We want to return to the far east. Back to China, and Vietnam. Particularly Vietnam, I’d love to see so much more of the country, though I did get very familiar with Hanoi. I also visited the beautiful Trang An landscape in Ninh Binh, which is where a number of outdoor scenes for the film Kong, Skull Island were filmed.
What prompted this train of thought, I hear you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I have spent the last nine days in South Korea*; about 40% of that time has been in and around Seoul, but I had a few restful days in Busan, and some time in the rough, close to the eastern edge of the DMZ.
Moving around Seoul has been much like moving around the more commercialised areas of Hanoi or Shanghai, the only significant difference being that mopeds and scooters (and even bigger bikes) are not as common in South Korea as they are in Vietnam or China. This is because the car is king (as someone should have said) in South Korea. Income differences in Vietnam and China mean affordable transport is two-wheeled, whereas wealthy South Koreans can afford locally-made and imported cars and trucks.
But the roads are similar. Markings are largely the same (though better signposted, and more intuitive in Seoul). Despite having a great time here, I do hope to be able to leave South Korea within the next week. It’s been great and all that, but I’m missing driving on the correct side of the road, and I have a hankering to get the ZX10-R out for a trundle. Oh yes, speed limits in Seoul are desperately slow and fiercely policed.
Anyway, here’s a few random photos from Vietnam for no other reason than they’re on my phone.
This is about £15:
Look at the cabling!
Tell me you cater for European/American women without (etc)
*virtually, of course
I’m very confused.
Are you in South Korea or not?
Right now, I’m at home, half-watching The Chase