Well, it as been a while since I have posted something, so get ready for a bunch of pictures. I will keep the captions brief and to the point since there are quite a few photo's....So here we go....

Here is some nice bicycle art on a bridge that I ride under to get to some of the sweet single track. I ride under this often and it makes me speed up my pace since the riders on the bridge are flying and so aero looking.

Some beautiful mountain flowers randomly next to the trail.

At the view point hanging out taking a quick rest. Good place to stop. My sweet hard of a tail ride below.....keeping it real!

Cool little cafe/restaurant....the wine bottles caught my eye on the steps. Must have been a big night of wining and dining :) This is at the end of what I call the "Cafe 32 Loop" It's about a 50min. 8-mile mtb ride. Short and sweet. It starts off with a nice bike path warm up, then a brutal single track climb up to a fast rolling ridge line, then a fun technical descent where I hear ooh's and ahh's from the Korean hikers. I clean most of the downhill, but every now and then may have to put a foot down or take a tumble. I'll have to stop in for an espresso one morning after the ride so the ride will live up to it's name.

A night walking around a performing arts center near the Seoul Nat. Univ. of Education. Cool fountain that has a light and water show to the sounds of classical music. I'll have to come back and check out the Seoul Symphony, since I've enjoyed the Denver Symphony. Nice area with sculptures, persimmon trees, flowers and a few fancy looking cafes.

My trip to the Seoul Immigration Office. I am now teaching legally in Korea. I officially have my Certificate of Alien Registration. The trip to Japan was just a piece of the puzzle. Now I am good to go for the year. Bring it on!
The multi-sport path near my place and along the Tan Chan river. Nice to have close by....

You'll see all kinds of people having fun. Check out this guy and what he is riding....

At last, I make it to the climbing wall. As stated before I saw a nice outdoor climbing wall. One morning before work I put my rock shoes in my camelbak and hopped on the bike and had my first bouldering experience in Korea. My arms were pumped with in minutes. It's about 15 minutes away from my place.
Really cool features, looking forward to hanging out there. There is a coffee shop near by, so I can get jacked up and climb around like a monkey....

Making some moves.....

Another Korean Holiday today.....Korean foundation day! Day off of work, although I am walking to work to meet my c0-workers for a mountain hike and a picnic.

OK...I had to get this shot. Anyone up for some pork..here's a truck load for you....notice the man holding the meat hook....Cool!

Toss one on the back and take into the local market to be chopped up.....I think that is one side of a whole pig.....

Heading to the Chunggye Mountain for the hike...Korea's take on The North Face....The Red Face....have to get a t-shirt before heading home.....

Outdoor farmers market....
Korean stirring up some rice porridge. Feed the mountaineers....

What...we are going there! Just to the right of my hand....Are you sure? Only about 1200' of elevation. Not bad at all!

My co-workers. Everybody is really nice. Good group of peeps. Say Kimchi!

Walking up the trail.....really crowded but a beautiful area. I read after a Korean summits Mt. Everest, hiking and mountaineering took off in Korea. Which is great! Keeps them healthy....EXERCISE....I think Americans need more of that! Get off the couch....drop the bag of chips and turn the boob tube off and the video games and check out the nature that surrounds you!!! LIVE LIFE......Sorry to go off a bit...but the Obesity rate is getting out of hand!!!


Getting the kiddos started out at a young age...walking sticks and all....

Made it to the Top.....Yahoo!
"Nuns on the Run" hence the blurred photo......they are quick...


This is interesting. I have not seen this before. High pressured air guns used to blow the dirt off your shoes....hmmm.......
Ahhh....lunch (picnic), time to eat some Korean cuisine....

This is a traditional meal called "PiPimPap"...or you will see in the states at Korean Restaurants "BiBimBap" Check it out, Tasty dish consisting of rice, vegetables, egg, and some red pepper paste, a small drizzle of sesame oil, mix it all up and enjoy. This was one of the many dishes we ate. My friend Vanessa and I went to Seoul Food of Korea in Denver before the journey. Great Korean restaurant in Denver.....Korean owned....Look it up for you Denver/Boulder folks.


More vats of Soup and Porridge.

This is an egg dish....maybe like a frittata or a large omelet. It consisted of green onions and squid. very tasty, also another favorite. Koreans are big on the squid....That's one big spatula.

I see a KAYAK...Do you see the kayak in the background? Getting excited.....!

Another pic of the outdoor farmers market.....Nomu pissayo! Harinhae Chushigessumnikka?
means.....That price is to high! Can you give me a discount?

