First-person travel notes, city stories, photos, and videos from the Travel Map archive.
#Toronto There's certainly no shortage of food diversity in Canada. When 75% of the population are descendants of immigrants, national cuisine blurs, and everyone eats whatever they please (usually dishes from their homeland). In Toronto, ~10% of the…
#Toronto Opening a bank account Opening an account turned out to be quite straightforward. The required documents include: - a passport with a work visa - a work permit certificate - a SIN number All of these can be obtained at the airport. And that's it.…
#Toronto My schedule is completely messed up. I went to bed at midnight and, despite not getting enough sleep after the flight, I woke up at 6:30. Well, there's nothing else to do, so I decided to take a walk around the downtown area in the morning.
I'm looking at the list of all the crap that I need to get.
#Toronto At least I'm grateful that there's an express train to the city center for a reasonable 9 C$!
#Toronto Immigration here is a total pain in the ass. At the entrance, you need to get a work permit - as if my work visa wasn't enough! (I thought there would at least be a card, but it's just a simple A4 certificate). And you have to show it every time you…
Time warp, and...
A worthy start to the flight - they gave me a ticket without a seat))) There's a small chance they won't let me board, but then they should offer me a substantial compensation, so I don't really care either way.
Who lost it?
#Tokyo There aren't many parks in Tokyo, so I cling to each one to assess how it's really possible to survive in this concrete metropolis. Today's menu: Shinjuku Garden - one of the largest parks in the city. It's quite beautiful, especially the gazebo near…
In addition, a couple of more places I liked: Clarisse with Ken's Bar - the most friendly atmosphere, everything is 1000¥, no service charge Bay Window - a quiet setting, a large selection of good whiskeys and cocktails, but it's expensive. Service charge…
#Tokyo The most memorable bar in Golden Gai is, of course, Deathmatch in Hell. Everything here is perfect - the interior with lighting, metal music in the background, a couple of TVs to get hooked on horror movies, no "service charge", and all drinks…
#Tokyo "Golden Gai" in Shinjuku is one of the oldest districts of central Tokyo. In history, this tiny piece of land has been home to a black market and a red-light district. In the 80s, the Yakuza carried out pressures and arson attacks here, but now it's a…
Good morning to the channel's subscribers!
#Tokyo I dedicated the first day to a visit to Shiba Park and the Zozo-ji Buddhist temple. The weather outside was typical Tokyo summer - +37 degrees and intense humidity. But we're used to it, so we endure it🫠 The park is located right under the Tokyo…
#Tokyo In Japan, there's a society of total trust. At an apartment hotel, you can take a bottle of water at the entrance by putting 200 yen in a box. But just in case, the 24-hour CCTV is still watching you😁
#Tokyo What you need to accept here is that AirBnB will be insanely expensive, no matter where you stay. If you don't mind living in a cramped space, all options for you will start at $100/day. In the photo above are all the places I stayed, with…
#Tokyo What I realized during this trip is that Tokyo isn't just the city itself, but also the surrounding cities, which are perfect for weekend day trips. It's almost as if they were deliberately located to the east of the city, making them much easier to…
#Tokyo Settling In Despite the fact that Tokyo is indeed a huge city (possibly even endless), for a traveler, especially a short-term one, not many areas are suitable for living. The entire life of dopamine addicts revolves around a few districts - Shinjuku,…
I think I've finished my Korean almanac and am now smoothly transitioning to Japan (where I currently am). I've already had a series of posts about all the major cities of the Land of the Rising Sun, but I'll try not to repeat myself and share something…
#Seoul Another example is the 120-story skyscraper Lotte World Tower in southeastern Seoul. Koreans also call it the Sauron Tower. It was built by the same company that produces chocolate pies and other sweets. The same company also owns a luxury hotel in…
#Seoul One of the curses of Korea is the monopolization of the market. In an effort to ensure the competitiveness of Korean companies in global markets, the Korean authorities actively subsidized "family businesses" - chaebols, guaranteeing them cheap loans…
#Seoul What do you know about Korean cinema? Probably almost nothing. But there's one great actor in Korea, after learning about whom, you'll start seeing him absolutely everywhere. This is Ma Dong-seok, known for such great films as: - "Gangster, Cop,…
#Seoul I once posted a photo of, oh my god, the bottles they use to sell soju in Korea. Anyway, recently I found a whole tank of 30-degree soju. That means you can buy 3.5 liters of vodka for 10 dollars and get completely drunk. I thought, who would even…
#Seoul Continuing my urban exploration, I'd like to talk about Seoul's parks, particularly the river parks. Korea has one of the best approaches to coastal zone design and preservation in Asia, if not the world. Haters will of course say that the area…
#Seoul I'm the kind of person who only made it to the upper part of Bukchon in my third month in Seoul. How much beauty I've missed all this time... And I don't care that it's +33 degrees outside and raining - wandering around here is still awesome. The…
#Seoul Catholic churches in Korea are also a local meme. For some reason, their architecture here always goes to extremes - it's either a cathedral in the English style, or some kind of 2000s modernism, where you don't immediately understand what's in front…
#Seoul Continuing the theme of Seoul's urban development in the 70s and 80s. In the photo, one of the few preserved districts in the west of the city. The key differences from newer ones are the semi-basement floors, block-style development, European…
#Seoul #Suwon A royal fortress, a giant cathedral, and the Starfield Library, which surpasses the Seoul one - Day trip to Suwon (https://telegra.ph/Day-trip-v-Suvon-07-20)
#Seoul #Suwon Sorry for disappearing, but the flight to Japan really exhausted me. Plus, I spent way too much effort and time preparing a long post about the Korean city of Suwon for you. It's a non-standard format for my channel, and I'm not sure if it will…
A lot of things piled up at the end, but I managed to sort everything out. Today, I packed all my things, both necessary and unnecessary, and now I'm heading to the airport. First, I'll be in Japan for a couple of weeks🇯🇵, luckily I found a travel buddy…
My Moscow MTS started working comparably to Turkish Vodafone (for those unfamiliar, it's practically the worst operator in the world) after I arrived. The connection keeps dropping, the internet can slow down to kilobit speeds, it's completely unusable in…
#Seoul The abundance of gay bars across the street from the Seoul Central Mosque is the ultimate level of trolling. And yes, they named one of them ♂GYM CLUB♂.
