My weekend of culture!

This past weekend I got to enjoy some of what makes London so great - culture!

On Friday night I went to see Doctor Atomic. Doctor Atomic is a modern opera about the making of the first nuclear bomb. It was performed by the English National Opera, which means that it was sung in English. It was pretty cool, the special effects and video screens were really fun to watch too. The music was a little too modern (no real songs, more like screeching!) for my taste though.

On Sunday I went to the exhibit of Le Corbusier, a French architect. This was shown at The Barbican. It was a great way to spend a Sunday. They had all the designs and models from his many buildings, and they also had the artwork that inspired him, and the furniture he designed too. I really enjoyed it.

My trip to Borough Market

Today I went to Borough Market. This is the big food market in London, where people can buy really great quality fruit, vegetables and meat. They also have a lot of speciality producers at the market, including people from France and all over the UK.

Lots of tourists go to the Market, as it is famous especially within the UK. On the Food TV Network, they feature the market in the programme "Market Kitchen", which you can read about by clicking onto the link below - they have great recipes on that programme!

http://uktv.co.uk/food/homepage/sid/6136

We bought nice food for the weekend meals at the market, and then enjoyed a bit of lunch. I am really enjoying my time with Hamish's mom's friend and her work colleagues!

Beijing or Bust!

I arrived in Beijing on Monday the 3rd, after a busy but fun weekend in Seoul, South Korea.

Beijing is the capital city of the People's Republic of China. It was also the host city for the 2008 summer Olympics.

China is one of the world's oldest countries - you can actually trace its history for about 6000 years! It also has one of the oldest written languages. They use Chinese characters, completely different from the English / Roman alphabet. There are about 1.3 billion people who live in China. Beijing is China's second largest city (the largest city is Shanghai) and it has a population of about 18 million people.

Some things in Beijiing are very familiar! Here is a picture of me at the Beijing Airport Pizza Hut!

We stayed at the China World Shangri-La Hotel, in the Central Business District. As it was a work trip, I did not have much time to sightsee, but I did enjoy the nice hotel!

On Wednesday the guys finished their meetings early, so I was able to go to the Park. We went to the Temple of Heaven Park (Ten Tian Do). It is a park that was built in 1420, in the Ming Dynasty. The temple was built to honour the gods, also as the Chinese Emperor was called the Son of Heaven, it was his way to honour his ancestors. They made regular sacrifices at the temple.

Here is the circular main altar of the temple. It was very impressive.

I also had a chance to see the oldest tree in Beijing (at least that is what they say!) - it was more than 500 years old!

My adventures in Korea

I arrived in South Korea on March 1st, at 6 pm. Bum-Hee took me along to meet his family in Seoul. This is a picture of me at Inchon airport.

We went to his sister's house - she has an amazing garden. Here is a photo of me with some traditional Korean ceramics. They were originally used to hold soybean paste or red pepper pastes (sauces for Korean cooking) but now they are used for plants.

I also had the chance to see a Korean garden. Here I am pictured with orchids. They were amazing! Unlike other orchids, Korean orchids have a great smell, kind of like roses but different.

Busy times - and I am off to Korea this weekend!

Hi there, I have been so busy I have not had a chance to upload my photos from Yemen yet! I will do it soon!

This weekend I am going to KOREA! Yes, Donna's colleague Bum-Hee is taking me to Korea with him, and then we will all meet in Beijing China for a few days. Then back to London for a while.

South Korea is in Asia. It is on a peninsula, and is bordered by North Korea, and is across the sea from Japan. The population is 47 million people. I will be going to Seoul, which is the capital, where Bum-Hee is from. 11 million people live in Seoul.

Korea is famous for many things, including tae-kwon-do, hosting the 1988 summer Olympics, and making excellent electronic products (Samsung is a Korean company). Korean food is also delicious, with great bar-be-cued meats and pickled spicy vegetables. I am so excited about going.

Here is a picture of me with Bum-Hee's daughters, Seo-Young and Yu-Young.

Bab al-Yemen

We spent our last evening in Sana'a in the market. It was amazing. Bab al-Yemen, or old Yemen, is really just the same as it was about 1000 years ago.

It is a traditional souk, or market, and as there are very little tourists the items sold are really the things used by Yemenis. Like lentils.

And dates.

When we were walking through the market we actually saw the President of Yemen! He was accompanied by about 20 SUVs and a lot of military guards. It was exciting, but we didn't want to take a picture as, unless you ask, photographing people is rude in Islamic countries. And we didn't think we would be able to ask / get close enough to the President to ask!

I also got to see "jambia" or the traditional Yemeni daggers that all men carry, once they become men at the age of 14.

It was a great day to see a lot of Yemen! I think the country is beautiful and the people were all very friendly!

Site Visit in Bal Haf, Yemen

When we arrived at site they issued us all with hard hats. Mine was a bit big!

I can't show too many site photos, as I couldn't wander around without a hard hat. But I can show you a ruined fisherman's hut that was saved during construction. It is a very typical site in Yemen!