tend to be clunky and overly insistent, but these lightweight, touch screen paddles invited play. My sleek little machine sensed which object I was looking at and silently presented its image with white on black text. Some of the objects could be enlarged and spun around on the screen, allowing me to study curves and texture in minute detail the next best thing to being able to pick up the items. In front of a 1. 5th century blue and white porcelain jar, I became so absorbed in the digital display that I fell behind the group. But one specific item was our true destination. It was a foot and a half tall, white, rotund, 1. Big Miracle Movie Watch Online here. Lit from above, it appeared to float like a heavenly body over its pedestal. A jagged, tea colored stain cut across the surface like an abstract painters flourish, the result of oil once held in the vessel seeping out. Ms. Shin said the jar reminded her variously of a mountain, a pregnant woman or a woman in a hanbok a voluminous traditional dress on a windy day. She visits the jar regularly, she said, and it offers her peace when she is stressed. If Seouls manic side pulses through her settings, the jar shapes her work in a different way. I want to write sentences as beautiful as the moon jar, she said. I havent done it yet. She is particularly in love with the oil stain. The line of the stain shows the flow of time. Humans didnt make it only history and nature could. Ms. Lee, the fashion designer, invited me to visit her at her showroom in Gangnam, the district made internationally famous after being cheerfully ridiculed by the pop singer Psy. Gangnam has had an exceedingly short modern history two locals, only half jokingly, told me that it began in 1. Mc. Donalds opened there and became a popular meeting place. Photo. An 1. 8th century porcelain moon jar at the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Credit. Adam Dean for The New York Times By reputation a land of bling, it is where the luxury brands that line ritzy avenues around the world have established their Korean beachheads. It is also the seat of Koreas own fashion industry, home to labels like Jinteok and Bakangchi, both stars of Seoul Fashion Week. They and other Korean designers share the stretch of Samseong ro between Hakdong ro and Dosan daero with Ms. Lees brand, Resurrection. Ms. Lee, 4. 4, is a traditional Korean woman in some respects She went into the same business as her mother, who works in the same building, still a designer, and helps care for Ms. Lees two sons. But she is also known for her sumptuous neo Gothic creations, which have clothed, among other foreign celebrities, Marilyn Manson. When he played in Seoul about 1. Ms. Lee seized fate and delivered some of her clothes to the concierge at his hotel. Ten minutes later, she said, Mr. Manson called her and asked for more. He has a strange beauty, a grotesque beauty, she said, calling him one of her biggest influences. So it was perhaps not a surprise that I found her in the Resurrection showroom, which is open to the public, sitting on a carved black lacquered chair upholstered in velvet. Her hair was streaked magenta. Dozens of red candles set in front of an enormous mirror suggested an altar, and wrought iron chairs contrasted with a red wall that displayed an eclectic set of crosses. I would not have been surprised to find a well appointed dungeon nearby. All this was backdrop to clothes made of sheer fabrics, leathers and synthetic furs, visible heirs to the designs of Alexander Mc.