In November 2017 I was lucky enough to travel around South Korea with a good friend. I say lucky because he pretty much organised the whole trip and always found the best places.
These are a few of my favourite pictures from our journey – Seoul to Jeju island and on to Busan.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul. Loads of people come here in fancy clothes to have their picture taken, I was no exception.
We didn’t go inside the National Folk Museum of Korea. The gardens outside were nice though.
Autumn leaves.
The convenience shops are quality for quick, cheap, interesting food. You pay at the counter, microwave it, eat and then go on your merry way. These selection trays are the best but you can also get rice bowls, noodles, soups, meats, seafood… all sorts of stuff.
A quick stop at a gloomy deserted theme park on the way to the DMZ.
Dorasan Station. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorasan_Station
Looking into North Korea. The North Korean side play speeches and messages over a loud speaker. The South Koreans reply with K-pop music.
“Please don’t take any pictures”. After the DMZ the tour goes to the Ginseng centre to try and teach you about (sell you) ginseng in all of its forms.
One for the Lethal Bizzle fans.
Moomin milk is a fantastic alternative, it tasted almost exactly like cow’s milk.
N Seoul tower (Not to be confused with R-Seoul tower).
We weren’t adventurous enough to eat in the “foreign restaurant”.
This massive Sci-fi spaceport looking building is the National Museum of Korea.
Gangnam. The land of trendy bowl cuts and full length ‘Arsene Wenger’ coats.
North Korea/ South Korea demilitarised zone (South side).
Seoul mates. My friend Yeji gave us the Korean food 101.
“Makkoli”, “Makgeolli”, “MækÉ™li”, (however you want to spell it) is a Korean rice wine. Normally it’s nice (the one in the green bottle), this one however tasted like licking a dry wooden spoon and it left a weird residue in the mouth. (It’s upside down on purpose… ).
I think the lift was broken.
These were actually really nice.
I like the smiley faces that are dotted around Jeju island.
Yongduam “Dragon head” rock.
Hiking around Jeju island.
Lunch was often seaweed pouches filled with rice and other stuff. The filling is a gamble if you don’t read Korean.
Jeju Bus Terminal.
The picture Vs. taking the picture.
Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju island.
They got tired of trying to think of a good brand name.
A little taste of celebrity (they were taking the piss out of us I’m sure).
“I work in marketting”. I think that she’s making kimchi.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
The cat in the ‘Green day’ hostel on Jeju island before it attacked me.
Busan
The plan was to take a picture and call it “The lighthouse family”. These people are not related.
“I’d like my body weight in leaves please”
The Jengaboys. I wasted a whole night (and subsequently the next day) playing Jenga with these guys.
Boarding the Busan/ Fukuoka jetboat.
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Well, in the words of Porky Pig (a nickname that I have embraced since returning to the UK heavier than ever), th-th-that’s all folks!
To sum up is impossible, like my mate Anders says “If you haven’t been you won’t understand; if you have been you already know”. So yeah, go!
Once again, thanks for sticking it out this far. If any of you have been to South Korea and have some cool pictures, send them to me on Twitter ( @JackTidball ), I’d love to have a look.
Happy travels,
Jack Tidball
Tidball's travels 