Out of Norm Travels

My quick snap reviews of the things done in my short visit to Seoul - this is part 1 which will cover:  (1) Seoul Airport Transit Tour - 5 hour Seoul Culture Tour This is a literally a hop-skip-jump type of tour in a bus - after you make your way to the transit tour desk, you are gathered to travel to Dongdaemun Design Plaza to get your record shots before heading to Gyeongbokgung ( 경복궁 ), also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace , is a royal palace located in Seoul. The name means "Palace" [ Gung ] "Greatly Blessed by Heaven" [ Gyeongbok ]- h ere's some record shots of this transit tour: Dongdaemun Design Plaza Pano of Gyeongbokgung Palace Gyeongbokgung Palace (2) Hanok Stay at WWOOF Guesthouse  A hanok stay came highly recommended by friends familiar with Korea so I took the plunge to get into WWOOF , a Hanok traditional Korean house stay for the 3 nights I was in Seoul. Mind you, it's an e...

One of the most important festivals in the Thai   Calendar and celebrated in a big way at the northern region of   Ubon Ratchathani .  Accessible via air, it took just about 1 hour for me to get away from the Bangkok city set-up to an unforgettable experience of a traditional festival in the thick of things.  I went down to Ubon a day earlier so that I could spend some time to go around town and head to the temples to see the work in progress before seeing all the candles / floats in all their glory. This is my account of Day 1 (day before the Festival).... Imagine you have spent 8 years in apprenticeship and having the honor of creating a 2m-sometimes 4m tall candle sculpture for one of the biggest candle parade of the Buddhist country. This festival celebrates the start of  Buddhist Lent  where the  monks  will mediate for 30 days in the mountains and only to descend from the mountain top at the end of Buddhist lent.  Fro...

Who would have thought that a memory trip can be achieved in Bangkok - in no less than a place called " Plearnwan " in Hua Hin , just outside Bangkok. This place is frequented more by local Thais than tourists as almost everything is in Thai (that's the usual practice outside of Bangkok). What makes this place special? Well, imagine a slice of 60s-70s re-created from the music, food and the furnishings. The entire place is constructed in wood, just like the ol' days. Here's a pic of the amazing entrance: There are food stalls lines up waiting to satisfy your hunger pangs - although the food are still made in the traditional hand-made way (which means you have to wait a while for the food to be ready): Sit-down eateries along the walkway also satisfy the taste-buds and stomachs of hungry travelers - this dish is essentially fried eggs (fried to crisp): Memorabilia from the 60s dot the entire place with old promotional screens jostling for pre...