Peppermint Hot Chocolate
As soon as I poured the packet of hot chocolate into my mug, I smelled the peppermint. I felt a twinge of homesickness and a sense of longing that (literally) stirred within me. It smelled like Christmas. It smelled like home. I started thinking about the Christmas I had missed last year, the Christmas I will miss this year, and...
Sketching Korea
When I arrived in Korea as an exchange student at the Korea National University of Arts in 2009, I was visually overwhelmed by my surroundings. I became inspired by the colors, the traditional architecture, the written language, the mountains, the street markets, and the people that I interacted with on a daily basis. In addition to...
Asia / Destination Articles / Festivals / Food and Beverages / Hiking + Climbing / Korea / Photography / Reviews
Famous for a day: the Heongseong Hanwoo Beef Festival
This past weekend, I was invited on a weekend trip to the Heongseong Hanwoo Beef Festival by Adventure Korea, with the impression that I would eat some delicious beef, hike a mountain, and drink a lot of soju. And that’s exactly what I did–in addition to catching a trout with my bare hands, eating it raw,...
When is travel photography inappropriate?
“You’re crazy!” the taxi driver yelled at my friend Alex before muttering a long list of, what I assumed to be, Filipino curse words. We had just arrived at our guesthouse in Manila, and the taxi driver was demanding more money than was displayed on the meter. This was my first impression of the Philippines;...
Nuts Huts: roughing it in the Filipino jungle
“The beetles eat the bat shit and the bats eat the beetles, but the beetles can’t eat the bats because too big,” our guide, Pedro, stated as he pointed his flashlight from a cluster of sleeping bats hanging from the top of the cave to a few beetles scurrying along the dirt floor. “So I...
There’s another white person that lives in my neighborhood.
There’s another white person that lives in my Korean neighborhood, somewhere among the old, crumbling houses and the new high rises. I saw him twice at Paris Baguette. I was ordering patbingsu, and he was ordering a mango smoothie. He stood next to a tall Korean girl, and she linked her arm in his. They...
Snapshots from downtown Loboc
LOBOC is a city on Bohol Island in the Philippines. On a mission to find an internet cafe, Alex and I rode a jeepney into town from our jungle bungalow 30 minutes down the road. Despite the constant staring (we discovered that foreigners don’t usually come here) I managed to take some photos along the...
Taking the scenic route to Seoul
Wednesday, October 3rd. 2:30 PM: Alona Beach, Bohol Island, the Philippines “400 pesos,” the man says. He looks like he’s in his forties, with short, black hair and skin that’s endured years of sun exposure. Four other tricycle drivers swarm me. I haven’t even grabbed my backpack from my room across the street. “300 pesos,” I say...
Asia / Destination Articles / Food and Beverages / Health + Lifestyle / Korea / Photography / Reviews
A Korean Farmstay: Cheongpung Farm and green tea fields
Beyond the seas of red crosses and florescent, artificial lights, there are rural patches throughout the South Korean peninsula where the stars glitter visibly overhead. One such place is Cheongpung Farm, located in Hwasoon, a rural area in Korea’s South Jeolla province. Over the weekend, I was invited by Adventure Korea, a budget travel company, to...
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