My life in pictures (well, not my WHOLE life)

It's been a while since there's been any color in this blog, so it's time to catch up. After coming back from vacation, I purchased a new camera in Seoul. That day I took a long walk down the Han River with my homie Gina and messed around with my new toy (the camera). I'm kind of worded out from the novel I wrote about the last three days of my last vacation, so I'll spare everyone the heavy reading and let you enjoy the pictures. To your left is a shot of some dragon sculpture thing in Seoul. I dunno.

Next we have a nice sepia shot of the Han River. The lighting for this picture and the positive-negative ratio worked out perfectly. At least that's what a friend who knows an iota about photography told me. It happened in this instance purely by accident. It did work out pretty well.

This is yours truly standing on some overwalk near Itaewon in Seoul. The strap you see on my shoulder is connected to the accessory bag I purchased to keep my camera in. Some want to call it a "man purse", but I prefer the term "bum sack". That term came courtesy of my Australian buddy Sacha.

Next we get to the really important stuff--the soccer picture. I began playing with the Uzbekistan team in Seoul a few weeks back, and have really enjoyed the international league. On this occasion, we beat the German side 4-3, with the deciding goal fortuitously bouncing off my head and somehow landing in the goal. The guys are really friendly and I'm enjoying the league very much. I forgot how much I enjoyed actually being able to talk to my teammates and opponents and be understood.

Last, but not least, I told the three most beautiful women in Korea I'd post their pictures. If you've been following, you should recognize the woman in the black and white picture as Pamela. Pam is Chilean by way of Canada. I often call her a hybrid. She is a lovely poser for pictures, as you all know, but this time I caught her in a natural state. The two women in the other picture are Shannon from New Zealand, and Gina from Milwaukee. Shannon liked this picture very much so I promised her I'd post it. These two are always a pleasure to be around. I ate Egyptian food with them last night and had the best hummus ever.







On a final note, I have to sheepishly acknowledge the butchering of a certain insect's name in the last installment. I have never actually spelled the word "cicada" before, so how was I to know? I'm not one to normally misspell words, so I have to admit my wrongdoing and rectify the mistake. Without further to do: A cicada is any of several insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent, well-veined wings. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are one of the most widely recognized of all insects, largely due to their large size and remarkable (and often inescapable) acoustic talents. Cicadas are sometimes called "locusts", although they are unrelated to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper. Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs. Thanks, wikapedia!

Every vacation must come to an end

Finally, the time has come to conclude my vacation. I've dragged it on as long as I could, but it's time to write the last photoless entry. This installment will explain why the last entries have been photoless. This last day is particularly painful to recollect, as it only reminds me of all the pictures I lost. However, the silver lining in the cloud is the fact that the incident forced my hand to buy a new camera which I'm extremely happy with. Look forward to seeing some nice pics in the next installment. For now...

Thursday morning arrived after a painful (because of a little too much sun), yet fulfilling sleep in the comfortable hotel room. I had decided to travel to Jinju, which leads me to digress. On the train to Busan, Gina read many tidbits from her Lonely Planet Korea guidebook. I had expressed my belief that I was not a guidebook person. I felt that guidebooks robbed vacations of spontaneity and adventure, the kind I had experienced on my last vacation. However, when my plan changed in Busan and I decided to go to an unknown place, I decided I needed a map. Gina's guidebook had a very nice map, so she was kind enough to let me borrow it for the week. I can't stress how handy this book ended up being. I was able to locate interesting sites I wouldn't have known about and also knew exactly how to get there. I looked at the different cities available at the bus terminal at Okpo and settled on Jinju.

Jinju is a quiet, clean city built around a river. The cities lone claim to fame is the Jinjuseong fortress. Jinju was a good option for me in that I could take a bus from there to my desired Thursday evening destination, Haeinsa (more on that later). I arrived in Jinju around 11am, and purchased a ticket to Haeinsa. The bus didn't leave until 5:50, so I had plenty of time to check out Jinju and it's reknowned fortress. "Local street signs call it a castle, but it's actually a well-preserved fortress built during the Goryeo dynasty that was partially destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592. It was here that one of the major battles of the campaign was fought, in which 70,000 Koreans lost their lives. Inside the fortress walls, traditional gates, shrines, and temples dot the grassy knolls of this heavily wooded oval park." (Lonely Planet p. 224) See what I mean about the guidebook? I promptly purchased one after returning home.

