김장 Kimjang celebration day with Seong Yong!

Aynong,

in these days koreans all over the country prepare their kimchi resources or the winter time.  They prepare seriously a lot of Kimchi!

Robert and Haeyoung always want to prepare Kimchi at John's and my home, because it is supposed to be a little bit smelly (because of all the spices).

On sunday I asked Seong when they will prepare... actually they did today, and I was able to join him and his family. 

So I worshiped Kimchi today!

I took the subway really early (too early kkk) to go to the very south west of Busan. His family's restaurant is located in Dadaepo, so kind of far away from my dormitory.

When we arrived I realized that there will be so much Kimchi to prepare kkk There were tons!!!

Eggs, eggs, eggs and more eggs....

Anyong,

last sunday night I guess it was Eggs-eve.... and I was the only person who didn't know.... maybe Ratchel didn't know either.... she was kind of addled too 

Actually we asked Hoon to bring us to some place, and he acted like he didn't know where to go, I guess it was their plan to distract us before getting us all confused to the Egg - Place kkkk

When we entered it was like a normal korean restaurant, but once at the table they told us about the restaurants special...

Hoon just told us, very proud, pointing on the bowl of eggs..... UNLIMITED!

LEGO adventure - Best coffee shop for men!

Anyong,

most of the coffee shops in Korea are really cute, and girls really love it! But on saturday I visited a coffee shop with Dawoon.... it was just like "made for boys"... not men actually kkk 

Of course it has been cute, but in a really manly way kkkk 

It was a LEGO coffee shop. We just saw the giant LEGO Minifigure in the shop window and were mesmerized! 

Bexco - Gwangalli beach

Anyong,

on friday I went with Binod and Nitya to Bexco for some algae presentation stuff. It was kind of fun, but of course not real fun kkkk

Afterwards we separated and in the afternoon I wanted to check out the beach at Gwangalli, because it was a really sunny day. 

Outdoor Kitchen - A new BBQ experience!

Anyong,

on saturday night I met as usual Dawoon and Chaewoon kkkk

We met at PNU to have a special BBQ this time!

The place was called outdoor kitchen! What can I say... It has been an outdoor kitchen. We were able to choose our table inside or outside in a tent. They wanted to gave us the whole camping feeling. Even the seats were camping seats. Kind of uncomfortable kkkk

Songdo Beach lampion Festival - So cute!

Anyong,

after hosting Elisa and Claudio I was seriously exhausted for the week. I have been to bed every night at 11pm and I just went to the gym after laboratory, chilled for 2 or 3 hours and travelled to the land of dreams....

Anyway on friday night I met with Dan to check out the Songdo beach festival. I just got a little nap after lab and then I started all my way down to Nampo-Dong where we met to take the bus to Songdo.

Arriving there we were a little bit disappointed, because we didn't see any lights from the bus station.

But after going down to the beach I was pretty amazed. It was really cute what the people prepared.

Birdy friends - Disappear in every possible direction

Anyong,

after having half of my Berlin friends here in Korea it feels kind of weird to stay here while they are leaving in all directions the sky can offer.

Elisa is back to Berlin and Claudio is traveling around asia.

This week I have been in lab kind of all day long to prepare a lot of experiments and stuff. I liked to be there in some way. Maybe because it distracted me, maybe because this week the lab work was kind of successful. Anyway, the two first nights after being alone I woke up in the morning totally confused with where I was.

I was thinking about my home in germany, about Taiwan and about the Motel room I have been with Claudio on Sunday. Anyway, It was good to have them here and to travel with them Taiwan and Seoul.

Monday night was the last one I saw Claudio... I picked him up at his Busan located home office ...

Secret Garden - Changdeokgung, Seoul

Anyong, 

at our last day in Seoul we decided to visit the "Secret Garden". On the one hand it is close to our guest house and on the other hand Elisa, Claudio and me have never been there. 

Now that it is fall in Korea I have been very excited about the garden. I expected a lot of colors and different kind of trees... And yes, there have been so many trees. Haha

Claudio, Elisa and myself in Seoul, fast forward please!

Anyong,

last thursday Elisa and myself left Taiwan and came back to Korea! We had a very convenient flight with Korean Air back to Seoul. In Seoul a new playmate waited for us! Claudio came over to Asia to say hello!

Of course we had to visit all the tourist attractions in Seoul and all the cool and hip districts in fast forward. It was great to see Claudio again! I don't think, that I have to write any comment to the pics, because I have written a bunch lot of stuff about Seoul like 5 times before kkk Just to share some pics!

Buddha Memorial Center - Thousands of golden Buddhas

Ni hao,

our last day in Taiwan we spent at the Buddha Memorial Center which is located in a small city next to Kaohsiung. We had to take a bus for about an hour from Kaohsiung Central station. During our bus ride we met two germans (Robert and Katrin). So we had some companionship for the buddha area. We were pretty late, because we decided to sleep a little longer. The center closes at 5pm and the last bus back was 5:40pm... We arrived at 3pm... 

 All over the internet and travel guide's they told us, that the area is so super huge.... with a little bit of a hurry you can check everything in 2 hours kkkk

 So, all the buddhas represent a dead monk, there were a lot!

 In the huge Buddha statue are the graves of all the dead monk.

