Marseille, I squint my eyes only by thinking about it.
Autumn has arrived in Paris already, and I dream of hot pre-summer spent in Marseille. It was in April this year or was it May when spontaneously Moderne Jazz family joined in Marseille. It was sunny and hot and all good feelings everywhere for a week.
Torpen, Christ, Ishem, Royer, Djob, Soir, Gsulf, Matti
After our Korea trip, Mattie and I flew over to Tokyo. Looking back, we did and saw quite a bit without feeling rushed despite the fact that we were there for only six days. It was our very first visit to Japan, and everything was foreign and fascinating. I really mean ‘everything.’
As soon as we dropped off our luggages, I wanted to find a ramen restaurant which you order from a vending machine. I heard about this from a friend who lived in Japan for a short period. Turns out, this was the norm in Japan- you select from a vending machine, put in some money, grab the ticket, hand it to the person who is the cook and also the server, and be surprised by what he cooks up for you since you absolutely have no idea what you’ve selected at the vending machine. We were never disappointed ; )
Jimbocho, used-bookstore district
Out of thousands of fascinating things, i loved all the sampuru‘s displayed in front of every restaurants. The flying forks were the best of them all. If you have time, watch how they make sampuru, also amazing.
Sampuru
Tonkatsu, real food, ordered from a vending machine
From Tokyo, we took a train to Kyoto. Never ever been on a train as comfortable, clean and spacious as this one. Also this is when I fell in love with a bento.
Also never been to a city this clean, sober and honest.
While in Kyoto, we visited a few temples and shrines. We walked through thousands of bright orange gates at Fushimi Inari shrine to the top of the mountain. I mimicked the locals and clapped, bowed, prayed and rang bells in front of most of the shrines I passed. I think Mattie was more mesmerized by the craziness of Tokyo, while I liked the calm and slightly melancholy undertone of Kyoto and its temples.
A view from Kiyomizu-dera
We missed the autumn leaf color in Korea because we arrive a week or two too late, and all the leaves have fallen off already. It is a beautiful site I remember seeing in Korea, and I wished Mattie would have seen it. But when we arrived in Japan which was significantly warmer than Korea, the leaves were in their brightest shades of oranges and yellows. The view from Kiyomizu-dera temple was especially special.
We sat at the top left window of this homey restaurant. Looking at this picture now, I wonder how we have looked from outside, sitting here, eating various small Japanese plates curiously.
Owakudani, volcanic valley in Hakone
From Kyoto, we stopped in Hakone before returning to Tokyo. A great thing about doing the least research as possible (even though it is difficult at times) before arriving somewhere is that everything you come across is unexpected and surprising, and this makes every findings ten folds more extraordinary. This view of massive smoke fuming out of sulphur vents was one of those moments. We then followed the other tourists and bought some black eggs, Kuro-tamago. The story goes, eating one egg will add seven years to your life, eating two will add 14. We also enjoyed a perfect view of Mount Fuji before we took a boat ride across a lake. After the boat ride, we ate our longevity black eggs. Mattie ate one. I ate three.
We started our Japan trip with ramen ordered from a vending machine, and we ended with the same. On our last evening in Tokyo, we came across this ramen bar by accident, which can feed maybe ten people at a time. I believe it was the best ramen house in the neighborhood by the length of the queue outside, and indeed the ramen was out of this world. Another great thing about not doing too much research about where to go nor where to eat while traveling is that things feel more like serendipity.
Then we were back in Paris. It has already been more than half a year since we got back. How time flies, how I miss being in a foreign place.
Towards the end of November last year, Mattie and I booked our tickets to Korea. My last trip to Korea was about six years ago, and I’ve been dying to visit with Mattie. And five days after we booked our flights, we were in Seoul. If you didn’t know already, we are not much of a planner ; )
In short, Korea is great fun. I was born in Korea and spent my first 11 years there. So take this with a grain of bias, but if you’ve never been there, you are missing out. Big time.
Warning – this post will be a little longer than usual with many photos of food. After all, I was a tourist and had document what I ate.
National Hangeul Museum 국립한글박물관, reserve a free English tour
Yongma Land 용마랜드, abandoned amusement park
After a few days in Seoul, we took a bus down to Andong, known for Andong-jjimdak (chicken dish) and Hahoe Folk Village 안동 하회마을. Andong-jjamdak and Hahoe village were all top, but the highlight could be the cream cheese bread from Mammoth Bakery (맘모스제과 크림 치즈 빵). A crowd waited inside the bakery for this bread to come out from the oven, and once they were put on the shelf, everyone grabbed a dozen or more each. Not knowing any better, we just got one. Next time I’m grabbing a dozen too. It was seriously good. No joke.
We then moved to Sokcho, a far northeast fishing town next to Seoraksan national park. We walked around Sokcho, hiked Seoraksan for 7 hours, visited Naksansa and ate the best handmade jjajangmyeon.
Seoraksan Heundeulbawi 설악산 흔들바위
Seoraksan Towangseong waterfall 설악산 토왕성폭포, reopened after 45 years
We took a bus back to Seoul from Sokcho, then we flew over to Tokyo the day after.
