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  • December 8, 2019
    Back in the USSA 🇺🇸
    Back in the United StateS of America

    I’m back! Spent some time with my family in Atlanta, hung out with JP in Columbia & saw Jump, Little Children, and met some friends’ babies!

    Autumn leaves Autumn leaves

    H by the fire H roasting marshmallows by the fire

    J reading J reading

    Me & M Me & M

    H & M posing H & M posing

    H & M reading **

    Me & M Me & M

    Jump, Little Children Jump, Little Children: White Mule, Columbia, South Carolina

    JP, J, & me JP, J, & me

    Chris Chris

  • November 25, 2019
    So long, Eastern hempisphere
    It's been real!

    The South Korean leg of my ‘grand tour’ has come to an end. I’m currently sitting in the Korean Airlines lounge in Seoul’s Incheon airport, a little exhausted, yet so grateful & happy that I’ve been able to spend the past 6 weeks in California, Australia, & South Korea.

    This morning, I was in Jeju, and, in a couple of hours, I will board a flight to Atlanta, where I’ll get to spend the next 10 days or so celebrating Thanksgiving and spending time with my family.

    Jeju flight to Seoul Jeju Air: new standard (ahem)

    Incheon airport Incheon airport

    It’s been an incredible trip, but I’m excited to relax in a more familiar territory & hang out with the family!

    I put together this 1 Second Everyday video mashup that takes photos & 1 second video clips from the past couple of months and mashes them together in a single video. Check it out!

    1 second everyday mashup video

    Thanks for joining me through my posts on this blog! I will probably post a bit less regularly moving forward.

    Here are a few posts from the past few days in Jeju I’ve just gotten around to posting:

    • Flying from Seoul to Jeju: Island livin
    • Jeju is dope: Oranges, beaches, great food
    • Jeju II: More food!
  • November 24, 2019
    Jeju II
    More food!

    It was a rainy day, so we went and picked up some pizzas and chicken for lunch from Magpie, then we went out for a drive.

    We had a delicious dinner in the city of chicken & mushroom dumplings, chicken meatballs, pork charsiu, and noodle soup with fish cake.

    Oranges Oranges!

    Me & Ellie Me & Ellie

    Magpie posters Magpie posters

    Dinner Dinner

  • November 23, 2019
    Jeju is dope
    Oranges, beaches, great food

    We started the day in Jeju picking some oranges from their back yard. We went out for an amazing lunch, then stopped by the beach for a bit, followed by a visit to Tiffany & Erik’s brewery: Magpie. Tiffany & I ducked out for a bbq dinner.

    Orange picking Orange picking

    Lunch Traditional Korean lunch: beef, fish, pancakes, soup, spicy salad with homemade tofu, plenty of yummy sides.

    Beach Beach

    Beach selfie Beach selfie

    Magpie Magpie brewery: Brewed on Jeju, Born in Seoul

    Magpie brewery Magpie brewery

    Tiffany Tiffany

    BBQ dinner BBQ dinner

  • November 22, 2019
    Flying from Seoul to Jeju
    Island livin

    I met up with Tiffany’s family and flew from Seoul’s Gimpo airport down to Jeju, an island off the southern coast of South Korea.

    Before doing that, I walked a bit around Namsan park near my hotel.

    Views of Seoul Views of Seoul from Namsan park

    Cab to Gimpo Cab to Gimpo airport

    Asiana flight Asiana flight from Seoul Gimpo to Jeju

  • November 21, 2019
    Old Seoul
    Get it?

    I returned to Bimbam Cafe this morning, but this time got the quiche lorraine, which was even better than yesterday’s breakfast. I met up with Tiffany & fam to go down to the park near the Han river.

    This afternoon, I took the bus up to the Jongmyo shrine, which I learned I could not enter without a tour. Unfortunately, the next one was 1½ hours away. So I walked up to the Bukchon Hanok village: a neighborhood of old style residential homes that are still in use. One interesting tidbit is that young adults will rent period-piece costumes and walk around to places like palaces or old villages to take photos of themselves. It’s only a few bucks to rent one of these costumes for a few hours, and they seem to love it.

    I returned to the Jongmyo shrine for the 4pm tour. The shrine is the spirit home for the kings of the Joseon dynasty, which ruled for 500 years up til the end of the 19th century.

    For dinner, I got to go to Tiffany & Eric’s brewery bar: Magpie, where we had delicious beers & pizzas!

    Sunrise Sunrise, viewed from my hotel room. Not bad, eh?

    Quiche lorraine Quiche lorraine & broiled grapefruit, from Bimbam Cafe

    Han river park Han river park

    M M taking a picture of me

    Bukchon Hanok Village Bukchon Hanok Village

    Bukchon Hanok Village: costumes! Bukchon Hanok Village: costumes!

    Jongmyo shrine: a dope tree Jongmyo shrine: a dope tree

    Jongmyo shrine Jongmyo shrine: where the kings’ spirits “live on”

    Magpie pizzas Magpie pizzas: hawaiian & lamb

    Londoner Londoner beer from Magpie + Charles H: the beer version of a Pimm’s cup!

