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South Korea, 2024
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  • South Korea, 2024

    Spa Land

    26 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    To finish off the day after a mammoth 11 hour tour of Busan, Hannah and I visited Spa Land. We entered the spa with high expectations, reviews said “it was the best Spa in the world”. Well we must say it was great and a perfect way to end the day, but my goodness do Germany and Austria do it better.

    Firstly the saunas, they were odd to say the least, you had your traditional 60+ degree ones, but also they had ice rooms (which was 18*- I mean that’s a British summer folks), followed by light rooms, and space saunas.

    The oddest thing was the no phones rule which was followed by NOBODY! Signs outside the 75*C sauna said “no phones risk of explosion” yet we walk in to find near everybody on their phones!!

    To finish it off we went into the naked pools, these are separated male and female. The less said about this the better.

    We left disturbed, exhausted and in need of a night cap.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Haeinsa Temple

    27 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    So this afternoon we travelled to Haeinsa Temple, settled in amongst the Gaya Mountains.

    We were taking part in their Templestay programme. This is something that is run across Korea in a select number of temples. Our experience started around 1400. Firstly, we explored the temple by ourselves as we wanted to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site of wooden printing blocks.

    *Wooden Printing Blocks*

    Haeinsa is most notable for being the home of the Tripitaka Koreana, the whole of the Buddhist Scriptures carved onto 81,350 wooden printing blocks. The blocks were carved in the 13th century, since then they have survived seven serious fires and one near-bombing during the Korean War when a pilot disobeyed orders because he remembered that the temple held priceless treasures.

    The blocks are the oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, if the blocks were laid side by side you would need to walk 37 miles to read the script in full.

    *Templestay*

    We began our Templestay with a guided tour, and then the next stop was dinner. We had to wait for the 3 minutes warning which a young monk rang a bell for, and then we had to proceed to the canteen and queue with the monks before going in for dinner.

    Once inside we had to queue up in pairs and serve our own food and then sit down, all awhile making sure to remain in ‘noble silence.’ The food was questionable, there were salad leaves, one that tasted of aniseed another that tasted of balsamic, really spicy kimchi, and then a potato curry. The saviour of the meal was the amazing rice and the coleslaw that tasted AMAZING! So much so I wished I got more. If I was a monk I think I’d live on a diet of rice and coleslaw.

    After we had dinner it was then time to hear the playing of the four Dharma instruments (the dharma drum, the wooden fish, the cloud-shaped gong, and the large brahma bell). The instruments were played over a period of 10-15 minutes starting at exactly 18:38. It was a very soothing experience hearing the loud bang of drums and the bell against the chirping of birds and the backdrop of a setting sun against the mountains. Then in the distance was the singing of a monk starting evening prayer.

    Then it was time for bed as we were up at 04:00 for morning prayer.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Morning Ceremony with the Monks

    28 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    It was a VERY early start this morning with the alarms ringing at 4am. Bleary-eyed and longing for our bed we made the short walk from the Templestay accommodation to the main temple.

    There we were greeted to a temple in darkness and just the sound of the Dharma Instruments playing in the background.

    We made our way into the main hall and took our places with the rest of the monks. The ceremony began with prayers in the form of song. It was a beautiful sight and sound, sat in a 300 year old wooden temple building with monks singing, birds chirping and the slow rise of the sun behind us.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Daegu 🏙️

    28 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After the Templestay we took the bus back down the mountain and into the major city Daegu.

    This is where the first hiccup of the trip happened. Unbeknown to me I’d accidentally booked us into a ‘Sex Hotel.’ Booking.com had said it was a fantastic place for site-seeing with a central location, clean facilities and many amenities.

    However, on arrival we realised that every floor was named after love, the sensual floor, the love feelings floor, and a bible verse on the wall all about love. I overlooked this as just a quirk of what had been reviewed as being “a great hotel.”

    But after checking in the penny soon dropped. The reflections gleefully handed us two comfort kits including condoms, lube, and fresh wipes.

    Shocked we headed up to the room and were greeted with stained walls, handprints on windows and mirrors, an old PC computer < god only knows what people have searched on that, and around 5 packs of tissues dotted around the room.

    After taking it all I decided there was 0 chance we were staying there and quickly took photographic evidence of the horror show.

    At reception the lady looked surprised - she must have thought we were quick. I told her “there was no chance” we were staying there and then we had a broken conversation over google translate.

    We left and within 5 minutes I’d booked us an apartment down the road, due to booking it at such last minute we got a £500 a night apartment for £150 (score).

    After a short backward and foreword with booking.com they gave us a full refund. There were more concerned that we’d been put in a smoking room rather than the booked non-smoking room.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024
    1

    Daegu Walking Tour

    28 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    This afternoon we took a self-guided walking tour around Daegu. Compared to Busan it was nice to be a in a city that felt manageable, it had a small old town in the centre of the city, with parks, churches and cafes.

