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

Cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms are a must see for visitors in Korea, they literally pop up out of no where and are gone within a few weeks. They are a major attraction to the hand holding, outfit matching couples that appear out of nowhere during the spring time. Here are a few pictures I managed to take :)

Life in Korea has definitely gotten easier during the past month (despite the news reports on the tensions between here and the North). Drinking in Hongdae park is a far cheaper alternative than the bars...especially when you only have £20 for the night and walking around without all the layers almost feels liberating!  Me and a few friends will be visiting JeJu Island for a couple of days in May for a mini vacation, updates will follow :) 

Springtime in Seoul

Finally Seoul is getting warmer and pretty pink blossoms are decorating the trees....Spring is settling and my social life is defrosting. Winter here has been awful...to the point that I now feel nothing but anger and hatred towards snow and icy cold winds. Seoul has come out of hibernation and I now feel as though I can enjoy the country that I have been living in for 5 months. Beers and bike rides down by the River Han, crazy Saint Paddy day festivals out in the open, drinking at mini marts and planning our trip to JeJu island has made times here far more fun! There are now way more things to enjoy in Seoul than there was in Winter. I guess it is safe for me to say that me, Maeve and Becky can finally retire our list of "indoor activities."  Heres a few pictures of our recent escapades :)

Seodaemun Prison

Whilst Jeff was here we did many sight seeing trips; king Sejongs statue, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Itaewon and a cat cafe but the most interesting visit for me was to Seodaemun Prison. This was a prison built in 1908 by the Koreans but during the Japanese occupation became a place to hold, torture and murder korean activists and freedom fighters. It was a great way to learn about the Japanese occupation and to what extremes they went to in capturing a whole country. Only part of the prison remains but you are able to see the main area, the cells, the watch tower, the torture area and the outbuilding were people were executed. Japan’s occupation of Korea ended after World War 2 in 1945 due to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After occupying Korea for 35 years Japan finally felt it was time to surrender to the Allied forces. This prison is just a small insight into Japanese cruelty and oppression. On your visit there you will here about people that survived and how it changed their lives forever, but you will also here about the hundreds who didn’t. In tribute to the lives lost there is a hall with pictures of the people that were executed within the prison. They stood their ground and gave their lives for national independence. 

It is open to the public for only 1,500Won (£1)

Previous Work 8

This is one of the pages for a piece I did for the South African Big Issue. It was about the Voorkamerfest, a festival which comes to Darling, in the Western Cape, every year. 

Previous Work 7

This was a piece published in a mens online magazine, EliteOnline. This article featured in the magazines first ever printed edition :)