Ulsan

Here are some night shots of the city of Ulsan.

Ulsan is an important industrial center in Korea. It's a factory town that is lit up at night like a mixture of Las Vegas and some alien planet. It has chemical plants, oil refineries, and a large sugar refinery. They manufacture automobiles, fertilizer, textiles, ships, aluminum... you name it.
They also have an interesting beach scene with outdoor illegal gambling, barbecue stands, and live performances.

Korean Protests

Koreans have a unique and dramatic way of protesting that some people might call overly extreme. An example of this is the man who recently threw a pile of excrement onto the meat isle at a grocery in order to protest the importing of American beef.

Yes, excrement, on food, in a grocery store.

I found this article that highlights some of the more extreme demonstrations that people have taken here in the ROK.

Heaundea, a Crowded Beach

Heaundea is an insanely popular beach in Korea.

Every summer it seems that every person in this country congregates here. It is so crowded that you have to pay to rent parasol space. It is so crowded that you can't swim without bumping into people. The board walks are swarming with people. Having said that, it is still nice to enjoy a salty dip into the ocean on a hot day. At night there are also free concerts and fireworks.
On top of that, these pictures were taken on a day that is considered to not be busy! We even bumped into famous Korean rapper Steve. Click here to see more pictures of Heaundea.

A view from my apartment

Wow, I've been pretty busy there days. Sorry about the lack of updates. Things are still going well for me over here. I'm taking Korean lessons these days and enjoying it. It is summer time now and the monsoon season is ending. I think we can look forward to some warm weather coming up. I am still coming home to go to my brother's wedding in September. Look out Canada, here I come!

For now, here is the view form my apartment window. Nothing that exciting this time!


P.S. I've updated my photo gallery form yahoo!Photo to Flickr. Check out the new and improved photo gallery. Nice.

Seoul, May 2007

In a spur of the moment decisions we jumped on the bullet train from Busan city to Seoul. First, we visited the Insa-dong cultural market. We got directions from some French Canadians we bumped into. They pointed us to a nearby parade that was going on for Buddha’s birthday this week.
Check out these cute monk babies.

Next up was Namdaemun, Seoul’s South gate (pictured at the top). It is also the location of a huge outdoor bazaar. You can buy anything here, including several knock offs versions of each. We also visited some other surrounding shopping areas.
We went shopping for hours at the Dongdaemun market, which is also the location of this, the East gate. The shopping centers are open here until 5am!

After shopping till nearly dropping, we took a rest at Deoksugung Palace.

CLICK for MORE pictures!!!

Satalite photo

I recently moved to a new apartment building in the Haeundae area. Check out a satellite picture of my new pad. I'm on the 10th floor of the 15 story building in the center of the photo. Zoom out to see around the city and the near by beach area.