Jinny's trip to Korea

Last week (august 26th 2015), I was flying to Seoul, on my way to 
Daegu International BodyPainting Festival. 
It was my second time in Korea at this festival.
(I won first place on both days in the Body Painting category back in 2008. This festival has changed and improved immensely since my last visit)

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Scott Fray and Madelyn Greco for recommending me and all the other International Jury members such as:


Birgit Mörtl from Austria (judge),

Bert and Carolien Verstappen from Holland (judge)

Francesca Tariciotti from Italy (judge)

David Hauser from USA (film and photos)

and THE LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST... OUR AMAZING HOST:

Kimmy Kim (TBC television)

I had no idea how much fun it would be 

and I am grateful I was a part of it.

This whole trip was filled of laughters, touching moments, lots of art, Korean culture, tasteful and surprising food, nature, breathtaking views, singers, shows, TBC hosts and of course the 2015 winners of DIBF!

I want to share my whole trip with YOU! (friends, family and social media followers because I know all of you will enjoy the details and photos of my so COLORFUL trip to Daegu...

 

this is the view from my plane a few minutes before I landed.

The official WELCOME to Korea! 

So we all arrived at The Palace Hotel quite late on the 27th. (around 1am) and this is us all together and refreshed on the 28th all ready to explore Deagu with Kimmy, our favorite guide.

Our first stop was quite interesting for us.

"CAT CAFÉ" in Korea are very "IN". 

When I arrived, 

cat #1 was on the floor and welcomed the group.

cat #2 was having a zen moment sleeping on the table.

and cat #3 was going outside on the deck for a breath of fresh air.

Good thing my allergies were not too bad that day... I handled it pretty well. 

In my culture, the cats are not welcome on top of the tables or around drinks and food but what I like when I travel is to experience new things and be surprised... indeed I was!! hahaha!!!

     

 

  

Oh! for those of you who loves the smell of fish (maybe not in the morning for me)... we noticed some tiny fishes in these boxes, outside the building. The smell was quite something...

Fun has already started!! 
This was our "breakfast" at 2am. The food was amazing! 

Eating with these "tiny metal stick" was a challenge for many of us! Good thing I was able to "cheat" with a spoon sometimes! haha!        
Being vegetarian myself, I was happy to see a lot of variety of food for me AND the flavours with a spicy touch made it perfect for me!! 

Walking around the city...

Time for a selfiiiie!! :)

DEAGU CITY TOUR was a lot of fun!!!

all kind of fish and octopus ready for take out!

If you love eating typical food... this market has a wide variety...

Their eating habits are very different than ours. (well... very different than mine, thats for sure!)
I was very intrigued with their flavours and spices as I love to cook and try new recipes myself.

For each "food stations" you could almost feel like entering a different home.
I have to be honest though...
some were more appealing than others..

 PIG... I THINK... NOT SURE... ???

Thank god to the images on the signs!! At first, I thought it was all dried VEGETABLES!
I took a closer look and noticed they were dried MOLLUSCS!! 

This is the only food I tried, yes, it was fried..

Korean's use scissors very often in the kitchen. Cutting, rice noodles, pizza and pastries like on this picture I took in the market.

This is it! We all shared some of these. Fresh pastries with sweet sirup and sunflower seeds. I was yummy!!!

INTESTINES!!
(and Bert in the mirror! hahaha!!)

The Market has more than food. On the second floor we met an amazing "craftswoman" 
She and I could not communicate but I could feel her passion and her big generous heart. She made some "100% ALL NATURAL - BIO - HANDMADE  LINE OF CLOTHING"
thanks to Kimmy Jim for being the best host, friend and translator a group could ask for!! 

living her passion!!

Carolien, Myself and Birgit around this amazing woman..

Colorful Daegu and Colorful Clothing!!



After our stop at the market... hop we go on the tramway...

So I arrived very late on thursday night... (to be more precise it was technically friday am)
and friday we were spoiled and played tourist all day. 
We needed a day to deal with JETLAG before the event started.