It's time for...another random picture show!!!

I haven't done one of these for a while...and since the weather has been rather cold (and this weekend gloomy), I've been doing a bit less travelling and "real" photography than I normally do...I thought I'd share some of the more pedestrian pictures I've been taking along the way.

I apologize for the quality, they were taken with my ancient Samsung flip phone (keepin' it real...2003 real). I really have to remember to take my S100 along more often.

Anyhoo...some of these are funny, others just plain weird...

Let's start with a normal one, then I'll have this blog degenerate from there. Yesterday, I went for the first real ride of the season...in pursuit of a museum or something for my friends and I to visit. I found the Masan museum on top of a big hill:

I didn't go inside (gonna do that with friends)...but get this. The entry fee is 500 won (or roughly 44 cents!!!). For kids it's 200 won (18 cents, give or take). This is one of the things I absolutely LOVE about Korea...most museums, cultural and historical attractions are laughably cheap!

Above the museum (a little hike up the mountain) are the remains of a wall built by Mongolian invaders in the 1200s to defend their fortress. How freaking cool is that? (In this picture the wall is the snaking thing on the left...Dream Bay - around which Changwon, Masan and Jinhae are built - is the body of water...and the island behind the handful of identical high-rise buildings is Dotsom Island; the island with the permanent amusement park on it, and the bright white line stretching from the left edge of the picture to almost the middle of it is the roof of the Masan Fish Market ...an absolutely massive market where you can get anything from live squid to pig heads and candy).

How about this for scary? In Busan...we were walking around when I saw that someone decided that a round manhole cover is the perfect way to seal off a square storm drain...on the bright side, if you're not paying attention you'll merely break your shin instead of falling in...

Onto the plain weird...a "sculpture" made of hot tubs and bathtubs in front of the Masan museum:

Urinal at Yongdusan Park in Busan...

While on the subject of bathrooms...for some reason in Korea they don't believe in giving you any privacy when you go to take a whiz. Apparently a GLASS door is the perfect thing to put on a bathroom. This picture was taken from the entrance to both bathrooms (ie: any woman going to the ladies' room would be greeted with this view):

This is perfectly common, as my good pal Raines demonstrated at a bus station bathroom (my bike is in the background...in the main hallway of the station...clear view of anyone relieving themselves):

This is sad, but ironically funny. Bike theft (and more than that, theft of bike PARTS) is absolutely insane in this country. I've had people try to steal my front wheel (hence why I bought a second bike, something with cheaper parts on it, so I'm not afraid to lock it up outside the grocery store), my friends have had wheels, bikes, seats, etc stolen, I've even read of people having their BRAKE PADS ripped off...I mean...come on.

Anyhoo...while in Busan, I saw this gem...a Titicaca bike, whose slogan (printed on the downtube) is something like "All you need in life are two triangles and two circles". Referring to the no-frills, basic nature of Titicaca bikes. Ironically enough...all that remained of this bike after it had been picked clean by thieves were...two circles (wheels) and two triangles (frame)..if you look closely you'll see that they even took the brake cables...:

While in Busan (renewing my passport...an expensive adventure), I decided to check out the Russian street...where I bought me some Commie chocolate!

Also, in my never-ending quest to try to find the most idiotic parking job (that'll be a whole new blog entry one day) in Korea...I think I found an indisputable front-runner.

This guy in Daegu decided to not only park his car in the middle of a major intersection on the crosswalk..but then he casually took out a newspaper and started reading it like he was on a park bench somewhere...it's just way too awesome for words, to be honest:

While we're talking about cars...at home the flat-deck towtrucks stay put...and the deck tilts to accommodate the car they're about to haul...not here...

Random...eating fried potatoes with chopsticks...never thought it would come to this! But...when in Changwon ;)

Also...English is a huge fad here...and they use it even when they don't have to...or when they do it incorrectly...seen at a furniture shop in Busan:

Good space, good think...bad Engrish.

Okay...almost done...remember the bring pink/purple Nike backpack you thought was so cool in 1994? They're back...

And...last but not least...it's a sad day...I listed my beloved Canon 1D Mark III for sale. *sniff*...it's an amazing camera, but not the camera for me...I'll sure miss it when it's gone, though!

All right...that's it from me...hope you all had a great weekend, and I'll start amassing more tales and pictures of oddities from Kimchiland!!!

Cheers,
T

Hello Haeinsa!

One of the things I like about Korea is the rich history reaching back thousands of years.

Korea's history is full of twists and turns, something I aim to find out more about in my second year in this country. I have tried to go to as many historical places as possible in my first year here, the most impressive being Gyeongju, the country's ancient capital.

