I’m in KOREA!!! This week was all plane, sleep, eat, taxi, hotel, but I’ll give you some INTERESTING things I did this week.
So firstly, I went to the Gyeongbokgung palace. Ahhhh-what now? At the entrance, there were people on guard duty who had finished their shift, and a five minute long explanation about what they are doing and everything.
The next place I went to was the Bukchon Hanok Village. Built in the Joseon dynasty, it is around 600 years old and there are still people living inside the houses! They look really cool and there are a LOT of perfume shops nearby. A WHOLE LOT. I obviously didn’t buy any, but they smelt really goooood. My favourite was the eucalyptus and the lemon.
What in the world is a Hanok?
A hanok is a traditional Korean house built with wood, clay, stone and hanji, a special Korean paper. There’s a photo at the bottom for you to see.
I need to get my sleep. It was very tiring getting here! See you next week!
This week I went to Grandma’s Home Cooking School! It’s about ten minutes away from my guest house, and I booked the whole day course. I went with other people, and before we got to the school, we first went to the market so that the tour guide (called Best) could introduce us to the ingredients we would be using when we cook. after another ten minute drive, we got to the school and we saw a big mango tree (photo at the bottom).
Best then told us about some other types of plants that were in their garden. After that we all went to the chicken coop and whoever was wearing a hat could have a chicken on their head. I obviously got one (my poor hat!) and also held it afterwards!
After we got back we could either make Thai tea, Thai lemon tea or butterfly pea and lime tea. While I made Thai tea, some others made lemon tea and only one person chose butterfly pea and lime tea. The next thing we made was the deep fried spring roll as an appetiser.
After that was the choice of Tom Yum soup or Tom Yum Kha (+ coconut milk) soup. I chose the Tom Yum soup because I am not a fan of creamy soup.
Then we ate our food and drank our tea. After that we could choose to make Stir fry Holy Basil, Walnut stir fry, or Pad Thai. Pad Thai is a famous Thai food, so I made that one. There’s a photo of the Pad Thai I made at the bottom.
And before we went to eat again, we made papaya salad. I did NOT finish my food, and I don’t think anyone else did, too. Wayyy too full.
After that (yup, we’re not done) we made curry. You could choose from red curry, green curry or Khao Soi. Khao Soi is also a famous Thai food, so I chose it. Duh. And after THAT, we made butterfly pea mango sticky rice. There’s a photo of the butterfly pea mango sticky rice I made at the bottom.
And since I’m writing this on the 12th, tomorrow is Songkran! Search it up for yourself if you don’t know what it is. The pick-up van even got sprayed with water when I was going to Grandma’s Home Cooking School! But that’s not all. There was a person minding her own business. Soaked! There was a person on a motorbike. Soaked!
I am NOT prepared. I haven’t even gotten a water gun yet, so I have to go and buy one now. See you soon!
A day trip to Taipei. Half the day tea tasting. Part of the day on level 89. The rest of the day a the speed train.
That’s exactly what I did! For those who don’t know, I am in Tainan and have been here for almost a month now. But before I tell you about Taipei, let me tell you some other things we did in these two weeks.
I went to an art class and guess what I made? (Key word: made. Not painted.) A notebook! There’s a photo at the bottom so you can see what it looks like. It’s blue and I think it looks amazing! But staying indoors wasn’t the only thing I did.
I went to a rice field and planted baby rice! I also harvested sweet potatoes and caught a loach! (A loach is a fish, for those who don’t know). Rice grow in muddy and watery areas, so to plant them, I had to take off my shoes and plant the rice when I couldn’t see half of my leg 😛. The sweet potatoes grew in sandy dirt (I didn’t even know that was a thing) and they were HUGE. There’s a photo at the bottom too. And the loaches lived in water, just like the rice. They were really slimy. Bleh.
Time for the thing you were all waiting for! Taipei is so cool, and I went tea tasting. My favourite is the Osmanthus oolong tea, and if you are a tea fan too, I recommend you to try it. Taipei is also famously know for its ninth tallest building in the world, with 101 levels. It’s called 101. I went all the way to the 89th floor, because tickets for floors higher than that were all sold out. But the view was great, and I took a lot of photos. There was also a puppet stand, and I made a puppet show. A lot of people came to watch!
The rest of the day was on the speed train, and we arrived back home when it was past midnight. It was exhausting.
For those who read my other posts, I know I’ve already used this outro line, but who cares!
TravellerDudes 