It's hard to believe their was such a bloody battle on this site. It was one of the most serene places I had been to in Korea. The gardens were beautifully manicured and there were trees everywhere. I can't say how nice it is to hear the buzz of secadas after living in the dirty concrete labyrinth that is Suwon. I walked around this fortress for over two hours, basking in the gentle garden breeze. The shrines were pristine, and showed a pride and respect for the bold men who lost their lives fighting for their nation's independence. There were numerous pagodas and small villages which were beautifully restored and stunning to the eye. I captured so many pictures, and accidentally released them into the wild. I ate a tasty lunch at a restaurant in this fortress, once again conjuring my Korean reading skill to order something I eat five times a week: Bi bim bap. Bi bim bap is a dish consisting of fresh vegetables, rice, a sunny-side-up egg, chili paste, and rice. It's a tasty nutritious meal that is consistently good nearly wherever I order it.

After traversing the fortress, I still had a couple of hours to kill. I took this time to roam around the small downtown area, in search of a clean shirt. I have to say that I hadn't done laundry, and was beginning to smell at this point. I came across an E-Mart, and bought a couple of shirts for a bargain. After that came the time to find a place to shower and put on clean threads. So I wandered around in search of a sauna, and knew what Korean word to look for. After walking many blocks, I finally found one with just over an hour to kill. The sauna provided me with a shower, hot tub, and steam room. I emerged one hour later feeling like a new man ready to take the next leg of my trip.

I had chosen to go to Haeinsa for the following reason: "As well as being one of Korea's most significant temples, Haeinsa is also one of the most beautiful. Part of its beauty lies in the natural setting of mixed deciduous and coniferous forest. It's a romantic's paradise in wet weather, when wisps of cloud drift at various levels through the forest." (LP p. 174) Again, Lonely Planet... What would I have done without it? I arrived in Haeinsa after dark, and was intent on visiting the temple early the next morning.

That evening I discovered an atmosphere more calming and bucolic than anything I had seen in previous days. The village where I stayed was a dark and quiet place in the mountains built along a rustling brook. I booked a twenty dollar room in a beautifully quaint hotel situated along the river. I put my things in my room and promptly left to explore the small area. The smell was fresh and clean, and the village was pristinely clean. I walked for a couple of miles down a sidewalk along the said rustling brook. I mentioned the sign in Hakpo boasting one of the 100 most beautiful sounds in Korea, but it didn't hold a candle to the sound of this stream rapidly rushing over large stones. I was at total peace walking along this dark sidewalk, breathing the fresh air and basking in the wonderfully soothing sounds. After getting to a place away from any artificial lights, I looked up at the sky and was floored.

I've become so accustomed to living in cities where the sky is blurred by the intense light from the urban jungle. In this place, however, there was absolutely no obscurity to the starry night whatsoever. I could see every star in the sky, and the white smear that is the milky way. It had been many years since I saw the night sky this vividly. I laid on the ground gaping at the incredible wonder of a clear night sky. I thought of all the things man has invented, and of all the artists, and movies, and contraptions, and such forth. And I thought of how none of these man-made conceptions could ever in a million years hold a candle to what I was seeing at that moment.

After a long, contemplative gaze at the sky, I headed back down the stream toward the hotel. I was completely at peace at this point and was ready to turn in to wake up early the next day. My hotel room's window was about 15 meters from the brook, and there was a gentle breeze flowing through the screen window. The television in the room was never turned on, as I laid on the bed and relished the sedating noise of the brook. Needless to say, I slept like a baby that evening.

The next morning I woke up early and packed my things to go to the temple. The first thing I wanted to do that day was to take pictures of the town, the mountains, and the brook. So the first thing I reached for in my bag was my camera, and everyone by now knows what the result was. The temple never materialized as I spent the morning futilly searching for my camera. It was never to be found. I believe I left in on a bus when I was rushedly transferred to another bus after being woke up. This knowledge did me no good, as I had a Korean call the bus terminals and they said they had nothing. Frustrated, I decided to pack it up and head back to Suwon. I took a bus to Daegu and then transferred to a bus to Suwon. I returned home around 6:00 that evening. One weekend soon, I plan to return to Haeinsa and visit the temple. This time around, I'll have pictures to show.

Two weeks later and wednesday's here

Time again to reach deep down and grasp the creative energies needed to create a post without pictures. I recently solved my camera dilemma, so expect the post-vacation entries to be chalk full of crisp, clean images. First, however, I must finish my vacation. On this particular wednesday, I was in no hurry whatsoever to finish.

