First-person travel notes, city stories, photos, and videos from the Travel Map archive.
Unfortunately, I'm spoiled by the way tea ceremonies are done in Moscow at the Workshop, so I set a pretty high standard for places trying to make traditional Chinese tea. Of course, this isn't China, and in Korea, there are likely different traditions. So I…
#Seoul Our second stop was Cha-Teul teahouse, which was actually a full-fledged house with a small garden in the center. Everyone sat on cushions at low tables, and the menu included a selection of Chinese teas, which were served according to all the…
#Seoul The first stop was Shin Tea House, a small house tucked away deep in an alley. The decor was really cool and the atmosphere was quiet. Surprisingly, there weren't many people there on a Saturday, so we were able to grab seats at a low table. The teas…
#Seoul Yesterday, we visited some traditional tea houses. For this, we had to travel to the northern part of the city, to an old district where many preserved hanok houses have been converted into shops and restaurants (you can see more details on Google…
#Seoul Advertisement for contract service in the subway Familiar?)
#Seoul It's still incredibly awesome when they build hanok houses somewhere in a forest park and convert them into tea houses.
#Seoul In Seoul, there are restored villages right in the middle of the city. Some of them are equipped as restaurants or souvenir shops, while others are exhibitions of household items from that era. Well, at least from the life of the wealthy Koreans back…
#Seoul Thanks to Pyongyang and Beijing for the fucking air!🤬 The average air quality in Seoul is definitely a problem, it can even be worse than in Bangkok. All this week, it's been 70-100.
#Seoul Ahh, grape soju for ONE dollar In Asia, it costs about ~$3, in Russia/Europe it's all $6
#Seoul They say there are not many trash bins in Korea. And they also say it's very clean. Both of these statements are true. But the approach implemented in practice is not always adequate. Instead of using containers, people just leave their trash on the…
#Seoul Had an insanely good BBQ hotpot
#Seoul I visited an old friend. It's been half a year, but he's still basking in the sun on the windowsill 😆
#Seoul Korean flex They also told me that it turns out that all soju with flavoring is essentially made for foreigners, as it's mostly exported, while real Koreans drink fresh soju (that is, diluted vodka, lol).
#Seoul It's early autumn in Seoul. But it's still warm, around 20 degrees 😎 We plan to spend a month here until it gets colder, then we'll go to Moscow for business.
#Seoul A holy land
#HongKong While we were eating at the airport, a two-story A380 airplane drove up to us. It's a shame we're not flying on one of these!
#HongKong Advertising in collaboration with popular anime.
#HongKong I didn't film the stairwell you have to climb to get to the third floor, but it definitely looks like the kind of place where you'd get fucking stabbed.
#HongKong This house on the corner is, unironically, our Airbnb rental (120$/day, $60 each). Give us a like - we'll do a room tour! Spoiler: On our first day, the refrigerator generator broke down and the wiring in the kitchen caught fire, leaving the whole…
#HongKong This is also Hong Kong. Just a couple of metro stations away from the supposed city center. It's hard to believe that this city-country has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world? For the most part, these are old districts, which exist both…
#HongKong Back in Hong Kong again. It's +30 degrees outside now, but it's not the same as Thailand - the humidity is much lower, and the breeze from the bay cools things down. This time, I want to look at the city without rose-tinted glasses, and notice its…
#Bangkok Last weekend, while walking in the park, we accidentally stumbled upon the Thailand Game Show at QSNCC. It's the first time I've heard of it, but it turns out to be an annual gaming event that attracts an incredible number of cosplayers (90% of them…
Damn it, the flight to Hong Kong is only 3 hours, but they've already delayed it by 4 hours🤬 All they gave me as a gift was a fucking voucher for a meal worth 250 baht You might have a salary of 5 or even 10 thousand, but in any case, you'll just be…
#Bangkok And this is a view of the sunset from the pool. In the first photo, there's smog, and in the second, the sky is clear. The difference is just a matter of days. It's really unsettling 😶🌫
#Bangkok A view from the lake of the city panorama, not far from the park.
#Bangkok Benchakiti Park is probably the coolest park in terms of city views, among those I've been to. Maybe it reminds someone of Central Park in New York) Generally, parks are not hard to create. Just take a piece of overgrown land, lay out paths, and…
#Bangkok And these are the mind-bogglingly eye-popping displays of a popular Japanese chain store.
#Bangkok Another atmospheric Japanese restaurant. There are just so many of them in the area where we live.
This and a bunch of other examples are pure Bangkok moments, when you'd rather try to do it badly than leave it as it is.
Workers charging their phones But at +35 degrees, it's just ridiculous))
Colleagues nomads, if anyone is in Seoul in November, I'd be happy to meet up!
#Bangkok We stocked up on tea in Chinatown.
#Bangkok After a year, I returned to my favorite Japanese bar❤️ Everyone who's in Bangkok, come and get some plum wine - it's amazing! https://maps.app.goo.gl/tXKdLVnm7HkggmYk8
#Bangkok And this is a small traditional Japanese restaurant near our house in Bangkok. With very reasonable prices and generous portions 😋
#Bangkok Yuzu ice tea & Sencha tea Near Lumpini Park: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8LhfC52y9DNxEpFm6
In Bangkok, as always. Heat and smog.
A third-world country is where you can go through electronic check at passport control, but at customs, they'll still ask you to take off your shoes and turn on your laptop.
A life hack for Muscovites. Due to the fact that Vnukovo Airport is constantly closed at night and all flights are rescheduled, you can, if necessary, try to request a ticket refund on the grounds of a "flight rescheduling". I once had Turkish Airlines…
There was a bit more going on in Buda in the evening than in Moscow on Friday. There seem to be people in the center, but nothing is happening. It's so boring!
Police officers are rounding up people with beer in Kitay Gorod Moscow never changes, haha!
In Warsaw, I took my phone in for repair. A few days later, they called me and offered to replace the phone's sensor for $200, but I declined. In Budapest, they offered me the same thing for $130, and I initially agreed, but the part was delayed, and in the…
#Budapest Photos from my last few days in Budapest. I'm leaving here a few days earlier than planned, and at moments like these, I really want to come back again. It's great to live and work here, spending relatively little money. But you definitely need to…
#Budapest The majestic architecture of the city from the right bank.
I ordered a cocktail, and the bartender told me that one of the ingredients was chicken liver. WTF?!
#Budapest Trams)
#Budapest And this is a typical train in the Budapest metro. I wonder where they got it from😁
#Budapest The US embassy is parked in Freedom Square, not far from the parliament. There are also monuments to Bush and Reagan. In the center is a monument to the Soviet liberators, and a little further away is a monument to the victims of the German…
#Budapest A bit more of the diverse center of Budapest. There's no unified style here. Buildings range from castles to run-down boxes. The quarterly structure of the city still annoys me, motivating me to walk straight or in zigzags, but nevertheless,…
#Zurich #Review I also summed up the expenses for my week-long trip to Zurich in late August. My life there was quite relaxed, as I only went to the mountains once on the weekend, and spent the rest of the time walking around the city and its surroundings.…