Life, Travel, GRACE

Some HDR processed photos of the temple. It was a rainy day.

It used to be road and elevated highway. Then it was transformed and re-developed to inject some greenery and life for the city. The walkway spans across few kilometers. A hidden treasure to the city indeed. How I wish our river in KL can be re-developed in such a way. Note: Photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Insadong street was my favorite area in my previous visit (year 2014). It's cultural, artsy and local. There wasn't much change compared with two years ago. Nevertheless, there were a few lots being renovated, probably for a new hotel or cafe. In this visit, I bought some tea products from Osulloc shop. This local tea brand has become my favorite since my encounter in Jeju island. Anyway, didn't try their famous green tea ice cream. Instead I had it in Busan few days later. Overall, the street is a good place to check out local arts and cultures. Note: Photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Note 5

I must admit that I didn't know this place exists. Obviously I had not been to this area in 2014. Then lately, I came across this place while searching for visiting places in the web. Getting there is easy. You exit from Chungmuro station and then go up a slope. It's just 50 m away from the station. This place is just a cultural village. You won't find local residence like in Buchok Hanok Village. In other words, it's a museum. Anyway, you won't be disappointed either. There are a lot of folk games and activities that you can try. However, you may need to pay for a small fees for some of them. I arrived in Namsangol in late afternoon. There wasn't much crowd during that time except a few Chinese tourist groups who were about to leave. Thus, strolling around the compound was a breeze. And there's a park at the back of the area. Having such a tranquil place in the mist of the city skyscrapers is a bliss. Recommended for a short visit if you are running of id...

Have not been sharing my trip in Spain since my last entry. Alhambra is great. Well preserved. Advisable to purchase your entrance ticket online. There will be a lot of people queuing up at the ticket counters. Here are some photos. Hope my sharing it's not too late.

Shwedagon Pagoda is a must-visit place in Yangon. Every tourist will have this place in the itinerary. The temple is considered one of the most sacred places in Myanmar. Last year, Dr. Mike and I took a local bus to the temple. It only cost us 200 kyats per trip (if I'm not mistaken); that was less than US$0.20 ! We reached there about 10 in the morning. Spent 2 hours exploring the temple compound. And we had rain at noon time. All in all, the place is worthy for a visit.

 In our previous trip to South Korea, we flew to Jeju Island for a few days. We engaged with a local taxi driver as tour guide for day trip. Surprisingly, the driver followed the itinerary as prescribed in a travel book. And the book was authored by a Taiwanese. The first stop was at Trick Eye Museum. Thumbs down. The place was totally built for group tourists, in my opinion. Subsequently, I had to make sure the driver did not bring us to other man made museum, except Teddy Bear Museum. The latter is worth a visit.

Have not been sharing my trip to Taiwan in 2013. My bad. Here's a place worth to consider. A chapel in Tunghai University, Taichung. If you are a fan of design and architecture, this could be a place for you to appreciate the design and its functions. I like the green and lush grass field surrounding it.

This place was recommended by a friend. It's not a zoo. It's Safari World. We took about an hour journey to reach here. Lots of animals to see. The kids were happy. As I haven't been to any safari theme park, I consider this place good for family to spend a day together. I personally like the dolphin show. The crowd, mostly Indians, were very enthusiastic. On the other way, I pitied the elephants. They must have been treated badly during their training. Just my opinion.