Finally tidying up my stay in Vietnam, with the last few days fully enjoying some sunshine, wandering around the streets of Hoi An, and having the best couple of days bookending my month-long Vietnam stay.
Vietnam didn’t ignite my fire, nor did it inspire me very much.
It’s a beautiful country, but I traveled to it wrongly. Maybe one day I’ll be back to see the Vietnam everyone tells stories about, but for now, it’s left unread.
Vietnam has special memories, that is for certain. But for all the different reasons.
Leaving Vietnam was a torn decision as to whether I would stop traveling Asia and head home for a longer period of time, or continue the original plan and head to South Korea.
As of writing this, I am glad I chose the latter of the two.
Flying to South Korea
I booked a flight to Seoul and after an eventful, but memorable 48 hours in Vietnam, I left to head to the capital city of South Korea.
After a rather uncomfortable four-hour flight, and rain on arrival. I checked into the airport spa, got naked in my first Onsen, and had a sleep before being allowed to check into my hotel room for the evening.
I say hotel room, I mean more a bed that had four walls built around it and a toilet and a shower. For £30 you’d get a nice apartment in most of Asia, for £30 here you get a small single.
I’m not actually upset about that though because Seoul is beautiful.
A wonderful, and vibrant city that has everything and more you’d ever need.
In the evening the neon streets are lined with food markets. Smells of fresh food, sweet treats plenty. Korean BBQ restaurants draw you in with their smoke and keep you there with their incredible food.
One of the coolest cities I’ve visited in a very long time.
Exploring Seoul
A mixture of old and new is the best way to describe Seoul. With cute little walking streets lined with neon signs for every shop, you thought it possible to try to entice you in.
Then there are the older, more quintessential Korean streets, with neutral colours and beautiful architecture. Mazes of tiny twists and turns meander through the neighborhoods in which you could get lost for hours.
The incredible, vast, and unlike anywhere I’ve seen Palaces. With hundreds, and hundreds of years of history behind them. Many stories and tales of those that lived before us. Delicately painted, decorated, and designed, perfectly fit for King and Queen.
Seoul is quite possibly one of the biggest cities I’ve ever been to in my entire life. Making NYC look like Chester, this place has high rises and buildings as far as the eye can see.
To sort of give some context, in two days I walked 70,000 steps which are about 30/35 miles and I feel like I barely away any of the city at all. Some huge parts of the city that I didn’t get to see or do, just because time didn’t allow for it.
It’s most definitely a city you could spend 5-7 days in, and exploring. Especially with the plethora of hikes, and trails around the city to get advantageous viewpoints of the city below.
Monk Mode Week 6
If you’re unfamiliar with Monk Mode it’s basically 90 days of trying to commit to the following:
– Create a video every day
– Write an article everyday
– Run 1 mile every day
Creation not Consumption
Videos are getting more difficult now that I am no longer doing a daily video about the journey through Vietnam.
I’ll be honest, with Instagram reach being so poor, it’s super demotivating to make a video for literally no one to see.
The second half of Monk Mode, it’s going to be focused more on fitness content and getting back to what I do best, coaching.
Writing daily
Writing daily is still easy, with enough content to keep me going for the week. However, I still haven’t worked out time management and gotten it down to good timings just yet.
Blog Views: 72
One Mile a Day
Probably the only week where I’ve actually considered throwing in the towel. My knew is getting worse, so it’s going to be touch and go to see if I make it through the week before deciding it’s more detrimental than anything else.
Running Totals: 13km
The next adventure…
I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful human called Ivy who lives in South Korea, whilst I was in Thailand.
I got the train to visit her for a few days as she kindly said she would love to show me around. It’s been a super fun few days with her and excited to spend more time learning about Korean history and culture with the help of Ivy.
Thanks Ivy!
Till next time.
Explore strong.
Lou