Julio Moreno

08Feb2014

Five things Tokyo is NOT!

Julio Moreno Japan, Top 10 Style Lists Japan misconceptions, Tokyo travel 7 Comments

Since the first time I visited and totally fell in love with Japan in 2012, Tokyo had been on my to do list. Normally, I tend to gravitate more towards ancient ruins and the like, but there was something about the Japanese capital that kept calling to me. I don’t know if it was the lights, the anime, the technology, or the weird subcultures, but once again Japan has managed to amaze me and completely threw my preconceptions out the window. Here are five things I expected which surprisingly were not so. Let’s get started!

Tokyo is NOT …

#5 Megacity One Read more →

02Feb201422Jan2014

Website Update #4 – And Happy 1st Blogniversary to me!

Julio Moreno Updates anniversary, update 4 Comments

Wow! It’s been a whole year since I first started this blog. I know I said this on the last update, but I will say it again, I NEVER thought I would continue doing a blog for this long. I would like to thank each and every one of you readers who have made this possible. Seriously, I am obsessed with you guys! The first thing I do every morning is see how many views I’ve gotten by 9Am… yes… I know I have a problem, but please don’t leave me! 🙁

Anyways, given how this is Travel World Heritage’s anniversary, and by extension, my own… I wanted to share a few things. After thinking about it for 2 weeks now, I came up with… nothing… absolutely nothing. I thought of “my favorite posts,” “ten things about TWH you didn’t know,” or “a recap of 2013” but instead, I will just ramble about 10 things concerning all of those.

10) The Best Items I Crossed Off My Bucket List in 2013

While I didn’t get to go to the Philippines, I did cross out two HUGE things off my bucket list. I finally visited Komodo National Park and Machu Picchu and both were just as amazing as I imagined. I am sure either of those are in many people’s lists and much like me, you probably have said “some day” way too many times. 2013 was long enough wait for me and I encourage you to make 2014 your year.

9) I’m finally leaving Korea 🙁

I initially moved to Korea to try something different. I didn’t want to be like everyone else in the corporate world and jumped on an alternative. Korea turned out to be so cozy and the money so good, that I have been here for 4 years. Come March though, my goal of being debt free will be accomplished and again, I am willing to take a risk to try something new. If all goes well…

8) New Zealand Baby! (or Australia?)

My visa has come in and I am all ready to go to New Zealand to start a working holiday! However, one last hurdle remains. Sidney will be coming with me, and I have my fingers crossed that she too will be able to get a working visa in May. If all else fails, we will go to Australia… which isn’t a bad consolation prize so I’m not too concerned! Expect more posts from Oceania in the next few months after some intensive travel… which reminds me…

7) 2014 Will be the Year of Travel

After March 1st, I plan to be unemployed and pretty much just chilling and traveling for a little over six months. It starts with a small vacation in Japan next week (6 days). Here is the full plan:

Jan 30 – Feb 4 Japan

Mar 1 – Apr 23 USA

Apr 24 – May 16 Korea

May 17 – July 14 South East Asia ( Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and MAYBE Malaysia)

July 15 – Early 2015 New Zealand or Australia

Not bad eh?

6) TWH in numbers – Most Popular and Least Popular

You might have noticed that I am a bit obsessed with numbers. While TWH hasn’t gotten ridiculous amounts of views, I am still honored that some of you find it worth a look. I might not have put forth the best travel stories, the most amazing (cough:: altered) pictures, nor been to the most exotic places. Nevertheless, I try to be as accurate, informative, and come on, my pictures aren’t THAT bad!

Anyways… after 11 months:

Total Views: ~ 23,000

Unique Visitors: ~ 13,000

Most Searched Key Phrase: “I hate Koreans” (seriously people, what’s your deal!)

Most Popular Post: Five AMAZING places you are FORBIDDEN from Visiting (Although 1500 of those came from reddit alone. Thanks Reddit!) 2,200 views

Least Popular Post: Bayon is Watching You! (My attempt at ‘interesting’ titles failed miserably) 6 views [Why did I even bother?]

5) Charity and other Good Causes

One section that I started a few months ago was “Make a Difference.” It was meant to showcase charities, companies or individuals who I thought were worthy of your business as it would go to a good cause. Since its inception, TWH has promoted:

i) Awamaki – Helping Native Rural Peruvian Villages

ii) Vitalise Charity – Helping People with Disabilities go on Vacation

and

iii) Barang Hang – An awesome Tuk-Tuk Driver in Siem Reap near Angkor, and an even cooler person once you get to know him.

If you have something you think should be featured on this blog along these lines, let me know!

Also,

I would also like to establish a more direct charitable work over the next few years, and hopefully, get other travelers to help me out. If you are interested in helping those in need, stay tuned.