Had to buy some pumpkin like taffy from this farmer. And the end of a nice time hanging out with the co-workers....


Views of where I live from the mountain bike trails....
Those specs in the sky are 4 helicopters....I see many fighter jets cruising around...kinda cool. Yesterday they must have been putting on a show....there were about 15 of them and 4 would fly by streaming yellow, purple and green colors behind them....
I think they may consist of U.S., South Korean and North Korean fighter jets, but not sure..I'll have to check into this at some point.

I live somewhere near the right group of high-rises...

This is on the long 100km MTB ride. All-in-all a good ride. Lots of road and not much single track but I managed to see more of the country side.... Mirrored image of me wearing the colors....this goes out to the SG Militia...or what remains of the SG Militia.....

On the ride...we were lost for a bit, so hanging out....there were about 12 of us.....from the local Bike Shop. "SAY mtb"

Time for lunch....A historic restaurant that dates back over a 100 years. Travelers used to stop here on there journeys to rest, feed there horses and themselves.

Hello....myself and Shin, one of the guys from the shop.

Ahh...tasty food. Lots of little side dishes...with a plate of BBQ pork. And a bowl of soup....

Mountain bike parking.......

View from up in the mountains looking down on Seoul. On the way to this point we did ride up this steep twisting gorge that has the potential of some serious steep creekin' (kayaking) I was not able to check it out, but hopefully will at some point....

Seoul Olympics Sign...the other night in Seoul trying to get to the firework competition between Korea, America, and China....we did not make it, but it was worth the try....I heard last year the Chinese put a firework in the sky that looked like a Dragon!

Off to the wine and cheese party.....the ladies having some fun.....

I am enjoying a glass of wine and some hors de vors.....Nice group of Foreigners....

Everybody mingling in the Kitchen.....A cool studio/loft apartment in an Officetel....one of the large high rise buildings.....

We did manage to drink a few bottles of wine.....this was last Saturday night (10/13)


On Sunday a few of us headed up to Seoul to meet up with some other friends and checked out the Russian Community. I like this area....and the food....I'll be back for sure!

Eating some Russian cuisine. Lamb Kabobs, beet salad, pastries filled with lamb, other salads and some really good beer. I didn't know that Russia has good beer, we did not try the vodka, that will be for the next visit. 6 of us were stuffed and happy for $10. Cheap and delicious.

The restaurant.....

Traditional Korean Style Building.....

Nice Detail....
One of the big markets in Seoul called "Nam De Mun", You can find everything and anything...below is a food stand....look closely, snails, squid, kabobs, and other things....

I want to go back and by some dress shirts for $5.

A night shot of Insadong in Seoul.....

This one goes out to all my friends in Colorado....

And this one for all the Radiohead fans....this was posted on the ceiling of the Who music bar....this bar has tons of Vinyl, so you can hang out and have a beer/cocktail and request good music...



That concludes the last ? weeks. Sorry it's been awhile......But ENJOY and come back and visit again!

All the best!!!

Trip to Fukuoka, JAPAN. "Visa Run"

Well on Sept. 27 I headed to Fukuoka, Japan to get my work Visa to be able to spend the year Teaching in Korea. The Korean Consulate reviews my application and then stamps my visa number into my passport. It was a very quick trip. I left my place in Korea at 6am Thurs. and arrived in Japan around 11am, rushed to the Korean Consulate, spent the day and night, picked up my Passport at 9am Fri., then headed to the airport to catch a 12pm (noon) flight back to Korea. Then back to the Academy to teach 2 classes friday evening. Damn....that was quick. Not much time but it was a fun time, indeed.

So to start, I met a few other foreigners on the way for their "visa run" and we arrived at the Korean Consulate at lunch time, so we had to be back at 130pm. We walked around and found a place to eat, nothing to special, but some good fish. The Consulate was near a big baseball stadium. The Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome. Pretty cool place. The roof actually opens up. I even saw a few people camping out for tickets...must be a major team....Ends up it's the home of the "Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks" baseball team.


Cool clock tower and garden area.....


This was up at the Stadium. Cool looking statue.....

In the afternoon I walked around solo and found the beach.....on my way a couple of Rastafarian's hippy dudes were playin' the drums....
Good sounds for a walk by the beach.

A view of the beach, nice and quite, sun beams coming down by the Fukuoka Tower. The tower is the highest seaside tower in Japan....234meters high. I decided I would be a tourist and head that way soon to check out the views from above.


