"Noodlicious"

My contract is officially over and I've decided to take some vacation time. I decided on a short weekend in Osaka for visa purposes. It turned out to be the cheapest deal. I recommend looking into Jeju Air if you're going from Incheon to Osaka. You can find some cheap tickets in comparison since it's a low-cost carrier.

The hotel I booked last year turned out to be booked, and I was forced to try something new. I went with a traditional ryokan (旅館) hotel on my first night. Ryokan's have tatami-matted rooms and communal baths, but for a little extra you can get your own bathroom (which I did). I stayed at the Yamatoya Honten in Nipponbashi, not far from Namba and Shinsaibashi in central Osaka. In the end, it was cheaper than the hotel I was in last year, was twice the size, more quiet, and more comfortable. The staff was excellent and very friendly as well. I highly recommend it for a comfortable, quiet, and relaxing night. It's not far from the main shopping areas and right near the river.

You can see some cool nightlife: (click the photo for a large version)

Riverfront at night (HDR) 

I also did a little sight seeing and a lot of walking around. I visited Osaka Castle again, but it wasn't as nice as the first time I went last year. It was hot, and with the trees in full bloom there wasn't as much opportunity for nice photos without trees in the way of the structure.

The highlight of my trip this time around was visiting the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. If you like to see how things are made and the history surrounding them - this is the place for you. It's a small musuem, but free - and mostly in Japanese. However, there are audio guides available for a low fee. I made a video of my tour and what to expect. I hope you enjoy it:

Chuncheon

Last week we took a afternoon trip to the city of Chuncheon. The city is located east of Seoul and is the capital of Gangwon province. It is easily accessible by train and bus, about 1.5-2 hours from Seoul.

Thankfully our friend Binah has a friend who was willing to drive us instead. Assah!

We had planned to visit Lake Soyang which was created by daming the Soyang River. It is a huge dam that reminded me of the Hoover Dam (but probably half the size).

We were also in the mood for Chuncheon's most famous dishes. Chuncheon Dalk-galbi (a chicken dish that is either served grilled, or stir-fried with cabbage, rice cake (tteok) and other vegetables). It's one of my favorite dishes in Korea, and I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose served us basically grilled chicken that we wrapped in lettuce leaf. Not what I'm used to, and not as delicious in my opinion.

The other dish Chuncheon is known for is makguksu. This is a cold soup of buckwheat noodles, similar to naengmyeon. I've had this in Gunpo as well, and I wasn't a huge fan of the noodles. I found them difficult to swallow and was suffering the begining of the flu when I was forced to eat them with teachers. This time around, I actually enjoyed them a little more. I found that the noodles were lighter and easier to swallow this time around. It's still not something I would crave for like dalkgalbi, but it was decent.


After lunch we visited Lake Soyang. You have to ferry across the lake to reach the mountain hiking area popular with tourists. It isn't too far of a hike to the buddhist temple that most people frequent.

The mountainous views are splendid, there are plenty of small restaurants along the way to grab some pajeon (scallion pancake) and makkoli (rice wine) as well. Along the way up, you will pass a beautiful waterfall, and can enjoy the clean mountain air.  If you plan on visiting make sure you note the time the last ferry departs, as the line can get really long. It departs early as well. The last ferry out was listed as 5:30pm, which is realtively early in my opinion. But hey, this isn't Seoul...


We planned on visiting the Jade Garden and forest near the city, but ran out of time as they are not open too late....maybe next time (but there are just too many places to see still). Instead we kicked back with some more makguksu and pajeon for dinner along with a couple bottles of makkoli. All in all, a pretty good day.



Here are some photos I took:

Jeju

I've recently taken a couple of small trips. A few weeks ago I finally visited Jeju-do, a large island off the southern coast, which is commonly referred to as South Koreas "Hawaii".

Jeju has a long history which you can read about here.

The weather wasn't very cooperative, between bouts of rain and fog, I saw some sunshine, and experienced some awesome things. There was so much to see and the tour only covered so much. I can't wait to go back and visit some other things I didn't get to. Tickets are relatively cheap, you can get them for as little as $20 sometimes. Our package was booked late, and we ended up paying almost $300 per person including flight/hotel/tour for 2 days.

You can find your own way for much cheaper in the off season, I'm sure.

