Bye Seoul

Being in Seoul didn´t feel like a vacation. Walking around in Seoul, meeting old friends and eating at the same restaurant as before feels like being an exchange student in Seoul again. 

We were spending 14 nights at Apple Mango Guesthouse located in Hongdae. It was great to live in another area and be able to try out new restaurants and see some new places. The guesthouse was welcoming, spacious, and had everything and more you can ask from a guesthouse. The only thing that was annoying was some of the guests, but that´s not the guesthouses fault.

In general, Seoul was fantastic, I missed it a lot and once again it´s hard to say goodbye. Would be great to study there again or work for a couple years. Let´s see where I find myself in the future.  

Seoulventure

Seoul is exactly as I remembered: busy! So much to do, not enough time. We have mostly seen old friends, had delicious meals and walked around familiar areas of Seoul. Natalie and myself went to the jjimjilbang one more time, and photo stickers of course! 

Seoulmates

During my exchange year in Seoul I was fortunate to develop many friendships. My time in Seoul has been spent with many of my Korean friends, but also people from all over the world who live here. I´m so honoured to have got to know these lovely people, and happy that they could make time for me in their busy schedule. All my time has been spent outside the guesthouse, so I haven´t been able to update my blog recently, so I decided to upload a few pictures of my Korean friends, that will describe what I have been unto these past days and who I met. Seoul and South Korea is once again treating me very well and I can´t believe one week already passed by. I wish I could stay for a year or two. And yes, I´ve missed all my friend back in Korea a lot! (We have also hung out with Dianas friends from back home, and other travellers from our guesthouse.) 

Korean queens

A traditional day in Seoul! Our morning started at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. We have all been there before, but thought it would be nice to see it again. Our timing was on point since we were lucky to be at the palace in time for the change of the guards. At the Gwanghwamun Square we tried on hanboks, korean traditional clothing. We continued to Insadong, since it´s nearby and had some delicious street food. To finish off the day we met up with Diana and had ice cream chicken!

SeoulSpring

The past two days has been spent by catching up with old friend, having too much soju and too many food comas. We love the new soju with all kind of fruity flavours. Today we felt like walking up to the Seoul Tower and have a look at the view from the park. There was a traditional performance, which we enjoyed a lot. After coming down we did some shopping at Namdaemun Market, dakgalbi dinner in Hoegi and finally some relaxing back at our guesthouse. We are basically reliving our exchange time in Seoul by doing things we did when we all lived here, and it´s great! Today was a beautiful day!

Reunion in Seoul

What a long, but lovely day in Seoul! My brain can rest, I can enjoy myself as I used to when I used to study here and just have a good time with my friends. In the morning we went to Hoegi and Kyung Hee Univeristy with Christina and Natalie, and had lunch at one of our favourite restaurant. The afternoon was spent in Dongdaemun shopping. Later the same evening I was meeting up with my latina friends, Marita Nubdi, Annie and our Bulgarian chica Anita. We had a lovely korean bbq dinner in Hongdae, an oreo cake at Paris Baguette and a few drinks at Mike´s Cabin. Annie and I ended up playing beer pong with two guys from the united states and unfortunately me and Ben lost. When I arrived home, Natalie and Christina were drinking soju so we still had a few drinks and great conversations before we fell asleep, and yes this post was written after 5 bottles of soju and many drinks so don´t judge. Good night, it was a lovely day! 

안녕하세 South Korea

I love visiting new countries, but there is no better feeling than returning back home. After a year in South Korea as an exchange student in 2013-2014, Seoul became my second home. I´ve waited for two long years to be able to go back and see all my friends who has been waiting for me since I left South Korea. I wrote a blog during my exchange which you can read here: www.sydkoreas.blogspot.com. I have a feeling that I will be lazy taking "touristic" pictures this time while I´m in Seoul, since I already have 10,000 (!) pictures from my exchange year in South Korea.

I arrived in Seoul last night and were lucky to have a friend like Shinhyun, who had a place for me to sleep the first night. I traveled by subway to Seoul Station and took a taxi to Kyung Hee University. I still remember some korean so I told the taxi driver where I was going in Korean (proud moment).  Today I had dakgalbi, chicken with tteobokki and noodles with Shinhyun. It´s my favourite korean dish and I could eat it everyday! I got myself a SIM-card and walked to the station to meet up with Natalie and Christina, who will spend 2 weeks in Seoul with me. We are all staying together at a lovely guesthouse, which I will write more about in another post. The guesthouse is located in Honda, so our afternoon was spent walking around in Hongdae catching up, since it was a year ago since we last met. Just because delivery food in Seoul is fast, cheap and a typical thing the locals do, we decided to enjoy our dinner in the big living room.

