This blog has moved!

I have repeatedly forgotten to do this, but here we go. Unfortunately this is the last time I will be updating this blog, I have now moved over to Wordpress. Here's the address; http://robyndurdy.wordpress.com/

Korean Love Motels

During Jeff’s stay here I thought what better way to show him the seedier way of life here in Korea, than to take him to an infamous Love Motel. Despite the fact that South Korea is a modern and ever expanding metropolis of technology, some of the people here are a bit slower in catching up to the fast paced world they are now caught up in.

Korea in so many ways is still a very traditional country, for example, it is normal practice for the children to remain living at home with their parents until they are married, women here are expected to be married by the time they are 30 and women also still take on the traditional role of mother, wife and housekeeper.

Casual relationships are frowned upon and sex before marriage is not an easy topic to broach when you are still living at home with your parents.

This is where Love Motels come in handy.

They were originally seedy, back alley type places that were not only available for nighttime trysts but for pay by the hour pleasure as well.

Now with times changing and more and more tourists coming to Seoul, the Love Motel circuit has turned into somewhat of a trend in certain areas. You can get rooms that are themed, with Jacuzzis, styled in a vintage manner, and elaborately funked up. They are now much more of a fun place to stay than just a stop over for secret lovers.

I took Jeff to one in Sinchon, following a recommendation from a friend. The thing about Love Motels is that they tend to all be on one street, so there is no need to book, you simply move on to the next if one is full. We ended up staying at one called Lexy Motel. It was great.

Dark corridors, walls decorated with old black and white pictures and the room numbers where lit up if they were occupied. When we got into the room, we were greeted with a huge bed, a flat screen TV, 2 computers, an amazingly deep bathtub and an array of freebies. These ranged from the expected condoms to facemasks, make up remover, moisturizer and other pampering necessities for ladies.

The computers were a great idea as well, not only can you play games against each other on them but one is connected to the TV which allows you to stream TV shows and movies in what ever language you need. The room came with air con, was spotlessly clean and bottled water was provided. It was definitely a fun experience and when my contract for my job and my apartment is up on the 29^th of November I fully intend on staying in one again before my flight to the Philippines. 

Our trip to Namsan Tower :)

June was an eventful month, not only had I just arrived back from an amazing holiday in Jeju, but within a couple of weeks Jeff was visiting for the second time!

Whilst he was here I was able to have 4 days off so I jam- packed as much stuff in as was possible. To say it wasn’t stressful and mentally upsetting when some of them didn’t quite go to plan would be a lie, unfortunately Jeff was present for these mini break downs J

The best thing I planned was definitely a trip to Namsan Tower, the weather was lovely, the views were amazing and the food was excellent. The first thing that attracted me to going to Namsan Tower was the fact that it had a Grill Restaurant at the top of it and not only was it greatly reviewed but… it revolved! This way you managed to see a full 360 degree turn of Seoul. It was beautiful. Our Seats were facing the window as our champagne was poured and our 5 courses served.

If you were to have booked a table for the evening the meal set would have been 100,000 Won per person (£60) and with the bubbly we chose being 70,000 Won (£40) the price would have quickly escalated. In England these prices for a nice meal wouldn’t have been a big deal, but in Korea this is considered very pricey, so after playing around on their website I happily discovered that if you went in the day, the exact same meal set was half the price, 50.000Won (£30), I was sold. I initially thought that you were paying these prices due to the extraodinary views the restaurant was able to supply.

I was mistaken.

The food was amazing and each course seemed to get better and better, I will stand by my point that it was the best steak I have ever had in my short 25 years and if that isn’t a good enough recommendation, Jeff, who is four years older than me and has A LOT more experience when it comes to steak eating, agrees with me.  A trip to Namsan tower is not only good for just the food, it is located on Mt.Namsan and offers great Panoramic views pf the surrounding areas. It also has some of the best trails for hikes, I chose to get the cable car up there, and has many great observation decks for pictures. There is also the infamous love locks you can go and see. This is where a couple can buy a padlock, write their names on it, lock it on the fencing around Namsan Tower and throw the key down the mountain. Me and Jeff did not do this but we did a good look at the hundreds…possibly thousands of brightly coloured, elaborately designed locks that surrounded the place. It is also hosts movies, performances and exhibitions. It opened to the public in 1980 and since then has been a major tourist attraction for people visiting Seoul. It was a great day out and I definitely recommend a visit :) 