Gyeongju is home to roughly 200 royal tombs, several amazing temples (including Bulguksa, the one that houses the pagoda appearing on the 10 won coin), and my personal favourite: 1350-year-old Cheomseongdae, East Asia's oldest surviving astronomical observatory.

My favourite part of Korean history (this is starting to sound like a really bad 5th grade class presentation) is the Silla period, a dynasty that lasted nearly a thousand years, ending just before 1000 A.D. Nearly all of the truly interesting and amazing historical sights in Korea were originally constructed during the Silla dynasty's tenure, one which I think was a period of great cultural leaps forward for Korea.

Unfortunately, due to accidents and repeated invasions from Korea's favouite torch-bearing neighbours to the east (Japan), most of the original structures have been burned to the ground time and again, and very little remains of the original grandeur of the Silla kingdom. However, Koreans have devoted large amounts of money and effort to reconstructing the magnificent structures. Thankfully, stone doesn't burn and many stone pagodas of the period are still intact and admired by thousands every year.

This weekend's trip took me into the beautiful Gaya Mountains ( Gayasan ) to Haeinsa (or Haein-sa, as the suffix "sa" means temple, and not an actual part of the name), perhaps the most famous Buddhist monastery in South Korea. Originally constructed in 802 A.D (that's right...1210 years ago!! For someone who spent much of his life in Canada's west coast, an area where a 90-year-old building is considered to be staggeringly old, this is amazing).

(One of the many amazing "courtyards" in Haeinsa...though the signs did not explicitly say, I believe the stone pagoda and lantern are original, dating back to the 800s!)

Nearly a dozen fires through the ages destroyed the compound's 100 or so buildings time and again, but some of the stone features of the monastery have seen the sun rise and set half a million times. Pretty neat.

The inside of the main temple:

In addition to being an old establishment, Haeinsa also houses Tripitaka Koreana: more than 81,000 hand-carved wooden printing blocks holding Buddhist scriptures, written as a plea to Buddha for protection against the Mongol invaders. The scriptures - one of the most extensive of their kind in the world - took nearly two decades to carve in the 1200s. They were moved to their current location at the end of the 1,300s where they have been stored ever since. They have been preserved in perfect condition, and apparently no animals - including insects - bother making the storage facility their home, even though they're housed in what appears to be a semi-enclosed shed. Despite the storage facilities' modest appearance (sorry, I have no photos, as photography was forbidden and the law strictly enforced by mean-looking old men with loud voices and, I imagine, a basement full of 12-volt car batteries ready to be attached to the nipples of anyone who broke the rule), the buildings seem to be doing the job of protecting the scriptures supremely well. The Koreans tried to build a state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility in the 1970s for the woodblocks, but abandoned it after a few test blocks started decaying almost immediately. And so, whatever ancient wisdom the monks used centuries ago to create the perfect storage rooms for these blocks remains to be the best solution.

Sadly, it was bitterly cold and windy on top of the mountain and my travel companion and I elected to cut the journey short (on the bright side, if the weather forecast is to be believed, it looks like this weekend was winter's last swift kick at the can!). The background (gorgeous mountains, some of which reminded me of the Rockies at home) wasn't as nearly as impressive being covered in grey and brown, leaf-less trees as they will be in the spring and summer. So, I have decided to go back there in the summer, when the backdrop to these magnificent buildings will be lush green forests, creek-beds will be filled with clear, rushing water and not inches of ice, and the weather will be inviting enough to make me want to stay the whole weekend, instead of rush to the nearest shelter out of the unforgiving wind.

One more shot...a panorama of one of the many buildings at Haeinsa:

Musical suggestion of the day: If you like oldschool hip-hop (despite being a fan of harder gangster rap, I do appreciate the older, cleaner form of the music as well), check out Can't Stop Won't Stop's "Up and Away." Pretty cool upbeat track that was just released a few weeks ago, but sounds like something from hip-hop's infancy. Perfect summer cruising tune!

More on Haeinsa in the summer! Cheerio,
T

Dear Korea: Thank you for Busan, the land of skyscrapers and nature sanctuaries.

As you guys know, my all-too-quick trip to Canada ended last week, but my vacation still had a day left after my arrival, so I figured I'd head to Busan on Thursday because it's cheap, easy to get to and you don't have to spend all day on a bus/train, being left with just a couple of hours to wander around before you turn back.

As usual, I tried to go somewhere new and see something I haven't seen before. So, I set course for Eulsuk-do Island. It's in the southern part of Busan, rather far from most attractions, but I figured it would be cool to be on an island and to see a bit of nature.

Unfortunately, not too many birds were stirring and nature was, for all intents and purposes, dead...but it still made for a great walk, and it was nice to be in a big city and yet be far from the noise and hustle and bustle of city life. Plus, the island is smack-dab underneath the path airplanes take to land at Busan International Airport, so I got to see planes up-close and personal every couple of minutes, which was pretty neat.

