We are now visiting the older part of Seoul; also known as Seoul's famous Hanok village. These traditional Korean houses comes with tons of character. We saw some new ones built around this area but with similar styles. All of them are built so close to each other in order to retain heat during the cold winter. Its black roof (Giwa) has pointed around the edges. They are called Cheoma and they can be extended out or in to control sunlight. I wonder whether that same design is equally effective in dispelling water. Underground is an ancient heating and cooling system. It is so effective that some of these homes are still using it till today. The flooring was made with cool wood and beneath it is a system of heated water of some sort. No one explained this to us, I just read it up.
This Hanok in particular which I painted happens to be one of my fav. It is built on top of a little bump/hill. There were stone steps leading up to it. The door is so beautifully hand crafted, I could just lick its metal ring handle off. Surrounding it are some nice plants with dashes of red in it, just because it was turning Autumn. The green plant on the left is an orange tree. That was really awesome to see. I don't think I have ever seen an orange tree in my life. I wish my neighbor had planted an orange tree instead of a rambutan tree. Speaking of which, yesterday I had a whole family hanging out in front of my house to pluck those rambutans. Coming back to the Hanok, a brick wall with white and grey bricks was built around it. It looked pretty solid, perched on a hill. Oliee and I got a Korean tourist to take a photo of the two of us while we stood there complimenting the door.