thetourist


54 Blog Entries
3 Trips
203 Photos
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Trips: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina No news, Good news! in New Zealand (RWC 2011) & Fiji No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong Shorthand link: http://blogabond.com/thetourist

Didier

Error! Try again....

Seoul, South Korea

Small problem....

As you can see, I encountered a "small" problem in the hotel. I could not resist taking a picture of it. The young generation of koreans is not small as one could think they are. In fact they told me the japanese are smaller than them. In the Seoul underground I could see one or two young korean almost as tall as me. The rest still look at me like if I was E.T.

written by

thetourist on August 28, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

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Market...

Seoul, South Korea

Before leaving Seoul for Daegu in the south east, a small visit to one market. You'll find anything you might think about and what you will not think about also. According to the locals, everything is always good for your health.... from Ginseng ...

Ginseng....

to any kind of fish

Any swimming thing you like

After that, I tried some shabu shabu. It is basically some thin slices of beef that you will cook in some steaming broth (soup). Everything you see on the right plate are herbs (there are some noodles, mushrooms, soja, ... below)
It looks like the name of the dish comes from the noise it makes when the meat cooks in the broth. This way of eating is very fun (and I'm not talking about the difficulties you might experience catching the food with the sticks)

Shabu shabu

written by

thetourist on August 28, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

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Electronics

Seoul, South Korea

12 floors of electronics......

Visiting South Korea without checking the last products available in electronics seems to me to be a nonsense. Here is one of those "markets" full of it. 2 floors only for cellphones, 2 for computers, 2 for cameras, ..., total = 12 floors of paradise for electronic fashion victims and/or for geeks.

To recover from so much emotions, I tried some Bi Bim Bap. Simple traditional Korean food and ... excellent!

Bi Bim Bap

Then back to some animated streets in Seoul, after the rain, where , again, excellent food was served at every corner of the streets.

written by

thetourist on August 27, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

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First visit in Seoul

Seoul, South Korea

The next day we started to visit Seoul a bit and visited in the afternoon the Gyeongbok palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance

The guards luckily let us in,

so we could see how beautifull the place is...

On the way back to the hotel, this petrol station caught my eyes.

Korean Petrol Station

written by

thetourist on August 26, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

tagged Seoul and SouthKorea

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First thing first....

Seoul, South Korea

After a loooong travel, the first thing was to get some strength by going to a local restaurant. It was a succession of small dishes one better than the other. This is just a small example.

First Korean dinner

written by

thetourist on August 25, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in South Korea & Hong Kong

tagged Seoul and SouthKorea

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Some panoramic views...

El Calafate, Argentina

For those of you that had the patience waiting for some new pictures, I have created, from the tons of pictures I did at the Perito Moreno Glacier, some panoramic pictures. This Glacier is so wide that I thought it would be the only way to show how it really is.
They look a bit the same (unless for the left side of the Glacier that is a mix of 11 pictures), and maybe not so nice to see through this web interface, so do not hesitate to download them and see if you like them better.
On the first one you can see some people on the left

That is the left side of the Glacier viewed from the boat.

Another view a bit later in the afternoon with a bit more sun.

written by

thetourist on December 8, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

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Ice, Ice, Ice

El Calafate, Argentina

First, I apologize for the delay in uploading pictures. During the last days of the travel it was almost impossible to find a place to do that.
At around 70 km from El Calafate, there is this very impressive Perito Moreno Glacier (not to be mistaken with the Perito Moreno city). It is very difficult to describe how it is and even picture do not show as you would see it with your own eyes.
Here are some numbers to help you imagine it:
The terminus part is 5 km wide, with an average height of 70 meters above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2 m per day!!!
It covers a surface of 250 km2 on a 30 km length.
But numbers do not say anything until you see it by yourself. So I just found a quiet place, sit and watch the ice cubes falling...

small ice cube

Imagine 30 km of ice like this

written by

thetourist on December 7, 2007 from El Calafate, Argentina

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

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Un guanaco ...

Puerto Natales, Chile

Something amazing happened today. I was trying to get some close pictures of nandus and then, on the other side of the road, a guanaco was giving birth. In 20 minutes the young was on his feet getting some needed milk.

She changed several times the position on the left and on the right..

and the everything went quite fast

The first try was not successfull. Front legs are quite weak. All in all it did not take him more then 10 minutes to stay on his feet...

Error.... Try again.

et voila!

and less than one to find the food

written by

thetourist on December 6, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

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Guanaco´s life

Puerto Natales, Chile

In torres del Paine, the first things you will see are guanacos. They are just everywhere.
You can see the leader of the group taking care of its group by staying on one High Point and sometimes running (very fast) after the young ones to teach them what "territory" and "ownership" means.

I simply like their style..

Guanaco flexibility

This "future" ? couple had this game biting the neck of the other. It was funny to watch them.

Is this love ?

In December, such young ones can be seen.

This one still needs some education...

Insolent baby guanaco like those kids on the back window of a car

written by

thetourist on December 6, 2007 from Puerto Natales, Chile

from the travel blog: No news, Good news! in Peru & Argentina

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Grey biiiiiig chickens

Puerto Natales, Chile

Other inhabitants of Patagonia are Nandus. They look like ostrich (autruche). They are quite difficult to see as they have the same color as the ground or bushes. If they sit, from far away, you can think it is a bush.

They are more afraid of humans than guanacos for example. They run fast too.

The nandus are also called choique in mapuche. The young ones are called charitos. Everytime I saw a mother with young ones, she had between 10 and 15 of those little ones running everywhere.