The other day I wrote a little about Namdaemun, the Great South Gate. Today I got the opportunity to go into Seoul and see Dongdaemun, the Great East Gate. In fact, since the fire at Namdaemun, Dongdaemun is the only great gate that survives fully.
Dongdaemun is also known by the more proper name Heunginjimun, The Gate of Rising Benevolance. It was built by King Taejo in 1396. Not only is it a great historical landmark, but it is also an amazing physical structure. I've seen pictures of it before, but being there in person you can see how massive and imposing this building is.
Of course, since the fire at Namdaemun, the authorities are being cautious as can be seen in this photo. Ironically the Great East Gate has been gated off, with police stationed outside of it. But regardless it was still beautiful and amazing to see... and the police standing in front give a good scale of the large size of this structure.
Scooters are used everywhere in Korea to get around, deliver food or goods, or pretty much any other reason you can think of. I had seen them a lot around Osan, but never had I seen so many at one time. I just had to take a picture of it to show how prevalent they are.
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