By Breda Nathan
I’ve spent the last six weeks travelling across the Asian Continent without leaving my armchair.
As someone who always loved exploring foreign countries and has wonderful memories of these places it is so meaningful.
I am so lucky to have Marc, my grandnephew following in my footsteps and better still… keeping me informed with amazing emails, pictures and videos regularly.
The names of the Cathedrals and palaces are hard to pronounce, you would have to whistle some of them, but today’s phones and cameras are just perfect.
This morning, I was viewing Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung palace, and the secret garden behind the latter, called the Huwon.
I specially loved the sights of Seoul Marc was saying the people were so friendly and the food was perfect.
That’s true, the people were welcoming to us in all the great places we made it to.
I was not so lucky with the food, being picky, and to this day, I can’t eat any foreign tasting sauces.
I always carried a few packets of Jacobs custard creams and a bag of Lyons tea bags.
The picture of the ‘dumplings’ Marc was enjoying would not have encouraged me.
Still I remember writing in my diary, ‘My Soul In Seoul’. It was the Summer Olympics I’m sure.
There is a slight difference travelling in today’s world. We had to plan our next stop on overnight trains and use them as bed and breakfast stops.
Marc can casually say I am leaving Hanoi, Vietnam tonight and flying into Seoul.
The world was indeed a bigger place when you had a school atlas, no smart phone and very little money.
There is still nothing I would change about those wonderful years.
It probably took us five years of stop start trips around the Asian continent to see what Marc has managed in six weeks.
The pictures of Monasteries and Palaces are really great too.
He is so good at describing things and his words and writing descriptions are absolutely wonderful.
He wrote about the weather describing it as being in a permanent sauna.
I wish my brain was working better, but I did manage to recall the feeling of being in a sauna and thinking I could step out.
I remember the heat was overpowering but when you’re young and strong nothing is a problem.
The young people in the streets were friendly and interested in where we came from.
Most of them never heard of Ireland and were amused and giggled at our old green passports.
In broken bits of English but more acrobatic pointing and hand gestures, they tried to help us. Our fear of the monster spiders made them laugh and tasting my biscuits was special for a few… I had to manage them, so couldn’t share many.
They directed us to the Taipei 101, we thought Nelson’s Pillar was the highest building in the world before we started travelling, but Marc reminded me of that day when he described his experience.
“Perhaps the best thing I’ve seen so far is Taipei 101, a 101 story skyscraper and the former tallest building in the world.
“I was able to enjoy some stunning sunset views of the city and the surrounding mountains.
“The National Palace Museum was also spectacular.
“The beautiful artifacts on display are actually all from China, but they were brought to Taiwan a number of decades ago to protect them during a tumultuous time in China, and have remained here ever since.”
He can take you back half a century in a few sentences.
He sent me a postcard today with a picture of a giant spider. I vividly remember one of my friends being petrified with fear of them and carrying a toothbrush to protect her feet. They were enormous.
My only fear was when we arrived in Hong Kong and there was an earthquake in what was then Peking, which was many miles away, but felt like it was downstairs in the guest house.
Oh the memories… Too much for my old brain to describe, but thank you Marc for bringing me back to such amazing times.