It doesn’t help much to solve this, but here are some pics of my last trip to Beijing with Alex. Nevertheless, I promise to tell you more stories about Seoul as soon as I have some free time again (work, Korean exams, job interviews, etc. have been keeping me busy all this time).

First funny picture of the trip. Two workers made turns to carry each other in this little car… in the middle of a four-lane avanue.

Entrance of the Lama Temple.

With Alex, my travel mate.

InTiananmen, undoubtedly one of the must-see spots in Beijing, where in 1989 the famous revolution about the Chinese communist dictatorship took place (more info here: video 1, video 2).

Another view of Tiananmen, from the top.

At the Silk Market (where more than Silk, all kinds of fake products are sold). I bought these two girls a pair of fake Adidas for 60 yuan (9 USD). Kind of expensive, but they were so cute…

A hair shop in the middle of the street?

What would Mao say about this…?

Of course, we also visited  The Great Wall of China.

One of the hobbies of Chinese people is the artistic writing of Chinese ideograms. At the huge Summer Palace, this woman spent the whole morning writing with this stick that she dip into a bucket with water. Obviously, after a few minutes, the characters were gone.

This seems to be another hobbie of Chinese. I don’t know how to call that.

Right before going back to the airport, a picture with “The Nest” at the background, where Usain Bolt made history with his record.

Of course, I can’t leave without thanking my friend and coworker Peque, great friend and better person, who arranged our housing in Beijing and showed us the city’s nightlife, and my friend and Korean-mom Ga-Young, who made time in her busy student schedule to meet us and spend some time with us. Hope I can see you guys again soon!

Related Posts

1. Trip to Mongolia (from Beijing)
2. Trip to Shanghai
3. Trip to Tokyo

Anyways, this trip’s goal was basically diving in Sipadan, which we couldn’t because we didn’t know that there is a one-month waiting list to dive there. But at least we got to dive in other closer islands and we finally got our PADI Open Water Diver License.

We decided to stay at Semporna, a town on the east coast of Sabah, in Borneo. From there, you can take a boat to many small nearby islands which are pretty good for diving. There is not much to see in this town, though. Most tourists here come solely to dive.

With Alex, ready for some snorkeling.

That’s me, diving.

And that’s me with my friends, diving.

This is what I call paradise

Sunset in Semporna.

Floating houses. Many people in Semporna live on the sea… literally.

Once we got sick of diving, we flu back to Kuala Lumpur, and spend a couple of days there. The city isn’t one of my favorites, but I liked the mix of cultures and religions that you can see on the streets (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.). We decided to pay for a guided tour, which probably was a good idea because it was raining most of the day and it felt quite nice to move around by car instead of walking.

Main gate of the Royal Palace, Kuala Lumpur.

Partying with Marcos in Kuala Lumpur.

In front of the Petronas Twin Towers. One of the least original pictures to be taken in KL. By the way, according to Wikipedia, the second tower was built by the Korean company Samsung Engineering and Construction.

We spent the last day of the trip in Malacca, a very nice colonial town two hours and a half drive south from Kuala Lumpur. This city was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. Therefore, Malacca seems anything but an Asian city.

There are these tuk-tuks decorated with flowers everywhere around Malacca taking tourists around.

Christ Church, at the Dutch Square in Malacca.

On the way back to the airport, we stopped at Putrajaya, a kind of artificial city where the government is moving most of its official buildings. There is a big mosque and selling of alcohol is forbidden in the whole city.

In front of the Prime Minister’s office, in Putrajaya.

View of the Putra Mosque at night.

Related Posts

1. Trip to Thailand
2. Trip to Tokyo
3. Trip to Shanghai

The big amount of bicycles you can see in Tokyo amazes me. Although it’s one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Tokyo has so many streets for pedestrians and many times reminds me of any European city.

We all know how much Japanese like fetishism. In Asakusa market you can buy college girls’ boobs that you can eat

Finally, more than two years after I graduated from ISU, I met my friend Chiho again

We could see a traditional Shinto wedding at Meiji Shrine, very near Harajuku Station.

Takeshita Street, one of the most mopular streets in Tokyo, where you can also see many cosplayers.

With Thanita and Chiho at a sushi-restaurant.

¿What the heck is a 2CV doing in Shibuya? They say in Tokyo you can expect to see anything

Having dinner in Shibuya, from left to right, Harumi, Thanita, Pablo and Satomi. (Thanks to Thanita who spent hours looking for a restaurant with room enough for almost 20 people we were!)

At Asakusa Temple, from left to right, myself, Itzíar, Ciro, Alex, and Jairo.

Related Posts

1. (Second) Trip to Tokyo
2. Trip to Japan
3. Trip to Gyeongju

On the way to Gyeongju, we drove by Pohang (포항)… where is all this? Right here:

In Pohang, we went to the Bogyeong Temple (보경사, Bogyeongsa) and spent the first night at a resort called Ocean Views at the Wolpo Beach.

Woman praying to Buddha at the Bogyeong Temple.

Coincidentally there was a Buddhist funeral going on at that moment. I was surprised to see a black hanbok as they are usually very bright and colorful.

From left to right, Jairo, Alex, Ciro, and Itzíar.

Jairo, Alex, and Ciro at the river. There were also some waterfalls, but they were a little far, and it was getting dark:(

After visiting this temple, we went to eat raw fish. Being Pohang a coastal city, it is popular for its cheap and fresh raw fish. Next day, we left for Gyeongju:

In the island in this picture, Munmu King is buried. He was the first king of Korean Unified Silla period.

Korean Countryman at work (what you can see on the background are rice fields).