Lucky One Memory Hostel

The Lucky One Memory Hostel in Taipei is beautiful. Hip, fresh, modern and full of creativity. I stayed at the hostel for four nights in a 8-bed mixed dormitory. The rooms have plenty of storage space nearby your bed and also big lockers. Very good! The hostel is located nearby Minquan W. Road Station, which makes moving around in Taipei very smooth and easy. The staff were helpful with directions and maps.  

What I found a bit dissatisfying or maybe just strange was that there was a bunch of rules, penalties and extra charges for every little thing. I know it´s a cheap hostel and everything shouldn´t be included in the price, since additional sales is important. “Do not eat in the rooms”: Understandable, people are messy, but can´t you have a quick snack in your room without a penalty? “Additional charge for extra pillow”: The pillows in the room were thin as… a book. The hostel unfortunately didn´t have a “backpacker-vibe”. In a room with eight beds, only three were occupied. It was challenging getting any contact with other guests. I never saw any of the other guests Just a few small things that caught my eye while staying at Lucky One Memory Hostel.

Taipei 101

Finally a dry day here in Taipei! I left the hotel early in the morning to be able to get up to the 91st floor of Taipei 101, one of the highest buildings in the world! The Taipei 101 has a height of 509 meters with 101 floors. The view was spectacular, a bit foggy but I knew that was the case on this day before I headed up to the observatory. The fee was NTD500 (14 €). Before I headed towards the airport, I had a last meal at a buffet restaurant nearby the hostel.

Take me to Church

My trip so far has been hectic, but the weather has forced you to still collect energy to go out and in the end it has paid off. Wednesday morning, there was no point of going out. It was raining all day, literally, all day. I took the opportunity to have a day off, just relax, watch some dramas and do whatever I would do on a day off back home. I really needed this! 

Today I met up with Margaret, who I told you about in an earlier post. We had an appointment at a nail saloon to get our nails done. Luckily, Margaret speaks english pretty well, but the employees at the nail shop didn't. As I saw that the nail artist had skills, I decided to ask for something special, which turned out to be a disaster. Oh well, no can do, it´s only my nails and I will get them done whenever I´m back home. 

After a long 3-hour nail session, which was´t worth it at all, Margaret and I took the MRT (metro) to a station nearby her church. We had a delicious dinner together before church so that we could sing our heart out, in mandarin. The experience was funny and different even though I´m not Christian. I understood a few words such as "Thank you Jesus", "Hallelujah" and "Amen". Apart from that Margaret did an amazing job to translate and I managed to have a good time. Haven´t been to a church for a long time, and I guess it won´t happen soon again. Here are some pictures from today, and all thanks to Margaret, who I will definitely contact if I ever visit Taiwan again! 

Ni Hao Taiwan

"Back to China" was the comment I´ve heard when telling people in Myanmar or travellers that I´m off to Taiwan. When I arrived last night, the streets were dead. It was raining cats and dogs but luckily I found my hostel quickly. I will be spending four nights at Lucky One Hostel. 

Minquan W. Rd. Station is the station closest to the hostel. I bought a 24hr ticket, so I can have an unlimited access to the subway. I had a peaceful walk through the Liberty Square and the surrounding garden. The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is a Taiwanese landmark, national monument and popular tourist attraction. The hall was created in the memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, the former president of China. The Liberty Square got its name due to Taiwan´s transition to modern democracy in the 1990's. Today the square is a choice of mass gatherings and the square has become the hub of events, due to The National Theatre and The National Concert Hall. Nearby the C.K.S Memorial Hall Station you will find Nanmen Market. I walked through the market and tasted some of the dried fruits. Delicious!

After admiring the Liberty Square, I continued to a neighbourhood and shopping district called Ximending. This area full of shops, restaurants, cinemas and in general craziness reminded me of Seouls Myeongdong or Tokyos Shinjuku. Ximending was the first pedestrian area in Taipei and this is definitely the place you should go if you want to do some serious shopping. A very hip area where I could have walked around for many hours and spend too much money. Nearby this modern district, you will find the most visited and popular temple in Taipei: Mengjia Longshan Temple. During my trip I´ve visited too many temples, but sometimes you force yourself to visit just one more and it pays off. I sat and enjoyed the psalms sang by the locals, just admired the beauty of this temple. Spending time at the temple made me quiet  and I also thought about life in general. I wish I could start every day at a temple like Mengjia Longshan Temple!

I still had some energy left to have a look what the Taipei Huaxi St. Tourist Night Market had to offer. Some shops were closed, but plenty of restaurants and beauty saloons ran their business as usual. More than six hours later I had to take a break and recharge my batteries, My body needed rest and my camera too.