    View from my hotel at night View from my hotel at night

  • November 20, 2019
    2 museums & some food
    Lots of walking!

    My first full day in Seoul! I had a good breakfast at Bimbam Cafe near the hotel, then walked down to the War Memorial of Korea, which encompassed lots of history of Korea, with an emphasis on the Korean War.

    I had a yummy sandwich at Casablanca in Itaewon, then met up with Tiffany & fam to see the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Arario museum.

    We had a dope Korean dinner of seafood & veggie pancake, a spicy salad with chestnut jelly, and a creamy noodle soup, along with makgeolli, a Korean rice wine that was yum.

    Breakfast Breakfast at Bimbam Cafe

    Korean War monument Korean War monument

    Statue of Brothers Statue of Brothers

    War Memorial of Korea War Memorial of Korea

    United Nations Memorial Cemetery United Nations Memorial Cemetery: pretty interesting ‘infinity’ cemetery in a small room with mirrors on both sides

    Outfit My holiday party outfit

    Flowers at the War Memorial Flowers at the War Memorial

    Casablanca Chicken sandwich at Casablanca Sandwicherie

    Gwanghwamun Square Gwanghwamun Square

    Gyeongbokgung Palace Gyeongbokgung Palace

    Deer at Arario museum Deer at Arario museum: these are taxidermied deer covered in crystals.

    Street Street

    Dinner Dinner: spicy salad with chestnut jelly, seafood & veggie pancake, creamy noodle soup.

    M Tiffany’s daughter!

  • November 19, 2019
    Seoul!
    Day one

    After a long flight from Melbourne with a middle-of-the-night layover in Singapore, I made it to Seoul! I took the KAL (Korean Airlines) Limousine Bus from Seoul’s Incheon airport to the Grand Hyatt hotel. The bus was pretty nice, as it does a loop from the airport to major hotels in Seoul, so it’s a easy, inexpensive way to efficiently get to the destination.

    I was pretty wiped out when I checked in, but I managed to walk down to Full Moon where I had a beef bulgogi meal, complete with various Korean style sides.

    Later, I met up with Tiffany & her family to explore Seoul a bit before having dinner at Myeongdong Kyoja, where we had amazing chicken & dumpling noodle soup along with chicken dumplings.

    KAL Limousine bus At first, I had the limo bus to myself, but a few others joined me at the other terminal.

    Three dudes Three dudes marching outside in fun clothes

    City view City view Views from my hotel room

    Beef bulgogi Full Moon: Beef bulgogi & sides

    Me and Tiffany Me and Tiffany

    Pringles These Pringles actually tasted like bolognese.

  • November 18, 2019
    So long, Australia
    It's been amaze.

    For the past four weeks, I’ve been in Australia, mostly staying in Melbourne, but also Torquay and Hobart (Tasmania). It’s been amazing! I’ve been blown away by how nice of a city is, let alone the fantastic food, coffee, & drinks available nearly everywhere.

    Here are a few terms I’ve learned along the way…

    Australian English US English
    Footy Australia-rules football
    Toasties toasted sandwich
    Jaffle also a toasted sandwich
    Take away take out
    Booking reservation
    Return round trip
    Brekkie breakfast
    burger literally anything in a bun (e.g., a “chicken burger” is just a chicken sandwich in a bun)
    Stubbie holder koozie

    And a few places I loved that have stayed on my mind…

    Cafes: Proud Mary, Aunty Peg’s, Grace Cafe, Industry Beans, Rustica, Seven Seeds. (All those are great for coffee, breakfast, and lunch, with the exception of Aunty Peg’s, which just has great coffee).

    Bars: Above Board, Bar Americano, Black Pearl, Byrdi.

    Restaurants: Supernormal, Tonka, Chin Chin, Charcoal Lane.

    Sight-seeing: St Kilda penguins at sunset (get there a half hour early to get a good spot, and walk to the end of the pier), National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), ‘Hands-On’ Street Art Experience (Airbnb – Lukas), Ian Potter museum, Royal Botanic Gardens, the Keith Haring mural in Collingswood.

    Shopping: Original & Authentic Aboriginal Art, Wonderkammer.

    Outside Melbourne: Anglesea Golf Club – Kangaroo tour, Great Ocean Road, Koala Cafe (100% because of the koalas nearby), the beach.

    Hobart, Tasmania: Museum of New and Old Art (MONA, incredible), Pennicott Seafood Seduction boat tour (omfg), Macq01 Hotel, Sullivan’s Cove whisky.

    Next stop: Seoul!

    🇰🇷

  • November 17, 2019
    Johnston street festival
    Lots of dope latinx food

    Just a few blocks from where I’m staying, I happened upon a multi-block street festival that had two stages of various music & dancing, and in between a menagerie of food options. I ended up getting some chicken ‘wanton’ tacos, which were pretty tasty.

    Dancing

    Street festival

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