Known as the ‘Island of the Gods’ by locals and ‘The Hawaii of Korea’ by the Korean Tourism board, Jeju Island is a little lava outcrop about 85km south of Korea. Jeju’s capital city is Jeju-Si and both are in the Jeju-do province, but despite the possibility for confusion we managed to fly the 40 [...]
Posts under ‘travel’
Visiting a war-zone – DMZ, Panmunjom, Between South and North Korea
The Demilitarised Zone is a 241km long strip that has separated North from South Korea since the end of active hostilities in the Korean War. The ceasefire was signed and the DMZ formed in 1953, but the war has never officially ended leaving this as the last Cold War border in existence. We had originally [...]
One day in Seoul – Seoul, South Korea
As a China tourist visa lasts 6 months, but only for stays of up to 90 days at a time, I needed to briefly leave the country to keep it valid. North Korea was a tempting prospect as it’s easily reachable by train from Beijing, but requires a lot of planning to get clearance. South [...]
Anything on a stick – DongHuaMen Night Market, Beijing, China
Just off the main shopping street of Wangfujing is the city’s most popular night market. It showcases an array of Chinese street food from all over the country, from marinated chicken skewers, to stir fries and grilled silk worms. Most tourists come here to see the more exotic food like scorpions, snakes and seahorses, but [...]
Cost of Living Comparison – Beijing, China
The wonderfully named Expatistan.com website has a tool showing the comparative cost of living in various cities around the world. I think their traffic is a bit heavy at the moment, but when it’s working it shows Beijing as being 61% cheaper to live in than London, which to me sounds somewhat on the high [...]
Olympic Forest Park – Beijing, China
The Olympic Forest Park was planted back in 2003 to provide assurance to the International Olympic Committee that the 2008 Beijing Olympics would be acceptably environmentally friendly by absorbing the increased carbon emissions. It sits at the northern end of the city’s central axis, directly above the Olympic Green Bird’s Nest area. The soil excavated [...]
Doing your best to fit in… – China?
I haven’t seen one of these hats since Vietnam, but I’m sure he’s having a lovely time whilst the two guys on the left try not to laugh… via reddit
Kung Pao Chicken – Beijing, China
I was going to try and write about something other than food, but a recent radio programme was a bit depressing. I know I should be trying to listen to Chinese talk radio to pick up more of the language, but getting one word in fifty isn’t helping much, so thankfully I’ve found two mostly [...]
Seahorses and Jellyfish – Beijing, China
It’s been a busy week of eating… The most outlandish meal was a turtle garnished with seahorses, a braised buffalo hoof and a side of shark lips. The most surprising would be donkey skewers – the meat was delicately flavoured and surprisingly tender, low in fat and overall very tasty. They were served in a [...]
Jian Bing
As mentioned in a previous post, my favourite street food, and possibly favourite food I’ve found in Beijing is the little street vendor right outside my apartment complex who sells spicy crepes. Now that I’ve learnt enough Chinese to find out they are called Jian Bing I can offer a better explanation of the process: [...]
