Thu 27 Oct 2022. Day 45/61. The Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music exhibition about Korea’s favourite song, Arirang, 아리랑, traces its origins from farmers in Gangwon-do, 강원도. Here’s a recording on the TV channel named after the song. https://youtu.be/kPtTi8ougPU.

Thu 27 Oct 2022, Day 45/61, 4/4. Sadly in recent years Tapgol Park is one of two Seoul parks to have gained a reputation as sites for elderly prostitution, a sign of poverty & loneliness amongst some older members of South Korean society.

Thu 27 Oct 2022, Day 45/61, 3/4. In 1919 Tapgol Park was the site of the origin of the March 1st Movement, an important part of the Korean independence movement & the first location for the reading of the Proclamation of Independence.

Thu 27 Oct 2022, Day 45/61, 2/4. In 1897 the first modern park in Seoul was created around the pagoda by a British Colonial Civil Servant, John McLeavy Brown, made Chief Commissioner of Customs by the Korean emperor.

Thu 27 Oct 2022, 1/4. Day 45/61. Tapgol Park, 탑골 공원, small but rich in historical resonances. Formerly called Pagoda Park after this 10-storey pagoda, completed in 1467, similar to the one in the National Museum but still outdoors, protected by glass.

Wed 26 Oct 2022, Day 44/61. More meetings & meals this week with members of the Anglican Church in Seoul. A meeting & meal on Tuesday with the Diocese of Seoul Vocations Committee. A meeting on Wednesday with the President of the Anglican University, staff & students. And a final meal here with the Bishop of Seoul & others.

Wed 26 Oct 2022, Day 44/61. Museum entry is free on the last Wednesday of the month. Here’s a review of the Lim Ok-sang (임옥상) exhibition I saw at the National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art. I really liked ‘The Sound of Dirt’. m.koreaherald.com/view.php

Tue 25 Oct 2022, Day 43/61, 3/3. Here’s what I was looking for. A few months ago, all three Korean Anglican bishops spent a morning in Kettering. Loakes Shoemakers generously gave us a guided tour around their factory. Loakes told us they sold their shoes in Seoul. Here they are.

Tue 25 Oct 2022, Day 43/61, 2/3. In 2021 the Gangnam department store Shinsegae overtook Harrods as the store with the highest turnover in the world. I went there today. I wasn’t planning to spend any money but there was one thing in particular I hoped to find.