#Seoul (Part 2/2) By the whims of fate, I ended up in a traditionally styled mountain village, which serves as a transit point for all hikers and a home for a few people seeking solitude away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul. It's at least an hour's bus…
#Seoul (Part 1/2) Maybe hiking in the rain with a temperature of +30 and 90% humidity isn't the best idea, but Korea knows how to reward the resourceful. So even though the views from the mountain were obscured by fog this time, I was still satisfied with my…
#Seoul Perhaps the Koreans have some sort of score to settle with the Italians, because the copy of the Trevi Fountain isn't the only thing that shows the influence of the Roman Empire and Italian culture on Korea. Once, while drinking at a restaurant with…
#Seoul There's an opinion that subways in Asia are all the same and boring. And then along comes the Jamsil station in Seoul, where they've installed a Roman fountain in the pavilion🤣 There's no historical subtext here, it's just that the shopping center…
#Seoul How old districts die On the hills to the north of Seoul's main river, the Hangang, lie the city's oldest districts. The 2-3 story buildings in the photos represent typical Seoul architecture from the late 1970s. Many of them have a classic Asian…
#Seoul After Busan, I headed back to Seoul. At that time, my passport was still in the Philippines, and I had no idea when it would be ready, so I extended my stay by two weeks. But there's so much content coming out on my channel that I'm starting this…
I'm throwing out a battle cry in the chat! If you were planning to go to Tokyo but haven't decided when exactly - I'll be there from July 25 to August 12. I'm looking for travel companions so I won't get bored :)
#Busan From the archival photos of Busan, I forgot to show you the walking route along the rocky coast - Igidae Park Path. It's just a very beautiful place that's definitely worth visiting if you ever find yourself in Busan.
#Busan #Review In conclusion about Busan During my five working days in Busan, I didn't get bored. But at the same time, I probably visited 90% of what I wanted to see. After all, Busan isn't as big as Seoul, so it's not worth spending weeks exploring it.…
July 8, 2024, Seoul Let's add this day to our collection of events.
#Busan In addition to the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Firstly, there are ridiculous statues of mythological Chinese zodiac animals at the entrance. This is a common practice, but if they look pompous in Hong Kong, here they're rather funny (especially the…
#Busan The tourist tram will take you to the north of the city, just a kilometer away from one of the most famous Korean Buddhist temples, Haedong Yonggungsa. At the entrance, there's a sign that reads "the most beautiful temple in Korea" - the guys sure…
#Busan From Hwangde Beach, you can take one of the rare Korean trams to the northern part of Busan. I'd say this attraction is a bit of a tourist trap, as all guides heavily promote the sky cabin, i.e. the upper tram route, which costs a whopping $22 for a…
#Busan Well, why all these Dubais? The famous Hwangde Beach, just like on a tourist postcard. If you've ever googled Busan, you've probably seen these skyscrapers standing right by the coast at least once. In summer in Korea, it's 30 degrees every day, so…
#Busan A pleasant discovery in Gamcheon Village - a traditional tea house run by a Korean grandmother. A small two-story house with a veranda on the top floor, where you can enjoy the view of the village over a cup of tea. The assortment is small, but as I…
#Busan Gamcheon Village In the southeast of Busan, there's Gamcheon Village, which has gained popularity due to its colorful houses. There's no historical legend here - since the 1950s, it was an ordinary poor settlement, and it wasn't until 2009 that local…
#Busan Alright guys, don't get mad. Here are some examples of how NOT to build residential areas, and all in the same Busan. Everything we dislike - huge prefabricated buildings (sometimes not the best quality), multi-lane highways, and zero infrastructure…