Fall 2009 in South Korea...

Well....it's been awhile since the last posting. Hope you are all well and enjoying the fall. It's almost winter :) We had our first light snow this past Thursday... 11/20. It was nice to see, and brought thoughts of skiing. Unfortunately, I won't be able to ski much, if any this winter. The MTB will have to do...on the snowy single~track.
Below are a bunch of random photo's with no particular order...
I've started my second year in SK and 9 months left on this contract. Times sure flies, can't believe it is almost 2009.
Enjoy the photo's....



A few supplies that I brought back from Colorado...



New concept?!? and it's not even raining...i guess even the men worry about there skin...



Night performance in Bundang....IL Corso...pretty cool.....here's some info for ya...

IL CORSO is a major open air theatre spectacle. 25 actors, acrobats and musicians release a fireworks display of great images charged with emotion, and connect these images with actions right in the middle of the audience. The entire venue is transformed into a stage, with the individual spectators continually changing their positions as they are caught up in the movement, and thus become part of the performance, which ends in a fulminating finale.

The plot tells of a person on a quest for satisfaction and happiness. The literary basis is a book by Nobel prize winner Pablo Neruda, which he completed shortly before his death. The 74 short poems structured as two-line verse contained in the book raise 316 puzzling questions. Many of Neruda’s questions are just as difficult to answer as the questions children sometimes pose: "Where do shadows disappear to? / And why are leaves green?" These questions often expose the fact that adults cannot explain everything they claim to know. Neruda says: "What we know is so small, and what we assume so great."












The finale...



Interesting to say the least....with the verses of puzzling questions....I wonder how much the Koreans could understand, since it was in English and kinda unusual....



pan of spaghetti....



one of my favorite chocolate bars available at Whole Foods. Damn...I miss WF!



The Spaghetti Westerns were back at the Cinema in Insadong, Seoul. Went to see Once upon a time in the West, and Once upon a time in America. If you haven't seen these...rent them...! Fistful of Dynamite, The Good...The Bad...And The Ugly....to name a few more...



Had to take a pic of this....was walking by an Audi dealer and this orange TT caught my eye...



Near the Audi dealer....a BMW motorcycle shop....this Moto is sweet 4 stroke 450 MotoCross Style....This would be sweet in Colorado...



How about this...McDonald delivery service...One cool thing about living in Korea is there Scooter Delivery service...but McDonald's....I sure hope too many Korean's don't become Obese...Damn FAST FOOD!



Local Food delivery.....



Currently worth about $6.70 USD the exchange rate sucks right now....a year ago it was equal or greater than the dollar...so...$10.00+



Tea treats in Insadong....made with sticky rice...



B&W of ME!



Traditional clothes and drums....



substitute for gatorade....nice post MTB ride drink...



Korean Girl and lunchtime Badminton....



On my walk to work....fall colors....



Gomi and I were walking back to catch the bus home and saw one of many Seoul Fashion Shows....I had my nice Nikon D80, so it was a good opportunity to practice some photography..











We enjoyed the show, and I enjoyed taking photo's of some beautiful Korean Models.....



Traditional Masks....



one of many teas cafe's in Insadong, Seoul



trail mix from E-Mart....



8.9% OETTINGER beer...tasty dark brew



Walk to work...



Yuldong park....



Yuldong Park....



Gomi and a cup of tea....



Tapgol Park, in Seoul...



Korean memorial.....for there resistance to Japanese rule around 1919



Tapgol Park in Seoul. 'Tapgol' means 'pagoda' refers to the 10 tier 12m high stone pagoda in this photo. it was constructed in 1471



Picked up a Mongolia Lonely Planet guide book for future travels....



Starbucks in Insadong.....



Temple Blues....






Oranges for sale....



appetizer of dried calamari (squid) and peanuts....



Old apartment building somewhere in Seoul....



he must of had a rough SOJU night !



Jongno Tower....



Hike at Seoyansan Mountain area...






Buddhist Temple colors...






Traditional Musicians...






Mountain BBQ....



Beautiful Day for a hike...



Man pounding and massaging his head...kinda strange...



Moon, Me, and Kevin....



Ginkgo tree...



baby Buddhas...



Mountain Temple....



Lanterns....



Old Stone wall entrance to a Buddhist Temple....




there was a maple leaf festival going on and you could shoot a bow, so we all gave it a 'shot' and this was my shot....childhood memories in E'ville at home...still have my shot....!



I should have given this girl some lessons... ;)



Beauty....



Mountain map....



General Kevin.....he's ready!



Some men working near my villa. they widened he road and put in a nice and new sidewalk. I think they are trying to increase the neighborhood's value...



environmental friendly cell phone tower....



central park in Bundang...






near central park....walking and bike paths...



butcher shop in Suwon....



Street markets....



Chicken Feet!!






Jeongja...near my neighborhood...



hmmm....



mulberry....(?)



sea creature....some sort of squid...



kimchi vegi's....



liver and pig's head.....interesting Street market in Suwon....



Korean men playing a sunday afternoon card game...



Gomi and Suwon City in the background....



One of the old fortress gates....amongst modern day Suwon...



now that's a MEGA-CHURCH....



The name says it all...



Ajumma's selling vegi's on the street...part of the fortress wall in the background...



Suwon Stream...



Part of the Suwon fortress wall....you can walk the whole wall....about 6km...we were short on time, so just checked out the area...






B&W Fortress gate from below....earlier picture shown above with Gomi..



Grains....I bought some of this....kinda like couscous, quinoa, cornmeal...pretty tasty...



Colorful beans....



good looking mushrooms...



Erin, Gomi and I had a good time walking through the Street Markets...



Makin' a deal....



Hold on tight....



persimmons...






pricey Diner in Jeongja...



this was a $14 dollar burger and i also had a $8 shake...crazy!



Jeongja subway station....



Art Gallery area near Seoul....



Cool view of a palace in Seoul...



Buddhas



Buddhas






Insadong parade...









First K2 outing with Luca at Misari.....The place where they held the water events during the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics....



Eh?



this was when we were finished....we started early morning, it was still dark out...I think it was a Thursday morning......My first time in a K2 this racing boat was super tippy, but Luca and I did a good job at balancing it, and a few braces to avoid a cold swim. Looking forward more K2 workouts....



Korean style waffle....






OK...that's all for now...time to go for a MTB ride!! :)

see you soon!