Seoul for beginners

The National Folk Museum in Seoul, South Korea.

Tourists tread lightly and whisper when visiting Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, a compound of 100-year-old houses that are still occupied.

Twice daily, crowds gather for the changing of the guard at Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul. (The guards are actors with fake mustaches.)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Twice daily, crowds gather for the changing of the guard at Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul. (The guards are actors with fake mustaches.)  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

TSeoul’s Myeongdong shopping district.

Seoul’s Noryangjin Fish Market is a vast, modern, well-lit building full of freshly caught sea creatures. Upstairs restaurants wait to cook items that shoppers buy below. Next door, the market’s old 1971 building is a shadow of its old self, but dozens of vendors still cling to it.

Myeongdong Cathedral, Myeongdong shopping district, Seoul.

Seoul’s Noryangjin Fish Market is a vast, modern, well-lit building full of freshly caught sea creatures. Upstairs restaurants wait to cook items that shoppers buy below. Next door, the market’s old 1971 building is a shadow of its old self, but dozens of vendors still cling to it.

Myeongdong shopping district, Seoul.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Seoul’s Noryangjin Fish Market is a vast, modern, well-lit building full of freshly caught sea creatures. Upstairs restaurants wait to cook items that shoppers buy below. Next door, the market’s old 1971 building is a shadow of its old self, but dozens of vendors still cling to it.

Arirang lunch at Arirang restaurant in the Insadong neighborhood.

Myeong-dong Gyoja restaurant, in Seoul’s Myeongdong district, is known for its kalguksu, a meat, dumping and vegetable broth. This is an order of dumplings.

Gwangjang Market in Seoul is considered the biggest food market in the city, with more than 200 vendors. Those vendors are a particularly known for their mung bean pancakes.

At a conservative demonstration outside Old Seoul Station, Seoul residents affirm their friendship with the U.S. and call for the release of jailed former president Park Geun-hye.

Jogyesa Temple, a Buddhist sanctuary in the Seoul district of Insadong.

The views of and from Namsan Seoul Tower, on Seoul’s Mt. Namsan can be striking. There are also many hiking paths and a cable car.

Cheonggyecheon Stream is a 6.8-mile urban beautification project to create a linear greenspace in downtown Seoul.

Cyclists, runners, walkers, skateboarders and kite-flyers share Seoul’s Yeouido Hangang Park, which borders the Han River.

Calligraphy brushes for sale in Seoul’s Insadong district.

Seoul’s Changdeokgung Palace, built in 1405 and heavily rebuilt in the 17th century, is known for its “secret gardens,” the series of ponds and paths where the royal family could relax.

Tourists tread lightly and whisper when visiting Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, a compound of 100-year-old houses that are still occupied.

South Korea’s National Folk Museum.

A sculpture at South Korea’s National Folk Museum.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul is a vast, curvy cultural center designed by the late Zaha Hadid and opened in 2013. Part of the complex houses temporary exhibits and part houses design-oriented retailers.

Cheonggyecheon Stream is a 6.8-mile urban beautification project to create a linear greenspace in downtown Seoul.

This “greeting man” sculpture welcomes guests to the Lotte City Hotel Myeongdong in downtown Seoul.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul is a vast, curvy cultural center designed by the late Zaha Hadid and opened in 2013. Part of the complex houses temporary exhibits and part houses design-oriented retailers.