Korea & China

Today Angie and I were set to leave Beijing in the evening.  It was a great trip, with many unique experiences that I would not have been able to have without the generous hospitality of Angie and her family.  I am very grateful for their hospitality.  We didn’t do...

Most of the items on the agenda for Beijing had already been ticked off by today, and I was starting to feel a little tired. Solana Shopping Mall We started the day by catching a taxi to a shopping mall called Solana Shopping Mall.  We walked around for a while here...

Today in the morning I was feeling a bit sore from yesterday’s massage. We decided to relax a bit in the morning and have some Chinese food breakfast delivered using a Chinese version of Uber Eats. The hotel delivered the food to our room in a robot that I had seen...

Today I went with Angie and her parents to the Great Wall of China. Angie warned me in the morning that today would be particularly cold, so I was thinking it was going to be somewhere around -2 degrees Celsius. Angie’s father drove us all to the Great Wall and as we...

Today we had a very busy day visiting many of the key Beijing tourist attractions along the famous Chang’an street. Angie and I left the hotel around 9 AM first towards the Forbidden City (故宫). After sitting in a taxi for a while bound for the Forbidden City, I...

Today is Angie’s birthday, so I mostly left it up to her what we should do for the day. In the morning, we went to a restaurant near my hotel for some zhajiangmian (炸酱面) breakfast. This popular dish from Beijing features large flat white noodles with a salty pork...

Today we were originally planning on going to the Great Wall of China, but decided to delay this to another day and rest for the day as the previous day was quite a big day for us all. Rather, after leaving Angie’s aunt and uncle's countryside house, we went back to...

Today we planned to drive outside of Beijing city heading north to visit Angie’s Uncles factory and go skiing. Angie’s parents picked me up in the morning from the hotel. We had had some bao buns in the car on the way to the factory. We drove from the south of Beijing...

Today Angie and two of her cousins all went together to the Beijing Universal Studios. Angie’s aunt kindly drove us all there first thing in the morning so we would arrive right before the opening time. When we arrived at the entrance, we waited in the queue for a...

Today we sadly left Korea, leaving Angie’s apartment where she sadly said her final goodbyes to her old home. On the other hand, though, our adventure together is continuing to Beijing China, somewhere I have wanted to visit for a few years now, and before that, never...

Today we spent most of the day resting and packing up Angie’s apartment. In the late morning, we went out for a raw crab dish which was one of the strangest things I have eaten, as it was a whole uncooked crab on the plate in front of me. I felt like at any moment it...

Today it is New Year's Eve. In the morning, we went to a gym near Angie’s apartment to try to stay in shape with all the food consumption on this trip.Seongsu After the gym, we went to an area called Seongsu. Seongsu is a former industrial area that has been...

Today we rented another car to drive to Ganghwa Island in the northwest of South Korea. In the morning, we had dumplings for breakfast again at the same Korean dumpling restaurant near Angie’s apartment. Once again, the dumplings were delicious, and I felt...

Today we started the day a little late after relaxing in the morning. We had some gimbap and tteokbokki for brunch at around 11 AM, before heading out for the day. Lotte World Mall After brunch, we headed to the Lotte World Mall where we spent quite a lot of time...

Today for breakfast, we went to a nearby Korean dumpling restaurant. The entrance to the store was covered in steam when we approached as they were busy steaming dumplings. When the smoke cleared, the worker cordially invited us into his dumpling store where we had...

To start the day, we went to a bakery chain nearby called Paris Baguette. I had a good sandwich and something like the Bakers Delight savory bite. Going to the Photoshoot After breakfast, we caught the MRT to Bukchon to visit a place called Sihyunhada Photo Studio...

Today I began my new holiday where I will be travelling to Seoul, Beijing, and Chengdu with Angie. I boarded my flight on Christmas day towards Seoul via Shanghai. When I arrived in Seoul, Angie met me at the airport, and we went outside together to take a taxi to her...