South Korea

After keeping vacation to a minimum last year, it was time for another big adventure in 2016.

The history of the Koreans has been troublesome, complex and intriguing over the past century and before. Known to have been invaded numerous times, nowadays, they still have to settle with themselves when one looks up to the north, who remember their enemies.

Traveling with a buddy of mine for a month in Asia, this has been the longest time I have traveled with someone else, and we were able to discuss and figure out our destinations smoothly, with only very few exceptions as to what we wanted to see conflicting with time, accessibility and motivation.

Landing at Incheon airport, we went by bus to the capital Seoul, and marveled at the city's historic sites merging with it's modern skyscrapers and people who are forerunners of technology like Samsung's phone industry.

Unable to go for the border because of unexpected military drills happening, we focused on the memorial war museum as alternative instead, where interesting articles, objects and such immersed us into the so called Forgotten War.

The city of Gyeongju in the south, known for it's open environment of ancient sites, was pleasant to experience because of the many people walking around there. From museums to a very old observatory to king tombs lying under giant grass hills, it is nicknamed as Korea's Kyoto by some.

We had a terrific night here at the hostel where the owner, his assistant, an American and South Korean roommate and some random girl joined with us together to drink soju, Makgeolli and eat royally until the deep night.

We also hiked a mountain with the American, which I am glad to have done so, as the nature was pretty to walk through. Arriving at the port town of Busan in the end of the week, which is South Korea's 2nd largest city, me, my buddy and the American walked through the famous fish market there and we oozed with intrigue there.

Finally, after hiking the east coast and finding the famous bridge, the next day, we said goodbye to South Korea and embarked on a short trip with a ferry boat to the main event of our 2016 journey; the Land of the Rising Sun.