A walk around Sam Cheong Dong

SamCheong and BukChon are two neighnourhood between GyeongBuk and ChangDeok Palaces. Just north of tourist haven Insadong they are lovely areas full of tradition and character. There are great small boutique shops, cafes and restaurants art galleries, museums and craft workshops. I've been here a few times, to the Owl art museum, for the disappointing toy museum and for one of the strangest burgers I've ever eaten. My meditation class is a stones throw from the main area and I had a lovely Christmas eve lunch at a spanish restaurant here too. There are two tourist booths here and they have a great map of a walking tour. Last weekend, as the rain held off Myheshni and I decided to make the most of it and follow the tour (another thing off my list! Yay!). With camera in hand we saw traditional buildings, took photos a the designated 'photo spot' points and had a great afternoon wandering around chatting up a storm! I would really recommend the tour as you can take it leisurely, stopping at any of the huge number of shops or cafes. We only got lost a couple of times, and that's really only because I was in charge of the map. To get here, go out of exit 1 at anguk station, turn left and walk about 30 seconds, go up the small, pedestrian street on your left. You'll reach the tourist booth at the start of the walking tour where you can pick up the map in various languages.

This was the first outing of my Le Sac dress. The verdict? Great, stylish and comfortable!

The cafe where we ate our lunch was very quirky.

Christmas things still up

Cushion with hands

Panini?! with roasted veg and cheese. Plus banana garnish. Weird!

Banana smoothie cocktail

Coasters

Wall street art

Stupid signs ruined my picture

Photospot 7

Photospot 6

Photospot 5

Photospot 4

A very brightly coloured building

A golden buddha amid the grey roofs

Some more street art

I couldn't get a good picture of this because of the reflection on the window but he was very cute. If I could have I would have bought him.<3

Hanok traditional housing.

I thought you liked being involved...? Sorry my mistake! :-)

 We stood for ages trying to get a good picture of the following archway and mountian/palace in the distance but people kept coming and stopping! So these were the best I could get!

14 hours in JeongDongJin Part 1

A visit to JeongDongJin has been on my list since the beginning. After two previous attempts I finally made it here just before I leave. My weekends in July are completely full so the first weekend (7th) was the only opportunity. I decided to get the overnight train on friday, which would mean I arrived a couple of hours before sunrise. This is one of the 'sights' to see in JeongDongJin. Unfortunately the weather didn't comply and it was overcast. The sun rose, but as it was hidden behind the clouds I didn't see anything. Much the same as my sunrise trek in Bali. Sunsets are ten a penny, but sunrises are a lot more elusive. I will continue on my quest however. After the unsuccessful sunrise, the heavens opened. It was before 6am, the weather was rubbish and the only places open was the waiting room at the station and 7/11. After waiting in 7/11 for about an hour, enquiring about a coffee shop nearby and staring out at the rain I decided to head to the station and wait there. I sat and read my book waiting for the day to really begin, and thus began my 14 hours in Jeong Dong Jin.

Ready to go

The sea, as I alighted from the train. 

oh, did I mention it was FREEZING next to the sea at 3.15am.

I thought these looked cool, hanging there. I later saw a girl trying on one of the hats. So I assume they are actually there for dressing up.

I realise this is horribly blurred. But these girls were lighting fireworks and for some reason my camera didn't focus in time. This was the last one they sent up. Even though it's a photo failure I still think it looks quite cool.

This is the hourglass that is resent every year at New Year. It orginially counted down to the millennium and also signifys the name of a famous Korean drama flimed here 'Hourglass'.

A cruise ship on a cliff...

Sand, puddles and soon-to-be ruined shoes.

Books

These were books I read from April - June.

Interesting read about Lady Jane Grey, who was on the throne for 9 days before Queen Mary 1 could rightfully take her place as monarch. It really showed how ambitious her parents were and what importance was placed on having a son in those time (Much like it still is in China).

I loved 'Death on the Nile' and with my forthcoming train journey coming up I thought this one would be fun. She didn't disappoint and I loved this, maybe Agatha Christie's most famous Poirot. I now have 3 books of hers waiting to take on the Trans-Siberian with me. Surely you can't go wrong with an author outsold only by Shakespere and the Bible?!

