Got Seoul? (Part 1)

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:59:19 +0000

Whee! Happy new year! Hope that you had a good time during the end of year festivities.

So before Christmas I was in Seoul, Korea – good time to go before it got really cold, it was only 0 celsius and only once went to -13 celsius and I..had..a FANTASTIC time. Arriving in Seoul, I didn’t know what to expect. Let me first say that Koreans are a tough bunch. Historically, Korea has had long periods of war, political instability and freezing winters. There is a distinct Korean identity with Chinese and Japanese influences, and a grittiness and willingness to persevere under tough conditions.

Ok, now with the tourist talk. There was a formal tour itinerary for the first half of my trip and one of the highlights was Mount Sorak outside of Seoul. There is hiking even during winter (kit up with spikes), Buddhist temples, meditation and a giant buddha. Also the ski resort! Powder snow on the slopes, awesome time and sadly, too little time. Good reason to come back to Seoul. Next day Everland Theme Park - steepest and longest roller coaster in Korea and an overall christmassy feeling with churros and hot chocolate.

And a teddy bear farm, kimchi making and a lot of shopping to places selling Korean cosmetics, ginseng and semi-precious stones. Back in Seoul, Gyeongbok Palace and the Korean Blue House (residence of South Korean head of state).

Next part. wandering solo in Seoul.

Shi.

Kyoto – fast!

admin — Mon, 30 May 2005 07:00:00 +0000

Hiya…

More pics from me – really tired at the moment, I’ve been shinkansen-ing Tokyo-Kyoto this whole weekend, I made 4 trips (woo-hoo!) Shinkansen travel is definitely for me, it makes scenic (but boring) landscape into MTV-esque 30second clips that match my attention span.. I’m still having problems with the trains (this time, the crush went my direction and I was mooshed against the glass) and today on the train to work I could feel the guy next to me’s tupperware in his bag indent itself into my hip…My japanese is also not getting better (in fact it has declined, decayed and is dead on the gutter) and I need classes..like..NOW.

Kyoto was really good. It took a while to get used to but I went all touristy and visited a palace, shrine, castle and zen garden (in that order). I paid the most amount of money for one meal in Kyoto, and it was for a bowl of tofu. But when you see where the restaurant was…you’d understand. And the tofu was good…really! The zen garden was amazing, (Ryoanji)…you can really just relax being there, and I felt heaps better on the way home. Gravel and stones have taken on a whole new meaning….

Well it’s been raining all day here and I’m glad I’m not going home yet. It looks cold out there.

Hope all is well,

Tired Shi all nippon-ised.

Miss Traveler » castle

Got Seoul? (Part 1)

Kyoto – fast!