Articles from this Category
19 June 2011
Sights in and around Gyeongju Gyeongju is referred to as a museum without walls because it is home to more temples, pagodas, Buddhas and other historical artefacts, compared to anywhere else in Korea. I started by visiting two that are out of town … firstly it was Bulguksa, a temple originating from the 700s which […]
17 June 2011
In the high level plan made many months ago, I allowed a day in Jeju for swimming at the beach and/or diving. The weather is hardly conducive … it is cool and drizzly. I didn’t feel the urge to go to the city centre (it will be like any other Korean town) or to the […]
16 June 2011
Lava Tube Cave It was drizzly in Jeju city. I was unfazed and took the bus (and walked 2.5km) to Manjanggul, a lava-tube cave … that’s a caved formed through hot molten lava flowing through the rock. BTW, Jeju island is very volcanic … there’s lots of black rock everywhere. Back to the lava tube […]
15 June 2011
Changdeokgung Palace My hostel was across the road to one of Seoul’s palaces … Changdeokgung … it was the most recommended one. While the palace was first built in the 1400s, what we see today was rebuilt in the 1600s (due to fire) and some bits were added in the 1800s. It was interesting to […]
14 June 2011
My flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul’s Incheon airport departed at 1355. It seemed like the perfect flight with three seats for myself for most of the journey, despite the flight being quite full. To my surprise a lot of the passengers were veiled Malay women who have become addicted to Korean soap operas. Upon […]
18 December 2010
We opted for a yum char (dim sum) breakfast … it seems wrong to do anything else in Hong Kong, seeing that it’s the home of this wonderful breakfast/ brunch grazing tradition. Interestingly, some of the accompanying traditions don’t make it out of here. I watched as diners poured their hot tea from the pot […]
17 December 2010
With a 0615 arrival in to Hong Kong, it made sense for us to recharge with a couple of hours sleep … followed by a rejuvenating cheap massage, before hitting the markets to do some Xmas shopping in the afternoon. We had dinner with my old schoolfriend Rosalind, and finally got to meet her husband […]
29 September 2008
I had hoped to do something a little different this time in Hong Kong. Often with my overnights, there’s not much I can do at all. So this time I chose to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, which is by-and-large a relatively untouched part of the territory. After consulting Paul, my host, I […]
28 September 2008
Kimball and I took the ferry to Hong Kong today. We had enough time to fit in a yumcha before he went to work, winging home to New Zealand. I taxied up the hill to stay with my Couchsurfing host, Paul. To my surprise, he was a mature gentleman a little older than me. Quite […]
27 September 2008
Kimball was “on call” with his job as an international flight attendant in New Zealand. He asked if he could be called out for a Hong Kong duty and crew control said “Yes”. He ferried over from Hong Kong and stayed at my hotel here in Macau. Since I enjoyed my sampling of Macanese cuisine, […]