Another recommendation from Nicola. I was intrigued what had made her burst out crying whenshe was reading this on the beach in Thailand! This book was a good read, although I had kinda guessed what had happened to the guy in the story. Still a nice one and easy to get through.

A book I've heard about a lot, and one of the modern classics so I thought it was something I 'should' read. It has been compared with Catcher in the Rye, which I hated. But this one didn't disappoint as all! It was a great read, and I finished the book within a week. Fantastically written and reminicent of 'Girl Interrupted' which is one of my favourite films!

Fantastic tales from a present day nomad. Brilliant stories from various articles he's written, and a great addition was the end notes where he gives insights into what was happening when he wrote each article as well as extras that were cut out of the original published pieces. Not that I need any help but it definitely added to my wanderlust and dreams of far away places.

Cafe Chat: Festivals around the World

It's been a couple of months since I joined in the Across the cafe table chat on the Travel Belles. Sometimes I can't think of anything much to write about concerning my travels and their posed questions. But this month I can definitely participate. July's discussion is about Festivals around the world.

Korea is the home of festivals. There seems to be one a week; Cherry blossom, sunrises, masks, kimchi, fireflies, bull fighting, flowers, butterflies, green tea, rice, bamboo, sea parting... the list is pretty much endless. This weekend I will be indulging in the annual Boryeong Mud Festival. I went last year and it's a good laugh. Mostly attended by foreigners we spend the weekend, getting mud thrown over us, jumping about on bouncy castle style inflatables and sitting on the beach watching a fantastic firework display. This year I'm going along with the Mannam soccer team, who have organised an amazing schedule of events. I can't wait, even if it's going to pour with rain. That just adds to the fun!

But... I think the most impressive festival I've ever been to was in China in 2009. We had a month off of school during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), which was the perfect time to head up north and see the Harbin Ice Festival. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

The 10th Annual International Ice Festival

Harbin in winter is freezing. I mean -30oC freezing. The water vapour in your nose freezes as you breathe in. It's that cold! We had 3 layers of clothing on and could still only stand it for a couple of hours before we had to make a dash to the nearest coffee shop (of which Harbin is sorely lacking!). In Harbin there is a huge river, that in winter freezes completely. So much so that you can take horse drawn carriages across to the other side. Across the river from the city is the park where the ice sculptures spend the month or so of the festival. The sculptures are fantastic. Firstly, they are huge. There are castles, buildings and boats as well as large scale domino or Chinese chess boards. Secondly, they are fun! It's busy so we queued for a long time (fingers and toes going numb) to slide down a huge toboggan run (of which a large pile of snow is the stopping point.) Then we warmed our hands on hot chocolate in a small chalet style cafe.

There was a smaller festival in Jillin, a city nearby Harbin which was also very impressive even though it was on a much smaller scale.

 

Harbin is an experience I will never forget. One of the best of my travelling days so far. If you ever get a chance to go, I recommend you take it!

Cold, cold cold!

 

Books

It's been ages since a did a books post, but it's not because I haven't been reading - quite the contrary. I've finished 10 books in that time, and started a few more but had to give up on them (which I don't like doing but my pile of books to read is rather big and when I get bogged down with a book I'm not really enjoying I read it a lot less and it takes ages to get through. I currently have 13 books ready to go (4 on the kindle). I leave for China in 33 days. It's safe to say I won't have got though even half in that time. A few of the unread books are going in a parcel to be shipped home and a few will find their way somehow into my (going to be) very full bag and will keep me occupied on my 20 day journey across Mongolia and Russia. Because there are quite a few that I've read I'm going to split this post into two. so the books I read from Feb - March and then April - June will be later this week! I would say please give me your recommendations, but for now, please don't I have too many already on my list! :-/

Great book jumping between WWII in France and present day. About a hidden part of the war when the French authorities rounded up French Jewish citizens to send to the death camps. This girl makes a promise to her brother that she will come back for him. And that is a promise she will keep no matter what.

