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Guinsa Temple Roofs. (Photo by Ken Eckert. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.) |
We were still in Madagascar when my travel partner, George, was already contemplating our next trip together.
We met up a while back and bounced around a few ideas and settled on Chile. I had always wanted to do a driving tour around the country but after giving it some serious consideration, I decided to tell George that Chile was out. For one thing, he can only take a few days off work but more importantly, Chile is a place Bro wants to travel to so I want to save it for him. George fully understood so we bounced around a few more places. Korea came to mind and it's a place I've never been to so I said yes. I have to admit, Korea has never been on my list of places to travel to. I think it's because it's been overshadowed by its larger siblings - China and Japan, both of which I have been to before and enjoyed my visits.
A few days later, I was doing a bit of research on things to see, places to go in Korea and at first, my heart sank a bit because everything I read seemed to be so touristy and the places to go to seemed to boil down to barely a handful. Perhaps I was right about the country being overshadowed by China and Japan. But, I refused to give up so I read more and then, I hit pay dirt. I stumbled on a forum where there was chat about a renting a car and driving around to explore the country. I am more about getting of the beaten path to explore a country's nooks and crannies, so to speak, so this hit the perfect note for me. I quickly ran the idea by George and he was all up for it so we will be going around Korea in a car and I couldn't be more thrilled. I love the challenge of finding small towns and mapping out a driving route! The main island seems very easy to drive around - there are some challenges with using a Korean GPS. Apparently, you enter in a phone number versus an address but it doesn't seem like anything insurmountable. Also, many of the main highways are toll roads and they do have a payment device that you can rent from the car rental agency so you can just zip through. We'll have to look into all of this.
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Korean street food. (Photo by LWY. Licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.) |
After reading up about temple stays, I know Korea is the land of temples - some 900 scattered throughout the country. Ok. That's it. It is truly very sad that that is all I know. I think it's about time I got to know this ancient country better!
Unfortunately, our time in Korea is short because of George's leave restrictions but I hate to spend all the money to fly over to Korea for just eight days. At first, I contemplated extending my stay in Korea. I started looking into farm stays and temple stays - two things that are very common in Korea. There's even a website that lists all the temples that offer programs to visitors. Some did look very appealing to me but I have to confess that the thought of doing meditation scares the bejeezus out of me. I don't think I can shut off my brain which has been in fully, high speed operation for decades. I really had to think hard about a temple stay and in the end decided to not go forward with it. Farm stays really sounded appealing at first but after more research, I also decided a Korean farm stay it wasn't for me.
So, I will settle to being in Korea for eight days - possibly 10. I hope I don't regret the decision. I guess I can always come back.
A view from Victoria Peak, looking north over Central, Victoria Harbour and Kowloon. (Photo by chensiyuan. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons.) |
I then began to look for flights to Seoul and all of a sudden, a lightbulb went off in my head. Hong Kong! It's literally been decades since I have been there and I have been absolutely dying to return. As recent as last year, I was plotting a trip there. So lucky that it's just a short distance from Seoul. I wonder. Hmmm...how much would it cost to fly there? And it's fall.....are there any festivals going on when I'll be there? I hit the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!! For just $100 more, I can stop over in Hong Kong on my way home AND.....here's the best part....I can be in Hong Kong for the Mid Autumn Festival!! Mooncakes here I come!!
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Mooncake. (Photo by Mk2010. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.) |
Today, I had lunch with Ayşe and her friend Pelin. We ate at a local Burmese restaurant to have a taste of the cuisine before we leave on our trip. I mentioned the Hong Kong trip to Ayşe and with very little convincing, she expressed interest in coming along. I emailed her the dates I will be there and a brief description of the Mid Autumn Festival. Let's see if that works out or not. We travel really well together and I wouldn't mind having her along to explore with!
I have yet to take any of the trips I have planned so far for 2016 and I already have another one in the pipeline :-) No, there is no such thing as too much traveling for me!!
Korea and Hong Kong. Here we come!