    As the weather was 32* Hannah and I took the excuse to purchase two big daddy coffees from 7-eleven. It probably wasn’t our wisest move, as after a lite of coffee each we were absolutely buzzing!    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Seomun Market

    28 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    The next stop on todays adventure was Seomun Market. We didn’t really know what to expect other than being a market we thought it would be similar to the food and clothes markets in Busan.

    How wrong we were. This market specialised in predominantly counterfeit goods. What was more strange was that the sellers were open about it being fake, we enquired about one item to be told “yes it isn’t the best quality because it’s a copy”. Hermes bags, Gucci and the like were all available!Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Gyeongbokgung Palace

    29 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    First stop today was to the stunning Gyeongbokgung Palace, with mountains in the background and the city behind you the palace was beautifully situated. It was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, and was built in 1395.

    We absolutely loved it though my goodness it was baking! So we had to take many breaks for shade, drinks and to rest our legs.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Bukchon Hanok Village

    29 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Surrounded by Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village offers glimpse into Seouls past. Nestled in amongst the skyscrapers of the city it was beautiful mix of new and old.

    The town had many well preserved Hanok houses nestled into narrow alleyways and steep hills, offering stunning views all over Seoul.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Changdeokgung Palace

    29 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    After the culture village we headed over to the other palace called Changdeokgung Palace. Once again it was built by the Joseon Dynasty in the 14th century, and became one of the most favored palace of many Joseon kings. Sadly most of the building were damaged when Japan invaded in the 1930s and now only 30% of the buildings are original.Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Evening shopping & drinks in the rain

    29 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Tonight we went shopping in Lotte World and had dinner in their food court- which the guide said had every single cuisine you could wish for and they were not wrong.

    After that Hannah and I decided to brave the weather and go out for cocktails. We may have been looking in the wrong place, but we felt that pub / bar culture was not a thing, either most places turning us away as we only wanted drinks and not drinks and food.

    In the end we found a charming bar a short walk through the rain and arrived like drowned rats.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Seoul Walls

    30 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    We woke up to a much cooler day today than we have had previously on this trip. So Hannah and I took the opportunity for a hike around the Seoul’s City Walls. We started at one of the gates, which now sits in the middle of a roundabout.

    Climbing up we had fantastic views across the city and also views into another of the traditional Hanok villages. After seeing directions to the village we decided to take a look, and what a great idea it was.

    We found a beautiful cafe either a rooftop seating area which gave amazing views across Seoul, we both enjoyed a nice Iced Americano, before continuing on our walk.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Shopping in Gangnam ‘Style’

    30 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    This afternoon after a lot of site seeing we decided to go shopping in Gangnam, an area of Seoul made famous for the song ‘Gangnam Style.’ Though we didn’t go, there is a statue in the area which plays the song on loop during the day- it sounded like a form of torture to us.

    The shopping experience was like nothing you’d ever seen. Yes there was your usual clothes shops that we have in the UK like H&M, Zara, etc etc.

    But Koreans are also obsessed with these adorable characters, everything has to have a character- even the metro systems have their own mascots. On the high streets there is shops dedicated to these characters offering everything from character branded passport covers, car fragrances, pillows, PJs, teddies, mints, bags, and everything in between. We all went absolutely crazy, yes Tamara had already heard of all this stuff before coming, but for Hannah and I it was a new experience, and we made sure to bring home plenty of characters merchandise 😂    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    K-Star Road

    30 июня 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Finally stop today is K-Star Road. Once again characters line the road sides with each one representing a K-Pop (Korean Pop) group.

    More bizarrely all of the statues line a road that is full of high-end designer brands. We saw people pulling up in to the stores in Ferraris, Porsches, Bentleys, Rolls Royce and Lamborghini’s. Oh how the other half live.Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    Namsan Mountain

    1 июля 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today is our last day in Seoul, it’s going to be long one, as our flight doesn’t leave till 23:55.

    So our first stop on the agenda is Seoul Tower, the tower itself is 236 metres high, but sits on top of Namsan Mountain which is 270 metres high. The view from the ground is incredible as the skyscrapers give way to a mountain.

    There are two ways to get up the mountain either by foot or by cable car. We opted for the latter and took the cable car up to the top of the top.

    Once we reached the top the views were absolutely incredible, you could see the skyscrapers of Seoul all the way to the horizon, and then mountains 🏔️ in the distance.    Читать далее

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  • South Korea, 2024

    ✈️ Incheon Airport -> Dubai

    1 июля 2024 г., Южная Корея ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Well that’s it, our trip around South Korea has come to an end, we certainly have squeezed the pips with early mornings and many late nights; but it was all totally worth it!

    We now have a 10 hour flight to Dubai and then a 7 hour flight to Vienna.

    Walking count for the trip was 181KM!    Читать далее

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  • Окончание поездки
    3 июля 2024 г.