My mum recommended I read this as we're taking a trip to Edinburgh where it's set. A lovely little story about a bond between a dog and his owner. The Scottish vernacular was a little hard to follow sometimes but that was where the Kindle dictionary (sometimes) came in handy.

Recommended by Nicola. A sad story about love, mistresses and losing someone.

An amazingly sad story about a German couple who take in 'The Book Thief' - a young girl whose family are taken to a concentration camp for being communist. Her new mother and father are good to her, but have their own worries as they are outcast in their community for failing to join the Nazi party. To add to matters they also end up harbouring a fugitive Jew in their basement. An incredible story.

My mum got me to read this, the main character is a woman living in Japan who comes back home to find everything is changing. She ends up on a mission to find out what happened to an early protester for womens' rights. Delving into the past and questioning her future.

My English Classroom

Pretty self-explanitory. I don't seem to be able to say classroom anymore, comes out more like clarshroom. I have no idea why. Oh and sorry for the abrupt ending, I pressed the button too early!

The day I didn't see the Blue House

Gyeongbukgung (plus tip of my umbrella)

The Blue House is the Presidential residence in Korea. It's Korea's Downing Street. It's in the heart of the Palace district (behind Gyeongbukgung). You can take a tour of the gardens and surrounding buildings. I thought this would be a great thing to do. I actually looked up going on a tour when my Uncle was visiting, and it was then that I discovered you have to book the tour at least 3 weeks in advance. In reality it was actually more like a month and a half in advance because all the places were booked up! So that same day (in May) I booked myself on a tour for 5th July (yesterday). I was all ready for the visit, I had my passport back (I had to send it back to the UK for my Chinese visa - more on that another day), I had my wellies and umbrella because monsoon season has finally started, I had a map to the Blue house and I had secured an hour off school. I even phoned the info line to check the tour wasn't cancelled because of the rain.

So why didn't I get to actually take the tour? Well, it turns out that in order to take a tour of the Blue House, you don't actually meet at the Blue House. That makes total logical sense right? 

If you're like me this is what will happen to you:

After having checked the VisitKorea webpage, you'll leave exit 5 of Gyeongbukgung station and waste 5 minutes finding your way out of the Palace grounds (this is NOT the best stn exit to go out of). You'll walk up the entire length of the palace, pass through a police security road block, where the nice man in uniform will inform you the Blue house is straight along the road and turn right. You will arrive at the Blue House entrance, where lots of people are milling around (looking like they're on a tour). You'll then enter the large museum/exhibition hall building with a friendly looking information desk. At said information desk a woman will give you a stange look when you say you are there for a tour of the Blue House (even though you can see the Blue House from where you are standing). She will then explain that you have to meet at the east car park of Gyeongbukgung to take the tour. She will explain that you are too late for the tour, because you have to take a 10 minute bus ride to get to the car park and it's already taken you 15 minutes to walk from the station to this information desk and it's now dead on time for the tour. She will look at you sympathetically and say 'I'm sorry to hear that,' You will swear loudly into her face, and ask if she can help you get on the tour. 'Maybe you can phone them and ask them to wait while I get the bus," (You now start all sentences to Koreans with 'Maybe', even though you never actually mean maybe.) She will tell you that she has no way to contact the tour department, even though you live in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. She will then get another woman to explain the exact same thing to you. This woman will also say "I'm sorry to hear that," despite the fact that you are the one hearing the bad news. They will then stare blankly at you. You will admit defeat, sarcastically thank them ever so much for their help (which they will likely not understand) and you will return back to the station. You will be so miffed and frustrated by what's gone on you won't even think to take a picture of the Blue House while you're there. 

If you are really like me, all of this will happen in the pouring rain. and I mean lashing it down, run for your lives pouring rain. Your umbrella will begin to leak and you will slowly lose the will to visit anything in Korean ever again. 

To console yourself you'll buy two expensive macarons

On the way home, you will also make the ill-fated decision to take the bus from singil station because you think it will be quicker. It will not be quicker. You will get the bus from the wrong side of the road and will add another 40 minutes to your journey. This will feel like the longest day of your entire life. You didn't get to tour the Blue House, and you won't get to tour the Blue house, because it's now fully booked until September.

You will cry.