South Korea Video

I wanted to share this very cool video that Ric's brother made when he came to visit us in May. The places shown (in order) are: Manchester airport departures lounge, Gyeongbokgung Palace Seoul, Namsan Tower cable car, the base of Namsan Tower, Hongdae, Hongdae again, Seoul's Hyundai Residence Hotel overlooking Namsan Tower, Anapji Pond Gyeongju, outside Busan Train Station (x3), Busan Harbour from Busan Tower, Taejongdae Busan, Gwangalli beach, Gwangan Bridge. Enjoy!

By Jeremy Stopher

My Birthday With My Best Friends

Cake for breakfast.

I got to turn 25 in Korea. That's pretty cool. Turning 25 for me means: a more liberal approach to body hair (thanks Korea); the acceptance that I'm never going to have a "career"; and the pressure of knowing that all my friends at home are all moving in, getting mortgages, getting married and having babies, whist I'm pratting about on the other side of the globe with less responsibility than when I was 18. 

The day before my birthday Stacey and Jenny landed in Korea. Having them here was the best present I could ever have dreamed of. After 9 months without them I was in desperate need for a good chat, a large dose of head-size related banter and some girl time.

They took to Korea like naturals: eating all the gross spicy pickled food; eating without plates or knives and forks; and getting shouted at in Korean by old people in the street.

♥ Aren't they adorable? ♥

They brought with them cards and presents from my friends and family back home, making the actual day of my birthday really special; it was just like being at home! 

We went for some sight seeing in Seoul and watched the sunset from the top of Namsam Tower, before meeting up with some friends from Cheonan and pigging out on Western food and imported wine at VIPS. 

Seoul sunset

Namsam Tower

It was a really great night out in Hongdae and [naturally] it ended in 노래방 (karaoke) until the early hours.

Dinner at VIPS

Second birthday cake of the day (thanks Sydney!)

Embracing karaoke Korean style.

 Thank you to:
♥Stacey and Jenny for coming so far to see me. It was amazing having you here.
♥Kirsty, Lauren, Gaz, Amy, Jake and Mum and Dad for sending me lovely things. Especially the Vimto!!!
♥Ric for living in a small corner while the rest of the apartment was overrun with women! And also for being really lovely and keeping me sane in Korea.

It was emotional...

♥Sydney and Aaron for the very personal present, for a great night out in Seoul and for being really awesome friends (Sydney, mainly). 
♥Alex, for the offensive presents and awkward serenade at the 노래방, it was hilarious.
♥And everyone whose photo's I have stolen from the week because you all have better cameras than me!

 Enough about me, here are some more pictures of Stacey's and Jenny's Korean adventure....

Visiting Big Buddha

Another cracking sunset

Cocktails....

...More cocktails

Cheonan

Snowboarding

Stacey (going right)

Oops we went up the wrong ski lift and now have to go down a 'blue' slope
(two levels steeper and scarier than the previous slope....)

Luckily Jen knew what she was doing!

 Thanks for coming girls! Love yoooou!! 

Mum and Dad's Visit. First Stop: Seoul

Our first visitors in Korea!

Oct 27th - Nov 6th

When I told my parents I was going to live in Korea for a year they were happy for me, but not necessarily bursting with excitement to come visit. Fortunately though, my Mum realised she could make the trip with a 6 day layover in Abu Dahbi and that swung the vote.

It was wonderful to see them again looking so happy and healthy a year into their retirement and I was excited to give them a massive culture shock with Korean food, language and general oddness. As it turns out, this required no input from me and simply being in Asia proved traumatising enough.

Following what I can only imagine was a very dry, sober stay in Abu Dhabi, we went straight from the airport to our [small, seedy] hotel in Gangnam (Bangbae Olso Hotel, I wouldn't recommend it), and then straight to a bar where we ordered the biggest pitcher of beer we could find. To give my parents that extra special welcome to Korea there was even Premiership football on the TV!

Welcome to Korea Dad!

Gyeongbokgung
After an alcohol induced nights sleep in our pokey room we headed out for some sightseeing, to Gyeongbokgung, for some Korea history. The palace is beautiful, set against a backdrop of mountains it feels a million miles away from the centre of the capital city. The autumnal colours in the gardens and the crisp October sunshine were just perfect for our family reunion (gush gush).

Centre of Seoul? Chincha?

Family holiday shot.

I heart Autumn in Korea

The National Folk Museum is inside the palace walls

Insadong

Insadong is supposed to be the cool, arty neighbourhood of Seoul but it was so busy it felt more like a theme park. The touristy shops had some good traditional [tacky] presents and I really liked Ssamzie shopping gallery, a spiralling ramp of arty shops and boutiques with a centre courtyard and trendy cafes. We had some traditional bulgogi for lunch and my parents got their first taste of kimchi! It didn't go down well.

Ssamzie shopping

Han River
We walked all the way through Insadong to the Han River which was being decorated for the Seoul Lantern Festival. Having exhausted my poor jet lagged parents, we jumped in a taxi to go to Namsan Tower but failed when we got there and realised the queue for the cable car would take us into the early hours of the morning [I didn't dare suggest we take the stairs!].

The Han at dusk.

Next stop: Cheonan....