But first, I found a pier to walk out on and take a rest by the water. It was nice and cool by the water, but inland the heat and humidity was pretty bad...instant sweat. I was amazed when I got back to S.Korea how much cooler it was. I am excited for the cooler fall weather. Anyway, walking down the beach, I picked up a few sea shells and enjoyed the lap of the water hitting the beach with the Rasta drums in the background.

A view from the pier, looking back at the Yahoo! Dome and the Jal Mega Hotel. The dome is the first in Japan to have a retractable roof. That's also an impressive slicey looking hotel.

The Fukuoka Tower in the distance.


Here's a self portrait shot from the pier......

Time to jump in and take a dip......just kidding.....

Follow the footsteps to the tower!!!

A view from the base of the tower.....

I made it. Glad I decided to come up here. Sweet view! Someone insisted on taking my photo, in the tower. Now...I am acting like a real tourist....! I guess, sometimes you have to. So I was having fun with it.


Long way up here....


A nice European style Restaurant area....called Marizon.


Chilling on a couch for a bit, I caught a bit of the Sunset.....Well it's getting kinda late and I need to hit the subway and find some food (preferably some Sushi/Sashimi) and a place to stay...so, I'm outta here.....

On the walk back to the subway, noticed this old mini cooper. pretty cool with the British flag in the back seat. I thought of a 007 movie. Although Bond....James...Bond, probably did not drive a mini......

Took the Subway to a major station, asked a few people where a good restaurant is and was able to find this place. Thanks to two Japanese sisters. The place is called "kakomi"



Lots of Saki on the walls.....Steve Sell, this is your kinda place....So I sat here at the bar and I opted for the Asahi beer on tap, which was so tasty and my favorite Japanese brew. None-the-less, I had a hard time leaving. I have really only had Asahi in the bottle and it's similar to a good Guinness on tap.....great head! The head chef did give me a really good Japanese Saki, so at least I tried one....

OK, time to eat...Yahoo! This time not meaning the Dome....he..he...! Check it out Maguro and Salmon sashimi. So delicious.....I think it is some of the best I have had. So fresh!

I did make friends with the head Chef and he styled me with a bunch of free dishes to try. Great guy, we talked about the Denver Rockies (baseball team) and the Avalanche (hockey team). Good times....So pretty much I stayed there for 3 hours or so....ate, drank and felt happy. Below are some Sobe cold noodles. Lots of tasty food....I even had raw octopus and some tie (which is kinda like snapper)....chicken, salads, other fish, dessert, etc...more Asahi....

So, I finally left "kakomi" found a hotel and crashed out. Did not sleep to well, but OK, You can always sleep. Right! So, below is the next day...I headed to a fish market but could not get in to take some photos, so I headed back to the Korean Consulate area......

I ended up eating at the Jal Hotel (mega slicey hotel near the Yahoo! Dome). They were having an all-you-can-eat buffet...I found my place....time to eat. So it was kinda expensive, around 2310 Yen which is around 20$USD. But it was worth it. Lots of good interesting food.




This is a shot looking in. Cool building.

Nice flower I noticed while I was walking around. Thinking back to eating, I think I spent almost 2 hours at the Breakfast Buffet...so it was worth 2310 Yen.

This was kinda cool.....molded brass hands of famous people that have visited the Yahoo! Dome.
The middle blue one is Michael Jackson..I remember one of my first cassette tapes was Thriller..I did take his glove off for the shot. :)



Was able to shake Frank Sinatra's hand in JAPAN!

Looking down at the row of hands....running down the line giving high-5's was fun! This time no one wanted to take my photo. hmmmmm.......


Time to pick up my passport and race to the airport.....I was pretty sure it would be complete and at 9am it was ready....OK, time to bee-line it back to the Airport for a 12pm flight.



Some posters of South Korea in front of the Consulate on Display.....lower right one is of Thai-Chi, very popular sport in S.Korea. I thought for a second, maybe while I am in Korea I should take up Thai-Chi......really, only for a moment, we'll see! So much to do!



This was interesting...some Ginseng in bottles, different roots, bark, mushrooms, etc. Kind of Eastern Herbal Medicine shop, if only I had a bit more time to check it out....

In the Subway area.....getting close. Like the Koreans, they like their Soccer. This was down at the subway line...


Japanese flag flyin' in the wind....what a beautiful day.


Well...I made it to the airport with plenty of time to relax before the flight....after a 20-30minute walk, subway and a bus ride, it's time to head back to Korea......flying Asiana Air, highly recommended, one of the better airlines out there.



Sayonara for now.....until next time....hope you enjoyed the "visa run" to JAPAN!