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

Attended a congress / conference in KINTEX last month. The venue was about 30 minutes away from Seoul downtown. As I stayed near Anguk station, I had to commute everyday to KINTEX. Anyway, it's a nice convention center. They have two centers there. Huge.

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...

Was in Seoul and Busan earlier this month. Having been to Seoul two years ago, this would be a good time to visit and revisit some of the places since I was on solo. Stayed in Seoul for five days, then traveled to Busan via train and stayed there for three nights. Busan is a dynamic city. I personally enjoyed the beach area more than the city center. The only downside throughout my stay in South Korea this time was the regular rain. I didn't get any good photos under sunny day. Most of them were either rainy or cloudy. Perhaps better luck in next trip. Talking about photos, I managed to get a free rental of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phone from SK Telecom. Well, I must say the phone has a superb camera which put my iPhone 5s to shame. I can actually ditch away my DSLR too. But for some reasons, I enjoy photographing landscape using DSLR. View from the train as I traveled from Incheon airport to Seoul city. As the window glass was tinted, you got a bluish view. Photo taken with Galax...

 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.

Last October, we went to South Korea for family trip. It wasn't part of the plan. But because the father got a free ticket from AAX, and then the idea came. Why not Japan? We would like to reserve it for our future trip. So where had we been? We went to Seoul and Jeju Island (the mom insisted on Jeju). Overall, the trip was good. Unfortunately, there were no events or places that excited us the most. However, I did like the trip to the DMZ. Maybe you will like South Korea, maybe not. That depends what kind of traveller you are. Here are two photos which I managed to shoot with HDR processing. The main entrance of Gwanghwamun One of the entrances inside the palace