At the beach you can buy fresh and cheap seaweed…

…and also dried squid (those things hanging).

These ayummas were having fun drinking soju and makgeolli.

Under these tumulus there are some old Korean kings (their corpses actually).

We also went to the Bulguk Temple (불국사, Bulguksa). These stone piles are supposed to be made by monks when they pray (I think they put one stone every time they pray). But being this such a tourist temple, tourists were the ones who put the stones.

After four kilometers climbing on foot from the Bulguksa, we arrived at the Seokguram. This is the view from the top.

Seokguram Buddha, one of the most popular buddhas in South Korea.

An this is where we stayed in Gyeongju, a mini-ville in the middle of nothing (this is their website).

Related Posts

1. Trip to Tokyo
2. Trip to Shanghai
3. Trip to Thailand

Here are some pictures of our trip to Thailand. All of the ICEX interns in Seoul have spent six days relaxing in paradise-like beaches, from the pool to the beach and from the beach to the pool, drinking shakes for less than a dollar, and besides, Alex and I, got our diving license (the PADI Scuba Diver)

Overall, the trip was great, although it was so hot and humid all the time. I imagined Thailand much more “Asian”. Sometimes I thought I was in South or Central America instead of in Asia.. I guess it must be because of the tropical weather;)

The six ICEX interns, on the Thai Airways airplane.

Taking the boat to Ton Sai Bay.

Alex and Ciro on the kayak.

InPhra Nang Bay, a beach near Ton Say Bay, where we went by kayak (here is a map).

After Ton Sai Bay, we decided to move to a resort in Phi Phi Islands. Here’s a view of our island, Ko Phi Phi Don (picture by Jairo).

This is a good summary of our trip.

In front of Ko Phi Phi Lee, the island where the movie “The Beach” was filmed.

With Carlos at the same beach. The sign is kind of scary, isn’t it?

On the boat going to do diving.

With Alex and two Koreans we met diving.

We were lucky that it only rained one day. Anyway, the temperature was still like Malaga in august.

Fire show on the beach.

Back in Bangkok, the same heat but no beach. Here we are at the Grand Palace.

Buddhist figure at the Grand Palace.

We had Mirinda in Spain long time ago, but they stopped selling it. In Thailand they still have it

On a Tuk-Tuk, a kind of motorcycle with three wheels quite common in Southeast Asia.

Jairo playing Takraw with some locals.

Sunset at the Khao San Road market.

Back in Seoul, with a three-hour sleep and ready to work. On the bus, Alex and Jairo looked kind of tired:P

And if you want to see more pictures, all of them are here.

Related Posts

1. Trip to Malaysia
2. Trip to Shanghai
3. Trip to Gyeongju

At the rental, with 상표 (Mark), Ju-Yun’s friend.

Getting ready to… ¿fall?

From left to right, Ju-Yun, Alex, 은미 (Enice), and I.

Alex, 정은 (Ellen), and I.

The kings of snoboarding, I think that I fell down more times than Alex, but my style was much better than his:P

So yes, we had a lot of fun. Thanks a lot to Ju-Yun and her fiends!

Related Posts

1. Trip to Thailand
2. Trip to Beijing
3. Trip to Gyeongju

We were lucky enough to visit Shanghai during Chinese New year, which is always celebrated some day between January 21st and February 21st (this year it was on februray 7th), depending on the lunisolar calendar.

The result was just awesome. Being the country of gunpowder you can imagine how Chinese celebrate their New Year… in China, not only can anybody buy a firecracker, but they can also buy true loads of gunpowder, children, adults… the point is to make noise, the more the better. As a sample of this, take a look at these videos, taken on New Year’s midnight in any street of Shanghai:

As for the city, Shanghai is full of contrasts, even more than Seoul. As soon as you leave the Bund, which is the “rich” area where all the skyscrapers are, the impression is sometimes that of going back in time like thirty years, poverty, ugly buildings, dirtiness…

I had the chance to meet other two ICEX interns, Alberto (Ho Chi Minh) and Javi (Hong Kong) also on a trip, as well as the local intern, Quique. You can also take a look at their posts about Shanghai (here, here, here, here, here, here y here) much more elaborated than mine (I’m sorry, but my days need more hours…).

Also, I could spend some days with Azusa, a friend from my American days with whom I also spent some days when I went to Japan, and who finally decided to join us in Shanghai. Tanja, also came with us from Seúl as part of her vacation period.

In the subway, from left to right, Alex, Ciro, Carlos, Itzíar, and Jairo.

The typical picture, with the Bund and its Pearl Tower on the background. It was a little cloudy, as it is usual in Shanghai (we were very lucky that it didn’t rain indeed).

One of the communist-oriented commercials that Adidas released for the Olimpic Games. (More of this series at el blog de chinochano.)

The almost-finished Shanghai World Financial Center on the left (492 m.) and the Jin Mao Tower on the right (421 m., although it looks taller becaouse of the perspective). Once finished, the first one will be the tallest building in the world (not including antennas).

Decorations for the New Year in the Old Town. Being New Year’s it was a national holiday, which explains why the lots of heads

Next to the Old Town, there was the Yuyuan Garden, one of the most popular gardens in China. This is one of its lakes.

The Old Town with lighting.

Having dinner with Azusa.

We also went to Zhouzhuang a city one hour by bus from Shanghai also known as the “Chinese Venice” (in spite of the evident differences…).

Azusa and Tanja. I like this pic:)

You can see all the (many) pictures from the trip here.

¡Happy Year of the Rat!

Related Posts

1. Trip to Thailand
2. Trip to Gyeongju
3. Trip to Tokyo