Apr 13, 2013 - Final day in S Korea

There must be a reason each time I cone to this hotel I get a lousy cold ! The day started badly so there was only one way for it to go and it did. Eventually the sun came out, I stopped blowing my nose so often, I gave up trying to buy a good suitcase here and bought some wonderful yoghurt in what turned out to be Waitrose ! Much more importantly I had a lively afternoon on Mongmyeoksan Beacon Hill. This reached via a steep stepped pavement to Namsan cable car which sways unencouragingly over part of Seoul city. The queue was just growing...

Apr 12, 2013 - Hi speed travel

A shock first thing: my taxi driver was not wearing white gloves ! He made up for it though with a peaked 'sailor's' hat with scrambled egg all over it. The Beetle bods didn't charge me for excess luggage this time; instead they were brilliantly helpful carrying the case up and down the varying metal gang plank steps (tide was low when we arrived at Busan). A short taxi ride around the back streets got me to the railway station with time for lunch before boarding the KTX bullet train to Seoul. The chosen coffee shop provided an egg & bacon...

Apr 4, 2013 - A different sort of tomb

A very different tomb to start the morning:a hanging one. Not that you'd know that from the outside. It was a large grassy mound surrounded by concrete pillars at the top of a small hill, approached by a grass bank from the road, between two parallel rows of stone fierce guards Around the tomb were further stone sculpted guards, backs to the sides of the tomb) representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The body itself had been suspended over the floor of the tomb which had been built over a water spring. The 38th King of Silla had only...

Apr 3, 2013 - Cherry blossom in Gyeongju

One of those very busy days accommpanied by our first really warm weather (20 degrees +) and our first experiences of stunning cherry blossom - everywhere ! We are in Gyeongju and the wide streets are predominently avenues of white cherry blossom trees. Our hotel is by a very large lake which itself is totally surrounded by the trees. They look amazing in the day time and at night - there is so much neon around you can't miss them ! We set off first thing for Seokguram Grotto - a temple way up in the hills, buried beneath a mound of stones...

Apr 1, 2013 - Homestay

It was ..... Simine was the only one who bothered to go to the 5am service: even the guide and lady hostess were late and the only monk was the one that conducted the 45min session ! I didn't even make breakfast at 6am - the thought of gimchi just didn't inspire me - fresh though it was. Add to that the freezing of my back .... I left out a little occurrence at the DMZ - I fell - on my back again - at Dora Observatory. The hard floor in the Temple really made my hips seize up with the result I struggled to get my stuff together, case packed...

Mar 30, 2013 - Tyrol in the East

Drove 3.5 hours to Mount Seoraksan, a Tyrolean-style mountain resort originally built for the GI's in the 1950's. Granite mountains tower like ragged teeth all round, the air is fresh, clean and exhilerating. There are mounds of remaining snow although all the paths are clear - precipitation is forecast for tonight. I shared a seafood potato pancake with Ruth at lunchtime: uninspiring but helped with chili sauce and garlic and soy sauce. We took the cable car to the top of the near by summit - along with all the Korean tourists - and...

Mar 28, 2013 - Exploring in Seoul

A meagre, uninteresting breakfast was quickly forgotten by an interesting morning. We ventured off to try out the French built Metro - a rabbit warren of stainless steel and endless stairs - to another part of town where we walked through the Myeongdong shopping area to the East old gate of the town, our first real taste of the strange mix of old and new in the city. We stopped briefly for a coffee (no-one ate breakfast really !) before walking the avenue to the to the Gyengbokgung Palace: built before the Forbidden City in Beijing but very...

Mar 27, 2013 - Sunshine in Seoul

Painless and sleepless flight at an Emergency Exit (lots of leg room) - totally full Airbus 330, straight from KL to Seoul. The East is on the move - permanently. (Two coach loads of holidaying Koreans just arrived in hotel lobby ..... chaos !). One hour's taxi ride into the city from the new airport: fast, modern motorway increasingly lined by grey, high rises, I assume apartments. Hardly a tree in sight. Lots of stadia of one sort or another. Rush hour so busy - all new cars (did I see an "old" one ? - I don't think so). Quiet driving. No...

Feb 14, 2013 - Carly's School and returning to Canada

We said goodbye to Bryan and took our packed bags on the subway to Carly's school where we got to meet her students and co-workers. There were other expatriates working there as well. The school is in a high-rise building. The gym is one floor down from the classrooms.The school is private and is a business. These children will graduate and then attend a primary school. The children were excited to see us. They kept calling Paul, Santa.They liked his white beard and hair. Lots of other children kept popping into the classroom to say hello....

Feb 13, 2013 - DMZ

We took the USO Panmunjom tour. There was a strict dress code. We went to Camp Kim in Seoul at 8:30 am and had to present our passports to get our tickets. We board the bus at 8:45 and departed at 9 am. The drive was about an hour and we travelled along the barbed wire fenced highway that connects Seoul to Panmunjom called the "Freedom Road" or "Unification Road". The day was cloudy and really cold: -10 C. The first stop was the Third Infiltration Tunnel. This tunnel was discovered by South Korea in 1978 with help from a defector. When...

Feb 12, 2013 - The Aquarium & Bryan's Base

We visited the Coex Aquarium in Gangnam district, Seoul with Carly. It is an aquarium in Coex Shopping Centre and is one of South Korea's largest Aquariums. The Aquarium follows a theme called “Journey of Water”. The theme follows marine life from the mountains, rivers to the depths of the sea. Each exhibit featured a dedicated aquarium tank with species of fish indigenous to the theme location. Some of the areas that we viewed were the Inca Empire, the Amazonian World, the Seven Seas, the Ocean Kingdom, the Undersea Tunnel. There were also...

Feb 11, 2013 - The Gyeongbok Palace

We toured the Gyeongbok or Gyeongbokgung Palace with Carly and Bryan. This is where Carly and Bryan had their engagement pictures taken. Of course, it was much more beautiful then since all the trees and bushes were blooming. When we were there every thing was frozen and there was ice and snow on the ground. This palace was constructed in 1395, three years after the Joseon Dynasty was founded by Yi Seong-gye and the capital of the newly founded dynasty moved from Gaeseong to Seoul (then known as Hanyang). The palace was named Gyeongbokgung,...