South Korea: My favourite pictures

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.

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Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul. Loads of people come here in fancy clothes to have their picture taken, I was no exception.

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We didn’t go inside the National Folk Museum of Korea. The gardens outside were nice though.

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Autumn leaves.

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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.

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A quick stop at a gloomy deserted theme park on the way to the DMZ.

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Dorasan Station. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorasan_Station

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Looking into North Korea. The North Korean side play speeches and messages over a loud speaker. The South Koreans reply with K-pop music.

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“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.

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One for the Lethal Bizzle fans.

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Moomin milk is a fantastic alternative, it tasted almost exactly like cow’s milk.

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N Seoul tower (Not to be confused with R-Seoul tower).

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We weren’t adventurous enough to eat in the “foreign restaurant”.

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This massive Sci-fi spaceport looking building is the National Museum of Korea.

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Gangnam. The land of trendy bowl cuts and full length ‘Arsene Wenger’ coats.

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North Korea/ South Korea demilitarised zone (South side).

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Seoul mates. My friend Yeji gave us the Korean food 101.

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“Makkoli”, “Makgeolli”, “Mækəli”, (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… ).

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I think the lift was broken.

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These were actually really nice.

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I like the smiley faces that are dotted around Jeju island.

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Yongduam “Dragon head” rock.

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Hiking around Jeju island.

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Lunch was often seaweed pouches filled with rice and other stuff. The filling is a gamble if you don’t read Korean.

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Jeju Bus Terminal.

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The picture Vs. taking the picture.

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Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju island.

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They got tired of trying to think of a good brand name.

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A little taste of celebrity (they were taking the piss out of us I’m sure).

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“I work in marketting”. I think that she’s making kimchi.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

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The cat in the ‘Green day’ hostel on Jeju island before it attacked me.

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Busan

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The plan was to take a picture and call it “The lighthouse family”. These people are not related.

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“I’d like my body weight in leaves please”

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The Jengaboys. I wasted a whole night (and subsequently the next day) playing Jenga with these guys.

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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

The Philippines: A few of my pictures

I will start with an apology. After a really long day fighting through the bustle of Manila, then a long hot wait in the chaos of the airport, followed by four hours on a restless plane to Singapore my day finally had some punctuation. I was shattered. I plodded my booty down on the plush carpet outside of the connecting gate and began to write. In the following four hours I poured my little heart into a huge piece of writing, not leaving a single ounce of memory on the cutting room floor. My error however was that I was just typing, glazed eyed at the screen with no thought of backup I just tip-tapped away. The call for the plane to board came so I pressed the “hibernate” gizmo and closed the lid on my computer with the intention of going back to writing as soon as I was sat on the plane. The second leg of the journey was longer and I had lucked into a really nice seat (very rare on Jetstar, they are usually crap) so I decided to have a quick snooze. By the time the plane had taken off and we had the all-clear to stand up I was fully passed out. Dead to the world and didn’t wake up until we were about to land!

It wasn’t until I arrived back to where I was staying in Perth that I decided to finish off the writing. When I opened up my laptop however the page was blank. I’d left it for so long the hibernate had become a fully fledged shutdown (much like I had done myself on the flight) and all of my scribblings were gone. “Bollocks”.

Instead of writing it all out again I have decided to write the electric “sorry Miss I forgot to save my homework” story (that you have patiently just read) and then load up a few pictures that I took while I was there. So yeah, sorry you don’t get to read my stream of consciousness written on the floor of an airport*, instead however here are a selection of bloody lovely pictures from my trip to The Philippines. I hope you like them.

A beautiful wedding on the beach.

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Reunited with family after 2 years.

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Starting off the day with some “Gasoline”.

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A beach front hostel for 400PHP (about six quid).

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Safety first.

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A huge parade for Good Friday.

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Magellan’s cross.

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Traffic.

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Manny Pacquiao’s signed gloves.

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Dusk on the beach.

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Trekking in the hills.

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Rush hour.

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Blue ice cream!

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“We’re going to need a bigger boat”.

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Fresh from the catwalks of Milan.

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One of the cheapest meals that I’ve ever had. “Eat all you can” noodles for 10PHP (16 pence).

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Nips.

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Exploring an old unused hotel reclaimed by the jungle.

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Thriller in Manila.

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Morning at the markets.

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Folded towels and a nice bed (I lived for 3 weeks out of that little bag).

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The end of the beach.

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“Darling. Fetch my king outfit and umbrella, we’re going for a regal ride in the rain”.

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JT phone home.

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“Tom”. Blatantly taking the Mickey.

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Arriving into Cebu’s port after an episode of seasickness on the ferry.

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A Taoist temple in Cebu.

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Worth it?

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Sassy Jesus.

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The hills of Boljo-on.

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The pre-Latin Filipino alphabet (Why does “da de/di do/du” have the same symbols as “ra re/ri ro/ru”?).

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Home for a few days.

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The wedding resort.

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Japanese tourists.

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Potato flavoured crisps.

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Feeding the fish.

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Very happy with the new nails.

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Trees growing out of the rocks.

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Tagbilaran trike.

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The end of the jungle.

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I love a photo opportunity.

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The last sunset.

17952561_10155100253225132_3286738111410198112_nDiving with whale sharks in Oslob.

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Thanks for getting this far! A note about the whale shark diving. Although the animals are phenomenal, the way that they are treated ruins the whole experience. Please read this before you consider going, I wish I did – https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/eat-yourself-green-14874229/why-you-shouldnt-dive-with-whale-sharks-in-5502178293

Safe Travels!

 

*A post written whilst sat on the floor of Auckland airport about my time Tonga – Memories from Tonga: A diary