Portsmouth & Isle of Wight

After spending a couple of days in London with my good friend Roshan, Petter and I left for Gatwick where we met up with my family. From Gatwick we got a rental car and drove down to Portsmouth in the south of England. On the second day in Portsmouth we attended the Graduation Ceremony at the University of Portsmouth where my sister graduated.

The day after the graduation ceremony all of us went to Isle of Wight for a day trip to explore this island.  The island is quite small so we had an easy drive around the island looking at the various sights.

My dad, sister, and mother

First dinner in Portsmouth on Tuesday evening at Rosie's Wine Bar

Desert at Rosie's Wine Bar

Colourful buildings in the city centre of Portsmouth

My sister Elin, and Petter at a pub in Portsmouth

Elin and my mother

The Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth

Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight 

The pier in Sandown

Elin and I on the west point of the Isle of Wight 

London

After a 12 hour flight with soso British Airways I'm finally in Hammersmith, London. I met up with my friend Roshan, and we went for breakfast. Now it's time to get used to the new time zone, and this evening my friend Petter is coming here too!

The Queen

The area around London Bridge

Petter and I with London Bridge in the background

Hamleys, the five floor toy store in London

My good friend Roshan and myself at the pub in Hammersmith

Changi Aiport

Changi Airport in Singapore is my last stop here in Asia before I'll be back in Europe tomorrow morning. Singapore has been 28 hours of fun, and few hours of sleep...

See you soon Europe!

Changi Airport, the second best airport in the world after Hong Kong

Super cool Singapore, again :)

So I'm back in Singapore, and have been meeting up with friends here.. :)

Tonight's my flight to London, so Europe next stop!

Louie, me, and Jasie on our way to Sentosa Island

Sentosa World Resort, the roof is full of over sized candy

Walking around Sentosa World,heading for the beach

In the lift on our way up to do a ride with the Luge

Tanjong Beach

Tanjong Beach

Last meal in Asia, Shanghai Dumplings, soooo delicious...

Trip around Korea, part three

Tuesday 5 July
This morning we got on the bus to Jeonju which is just one hour north of Gwangju. First thing we did was to go to the Hanok village, and try the famous Bibimpop there. In the Hanok village we went to a really nice tea place, and looked around in the different art and craft shops. Since it was already quite late in the evening we decided to stay in a traditional Korean house in the Hanok village for the night. I the evening we went out to Maekolli Town, there we met some nice locals who wanted to drink with us.

The city centre in Gwangju

Nice looking cafe in Gwangju

Hammered chicken

Tasty Bibimbap in Jeonju, close to the Hanok village

Traditional way of making Hanji paper in Jeonju Hanok village

Wednesday 6 July
This morning we had nice Korean breakfast before we went around Jeonju Hanok village a bit more to buy some gifts and look around. In the afternoon we finally got on the bus to Seoul. Arriving in Seoul in the evening concluded this 7 day trip around Korea, we mostly travelled by bus, but also did hitch hiking a few times.

Really nice tea place in the Hanok village

More tea...

Posing in the Hanok village

The main street in the Hanok village, all the houses here are built in the traditional way

Our accommodation in the Hanok village, really nice traditional Korean housing 

Custom made Korean fan for my good friend Roshan

 

It was a great trip around Korea!

Trip around Korea, part two

Monday 2 July
Around noon we arrived in Busan, then we went directly to Una's friend's place. After leaving our luggage we went to Haewoondae beach in the centre of Busan. Since it was Sunday the beach was full of local people from Busan, and a few tourists. Before we went to Yongkung Temple we tried the eel dish called Gomjangee in the fresh sea food street.
In the evening we went for a moon walk, and later went to the cinema to see Transformers 3.

The first thing we see when we arrive in Busan

Haeundae beach in Busan, the water was freezing...

Una at Haeundae beach, she actually didn't find the water cold...

Seafood restaurant street in Busan, here we had the eel dish

The eel dish, so yummy

Yonggung-sa Temple

Yonggung-sa Temple with Cintia and Una

Yonggung-sa Temple

The moon walk along the shore, because of the mist there was no view at all..

The view is supposed to be really nice, now it's just white...

Creepy atmosphere in the forest

Strange signs in the forest, the writing is Korean for "I like"

Cintia and me at the sashimi place in Busan

Sunday 3 July
Since we had the late night movie last night we had a sleep in before having amazing Korean breakfast at Cintia's place. After breakfast we started our trip towards the small coastal village Yokpo. This area is famous for its tea plantations, and in Yokpo they have spa where you can bathe in green tea salt water at a temperature of 42 Celsius.
Yokpo was really quiet so in the evening we had Korean BBQ with pork that had been fed with green tea leafs.

Food stall at the rest area on the express way

Arriving in Sucheon, leaving only hours later to head down south  to Yulpo

Kids playing with sparklies at the beach front

Cold green tea noodle dish in Yulpo

Green tea rice wine

The dinner place in Yulpo where we had green tea everything

Monday 4 July
We started the morning with a visit to the bath place to soak up the health benefits of the green tea salt water bath. From Yokpo we got a ride with some local people to the tea plantation. The weater was really perfect for seeing the tea plantation, and we even had green tea ice cream after the walk around the plantation.


After leaving the tea plantation we got on the bus to Gwangju. In Gwangju we had the best dish I ever tried in Korea, and the dish was Dakgalbi. For drink we had the traditional Korean rice wine, Soju. In the evening we decided to stay in Gwangju for the night, and head to Jeonju the next day.

No English here, since we were lazy we hitch hiked to the tea plantation

The tea plantation in Boseong

Tea plantation and us

Green tea ice cream, soooo delicious

Green tea, with a nice Korean coaster

Maple tree leafs, obviously these are really beautiful during fall when they all turn red