Spring in Korea 2006

Seems like every six months or so I find some new medium for sharing photos and ramblings on the net. As a result, I have got so many blogs, spaces, and shots I can hardly keep up with them all and I know my faithful readers are having a hard time. So, now I will try to consolidate into fewer addresses.

I will probably try to use this as my home base for photography and ramblings once again.

Photos will now be divided into a GALLERY, which is where I will try to be artsy fartsy and where I will put my best travel photos, and ARCHIVES, where I will put everything - travel, sports, music, and friends and family -related pictures to share with everyone.

Hope this makes it simple for everyone, including me. Click on one of the links below to see what this all means. (Some of these photos will actually be in a photogrphy exhibit in June that I am doing with about 12 other expats here in Seoul. )

GALLERY

ARCHIVES

In other news, while SunRadio has been on a break due to Miso's wedding and Matty venturing into other music, I have been sitting in on drums with Matty in a country/bluegrass project called Chester Story and the Glory. There is some serious songwriting and playing in this little ensemble of bass, guitars, drums, banjo and other assorted instruments. I have one CD of the show at the Grand Old Opry that I hope to get to some friends one of these days. (That's the Opry on Seoul's infamous hooker hill, not the one in Tennessee.)

Korea news: The annual yellow dust storms that wash over Korea are here, blown in from China's Gobi Desert. They cover the country for a total of about 25 days a year. The dust is fullof all kinds of nasty toxins, heavy metals, and other dangerous particles picked up from China's industry. Last weekend saw the worst storm in four years. Check out this satellite photo from a few years ago.



Thank God I was in the southern provinces for the weekend for the Wang In and Gi Festivals and the dust didn't reach there. FYI, Wang In was a scholar back before Jesus himself walked the earth. He supposedly exported Korean culture from the Baekjae kingdom to Japan, saving them from their heathen ways. He may have also sired part of the Japanese royal line. The Gi festival was celebrating energy or life force that supposedly is very positive and strong at Wolchul Mountain where we were, hence Wang In's amazing intellectual prowess. There were lots of whacky new age booths set up with everything from telepathy, ESP, aroma therapy, L-Rods, whatever the hell that is... But the free massages and aroma therapy were nice. And the festivals are a big draw just for the amazing number of Japanese cherry trees in blossom.

A highlite for me was staying at a friend of a friend's home near a green tea farm at the foot of the mountain.











Here's the latest addition to my Funny English photos. Click to see more.