Amsterdam (1)

I moved back home to Scotland in late August, and started a masters course in mid September. It's been great seeing the family and catching up. Before the course started I had to sort some stuff out for Uni but I had a lot more free time than I expected. I was expecting to be flat hunting etc but with all that sorted out so quickly it was actually pretty difficult to sit and do nothing after coming from Korea where every things a million miles an hour. So I helped dad with lots of stuff like sawing up a fallen tree in the garden and doing stuff around the house. 

Ellie arrived in Scotland around the same time I started back at Uni, it was great to welcome her here, even as the days were getting shorter and the weather getting colder. My course has been so busy that we haven't had a lot of time to sightsee. But she's settled in well and got a job at a restaurant, and we've both been pretty busy up until Christmas. After my exams we spent Christmas and New Year with the folks, and then went on a wee trip to Amsterdam, Bruges and Paris before I started back at uni. So here are some photos from that trip. 

My trademark to kick start the first day.

A couple skating outside the Rijk Museum. 

Ellie doing a jump shot.

I managed to scare everyone else away!

Green space :D

Van Gogh Museum. 

At the Van Gogh Museum.

We had a great time, the museum was quite small (compared to a lot of other exhibitions) so we were able to see everything and not rush it.

We wandered about quite  bit, doing a lot of exploring.

Dam square jump shot

It was great to see so many bikes, and it makes you think how badly cyclists have got it here in the UK. They have separate cycle lanes everywhere here. It does make it a bit tricky crossing the road watching out for bikes, cars, buses and trams!

Jump shot above the NEMO building 

Isles of Jeju and U-do

Seoul to Jeju was the world's busiest air transport route last year with over 10million people flying it. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard Koreans tell me you need to go to beautiful Jeju, or the comparison between Jeju and Hawaii. 

I went and had a great time but felt a bit underwhelmed, I've been to more beautiful places in Korea, for example deokjeokkdo last month is a much more scenic island and it has the advantage of being much quieter and 'less touristy'. That being said I still had a good time on Jeju, the highlight was the boat trip to U-do where we rented quad bikes in the rain. It rained almost the whole weekend and the grey skies reminded me a bit of the Hebrides of home.

A little deviation from the standard jump photo this is more of a floaty one

Gotta get the geographical features in there.

On the boat to U-do

Trip to Andong and Gyeongju

Street art in Andong 

Big swings at Andong folk village

Standard jump

One of my fave Korean foods 안동찜닭

Night temple in Gyeongju 

Deokjeokdo - 덕적도

Deokjeokdo is marked here, and you can see the ferry route from Incheon harbour. It takes just over an hour by one of those ski boats (hydrofoils)  as I've heard them called.

Leaving Incheon, the weather was really windy so the boat was delayed quite a bit.

This is the beach at Seopori, it was pretty grey and very quiet. The water wasn't that cold though.

A couple of ajummas hard at work. They break the shell with a sharp claw and scoop out the shellfish.

Lovely views from one of the islands peaks.

Looking over Seopori beach and further afield.

it was a pretty difficult climb in flip-flops and I almost slipped a couple of times.

After dinner we got some fireworks and beers for the beach.

Lighthouse on the other end of the island.

The journey home, under the largest bridge in Korea.

Last post on Myanmar I promise!

This is a video I took of a guy in Mandalay just practicing his painting. He is hoping to get an apprenticeship as a sculptor, which is a very difficult job so first he has to prove his skills as an artist. For me it is always amazing to watch artists at work as I am so bad at painting myself. I forgot I had this video so when I found it I just stuck a backing track on it (my sleeping karma) and left it as it was.

Memories of Myanmar

Here are some more photos from my last few days in Myanmar, I have been really busy with work and haven't looked at my photos in ages. So it being a rainy Saturday I thought I'd have a go at sorting out my photos and putting a few more up. There are all from Rangoon, I did a lot of walking down random streets it's something I've always liked doing, mapping out the city through stopping at tea shops and wandering aimlessly.