The trip was a tour package - all in Korean, so I can't tell you too much about it. I'll let the photos do most of the work:

First stop: A horse show. The performers did riding tricks, and acted out a battle with Mongolia.

 

 

 

 

Next we stopped at a garden and buffet restaurant (which was amazingly good), and had a little time to tour the garden as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also stopped at O'Sulloc, a tea company that specializes in greent tea. We had a brief moment to take a photo of the tea fields and sample some green tea.

 

Jeju is famous for it's oranges (hallabongs) We visited an orange grove where they explained how to tell if an orange is ripe and sweet. Hint: if it feels hard around the diameter of the stem, it's not sweet.

 

 Next we visited the southern coast of the island, and walked along the edge of the ocean and took a short cruise that toured it as well. Too bad it was a little foggy, off the coast, but still beautiful.

 

For dinner, we ate some fish stew(I can't recall the name) but apparently it's pretty famous in Jeju. I thought it was decent.

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The following day, we took a tour to Eco-Land (I wouldn't recommend this, especially on Parents Day). There were throngs of pushy elderly people, and Eco-Land was boring in general...I think they all just wanted to ride the train around the park.

 

 

After a Chinese cultural performance at Sam Guk Ji land, we headed to a traditional village  (I won't post photos of Sam Guj Ji Land because it was really corny and boring) - besides their mask changing act...which was kind of cool.

The village still has people living there. They survive by selling products like honey, berry juice, and ground horse bone pellets that are supposedly good for your bones and fights osteoporosis. I tried some, but my bones feel the same. ^^

 

 

The highlight of the trip by far was the horseback riding experience. I haven't been on a horse in ages, so this was rather enjoyable. Plus, they are so darn cute.

 

 

 

We had a foal following us around .. she was cute.

 

We were only alloted about one hour to visit Ilchul Land next, which is not enough time. Ilchul Land has a cool cave created from old lava flows, and some beautiful gardens - and even a cool cactus house.

 

 

 

 

Towards the end of the tour we visited Yongduam Rock (Dragons Head Rock), which becomes less and less dragon-esque the longer you stare at it. We stayed at the rock for a while in order to see it at night, which was said to be the best time. Unfortunately the area was overcome by dense fog, and you couldn't see much. But it did look eerie and cool that way.

 

 

 

 Too much fog...

 

 Our last day on Jeju wasn't a happy one. It started off like this near our hotel:

 

yay!

Then we traveled back to the central southern area of the island to see Jungmun Beach, supposedly one of the nicer sights on the island.

We ended up seeing this before having to head back to the airport:

 

Jeju is totally worth going to if you have time to travel around. Again, we do plan to go back in the late summer or early fall. Hopefully we can see a lot more and take our time to enjoy ourselves rather than be hustled around by a tour group.

"This land is Thailand, this land is your land..."

Wow.

Sorry it's been a few weeks, but I've been pretty busy. After Christmas I taught a winter camp for a week and then immediately headed off on my vacation. - THAILAND!

What an amazing place and a great time I had. I took well over 900 photos, and will post some here. I post a lot of my pictures through facebook though, and I try to keep social sites very private. So unless you're a close friend or family member - sorry. The ones I post here will have to suffice.

Let me give you some details of my trip. If you're planning your own trip, feel free to use this as a resource, but I would also highly recommend using the Lonely Planet's guide to Thailand.

Our trip lasted 2 weeks, we flew out of Seoul (Incheon) and lucked out that we found tickets during the high season for under $400 round trip. We also pre-booked our trains and other domestic flights, as we wanted to carry as little cash as necessary and have tickets in-hand.

Sunday: Jan 9: We (my friend Gideon and I) flew into Beijing for a layover for a few hours. I can officially say I've been to China now (even though I only flew over parts of it and sat in an airport terminal for 5 hours). We then headed out on our evening flight to Bangkok and arrived shortly after midnight. We took a taxi to the popular backpacker destination of Khaosan Road. The road was full of tourists exploring the nightlife. I got my first taste of being harrassed by tuk tuk drivers (rickshaws) and ladyboys (Thai transvestites). We checked into our 'reserved' guesthouse room, only to find they never really made the reservation. We ended up getting a triple room for 2 people at a cost of 900 Thai Baht (THB) (100THB = approx $3.25)

Monday: Jan 10: Good morning Thailand! My first impression outside of our balcony is that Thailand has gorgeous weather, but it's pretty dingy. Our guesthouse overlooks a small brown river with garbage lining the sides. Across the way, the locals are cleaning outside their cheaply built homes and tin roofs. Not the best impression, but we're not planning on staying in Bangkok for long anyways.

