From Goryeo To The Silla...

If there is one place where I literally have to drag Neeti, it is for a visit to a museum. Being in Seoul, I was actually amazed when Neeti agreed to accompany me to visit the National Museum of Seoul.

Little did we know that the museum was actually in the top 25 most visited museums in the world and I was impressed with what I had achieved. Among these museums, I had already visited the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Louvre in Paris, National Palace Museum of Taipei, Musée d'Orsay in Paris and today it was going to be my fifth!

Carvings from one of the oldest dynasties of Korea - the Goryeo...

Artifacts from the Silla Dynasty...

We loved this Buddha - Amitabha Buddha from the Goryeo Dynasty...

The cute kid poses for a picture...

The vases 

Jade and gold artifacts from the Silla Dynasty...

Neeti was head over heels in love with this design...

Tableware...

Goryeo artifacts...

Pagoda replicas...

Various Buddhas...

Model of a throne...

Kids huddled drawing replicas of artifacts...

The museum is huge and requires a full day to see everything...

The museum shop...

The Ten-Story Pagoda from Gyeongcheonsa Temple...

And that brought to a close our visit to this incredible museum!

New Year's Day With Nature's Creatures...

After a long New Year's party with friends in Songdo and a late lazy morning, we headed out to Seoul for a dose of infectious energy, that Songdo lacks.

Our friends offered to drive us down to Ilsan where they were going to visit an indoor zoo. We tagged along with them.

The place was quite a paradise for kids...

They screamed and squealed seeing these animals...

A small desert fox from the Sahara...

These animals are far away from their natural habitat and are kept away from natural surroundings and sunshine, which was a bit sad...

Bunnies having a meal...

Artificial light be so depressing for these voiceless creatures...

Kids feeding them...

The hare and the tortoise...

Hide and seek?

There I am with my friends!

A giant monitor lizard...

A desert frog...

Ohhh!

Chamaleons!

A tree snake...

The reptile is ogling me...

Fish look so peaceful..,

They look so graceful...

Korean kids having fun!

Birds of a feather flock together!

Neeti is feeding the little birds...

Having zoos are a great idea, but probably it makes sense to design them well. Depriving these animals of natural light and fresh air isn't a great idea afterall.

And with this place ticked off, we now head to Seoul...

Goodbye 2015...

And finally we are here today, the last day of an eventful year, an year called 2015.

As I sit by the window, watching the last sunset of this year on a freezing evening - 5 degrees below zero, flashbacks of the highlights of the year are running on in my mind.

This year had been a landmark year for us marked with major events and most importantly memories that will remain vivid for a lifetime.

The incredible travels that we undertook this year took us far and wide and brought us in touch with exciting new cultures and food that will make our taste buds tingle forever. The incredible people we met in our journeys touched our hearts and our souls in unimaginable ways. Though we are far apart, we do feel a sense of oneness with them.

And then this year, we shifted base and moved out to Korea. Setting up base here was an experience in itself and definitely wasn't easy afterall we were so emotionally connected to our home in Mumbai, a nest that we had built after years of struggle!

The challenges here were significant - new way of life, a new culture, a new language and indeed a lot does get lost in translation. Even though a translation app comes in handy, there are quite a few comical moments that we come across!

And we look forward to a new year, the sun dawning on 2016, a year in which we have a lot to do, so help us God!