TET display at cresent mall 2018

The local shopping centre, which is on the side of a lake, also has some nice TET displays at this time of year. They always use the lake for a display which is nice. This year was no exception. Below are some pictures. 

These pictures were taken at about 8am and it was already busy. The Vietnamese love taking selfies. At this time of year they love to dress up in the traditional vietnamese clothes and take pictures as the one below shows. 

 

So, that the end of TET 2018. I'm back to work on Wednesday but don't teach until Monday. I will need to start planning the next holiday, the darts season is imminently starting and I've got lots of masters stuff to be getting on with. Busy times ahead!!

TET flower displays in the park 2018

I have a few days before going back to work so after arriving back from South Korea yesterday, we went for a walk this morning. There is a park near where we live and as it is still TET, they have got lots of fruit trees and flowers on display. Below are some pictures. 

Bulgaksa Temple, Gyeongju, South Korea

We went to visit Bulgaksa Temple for ur last day today, which is about ten km outside the main town on the slopes of Mount Toham. This is a temple that dates back about 1500 years although I'm very suspicious that most of it has been rebuilt in the last 100 years. Anyway, a lot of the building were pretty impressive.

people also built pile of rocks and they believe that by placing a rock by this temple you can make a wish and it comes true. There was loads of rocks! I put one down and wished for Superman's powers. To my knowledge, its not come true yet. If it does, I'll fly back and put some more rocks down to get some more wishes.

So, that's the end of the Korean trip. Its been great...... but cold! I'm looking forward to getting back to the heat of Saigon and starting work on Monday.

Staying in a Gyeongju Hanok, South Korea

Our last stay is in a Hanok in Gyeongju, tomorrow we spend the day going to a temple then we travel back to Seoul for a night before flying back to Ho Chi Minh City. The Hanok, like the last one was very comfortable and a nice novelty. The room has a very nice front.

The room was very comfortable!

Gyeongju, South Korea

We have taken the bus to our last stop in Gyeongju where we will stay for one night and two days. Again, we will be staying in a hanok!! Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD). There is not much left now, its just a lots of ruins but its also a big archaeological site. The pictures of the hills below are actually tombs of kings from the kingdom.

The pictures below are of an observatory called Cheomseongdae, which is still standing. Yep, an observatory. Not sure what sort of view they got since they'd have got a better view climbing one of those tombs.

There were also lots of other nice hanoks and buildings too.

It was really interesting to learn about the history of the place and that all this was going on in Asia so long ago.

Haeundae Beach, Busan, South Korea

Visited the very nice beach in Busan today, and a very nice beach it is too. Its called Haeundae and about a ten minute walk from the metro.

We didn't have an ice-cream as it was way too cold, but it was a nice walk with a good forest park next to it. We stopped for some lunch, it was a lovely day out at the seaside in freezing temperatures.