4) My Favorites of 2013

While I’m not a huge book guy, most of my free time is spent reading articles, top 10 lists, and the like. Here are the 5 best things I read in 2013:

i) 40 Maps To Will Help You Make Sense of the World (#2 and #17 are shocking, but the best is #36)

ii) 101 Incredible Rock Formations Around the World (I’ve been to 2 lol)

iii) Palmerson: The Island At The End of the Earth (A traveler’s dream)

iv) Elon Musk’s Hyperloop (The future of travel)

and the best

v) Return to the rainforest: A son’s search for his Amazonian mother (Just an incredible and eye-opening story)

3) Website Redesign

You might have noticed that the site looks different. It went from a free template provided by WordPress to the paid “Explorer” template. The transition wasn’t as smooth as I imagined, especially since I am not a programmer. I will work on fixing things as quickly as I can. One thing I do like a lot is that the main page is map based, and although it might not be a very popular feature, I will give it some time and see what happens.

2) The Yoga 2 Pro

Blogging has gotten a lot smoother since I got this new computer, the Lenovo Yoga 2. This beast of a machine features an i7 4th gen intel chip, 512 GB SSD, and a 3200×1800 screen resolution. I will write a review on it after I test it on the road, but in short, it is by far the most powerful computer I have ever owned.

1) Feb 1st isn’t really the Anniversary, but so what?

If you have been there since the beginning, or taken some time to look at the archives, you would see that my first post was on Feb 13th, 2013. In short, using Feb 1 really makes the math easier and it’s nice not to have the anniversary right before Valentine’s Day.

29Jan201420Jan2014

The Lost Korean Kingdom: A Visit to Buyeo pt.2

Julio Moreno South Korea Baekje, Buyeo, korea travel, temples in korea 5 Comments

While I meant to talk about our entire trip to Buyeo on the last post, I just went off on a tangent and couldn’t shut up about the Baekje Cultural Complex. Seriously, that place is amazing and was definitely the highlight, but I need to take some blogging lessons or something… Anyways…

What else is there to see in Buyeo? Plenty, and everything is walking distance as the town is so small. Let’s get this list started.

[Information on how to get to Buyeo is at the bottom]

1) Jeongnimsaji Temple

This once important temple happened to be next to our motel so we started here. It contains a 5 story stone pagoda, one of only two remaining from the Baekje Kingdom. It has been very well preserved and restored given it is over a thousand years old. Inside the building in the back (pictured) is one of the oldest known Buddha statues in Korea, too. The temple is not traditional in that it is only for tourism now and no actual monks live here.

The rebuilt temple also has a museum about the spread of Buddhism across the globe from India to Baekje and on to Japan. It also explains the meaning of pagodas and while I might have actually enjoyed it, there are no English translations at all, so let’s hope your Korean is better than mine.

Jeongnimsaji Buyeo 2 — The entrance of the museum.

Miniature in Buyeo — A miniature of the temple.

Map Buyeo — Map of ancient Buyeo. I am such a sucker for maps.

2) Busosanseong Fortress

In two words, utterly disappointing. This was the main thing I was looking forward to and maybe it is my own fault by not knowing that Baekje didn’t make stone walls back then. The fortress is pretty much raised dirt on a hill and without a lot of imagination, it is just a nice walk, not something worth traveling to.

Busosanseong Buyeo — The door looked promising enough.

One interesting part was the Nakwaak Rock ,where legend has it that 3,000 loyal Baekje women jumped to their deaths instead of submitting themselves to the conquering force of the Shilla Kingdom and their Chinese Tang allies. Again, no explanation in English, but the rock itself is well marked.

3) Goransa Temple

There is a tiny little temple at the back of the fortress named Goransa. I know that after a while, all temples start looking, well… kind of the same. When I do find myself in one though, I try to find some artwork as Korean Buddhists tend to be fond of painting their places of worship. Here is what I found:

Paintings Buyeo — This is the above mentioned legend.

4) Gungnamji Pond

After walking through a labyrinth of stones and bridges between the water, you arrive at the center of the main attraction. This pond has a pavilion in the middle in one of the prettiest settings in town. Like anything in Korea, it has a mysterious legend:
The princes of Shilla and the prince of Baekje were in love and met secretly at this pond. They had to keep their love a secret since Shilla was at war with Baekje. There is a tablet in the central pond that tells the whole story (sorry, again only in Korean) but it is a little hazy as to whether there is any truth to it. Nevertheless, I am always a sucker for a romantic story.

To the east of the pond is a little park with a humongous monument commemorating the brave soldiers in the last battle of the Baekje Kingdom. Outnumbered 10:1, they didn’t stand a chance.

5) Buyeo National Museum (Sabi Maru)

While the museum is largely under construction (until August 2014), it is still worth a look. It has a bunch of artifacts, but none as important as the Baekje incense burner. Despite being beautiful and quite a large artifact, it also has great archaeological significance. Unfortunately… when I visited, it was on loan to the National Museum in Seoul so I don’t have a picture of it, but here, I googled it for you.

How to get to Buyeo

(Nambu Bus Terminal -> Buyeo Bus Terminal)

There is no train that goes to Buyeo. We took a 2 hour express bus from Nambu Bus Terminal in southern Seoul. Buses leave every 20 minutes, with some direct (2 hours) and others taking the scenic route (3.5 hours). Given how Buyeo is considered an important historical city, no one seemed to have arrived with us for the sights and the bus station was incredibly small.

