Kyoto 2

On our last day in Kyoto I rented a bike again and went to Kinkakuji, also known as the Golden Pavilion. Unfortunately it rained but the view was astonishing anyway!Around lunch time we went back to Osaka which is only half an hour away by train. Hyun Jin and me went to visit Osaka Castle, a historical place with great views over Osaka.
And what did we eat?? A lot of Sushi of course, yummy!

Kyoto

Have a look at one of the many tempels of beautiful Kyoto! Many people ride their bikes around the city and I wouldn't be a dutchman if I wouldn't do so too! So I rented a bike and went around the city.The tower you see in the middle is around 100m high and I went up and had a look at Kyoto at night.
This might give you an idea!

Japan

Hello from Japan!! After the first sights of Japan from the airplane, we had a great night at Osaka meeting my dear old friend Juta! Very good Sushi and Sake made it an unforgettable night!After that it was serious business in Kyoto at the IKCOC-11 conference. World stars are here to present some impressive chemistry! In between we have some time to visit some of the numerous tempels located around the city as you can see on the following pictures. Hyun Jin, Jaesung, Sae Hume (f.l.t.r.) have a lot of fun!

Seoul

I almost forgot that I also visited Seoul for the first time! I had a great time. The metro system is very well developed so everything is easily reachable in this overcrowded city!
Unfortunately there was no place available in this cool bar. But no worries, Hon-De area is known for its many bars and clubs so we had no problems finding another place to have a beer!
And how about this view in the morning. I stayed at a friends place who has this view from his appartment...
Of course there are some skyscrapers too!!
Now I am really off to Japan, conference in Kyoto, it's just for work ;)!! So see you in a week, I'll be back in Korea on Saturday!

Daejeon at night

Just before leaving for Japan I would like to show you a night-view of Daejeon. These pictures were taken at night from a mountain at the other side of the city. Thank you Min for taking me there!!

Stage 6

The last day of my trip was again a beautiful one! I biked the last part of my round-trip to reach Jeju-city again. Luckily I had no trouble with the bike and savely arrived at the boulevard of Jeju.

Stage 5

This morning I walked up the Seongsan Sunrise Peak and was treated with this view! This is a famous point, so there were many tourists (mostly Korean) joining me.
So I was glad to be on the road again to enjoy the peace and quiet of the coastal road leaving Seongsan behind.
Many beaches are located along the nort-east coast of the island so there was no problem to find a good place to take a break and to sleep! As you see there are some mandarines on my bike. This is known as a specialty of the island and served mostly as my breakfast.

Stage 4

Again I woke up with a wonderful view from my room!
And off I was again on this beautiful day, like yesterday with a hat and sunscreen :)! And as you can see on the next picture, the weather was so clear that even Hallasan was visible. This is a vulcano-Island and you can see the crater here.
After around 30 km I arrived at my next stop and this was the nicest one! Again you can see a crater and this place is called Seongsan Sunrise Peak.
I made a nice walk around and found another good place. This is a famous spot to film for Korean movies, not surprising if you see the picture!
Although I didn't make it to sunrise in the next morning, I enjoyed this sunset over Hallasan. I would have loved to go surfing too but the surfing shop was not open anymore as it was already off-season!

Stage 3

It is a slow report of my trip to Jeju last week but there is a lot of work to do in the lab!
After the first rainy days, this is the weather I woke up with on Friday! How about that for a room view?! This was taken in the city of Seogwipo and I decided to take it all easy from now on!First I visited the two famous waterfalls around the city, one of them you can see below.This rock is located a little further away from the city, but I have a bike so it was no problem to go there. As you can see I had some marvelous views today!
On my way to the next place to sleep I met someone from Seoul who was enjoying his holiday with his family here at Jeju-Island. He was so kind to take this picture! I even had to wear a cap and put on some sunscreen to protect me from the blazing sun.
After around 35 km I arrived at the very nice long-stretched beach of Pyoseon. I had the best dinner since days, a soup richly filled with seafood and a mackerel and rice as side dishes! After that I had a small walk on the beach and took this full moon picture.

Stage 2

After an easy first day with tailwind, I had some more problems on the second day! I started at the most westly point of the Island and thus headed south-east and then east with headwind. And the weather was still unsettled so I had to cover myself and my backpack in plastic every now and then. Later on the day, the sun tried to break through as you see on the picture. Just before dusk I arrived in Seogwipo which is the biggest city on the southern part of the island.

Tour de Jeju-do; stage 1

There I was, all alone with a bike on an Island south of Korea! After getting up really early on Wednesday morning I took a taxi, bus and then a propellor-airplane to Jeju-Island. There I found someone who didn't speak English but who rented bikes :)! So off I went to the westside of the Island.
Unfortunately it was raining every now and then but the 60 km ride was surely worth it when I was treated with a sunset like you see on the next two pictures.
On top of that I had a similar view from my room! I always stayed at a so-called Minbaks, which means something like homestay.

Prof. Chang's group

Recently we had a very nice lunch together with our working group and we took this picture afterwards! They are all very nice and I wouldn't be having such a good time if I didn't have them around!
Also, I was pleased to have a visitor from home today!!! Even though it was my boss!!! We picked him up from the railway station this morning and then he supervised some work done here at KAIST. This is the institute that I work at, it means Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Unfortunately, professors don't have much time in general, but we had time to take this picture in the lab. An honour for me to be on a picture with two outstanding chemists!!
I have to go home now, it is late. And I have to get a plane in the morning because I'm flying to Jeju-Island! This Hawaii of Korea is meant to be very beautiful! I hope to rent a bike and be able to take many pictures to show you in my next post!

Life in Korea

Almost two weeks have passed and so it is time to report a little on the daily life in Korea! The first picture shows typical street atmosphere at night in Daejeon. But this was not near KAIST (Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), where I live, but near Hannam University in the city centre.
Unfortunately there is little time to visit places like this, because our group works in the lab from around 9 a.m. untill 11 p.m. On top of that I presented my work from Aachen last Thursday, so the days were very long! But the reward was a group dinner as you can see on the picture below! Note the grill on the table, this is great! Long legs are more of a disadvantage, because one sits on the floor.This last picture was taken in the street that I live in. I am not wondering why so many chillies have to be dried, the food is usually quite spicy!

Gapsa Tempel

Today was my first day off and I spent it with some friends in a national park near Daejeon. The Gapsa Tempel is located in this park called Gyeryongsan. Everyday it is pretty hot and humid but still nice to walk around!
After our little walk we were hungry and went for some typical Korean food! You sit on the floor (on a flat pillow) and eat with chopsticks and a spoon. There is a grill on the table and you get around twenty side dishes as you can see on the picture! Put the meat on a leaf of salad and sesame leaf (kkae nnip in Korean), add some garlic and some other side dish and stick it in your mouth as a whole. Tastes delicious!!

First days in South Korea

You would think that a 24h trip a room of 2x2m with solely a bed and a window, a sink in the bathroom which hangs as high as my knees and working from 9-23 h, would make me feel uncomfortable. But this is surely NOT the case. Life here is great!

The people are very open and helpful and even though I don't understand anything they say, it is easy to get things I want.