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We spent two more days in Kyoto with our guide, Yumi. First we took a train and taxi out to the Golden Temple/Pavilion, which was packed with school parties and groups of tourists. The place was built around 600 years ago by a “retiring” Shogun, although he continued to rule the country from here.  ItContinue reading “Two Days in Kyoto”

Yes, it’s another food tour!  But there’s so much to try around here. In our shopping bag full of vouchers from the travel agency, we had one for the Foodie Tour.  Because it’s a third party organisation, they don’t come to the hotel, we have to go to them.  And the meeting point was …Continue reading “Foodie Tour of Kyoto”

After breakfast, we were picked up by a new driver and deposited at Busan airport.  There was a huge queue to check in, but there were plenty of desks open and we were soon checked in,  through security and sitting with a couple of lattes people watching. We might have been a bit complacent, becauseContinue reading “And the driver wore white gloves”

Looking out of our window first thing this morning, we could see a line of people with umbrellas walking along the shoreline.  It looked like the inspiration for a Jack Vettriano painting! We had a text this morning to say that BK wasn’t well, so our guide would be Linda.  There has to be a joke aboutContinue reading “Tiny Train and Huge Tower”

We met BK outside the micro-brewery and set off for Songdo, Korea’s first official public beach, to ride the cable car up to Amnan park.  To get there, we had to cross several bridges, including the Gwangdamdaegyo or diamond bridge.  This is a two level suspension bridge connecting Haeundae to Namcheon, and the second longest in Korea.  Unfortunately,Continue reading “A tour of Busan”

BK picked us up in the morning and we travelled south to Ulsan.  As you approach the city, there are huge blocks of apartments lining the roads.  Further in you come to the world’s largest car assembly line, owned by Hyundai Motor Company; it seems to go on forever and there are completed vehicles everywhere waitingContinue reading “Hyundai City and Seaweed Soup”

Looking out from our hotel window is a complete contrast to Seoul. The city is ringed by mountains and contains mostly traditional buildings with tiled roofs, with just the odd block that rises to three stories. For our second day here we were exploring some of the history of the area.  BK met us at theContinue reading “Temples, grottos and raspberry wine”

Next morning we were picked up by taxi and deposited at the latest incarnation of Seoul railway station.  The original station is next door, a lovely red and white stone affair that looks just like a station and was built by the Japanese.  It was restored to the way it looked in 1925 and is now aContinue reading “Into the Silla Kingdom”

After yesterday’s miserable weather, the sun came out again today.  Henry picked us up and we set off for  the DDP, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. There’s lot of information about the DDP on the internet, but it was designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and replaced a stadium built by the Japanese.  From the outside it looks likeContinue reading “Sightseeing Gangnam Style”

We had a free day today and we’d planned to go to a traditional Gugak performance and visit a nearby art gallery. Unfortunately there were no tickets left for the performance.  So then we decided to see if the local tourist information place could help out or suggest a different option.  They couldn’t. So we decided to goContinue reading “And then it rained”