Jeju Island, S. Korea

Almost two years ago, I attended the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, a 2 1/2 days conference in  the southern island of Jeju, South Korea. That was around May 29-31, 2013. Thanks to EFN Asia for that opportunity.

A day after the conference, June 01, 2013, the conference sponsors organized a free half-day tour of the island. Jeju may look small  on the map  but it is a big island, with many mountains, hills, meadows, flat lands, long coastal areas. We went to this area, the Yongnuni Oreum.

A guide explained to us the landmarks, some history of the place.

There are several hills to climb. The trail is not hard because there are mats that control or prevent soil erosion and degradation of the footpath.

In areas that are more steep, the mats are thicker. I like the wooden barriers here.

Many parts of the island are rocky. So the construction of rock walls is common in some parts of the road, or as fence and dividers among houses.

Overlooking a hill, then a valley, then another hill.

The hills are simply covered by grasses, not trees. I think trees cannot thrive naturally on those hills because they are rocky and have thin topsoil. Like the summit area of Mt. Apo in Davao and Mt. Pulag in Benguet, Philippines.

Trees thrive in gulleys and the lowlands, where there is thicker topsoil and can support the needs of thick and elaborate roots of the trees.

It is also good that trees do not thrive on the hills, otherwise they will block the view of the surrounding areas. Trees in the lowland  is great and perfect.

Somerset Palace Seoul

There are about two Somerset hotels in Makati but I have never been to any of their rooms,  just visited their lobby. Today is my time to see a room, my room here in my one night stay in Seoul.

Somerset is in Jungno-Gu ("Gu" means district) in Seoul city proper. These photos I got from the web. Nice and modest lobby with young, efficient and friendly staff at the reception.

One problem is that my flight from Manila was at 1:15am today, delayed a bit and we flew around 1:45am. Seoul city proper is about one hour by car from Incheon international airport. Arrived at tbe hotel around 8am, but was able to check in only around 2pm. They seem to be fully booked with lots of guests.

The lobby, not so grand but spacious enough.

This is my room, a big one, nice. With a queen size bed plus an extra bed. If only my two girls and wife are here (but the plane fare + taxes are expensive, beyond our means).

The small dining table beside a big LG flat tv. The small kitchen has a nice, small electric stove, microwave oven, knives and utensils. The ref i s tall and huge. Beside the door is the laundry area, ironing table, etc.

The CR. Neat and clean, but the seat bowl is traditional type, no push buttons to clean the behind with warm or ordinary water, rotating water, that I saw in my hotel in Seoul in 2006, also at my hotel in Narita, Japan. Nonetheless it's neat and clean.

The view from my room, I'm on the 6th floor.

The garden between the hotel and that building I showed above, view from the 2nd floor, breakfast restaurant area.

Will check the There is no swimming pool. other facilities tomorrow. Meanwhile, preparing for a meeting + dinner tonight, in another place just walking distance from Somerset.

Incheon-Seoul Airport, S. Korea

I've been to S. Korea 3x (1996, 2001, 2006) but last April 24, 2009, I only landed at Incheon-Seoul International Airport to change plane. I was going to Los Angeles, California, to attend the Atlas Liberty Forum, and I took Korean Air. My flight then was Manila-Incheon-Narita-LA, I didn't know that my plane would make a stop over at Narita-Tokyo airport. On my flight back after more than a week, it was San Francisco-Incheon-Manila.

As usual among industrialized Asian economies, the airport is huge, typical glass-steel structure. Here's the plan and the view from the plane.

Lots of nice and huge welcoming photos greet the arriving international passengers. I like staring at those huge monitors for flight departures and arrivals. They are in major lobbies of the airport.

Glass and steel, allowing natural light to pass through, saving electricity. Modern and silent walkalators abound.

Korean Air's crew are very young and courteous ladies. I think the oldest crew I saw was late 20s or early 30s. One more reason why fly Asian airlines -- the crew are a lot younger and more friendly, food is nice, unlike many US airlines where the stewards/crew are generally old and they can be less friendly sometimes.

* I also wrote this last June 12, 2007,

Seoul, S. Korea, October 2006

It was my 3rd trip to Seoul. The first was in 1996, when I attended the "Technology and Policy" 2-weeks seminar organized by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). I was working at the House of Representatives then. The 2nd was in 2001 I think, when I joined the University of the Philippines (UP) PDE study tour. This time, I attended the 2nd Asia-Pacific Taxpayers Union (APTU) meeting, hosted by the Korea Taxpayers Association (KTA).

One thing that struck me when I arrived in Seoul this time was the new airport -- it's so big, so modern. The runways are long, and the airport is far from the city, nearly 1 hour away by car.

Since this is my 3rd visit to the city, my impression of it remains more or less the same -- generally clean, crowded with many buildings, many many cars, and few public parks.

Traditional korean food never fails to amaze me. Lots of raw herbs and grass-like vegetables, spicy food, meat and seafoods, and of course, the always present kimchi! I like kimchi, even if my eyes sometimes would be teary because of its hot and spicy taste....