Loopie - Joop

Yes, yes, this is long overdue... I apologise for my tardiness. We spent a week in Jeju a few months ago.  The amount of fresh seafood there is UNBELIEVABLE!  Coupled with good grilled beef kalbi and some fantastic makgeolli, we were in heaven! For a week! Makes me want to coo Belinda Carlisle's song... We arrived in Incheon in the afternoon and took a train to Gimpo airport for our domestic flight to Jeju.  It was really short, like 45 mins max,  Then the shuttle bus took us to the car rental office, where we grappled with the Korean GPS After some mime and some patience later, we were off to Jeju city in our rented car. Here are some highlights...

Good day everyone! This is the news at 8am. Just in, a criminal has escaped from prison. Hao-e is 1.7m tall, very very fat, bespectacled, has multiple moles on his wide face and a missing chin. He was last seen outside Buckingham Palace wearing a Chelsea beanie, rimless glasses and a wide thin-lipped grin. He is widely known as Matthew the guy who breaks computers and computer programmes. Anyone who suspects that they have seen the runaway prisoner should contact the police asap. Argh, he's at trafalgar square too! He's at Westminster ! where will he head to next? OMG, Big Ben as well! He's not at Picadilly Circus. Thank Goodness! Not at Carnaby St either. Not amongst the tulips... Not at Leicester Square either.... the nation looks out for this geeky criminal. You should too!

I've been to Leeds Castle. That was in my first year of college when the seniors brought us all to Leeds Castle in Kent for a day-trip. 7 years ago! How time flies. I seriously can't recall what we saw there, but i remembered it was a cold, wintry, rainy day. Funny how i remember the weather but can't recall anything else. This time I made it a point to read the descriptions of the rooms, learn a bit more of history, breathe in the fresh air, enjoy the sun and smell the flowers in the attic... i mean the graden. Leeds Castle is a really pretty castle on an artificial island with huge spacious grounds. Pls do head there if you have time for a day trip out of london. it's really beautiful. Here are some photos of the interior.... And some photos of the exterior...

Do you know who this is? He's a larger-than-life figure in medieval England, a king who married 6 times! he's none other than Henry VIII. He held court at Hampton Court Palace after he evicted Wolsey from it. We went there on the second day of the trip to experience life in the medieval ages.... Here are the gates into the palace. See the unicorn on the right? I thought that was just brilliant. Close up of the unicorn, look at the details... This is the front entrance of the palace... This is the back of the palace facing the thames and the sprawling gardens. it's built in a different style from the front end cos this part was added by later kings. Who's this? Clearly he ain't Henry. His name is Robert, our guide. Don't you just love bearded men with a soft velvet hat? So cute! and look at his little sword! hahaha.... i wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying.... Then there were "manicured" trees, fountains, flowers and the li...

London - my second home. It's without a doubt I love this place. I spent but 3 summers there, but it was enough for me to keep wanting to return. This time, we were going to spend 10 days! Imagine the things we did, the sights we saw and the FOOD..... salivate. It used to be that Chinese restaurants dominated the Chinatown at Leicester Square. Nope! the Korean Wave has hit London's Chinatown too. Surprise Surprise. Though the waiters/waitresses looked in no way similar to Bae Yong Jun, Kwon Sang Woo nor Song Hae Gyo, the food was fairly authentic. [ps: best korean food is still found on 32nd/33rd st Manhattan NYC.] We went to Little Korea [Liko] 3 times! This is of course my favourite man acting goofy at Liko munching on seasoned cucumbers and sprouts. who would imagine cucumbers could taste so good. we chowed down 2 plates of this. [Manhattan rest would have provided unlimited supply, here, we could only have 2.] Whilst shopping along Carnaby St, we found a little pur...