Sunset at the sanctuary (southern tip of Eulsuk-do)

And a view of the industrial part of Busan from the island:

It was nice to have the island to myself, but I'm really looking forward to going back in a few months when things will be greener and more alive.

And so, I headed back to Busan, intending to go home, but of course Nampo-dong (an awesome little lively district full of camera stores) is on the way, and I got sidetracked.

On my way to catch a subway...

After drooling over some sexy photo gear (finally got to test out a Canon 100mm f2, a lens I ordered the next day!), I had to check out Yongdusan Park, a neato place I've never seen at night...this was also a great place to fall in love with my new camera (a used, chipped, all-around amazing Canon 5D)...This picture was horribly underexposed at ISO 1600 (on purpose, didn't want to blow out the highlights)...and still, it came out great...I've had this camera for a few weeks and am continually impressed by its performance...plus the 16-35 is wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide on it).

After that, I headed home and came into work on Friday...then on Saturday, Dawni, Nick, Sarah and I headed to...you guessed it...Busan!

I wanted to see two things, the Nurimaru APEC House (where the 2005 APEC conference was held) and the Busan Yacht Club...so off I went with my merry band of misfits and headed for Haeundae Beach where there is a beautiful oceanside boardwalk connecting the APEC House with the beach. Sadly, it was a hazy day (thanks to humidity and pollution) and I didn't get any decent exterior shots, but I did get a half-decent interior shot...

After that, we kept heading away from Haeundae Beach along the shore and pretty soon I was greeted with a sight I've been waiting for for nearly a year. I miss clusters of modern skyscrapers and real city skylines. Korean cities tend to be very spread out, with one neighbourhood melting into another and very little personality to separate neighbourhoods in once city from those in a city across the country. Not Busan. Busan is different. In Busan you get to see stuff like this:

The tallest buildings are the Zenith Towers, coming in at a sweet 300 metres (1,000 feet) plus. On the left is Busan's iconic Diamond Bridge...the whole sight was gorgeous. I was in heaven. So, naturally, I wanted to head to the towers.

So we did...and then we sneaked into one of the Zenith Towers, which are still under construction. To our great surprise, the workmen we encountered on the 75th floor (we walked all the way up to the 77th floor, but there were no windows there) seemed to be completely okay with our being there. So, we roamed around the penthouse suite and I snapped a few pictures...let me tell you, dangling my camera out of a window 300 meters above ground was a little nerve-wracking, but well worth it. For points of reference...the rectangular concrete slab/dock you see in the above panorama, you can see in the middle of the picture below. Also, in the picture below, the round building on the right side is the Nurimaru APEC House.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot the other reason I love Busan. The cars!!! You all know how much the boring cars in Korea make me want to slap random small animals some days...well, Busan is the perfect cure for that obsession as well. For example, as we were walking toward ME World (amusement park in Busan, pics later), I heard this sound that was a mix between angels singing and the ground ripping in half to let the Four Riders of the Apocalypse ascend from the fiery depths of Hell. In reality it was the dozen cylinders belonging to the Ferrari 599 coming to us at an ungodly speed roaring at 7,000+ RPM. Before we knew it, the red flash was receding on the other side of the horizon, leaving me with jaw dropped and knees trembling.

In our few hours there we saw an Audi R8 V10 whipping up and down the drag in front of Haeundae, more brand new BMW M3s than I can count, a Porsche Panamera, a Nissan GT-R (R35), and a '96 V6 Mustang rocking a set of rims so ugly I wouldn't put it on my parents' wheelbarrow.

Two more pics...ME World...we could see the ferris wheel from miles away. so we decided to follow it and see where we end up...it was a neat little mini amusement park where we got a churro and Sarah and Nick rode little mechanical animals.

And finally...though I don't drink, I thought this was a neat picture...taken with the 50 1.8 (@ 1.8, of course) in the window of a bar:

That's pretty much it...Busan just doesn't seem to get boring or old or mundane. I've been there more than any other Korean city (other than my own, Changwon, though lately I've been going to Busan more than even into Changwon) and I've yet to get bored of it...in fact, tonight after work I'll be heading to Busan again since it's apparently the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, and they'll have a big bonfire, dancing and other celebrations at Haeundae Beach (and across the country, but I'll take any excuse to hit up Haeundae)...so, hopefully if it's anything spectacular I'll have pics and maybe videos from that!

One more thing: If you haven't heard of the band The Coral, check them out. They kind of remind me of Blur (not the Song 2 phase, but Country House, etc)..good stuff. Dreaming of You has been on repeat on my laptop for weeks.

Y'all take care now!
T