If you are going to Korea soon, lucky you!
My first trip to Europe was more than a decade ago in my early 20’s when I was invited to Fabrica for a year long residency. Fabrica, located in Treviso, Italy, is a design research center created by Benetton. I was in the video department, and this is where I started playing and experimenting with moving images. I ended up staying at Fabrica for a month short of two years. It was a dream-like moment in my life which I can’t even put into words. This place without a doubt gave me the most unique experience which led me to move and to stay in Europe till this day.
Fabrica hosted a reunion this past summer, inviting hundreds of ex-fabricantis (how we call ourselves). It was exciting and intense as all reunions probably are.
I was also a little afraid if I would look at my current self from my decade-ago-point-of-view, when I was young, energetic, full of dreams and ambitions, and be somewhat disappointed at where I am now. But after the three-day reunion, I realized that I am happy where I am today. I guess I grew up a little since I left Fabrica : )
Oh and how beautiful Treviso is. Can’t believe I called this place my home for two years!
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Several weeks flew by without me posting anything here. There are many stories to share with you here, but time flew by between lack of sleep during working in Amsterdam and catching up on sleep back home in Paris. Time is a strange thing which often makes me sad and melancholic.
Yesterday, Mattie and I arrive in Bordeaux to start our summer holiday. Next coming weeks, we will travel between Mattie’s family houses in Bordeaux, Montalivet, Mimizan and take off with our tandem bike soon to where there are small empty roads, fruit trees, animals, rivers and nature all around.
These photos are from last summer when we spent some days with Mattie’s mom in Mimizan. We are going there this weekend and I can’t wait : )
Last few weeks passed by like a storm. The day after returning from Italy, I made a last minute trip out to LA. Much needed trip to be with my family. Plenty of intense and tiring moments, but all in all, thankful that everything is ok now. Also thankful of witnessing little subtleties which I would’ve never noticed otherwise.
A few days after returning to Paris, it was my birthday. Mattie surprised me with an original artwork by Paul Cox he bought from 10×10 event. It was a huge surprise! There is a long back story of me being very disappointed of not being able to buy one ; )
Even though the storm feels as it has passed, I can’t just chill yet. In fact, I’m off to Amsterdam tomorrow for two weeks for work. It’ll be a fun job so I look forward to it, but I’m very much looking forward to be back home beginning August and start my summer holiday. Time for our tandem trip <3
Ever since Mattie and I returned from Marseille about a week ago, we’ve both been none-stop working and traveling. Although I still got projects to finish up and new projects to start up, today I’m finally winding down a little.
While we were in Marseille for two weeks to prepare for our exhibition (I will share the photos of our exhibition with you very soon!), we were working long hours everyday and that left us no time to explore the city nor visit the calanques, which I really looked forward to before the trip. The first day we arrived in Marseille was the only day we actually had time to walk around the city with friends, visiting the port and eating the best gelato in town.
Even though I didn’t see much of the city, Marseille felt relaxed and honest. I hope to return to Marseille soon and finally go to calanques for a swim : )
Our flat in Marseille in the afternoon.
Going through some old photos in my computer, I came across film picture I took during our tandem summer trip in 2014. Mattie and I biked 10 days in French basque country in the sound of France. It was a tough ride since there were so many hills and mountains in this region (and tandem is a heavy bike with two people plus all the bags in the back), but that also comes with a beautiful landscape with amazing food.
A film camera makes you picky about the photos you take, so you photograph only those moments which are really special. Thanks to that each of these photos holds its stories and feelings which I still remember vividly. All the beautiful landscapes we biked through, animals we came across, picking fruits, swimming in the coldest but also the purest river in the world (or at least it felt that way that moment), cooking and eating in the nature, all the amazing camping spots we found, waking up in the tent…
Summer’s on its way, and I can’t wait for our next tandem adventure : )
I was away from home for close to two months. And I found out that I can’t get my mind to blog when I’m traveling. I habitually draw away from internet and disconnect effortlessly when I’m away.
Last month, I was visiting home in sunny and warm LA. Although I grew up in LA and feel like I know it, so many things have changed since I left home about ten years ago. Many neighborhoods have changed their dynamics, and there are more exciting activities than just going to malls and movies (this is what we used to do growing up in LA). Last few trips back home, I got to explore some places which I’ve never visited before, which refreshed my thoughts on LA.
This trip around, we ate at a local but epic Mexican restaurant, had donuts and a large coffee for breakfast, stuffed ourselves with Korean barbecue, ate at Five Guys (finally!), checked out Frogtown, hiked at Elysian Park, visited Sunken City in San Pedro, drove (which I haven’t done in last ten years), but the highlight of it all was to walk along the LA river and to explore its abandoned surrounding, which most likely will change in the coming years as the city has a huge plan to develop the LA river. Although, I quite like how it is right now, wild and unkept.
Now I’m back in Paris, I hope to stay put for at least a month : )