Boryeong Mud Festival

That was a blast. I want to start doing this regularly.

walks like bo diddley and don't need no crutch....

greetings....muddy photos coming soon.......

we separate what can be recycled, and then the elder members of the community haul away their gatherings of a certain item for some change. they do a great job, but how long will this last?

Yongyeonsa

We also went to a temple near my house. It's been recently repainted and looks pretty sharp.

Sky toliet and the Woobang of Tomorrow

So my cousin Martin came in for the weekend from Tokyo. We headed over to Woobang Tower, the highest point and best view in town. Yes that is a person dangling from a cord.

We were held in awe. (L-R, Martin, Jim, Julie)

I was intrigued by the possibilities of the sky toilet.



I got to be part of a Korean art project!

It's a fundamentally good thing to pee from such great heights in foreign countries.

Seoul and the DMZ

Upon arriving in Seoul, I was shocked at how well the traditional and modern architecture blended together. Of course most of my photos were crap and didn't capture it that well....but this statue was pretty sweet.



We started the DMZ tour and one of the first things we saw was a gate in front of a gate in front of a gate in front of a foot bridge to the North. The Southerners hung banners with hopes for peace and reuniting with long lost family members.

But there were also cute little things like this..............

And gift shops........

And an amusement park.........

We finally hopped on another bus and got right up to the border after signing waivers and going through multiple security checks. The ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers stand in a defensive Tae Kwon Do stance and to the side of each building so they can take cover if needs be. The center building is where negotiations take place and is exactly halfway in each country.

This ROK guard straddles the border behind the meeting table.

This ROK guard stands in front of the door to the North. I was technically in North Korea for about 45 seconds.

He was watching us...........if I only had a monster zoom.



Supposedly this is the largest flag and flagpole in the world. From the Wiki:

"Within the DMZ there are two villages: one run by the North and the other by the South. Daeseong-dong, found on the southern side of the DMZ, is a traditional village and strictly controlled by the South Korean government. For instance, one must have ancestral connections to the village in order to live there. These restrictions serve to keep the population of the village very small. In the North, Gijeong-dong, or as it is called in North Korea, "Peace Village" has only a small caretaker population. Through the armistice agreement the North felt that it should be allowed a town within the borders of the DMZ since the South already had one. UN troops call this Propaganda Village because only a small group of people cleaning and turning on lights reside within the village. Although from afar it appears to be a modern village, one can tell with binoculars that there is no glass within the windows of the buildings. In the past, North Korean propaganda was sent out by loudspeaker across to Daeseong-dong for as much as 20 hours a day, and reciprocal pop music and South Korean exhortations blasted back. These broadcasts ceased by mutual agreement in 2004.

During the 1980s, the South Korean government built a 98.4 metre (328 ft) tall flagpole in Daeseong-dong. The North Korean government responded by building a taller one — the tallest in the world at 160 metres (525 ft) in Gijeong-dong^[1]."

You gotta love the wording, and the punctuation!

Back in Seoul, riot police wait for shit to break out. This is the third time in the three months that I've been in this country that I've seen cops waiting around to bust some heads.



yet another spitting animal fountain..........


Is there a better farewell than a dancing, drunken, shirtless bum?