Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

四月首爾

四月的第一個周末,到首爾一遊。上次到韓國是大學一年班時到斧山,上次旅程令我對韓國的印象不太好,所以今次也沒有太大期待。不過只要和特別的人一起,去哪裡也不是最重要。

首天由上午五時多下機開始,在寒風中等待頭班車往梨泰院。第一站到了區內一個三溫暖取暖。在香港都從未有到過桑拿浴場,沒想到在首爾第一站就來浸。洗澡取暖然後在Tatami上睡,很舒適醒神,但其實有點感覺髒髒的。

梨泰院是比較多老外聚集的區域,有很多異國菜餐廳,又有很多Design Stores,格調不錯,但入夜後變成蘭桂坊一般嘈雜。這城巿有很多有個性的咖啡店,這區的Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art一帶亦有幾間,可以消磿不少時間。


Leeum 分三部分別由Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas 和 Mario Botta設計,三者以鮮明的質感區別, Jean Nouvel用了銹鐵,Rem Koolhaas用了大片玻璃,Mario Botta用了紅磚,豐富了藝術館內外的空間。由Samsung建立的藝術館,audioguide都用上Galaxy,不錯。


第二天到了三清洞附近閒逛,到過北村,吃過韓國農村菜,不過還是山下的咖啡店較有趣。

再向南步行便是仁寺洞,這邊和三清洞都有不少賣陶瓷茶杯的店舖,有些較像紀念品店,有些則較像藝廊,各有風味,豐儉由人。上萬元的茶具套裝和十元一只的茶杯也可以找到。這裡有一棟幾層高的建築,戶外中庭被一條連續的環形斜道及小舖包圍。看著這裡各式各樣咖啡店和小舖,只能羨慕。


仁寺洞的主街旁有很多較靜的橫街,隱藏了好一些餐廳和傳統茶園。座落於這區或多或少是做遊客生意吧,但感覺依然不錯,在繁囂裡覓得一點寧靜舒適。大街上也有新式的茶屋,如O'sulloc,也另有一番風味。


畢業論文時研究水、城市和社會的關係,看到了清溪川。如果少一點髒,這裡應該會是更好的城市空間。坐在這裡吃了一口街邊買來的饅頭,旅遊寫意可以是如此簡單。


第三天逛江南及弘大,坐坐這間咖啡店,坐坐那間咖啡店,悠閒才是重點。去過了Mug for Rabbit 和 aA Cafe,看著充滿個性的室內空間,又想起香港的地產霸權及建築規範呃殺了所有可能性,這樣的咖啡店,不可能出現在香港。有心人多的是,但也需要合理的生存空間才能成事。



在首爾的最後一餐,來到Wallpaper City Guide介紹的Poom Seoul。天真的同伴和我冒著大雨,憑著Google Maps找路,走過陰森的山路,行得全身濕透才到達。原來沒有人會步行來這裡的,大家都是駕車或召的士。

狼狽地步進餐廳,是很家居的格局,枱分得很遠讓每枱客人都有私人空間。簡單的陳設有身在藝廊或當代美術館的感覺。窗外是首爾的全景,整個setting令人期待稍後的晚餐。

為免造成spoiler,還是不詳細介紹每道菜了,整個經驗是很不錯的,精緻的料理令首爾的週末有個美麗的終結,一年一度就這麼過。 :)


Monday, April 22, 2013

Summer Break (Revised and Reblogged from SEP 2012)



I went to Kansai again last month! This time it’s mainly for the music festival that I wanted to attend, Summer Sonic. My companions were not enthusiastic about it though, they just wanted to relax. Turned out the music festival was alright, not very exciting because the musicians weren’t the powerful live band type. That included The Cardigans, Garbage, Rihanna, Kesha… Luckily I still had Foster the People and they were great! We also had some near death experience.. The weather was so bad and we could clearly see strokes of lightning happening near us with dramatic scream from some Japanese girls.. And people were packed in a stadium just like refugees.. Other days were so great.

My friend drove us to some place that I’ve never been to. We went to 和歌山 and had very nice grilled seafood at 黑潮巿場. We also went to 丹後, which is on the north of Kyoto near the seaside.  久美浜 had some really nice beaches and hotspring. And 天橋立 is famous for it’s white wine and soba. The trip was relaxing. I like the countryside of Japan more than the cities. Kyoto was still fine, just a little boring for me now. Its contemporary side was more attractive to me this time.





Head South (Revised and Reblogged from AUG 2012)

Last month I had a brief weekend break to Singapore with our colleagues. It is actually more like a site visit for work but I would like to consider it a relaxing weekend instead. I quite enjoyed spending time with my colleagues, so I had fun in this trip.

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We have this nice theatre commercial complex project in Singapore (bottom right image). Although I did not take part in its realization, I am quite proud of our team for achieving this.

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