One of my top tips for London is Postcard Teas, tucked away in Dering Street, close to Bond Street and Oxford Circus. The genial and knowledgeable proprieter Timothy D’Offay sources his teas from small family estates using traditional tea growing methods, and the impressive list includes fine teas from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, India, Sri […]
Places: Hadong-gun
2012 Travel Diary #22: The Burial Grounds of the Royal Joseon Placentas, and why underfloor heating is not always good for you
Sancheong Town, Gyeongsangnam-do, Sunday 1 April 2012. Yes, it’s 1 April, and no, this article is not an April Fool’s joke. Sunday in Sancheong town, and the National Assembly election campaign is in full swing. All along the main street, the ppongtchak trucks are parked nose to tail, probably about eight of them. All of […]
I’m one volume in to T’oji, and nothing’s happened yet
Why Park Kyung-ni’s epic novel “Land” is like the long-running BBC radio soap opera “The Archers”. And why someone should create a Reader’s Digest version.
2010 Travel Diary #22: A sense of direction
Thursday 6 May 2010. I’m somewhat stiff from sleeping on the floor. Throughout the night different parts of my body were suffering from pins and needles. But the location was peaceful, and I get up rested. Overnight rain has made everything seem greener, but low cloud clinging to the hilltops and wisps of mist rolling […]
2010 Travel Diary #21: The jjimjilbang experience
Wednesday 5 May 2010. It was only a couple of hours ago that we had eaten lunch, but Koreans seem to have dinner early. During the tea festival, our guide Isabelle does well for food: she is usually entertained by the people she is showing around, and this time is no exception. We go to […]
2010 Travel Diary #20: The House of Choi Champan
Wednesday 5 May 2010. What is authenticity? Probably, over the course of Korea’s long history, most of Korea’s precious buildings have burned down and been rebuilt. It’s a natural hazard of building from sustainable materials such as wood. Marauding invaders or revolting slaves can cause great destruction with just a single spark. The reconstruction work […]
2010 Travel Diary #19: Hadong, the home of Korean green tea
Wednesday 5 May 2010. As we pick up the signs to Hadong, along the Seomjingang river, the other side of which is Jeollanam-do, we see our first neatly trimmed tea-bushes. These, I am later told, are the cultivated tea plants. You know the famous photos of the Boseong tea slopes in Jeollanam-do, with beautifully serried […]
2010 Travel Diary #18: Networking in Hongdae and a journey into the unknown
Tuesday 4 May 2010. I had intended to go to see Yi Chuljin’s Seungmu performance this evening, having failed to see it on Sunday, but there are too many conflicting appointments to fit them all in. I’m heading towards Hongdae to meet some new blogging friends – always something I like to do when coming […]