There are no guesthouses, but plenty of motels around which can be seen from the station. Everything except for the Cultural Complex is walking distance from each other.

If you have any more questions, leave them in the comments!

28Jan201423Jan2014

UNESCO Monday #17: The Forgotten Kingdom of Ryukyu

Julio Moreno Japan, UNESCO Picture of the Week japan travel, okinawa, ryukyu, shuri 1 Comment

This is the Shuri Castle in Okinawa, Japan. The original was destroyed during World War II and this one is only about two decades old. What makes it a marvelous World Heritage Site is its significance as it is the home of the ancient Okinawan Ryukyu Federation. While we tend to think of Japan as always being homogenous, this island was not only once independent, but a key naval power that spread across the seas in eastern Asia during the 15th-19th centuries.

During the early part of the 1400s, what is now Korea, Japan, and China actually consisted of 2 more powers: Ryukyu and the Manchu (present day Manchuria, China). Ryukyu was independent for a while and traded with its four neighbors. It was later secretly annexed by Japan and used as a pawn to facilitate trade with China. Much like Hawaii in the United States, Okinawa has its own culture and language (1 million speakers) which is completely independent of Japan.

24Jan201417Jan2014

Rebuilding a Capital – Baekje Cultural Complex in Buyeo

Julio Moreno South Korea Baekje Cultural Complex, King Onjo 8 Comments

Sometimes, I really wish we (meaning me, and me alone) had a time machine. Although we still have some pretty amazing places around the world, for every surviving monument, a hundred have been destroyed by war, burned by fire, and simply weathered away with time (source: guess-work using the proven ‘it sounds about right’ method). What would you do if your once proud civilization had it’s glorious capital destroyed. If you are Korean, you rebuild it.

Baekje Reborn

This last weekend, I finally made it out to Buyeo, the former capital of Baekje. After visiting the National Museum of Korea in Seoul last year, I gained an interest in Korean historical kingdoms, so this visit was a long time coming.

Baekje was one of the three kingdoms that ruled Korea from 18 B.C.E.- 668 C.E. (C.E. is the non-religious way of saying A.D. just in case you’re wondering). Following its demise, the capital city which also goes by the name of Sabi was wiped out from the face of the earth and reduced to a hand full of historical documents (read: footnotes) and ancient poems of later kingdoms. In 1993, following further archaeological discoveries (a fancy way of saying they were randomly digging in the dirt and got lucky) in the region, the Korean government made a plan of massive proportions (read: $$$). With a budget of 690 million dollars, they planned to rebuild Sabi / Buyeo on the outskirts of where it used to stand 1500 years ago. Straight up dope… I can’t put that any more eloquently, sorry.

The Baekje Cultural Complex (Baekje Cultural Land)

At first glance (read: after coming across it on the pamphlet at the Buyeo bus station), this totally sounds like a cheesy theme park and I almost passed it up because of that. With a huge Lotte Hotel near by, I thought it would be another one of those overcrowded and underwhelming ‘things to see’ that the Korean government tries to shove down visitors’ throats which end up being much blander than advertised (if I am ever considered for a job there, I hope they don’t read this line). I was wrong.

I can’t really think of the words to describe how awesome this place is, so instead, here is a picture walk through what I feel, is a top 10 thing to see in Korea.

1) Jeongyangmun

Esentially, the front door.

2) Sabigung

The Royal Palace

Here is the main hall…

Cool looking corridor. On the walls are pictures of the excavation history of Buyeo over the last 3 decades.

I’m always impressed by the detail in Korean buildings.

Dragon patterned tiles…

3) Neungsa Temple

Possibly the most bad-ass wooden pagoda ever. Neungsa is thought to be one of the most important temples of the time. At its height, Baekje actually introduced Buddhism to Japan.

Here is another view…

4) Royal Tomb Park

Given that the actual tombs still exist and are within the same city, you could just visit the real ones… but it is a nice inclusion nonetheless.

They really just look like lumps. Nowhere near as complex and beautiful as the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

5) Living Cultural Village

You should really click on the picture to enlarge. Quite incredible.

If you look closely, no cement is used on the walls. The stones are mearly stacked nicely. In some of the more rural places like Sado, they really look like this.

6) Wiryeseong Castle

This is the first palace of King Onjo, founder of Baekje in 18 B.C.E.

He built a pretty sweet wall with a moat!

Their fortress was made of dirt, but hey, it was 2000 years ago.

Inside the Wiryeseong Castle

In front of the throne is this ‘punishment table.’

7) Baekje Historical Museum

It has the history of how they built the complex as well as a bunch of Baekje stuff. Unfortunately, it was closing when we got there so we only skimmed it.

It was some pretty nice miniatures!

8) Not Done Yet

In the true spirit of Korea, they decided to open the complex years before it was fully finished. There is still quite a bit of construction, but not enough to cause an annoyance. It looks like they are planning on putting some guards in and making it even better.

690 million dollars is a huge investment, but personally, I don’t think you can put a price tag on culture. The Baekje Cultural Complex is worth every penny. Check it out if you come to South Korea.