We walked around the area looking at the local sites. There are many small temples to stumble through, and walking helps wear off our exhaustion from the long travel day before. Our plan is to get on a train tonight and head up to Chiang Mai on an overnight sleeper car - I booked the 2nd class tickets in advance by using the seat61.com website the people at this travel company (which I would recommend doing at least 2 weeks in advance to get the seats you want during high season and after dealing with payment issues)

We explored some back streets and markets near the Imperial Palace (we didn't see it this day as we were waiting until we got back from Chiang Mai and met up with our friend Steve). My first impressions of the food in general was that it is simply amazing. Very flavorful, a little spicy at times, but much better than the Korean food I am used to - and I enjoy Korean food!

 Green Curry = awesome!

On the back ally's nearby the palace and temple we came across a huge amulet market visited mostly by Thai's. The market for these must be very good because the corridors were lined with vendors and the streets full of people examining their quality and images. It was like viewing a stamp collector convention that is held daily outside a famous post office.

Amulets and Buddha's

Backstreet stockyards and markets

One thing that is very apparent is that there are a lot of stray animals in Bangkok. As it turns out, there were strays EVERYWHERE we went. At least the animals were friendly, although I did worry about the fleas...

 

 We eventually made our way to the local train station- a major hub for any traveler. Make sure you know how to get to Hua Lamphong Grand Central Railway Station. - Taxi's from Khaosan Road to the station are fairly cheap if you ask for them to run the meter. If not, you'll get ripped off. (should be under 100THB) 

The station before our trek to Chiang Mai 

 One thing I didn't get a photo of was that at 6:00, everyone stands quietly as the national anthem is played. I enjoyed that - but kind of felt like I was in a communist country.

Our 2nd class sleeper - acutally it was quite comfortable for me. Gideon, not so much - he's a tall guy (6'7")

Off to Chiang Mai!

Tuesday: Jan 11: We roll into Chiang Mai a little later than expected which is nice, as our train was scheduled to arrive around 7:00am (turns out trains are on time if they are within 1-2 hours of the time on the ticket) We quickly grab a local tuk tuk driver and she directs us to a guesthouse called the Chiang Mai Inn, located on the northeast side of the old city. Quiet and peaceful but close to the main attractions, this place was clean but cheap (200THB a night for 2 people (that's $3.25 a night per person!) Time to drop off the bags and explore.

Chiang Mai is smaller than I expected for a city population of approx 150,000 people. It has a small square mileage and we end up renting bicycles for about 60THB a day. This turns out to be decent exercise and a quick way to maneuver through the back streets. I really wanted to rent motorbikes as well, but this turned out to be a cheaper deal and motorbikes are unnecessary unless you really need to get somewhere quickly.

We stop for a quick breakfast of noodles and beef - which comes with beef balls. I don't know what that really was, but it doesn't taste too much like meat. The rest of it was delicious though.

There is so much to explore - at least we prepared on being here for a week. After breakfast, we started exploring the city to get a feel for the area, we also checked out a couple more guesthouses to see if we could get a nicer place or cheaper price. (as if 100THB per person wasn't cheap enough!).

We quickly decide we made the right choice and decide to stay at the Chiang Mai Inn for the duration. 

 Everyone uses motorbikes

Wed-Friday Jan 12-14: For the next few days we explore some local temples, Chiang Mai's Chinatown, flower market, and University area.

One of the over 300 religious sites of Chiang Mai. It is very common to see a tone of wats and stupas all over the city.

  

 

 more strays...

 

A local high school marching band warming up. They sounded good too!

Gideon eats from a vendor with school children outside one of the many 7-11's of Thailand.

Chinatown: The flower market

 

 

Chinatown temple

 

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 Chinatown marketplace

A more traditional rickshaw in Chinatown

Massaman Curry for lunch: Probably the best dish I had the whole trip.

 

More temples:

 

 

Wat U-Mong

 

 

 

 

 

Wat Chedi Luang  - my favorite of the temples

 

It's soo big!