I woke up early after sleeping on a bed of rocks with the consolation for the wretched night of attempted rest being a pebble beach in my backyard. Although it was early, the day had already shown itself to be hot and sunny. There were few people up and around when I rented an umbrella, a mat, and a tube. I set my space up and walked back up to the main strip in search for coffee. When there's no Starbucks around, finding a decent cup of joe in Korea can be next to impossible. This morning, a morning where I especially wanted a nice hot cup o' bucks, I had to settle for instant swill from the nearby convenience store. I drank coffee not for enjoyment, but rather to prevent the imminent headache that comes when I forego the morning cup.

I choked down the wretched quasi-coffee after sitting down on my beach mat. The atmosphere was still quite calm and quiet, so I picked up "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Since the first time I went to Daecheon, when it was so chaotic, I had a burning desire to sit at a quiet beach by myself and read a good book. Now, the dream would become a reality. Sitting comfortably in front of the sea, I read the first four chapters while listening to the now familiar sound of waves rushing into pebbles. While reading this masterpiece I came to two realizations: 1. "Gatsby" was re-affirming Fitzgerald as my favorite author more with each chapter. 2. Scott had more talent in his left pinky than I have in my entire medula oblongata. He also had a more acute proclivity for comparisons.

With four chapters down, the sun was beginning to beat down. A summer sweat took hold of my skin, and I decided to press on for two more chapters and jump into the sea. The water was cool and refreshing, as I took a long swim. After swimming, I realized I was getting hungry. The clock was pressing 11, so I made a plan to read a couple more chapters while drying in the sun and then get lunch.

It was just before 11:30 when I temporarily abandoned Jay Gatsby to sate my hunger. Walking down the main strip, I looked at the Korean menus printed on signs or on the restaurant windows in search of dwen jang jiggae. Dwen jang has become one of my favorite foods, and has been mentioned before on this blog. It is a spicy soup made from fermented soy with tofu, vegetable, and a hint of seafood (usually small clams). While it sounds (and often smells) funky, it's quite delicious. The jiggae I had this day was no exception, although I didn't eat the mussels. I'm not such a fan of mussels, as I find them to have a dirty taste. As I ate, I thought about where I would stay that evening, and decided to call Mr. Ju after lunch.

After lunch, I walked back down the strip toward my umbrella and came across an unusual sign. The picture I took of this sign might be the one I miss the most. It said that waves of Hakpo Beach had been selected by a committee as being one of the 100 most beautiful sounds in Korea. I laughed wondering exactly who was on the committee and what their credentials were. I also found it funny that a place would take so much pride in cracking the top 100 sounds in a country the size of Minnesota. I wonder if the jackass with the loud speaker selling fruit outside my apartment every morning made the list?

I talked to Mr. Ju on the phone and agreed to meet at his restaurant early evening. This gave me a few more hours to enjoy the beach and finish the book. The rest of the afternoon I did just that. I alternated between swimming, floating on a tube, and reading on the beach. I was also able to salvage some time to watch the Koreans act like Koreans. There was a large group of older Koreans standing ankle deep in the water, fully clothed with hats and umbrellas. The ladies were singing, dancing, and whooping it up. I took some funny pictures, but... yeah, you know. The tide came in later that afternoon and I giggled as I watched the Koreans screaming and laughing as the monster two-and-one-half foot waves broke 10 feet off the shore. I finished Gatsby around 3, and decided to take one more dip. I swam just long enough to cool off, and warm up the ocean if you get my drift. I turned in my tube and mat, and walked back to the tent. After packing up the tent, I got into a taxi bound for Okpo.

I arrived at The London Pub around 5:00, and was anxious to get a shower. I told Mr. Ju that I wanted to get a room and come back for dinner. I had taken a couple of looks at the menu and the steaks were looking pretty good. I had never ordered a steak in Korea, so I was looking forward to treating myself. The only other time I had steak here was on New Years Day when my neighbor Charles grilled one for me. The room proved to be more than adequate, so I spent over an hour showering, relaxing, and looking through my pictures (ouch). I went back to the pub around 6:30 and ordered a t-bone. I tried to keep expectations to a minimum, but regardless the steak turned out to be really tasty and satisfying. I finished dinner, thanked Mr. Ju for all his help, and retired to my room. The only other action that evening was a brief walk around Okpo and a visit to a PC room. I was so fried and exhausted from all of the sun and swimming, that it took nothing for me to fall asleep early that night.

