Changgyeonggung Palace, Seoul

Just a few photos of this palace in Seoul, which dates back to 1104. This palace is registered on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List.

Lovely colourful details.

Takes a number of people to maintain the palace. These workers were seen pulling out grass between the stones on the ground.

Backbreaking work.

It’s a huge place…

There are lots of vast open spaces but lots of trees around the perimeter.

Roof details.

Changgyeonggung Botanical Garden is attached to the palace, but we did not visit. Due to the unbearable heat, and that it would only be opened in 2 hours, we decided to skip it. But I have been researching it; it is a beautiful place and I would have loved it… :(

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my World (a few months ago, that is).

Macro Flowers

Some photos from a recent camping trip.

A bloom from a weed

Partial focus 

A web

Macro Monday

Enjoyed it while it lasted...

 

I went to buy a new pair of exercise shoes last week. The shopkeeper asked me to walk on a threadmill and afterwards, showed me how I walked on video. He recommended a pair with the right support. I must say that the new pair has been good.



This pair had served me well, and is now replaced. I have drawn it a few times before. The coloured one on the left is drawn a while ago, and the above ink drawing is a recent and last drawing.



Shoes are fun to draw. I will get around to drawing the new pair soonish...

 

Here is another pair which I had to throw out recently... It was falling apart when I was in China. Since it was my only pair of sandals while travelling, I had to find a replacement pair...

I found this pair of Crocs at the hotel shop... Before that I swore that I'd never wear Crocs beacuse they look so cartoon-like. But they are so comfortable. Cartoon-like or not, I love them. I love comfy shoes. I don't like the look of Birkenstock sandals, but I hear that they are very comfortable. Maybe I'll check them out...

Happy Weekend.




Creative Every Day

Bliss! Sunsets plus a beer

I hope you are not tired if Wye River photos yet, cos here’s another! Hope you like this sunset.

And closer to home… a glorious sunset seen over Melbourne Port (in Australia that is).

2 sunsets for Skywatch, and a beer bottle to follow….

Have you heard of Lucky Beer?

My husband had it while he was out with his friends. It has an unusual bottle of Buddha holding up a gold ingot, so he brought it home for me.

You can see a photo of the bottle here plus an article on the beer. I was thinking of throwing the bottle away (I tried using it as a vase, then a candle holder… No good), but the article says that the bottle is fast becoming a collector’s piece. Maybe I’ll keep it for a while.

Creative Every Day

More Wye River images

A drawing for Creative Every Day, which I completed today. This is similar to our pre-breakfast snack which I will explain shortly…

Yesterday, I posted images of camping in Wye River. Here are a few more…

As the famous saying goes, the journey is the destination… We started our holiday long before we reached the campsite. We had breakfast at Newport (2nd breakfast actually. The first one was like the one drawn above…). The cafe was next to a train station. I sketched platform 2 in front of me, while waiting for our food. It was a yummy breakfast – mine was beans with egg and tapenade. My husband had mango French toast.

An hour and a half later, I managed a quick sketch (coloured later) when we had morning tea.

Our first visitor who came after we put up our tent. There were many rosellas at the campsite.

Mr. Kookaburra sat on this pole every evening. From this post, he could spot worms. Every now and again, Mr. kookaburra left this post to pick up a worm from the ground.

 

Magpies will visit restaurants for food. Those sharp beaks look scary, and I am not fond of them. But I must admit that the black and white feathers look quite nice.

This fella has 2 legs but I don’t know why he/she chose to hide the other.

I don’t recognise this birdie which I only saw once…

Sweet little bird… Small birds are difficult to photograph, coz they are so fidgety…

But I love him :).

Wye River

My husband and I spent last week at a campsite in Wye River along the famous Great Ocean Road in Australia. I am uploading some photos taken last week and a few drawings.