Our last full day in Chiang Mai we visited a temple located at the top of a nearby mountain called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. This was another impressive temple that overlooked the city. You need to take a mini-bus taxi to get to the mountain (approx 30-40 min ride). Some of the drivers wait until they can get 8-10 people to make the trip cost effective (150-200THB)

 

 

 

The short climb to the temple:

 

We spent the remainder of the day looking at more temples as the next morning we had to get the train back to Bangkok to meet Steve and begin the 2nd leg of our journey.

 

Wat Suan Dok  - another favorite

 

 

Some more randomness of Chiang Mai:

Sleepy Tuk Tuk drivers

 

Kids at a local school

 

Pad See Ew and Watermelon shake ($1.50)

Back to Bangkok: Chiang Mai Train Station

 

 

Countryside back to Bangkok

 

Saturday: Jan 15: Today we meet up with Steve to begin the 2nd half of our journey. His flight comes in during the evening, and our train arrives at 6:00am. We have another day in Bangkok to kill. We find triple room in a guesthouse on Khaosan Road for 430THB - very cheap! However, we quickly find out it doesn't have hot water. After a ultra-quick cold shower, we head off to see some sites. 

Down by the docks the supplies flow into the markets.

 

A great photo of a man preparing garlic while a local cat takes a aromatic nap

 

 Another temple in Bangkok

 

A monument

 

 The food court of an indoor mall we stumbled into for the air-conditioning.

 

We walked most of the day heading for Bangkok's Chinatown. This place was extremely crowded but sold everything imaginable (probably black market or counterfeit) - from food, sunglasses and watches, to army issue binoculars and knives. We also found a nearby temple where there was either an event going on, or a daily prayer session. Either way, it was packed! I could barely breathe because of the over-use of incense.

 

We met up with Steve that night and went out for a nice dinner and some drinks and explored more of Khaosan Road.

Sunday: Jan 16: We are heading to the southern coast to relax in the sunshine, escape to the beaches, and get away from the city. Our flight leaves in the evening, so we have the day to explore the Imperial Palace before heading to the airport.

The Imperial Palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

The King lives here. And everyone adores the king. DON'T INSULT THE KING!

 

We head to the airport and board Air Asia (cheap domestic flights). We fly into Krabi after about an hour flight, and check into our pre-booked guesthouse. Now that Steve's with us, we can have a lot of fun!

 

 We grab some food and drinks at the local night market in Krabi and while drinking on the docks, meet a long-boat driver named Ali, who is Muslim, who offers to take us in the morning to either the island of Ko Lanta, or Railay (a peninsula inaccessible by cars or bikes) He recommends Railay as it is more beautiful and easier to use as a hub for transport rather than Ko Lanta. We agree to meet him in the morning and be his customers.

Monday: Jan 16: We grab a quick breakfast and head out to meet Ali. We have to wait around for a few more people to fill the boat, and it turns out he can't take us. He hands us off to his friend and we take off for Railay.

 On the long-tail boat leaving Krabi-town

Some sites on the way to Railay

 

 

Railay is small and simple to get around on foot. It only takes about 20 min to walk from our bungalows of Railay Cabana to the southern Phranang Beach

Our Bungalow - it's like camping really - no hot water.

 

but we do have a gorgeous view

Jan 17-22: The peninsula has a lot to offer, rock climbing, gorgeous beaches, hiking, caves, and a lagoon. We decide to stay here for the next week to relax, eat, and explore.

The lagoon - it is a difficult hike to get down there:

Here come the breath-taking photos of the beach...
 

 

 

A shot of the island from the viewpoint

We do take a small trip to the town of Ao Nang (by boat), there we sit on their beaches, I got a massage, and re-energize before we depart ways with Steve as Gideon and I have to get back to Bangkok Friday night, and then our flight back to Korea leaves late Saturday evening.

I can't say enough about vacationing in Thailand. It's is really one of the more beautiful places I have ever been. It does help that it is relatively inexpensive to explore the country (some people backpack through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam for months).

I wish I could have seen more of Thailand itself. Perhaps I will plan another trip sometime to see other islands such as Ko Lanta, Ko Phi Phi, and Ko Samui (even if they are more touristy). Phuket is more resort-like and tourist friendly as well. 

If you're planning a trip - just ask. I can now give some advice about touring around and what to expect (at least in the places I visited). Again, I recommend the Lonely Plant guide as well as sites like TravelFish and WikiTravel

Monkeys are everywhere in Railay - cute but scary at the same time!