Jeju magic

Shortly after the Lotus Lantern festival I took a small trip to a Korean Island called Jeju with some friends. We only had 4 days off work which included the weekend so our trip lasted for 3 days and 2 nights but we had an amazing time. Jeju is definitely more my type of place, with it's grandad statues, golden beaches and trees that go on for miles. It is far more relaxing compared to Seoul and was a nice break away from the city.
After 6 months of looking at tower block buildings, jam-packed roads and smog that surrounds the views, it was refreshing to see clear blue skies and a coastline again. The convenience of Seoul is mesmerising, and I stand by my choice to live here, especially as a first timer in Korea. Everything is accessible and I have no issues when it comes to food. However through this trip and my previous experiences of being abroad I have finally decided that I am not a city girl, give me small towns and beaches any day :)
This is what Jeju was like. The Island is renown here in Korea as the place Korean people go to for a quick and easy get away. The flight is less than an hour and there are so many cute and cheap guesthouses to chose from. Our dear friend Julia, who has been to Jeju a few times, arranged the whole trip for us and due to this I will be eternally grateful to her :) We saw beaches, got lost in a giant maze, went for Korean BBQ, drank until we could no longer keep our eyes open and breathed in as much clean air as we could.
We went to a glass museum (the name does not give it justice) which was a collection of pieces and statues made entirely out of coloured glass and positioned around a huge garden with lots of trees. With the sun beaming down the glass reflected and gave the whole place an element of magic. Julia also took us to a place called "Love Land." Now this is a strange place indeed, but a famous one. It was put together by a group of art students that wanted to change the Korean opinion of sex and it's secrecies. so upon enter you are immediately confronted with a statue of a giant penis. This is just the start of Love Land. Through the park there are a numerous amount of statues portraying women and men having sex in all kinds of positions, from skinny to large, from Koreans to Europeans, Love Land doesn't leave much to the imagination. The park will indeed make you blush and laugh with hysteria but it is something Jeju is know for, so it is definitely worth a visit.
On the second night of our trip we stayed at a guesthouse called White Wale Guesthouse. It's decor was Greek and built on a hill with views that took your breath away. The owner was extremely friendly and insisted on taking me, Maeve, Julia and Becky on a little tour before we went for dinner one night. We ended up in the house of a monk who served us lotus tea and gave us some hand made soap in celebration of Buddha's birthday. She was about to leave for a 6 month meditation trip to Nepal. A completely random and unique experience that I was happy to have had, he also took us to a green tea farm and showed us some amazing views.
 When we arrived back in Seoul, with our backpacks, sandals and sunburn we were greeted with nothing less than a complete downpour of rain, car horns blaring and the rush of city life. It was nice to escape for a bit.

The Lotus Lantern Festival

I will be the first person to admit that when I landed in Korea it was definitely not love at first sight, and thats just because the weather froze my heart! In every country I have been to I have always been able to see the culture...not just read and learn about it but actually see it. Whether it be in his architecture or its landscape, I have always found the beauty of a country to be the most important thing to me. However Seoul is not like that, it takes a while to find it's cultural beauty, it is a massive city that has modernised in such a short amount of time it takes your breath away and can be ever so overwhelming to deal with. But during my time here I have tried my best to visit as many places as I can and actually learn about what South Korea is. So on Saturday when I got invited by my lovely friend Anna to go to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Dongdaemun I just thought it would be something different and cheap to do on a Saturday night. 

It far exceeded my expectations.

I loved it.

It was a celebration of Buddha's birthday and the amount of effort and presentation that went into the festival was so entertaining I could barely turn away in fear of missing what the next giant illuminated float might be! My favourite one by far was the massive, colourful, fire breathing dragon, complete with sound effects! With dancers, buddhist monks, drummers and lanterns of all colours and shapes it is definitely a night you can get lost in. I felt that I had finally found that beautiful piece of culture I was looking for. Oh and thanks to Maeve for getting us those front row seats :D