Even when I was really young and went on week-long camping trips (or when I spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica with my spanish class) I never longed for home. In fact I relished the opportunity to face the challenges that being away from home brought.
Since as far back as I can remember I loved to change my scenery, to force myself to adapt to novelty, even if it meant sleeping on the floor with only a pillow - I loved it just because it was different.
For the first time ever, I feel a touch homesick. If I had the money I would seriously consider flying back home for 3 weeks before going to China instead of going to the Philippines.
But that's prohibitively expensive.
Plus, I'll be island hopping and reading a plethora of books in the Philippines. Don't think life can get much better (barring the absence of family, friends and boyfriend).
Maybe if there was skydiving and hang-gliding involved. And Rottweilers. Yeah, that would be great.
--
 |
| Some strange rice cake with beans on top, it was interesting but nothing I'd actively search out to try again.. Or even passively choose to try again haha. |
All in all I love Korea and Korean culture.
If I had to be an expat in any Asian country (that I've been to so far) it would definitely be Korea. There is an awesome mix of:
- Authentic Korean culture,
- Western, and thus relatable, mannerisms (not as reserved as Japan or Singapore),
- Love for technology,
- Seoul never sleeps - the clubs close at 9am, what?!?
- The drinking culture here is the best. I don't really enjoy drinking but the social aspect of going out to bars is truly top notch. The bars here are so unique and full of character. Also no one just goes to bars and drinks, you always order some food (which is always Korean and tasty) and it is customary to get 'service', aka: free stuff (usually food or drinks).
- Seriously friendly local people (for the most part) who are happy to help and will greet you with a genuine smile
- Paying for stuff here is so easy. Everything (taxes, etc) is included in the price. Why can't we have this in America??
 |
| Cooking the kimchi pancake (hoddeok) |
 |
| Gwangjang market! Over 5,000 stalls of clothing and street food - YUM |
 |
| Uber famous Korean street food pancakes, Hoddeok - pretty tasty. Nothing extraordinary, but worth a try for sure |
 |
| Namsan tower during the day (got lucky to catch a blue sky) |
 |
| View from the tower at night. Spent about 4 hours here. Watched a lovely traditional Korean performance, ate ice cream, read and met some random Russian people! |
 |
| I was sitting, happily eating my meal when suddenly... |
 |
| All of these Korean cafeteria ladies swarmed around me, effectively kicking me out of my dinner spot. I thought to myself: okay, maybe there was no where else to sit, so they just had to sit here? -> |
 |
| No, the entire cafeteria was pretty much empty...so I have no idea why they all needed to cluster around me and put their trays within cm of mine and continually reach over me. |
 |
| Cheese dukbokki: Essentially Korean pizza - YUM |
 |
| Sunset at the Han River, so vibrantly red |
 |
| Mmmmmm Honey Makgeolli (A type of Korean alcohol with very low alcohol content) |
 |
| Kimchijeon: I loved this because it had so many vegetables |
 |
| Traditional Korean garb! |
 |
| Making kimchi :D |
 |
| Taekwondo! |
 |
| Nom nom nom |
 |
| Noribang! (Karaoke night with some great people) |
No comments:
Post a Comment