Watery Wednesday: a watery photo to start…
Creative Every Day: To view drawings, please scroll down…

Trees and sky reflected by a meandering stream

There was not much to do but to enjoy nature…

Breathe the fresh air under a big sky.

This was home for a week (pictured left).

We enjoyed the simplicity of life here… We didn’t need much – just a tent over our heads, air mattresses and sleeping bags.

I spent most of my time drawing, taking photos, reading and studying Japanese. Here are a few friends we met…

Ever seen a sheep with dreadlocks? He and his friend ate all day in their special area in the campsite, with long long grass.

Koala having a snooze. Koalas are noisy at night. The noises are like snoring; only many times louder.

A baby… Look Ma, no hands. I am not sure how it stays up there and not roll off the branch.

There was a lovely food store/cafe nearby and we ate there often.  It’s spring time in Australia but it was cold last week. There was a fireplace in the cafe and piles of wood.

This is a locally made pear cider which I enjoyed very much… I haven’t seen it anywhere else, but I will look out for it.

There was beer on tap too, but it was pear cider for me every time we were there. The atmosphere was not so jolly, but rather quiet. :)

Hope you are having a nice week. More photos and drawings in the coming posts.

Hot chocolate and teddy bear

 It's great to be back. We had a nice week away living in a tent in a
campside. As you can imagine, there wasn't much to do. I drew everyday
and took some photos. I will upload photos and more drawings when I get organised.





Today, I have a couple of drawings from my sketchbook. I went to a chocolate shop and saw this lady (above) busy with her phone. She was facing me and was in the same position for a while. She was a good model.







This next drawing is of Julius, a bear living with my husband and I. We like teddy bears :).




Enjoy your day.




Creative Every Day

Street vendors, Seoul

This is another scheduled post. These photos were taken in the Seoul.



Please leave a comment. I am away camping, and will visit you when I get back.

Lanterns at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto

Lanterns at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto



Hope you  all well. This is a scheduled post. I am camping, and am planning to do lots of drawing while I am away. Do leave a comment so that I can come by and visit you when I get back.

Pachinko

 

When I was in Japan recently, one of the many fascinating things I found was pachinko. Pachinko is described to be like a vertical pinball machine. I saw pachinko parlours in many places and they were quite recognisable by their loud colours and with lots of slot machines. 

I had no idea about the game, but I walked into a parlour to check it out. I didn't get very far because the noise level was high... almost like a million bees buzzing at the same time! Wow, it was undescribable and unbelievable. I stayed inside for less than 10 seconds, and then left quickly.

If you visit Japan, do check them out. They are fascinating :).

Geumjeongsan, Busan

We left Beomeosa Temple and hiked up Geumjeong Mountain.

The path was established so it was not a difficult hike. It was beautiful and lush. 

At the beginning of the track, the rocks were partly covered by water.

It was mostly rocks later…

and steps going up and up. This mountain is Busan’s most popular hiking destination. We came across many locals going up with hiking gear and supplies… We were getting worried as we were in shorts, t-shirts and “city” walking shoes. We had no food nor water…

There was not a lot of flowers but I saw this Chinese Astibe

After a while (an hour maybe), we reached an opening. There was a group of people singing and having fun. We watch them for a little while…

It was very misty and quite beautiful. But sometimes we could only see about 5 feet in front of us.

I hope you have enjoyed the photos.  The peak is is 801.5 meters/2629 feet, but I am afraid this is as far as we went.

Not many people were going beyond this point and we were not able to read the signs (in Korean) to know which direction to go for sure!

So we decided that was as far as we were going.

When we reached the town at the foothill, it was lunch time.

We were glad to find a restaurant to relax for a little while. The main meal came with pickles on the side… including kimchi (fermented vegetables, usually cabbage).

 

We ordered quite randomly by pointing at photos. The dish on the left is rice and on the right is noodles. My husband enjoyed his rice dish, but I found my noodles too sweet. It was not the best meal I have had, but it was all part of the experience of travelling :).

It was a fun day out.