 Even if there were so many dead monks we had a really wonderful evening. The sun was tickling us and we enjoyed a nice sunset. 

 The areal was divided into two different areas. The old and the new one. The new one was kind of impressive. Even the entrance walk was impressive. 

 You see what I mean!

 Buddha is trying to snip the marble kkkk

In the building there was a museum with old artifacts and paintings.

We had a great last culture packed day in Taiwan! Afterwards we took the bus back to the station and then the travel bus to the airport, then the airplane and so on....

Lotus Lake - Enter the Dragon and exit the Tiger!

Ni hao!

after leaving Taichung we arrived in Kaohsiung.  I liked this city much more than our second stop! It was more relaxing and more quiet down there... even if it is the second biggest city of Taiwan. After arriving in our very, seriously very nice hostel we took the subway to the Lotus lake. The walk from the station to the lake was quiet confusing, but after arriving there we were kind of rushed.

There were temples and pagodas and statues everywhere, even a shrine is located at the lake. 

Sun Moon Lake - Kind of Bodensee feeling in Taiwan

Ni hao,

after travelling around Taipeh/Taipei we decided to go south to the center of Taiwan. We took the High Speed Railway to Taichung (it took 1 h) and from there we changed to the tourist shuttle bus to the Sun Moon Lake. 

Taipei 101 - Lets hike to the sky...2nd highest building in the world

Ni hao,

the second day in Taipei took  Elisa and me to the Elephant mountain. At the end of the first day we had some drinks in the drinking location behind the red theatre in the Ximen district. There  we met a german guy with hie taiwanese friends. He was a kind of a recreation of myself. He studied in Taiwan (6 years) like I did in Korea. So we told him where we wanted to go (Taipei 101). He told us to change our plans!

"If you go to the top of the building you will see a big city, nothing special about that. Maybe you should try Elephant mountain..."We thought: Yeah of course, lets do this!!!!

But while walking up the mountain we realized, that we don't have the fastest elevator in the world (like in the building).... nope, we had to walk up the mountain!

But the moment we got up to the top it was worth it!

Kkkk Elisa started some posing with the building....

Cute! You gonna hear me roooooaaaaarr!

Of course, the "Double-Finger-Michael-Approved-Picture-Flip"!

Thinking about our time during university. It has been a really good episode in both of our lives!

I finished posing with the building kkkk like Godzilla!

We even waited till the sunset. The bad thing was... it started to rain while we were waiting... so we had to walk down the mountain during the storm... we were a little wet. But Arriving in the city again we didn't feel cold anymore. It was again just humid...

Beitou Hot Spring 90 °C of pure hotness!

Ni hao,

still on the first day of Taipei we went to the hot spring in the north of the city. We were a little exhausted and of course it was super humid. And yes.... it even started to rain. So water was everywhere!

We had to go to the maybe last station (Xi-Beitou) of the subway. There was even a special subway to the spring. Just one stop kkkkk

Anyway, when we arrived at the station we just followed the crowd to the hot spring. We were kind of confused, because we were still in the middle of the city. With lots of LED lights, Starbucks and so on... But after a little walk we were in the Jungle. 

Konfuzius Temple - Taipei

Ni hao,

second temple in Taipei! Was great, was not really different to the first one, but still Elisa is mesmerized by it's beauty.  

Funny story by the way... One taiwanese man just came over to me and took me on a spiritual journey trough the temple. He just told me what to do at which station. So now I am able to pray in the konfuzius temple! Yeah! After the first round we came back to the first point and I was a little bit afraid, that I had to do another one.... but the start was even the finish line.

Mengjia Longshan-Tempel - Taipeh

Ni hao, 

right now we are still in the Republic of China ROC!

Of course we have to visit a lot of temples! The first one in Taipeh was the Langshan Temple. The weather is quiet good over here. We are in subtropical climate zoneso it is very hot and very humid. Little princess Elisa is not used to such a clime... When we entered the temple Elisa initially got a headache. All the incense sticks the praying people burned were a little bit too much for her. 

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall - Taipei

Ni hao,

we arrived in the very morning at our guest house, so it has been a very short night for the two of us. After getting up after 4 hours of sleep we took the subway to our first tourist spot. We went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The impressive monument located in central Taipei has a roof, designed like the temple of Heaven in Bejing (I heard) which is topping a pyramidal body. 

 The large plaza in front of the Hall is flanked by the National theatre and the National Concert hall.

Taipei - Taiwan - First impression

Ni Hao!

First Impression is amazing! But before the adventure started we had to go to Taiwan... long journey...FIrst we took KTX to Seoul and then we had to get to the airport and then take the airplane to Taiwan Taoyuan airport.

 We got the couple seats in the airplane. Even here everybody thinks we are the cute german couple... After getting to the airport at 3pm we had to take a taxi to Taipei city, in the end to or hostel. Little information blast: Fee was about 1200 NT and Hostels are not allowed in Taiwan... Long story....

From spicy chicken to heavenly Makkoli!

Anyong,

in order to show Elisa more of korean culture I have to show her more food I think. The korean food culture and of course the drinking culture are the biggest cultural influences over here. 

I took her to PNU in order to show her another part of Busan. I have to admit all the restaurants I used to know are closed... Everything changes over here.... It is kind of crazy.