A final note on wednesday: If you haven't read "The Great Gatsby", I highly recommend it. It is among the finest mystery novels ever written, and the prose is awe-inspiring.

The keyboard is mightier than the digicam

The last time I went on vacation, my feet were a casualty. This time, my camera was. Yes, I lost my camera on the very last day of vacation, so I can only rely on my feeble words for the rest of the week. The pictures from Busan came courtesy of Gina, so I have nothing to show for the time after I left her and Jason. Oh well, here we go...

The last time I wrote, I mentioned that I had wavered on the idea of Japan, and it came to full fruition the following day. I decided that I was having a good time in southern South Korea, so I opted to tour a few cities. The first stop would be Geongedo, an island just south of Busan. After a somewhat uneventful day in Busan, I said goodbye to my friends and took the 3:00 ferry to the island. I slept the entire ferry ride, and woke up at Okpo.

Okpo is the island's second largest port, and the third largest shipyard in Korea. When I groggily stepped off the ferry, I had the sudden realization that I knew nothing about the island and that I might have a harder time than normal encountering English speakers. I noticed a restaurant on the port called "London Pub", and thought that I might be able to find some direction at this place. Walking to the pub, I was hoping I could have a cold one and talk to someone about the island and where to go--It was obvious there was little to do in Okpo.

I walked into the pub and was greeted with a warm "hello" from the hostess, which was a good sign (no "an yang hah se yo"). I sat down at a table and ordered a Becks Dark, and was greeted by the manager before the beer arrived. He was warm and friendly, and asked where I was from and where I was going. I told him about Busan and that a Korean friend (Jason) recommended this island. I also told him I had no idea where to go or how to get there. He responded by getting a map and sitting down with me and telling me all about the island, and how to get where I was going. I found out that the island is spread out, and transportation is uncharacteristicly (for Korea) inconvenient.

The Korean gentleman offered to give me a ride to wherever I needed to go, as he was on his break before dinner. He said he would take me down the coast to the nicer beaches, and I happily accepted. As he gave me a tour of the island, we chatted about traveling and my time in Korea. He introduced himself as Mr. Ju. Mr. Ju expressed a fondness for travelers and adventure. He said: "I like the traveling man... he is open minded person." We toured a good half hour down the coast, until we came to a lovely pebble beach, by the name of Hakpo. I wanted to stay here, so he dropped me off. He told me to call him during his break that week if I needed anything, and that he would arrange lodging if I wanted to go back to Okpo. I thanked him, shook his hand, and we parted ways.

I had been lugging a tent around all week, so I decided it was time to put it to use. I pitched and was set up on the beach by 5:00, so I decided to take a dip. This beach was a drastically different scene than Haendai. For one, there was no sand, and the water was very clean. The bigger difference was the fact that hardly anyone (for Korea) was here, and it was very quiet. I took a pleasant swim for an hour, and then changed in the tent to get something to eat. I had no idea where to go, so I walked down the main strip, which was small and quiet. I ended up taking an extended walk when I discovered a nice walkway through the trees down the coast. This was a lit, wooden, railed path that proved to be a serene jaunt.

After walking back, I was really hungry. So I stopped at the first Hof I saw to grab a brewski and a bite. When I looked at the menu, I saw a list of dishes written in Hangul, with no pictures or English translations. I had learned to read Hangul some time ago, but had never really had to rely on it. This week that would change. I can happily say that I was able to decipher the menu, and had a pleasant dinner of kimchi bokum bap (kimchi fried rice--a safe bet).

After dinner, it was dark outside. On the way to the tent, I picked up a beer and some roman candles and figured I'd spend the evening listening to the ocean. After lighting the roman candles, which had 50 shots a piece, I walked back down the path I took earlier to a quieter spot. I should say this about Hakpo Beach: There may not be a finer collection of skipping stones on the planet and the water is reasonably calm. I sat on a rock overlooking the sea and savored the tranquil noise of the small waves gently lifting the pebbles up and carrying them back down the edge of the water. I enjoyed the rare sight of a horizon and a clear dark sky. I also threw about two hundred beautiful, flat, round stones into the sea, with about a thousand collective skips. This night quietly approached the serenity and beauty that I had only seen in Thailand.

Unfortunately, the rocks don't make for such a comfortable bed. I did have a small mat down in the tent, but didn't have the most comfortable sleep. Fortunately, I thought it might be uncomfortable, so I drank a bunch of beer before crashing. I was able to salvage some sleep that evening, but didn't really care knowing that I would spend the next day on a lovely beach.