Boom's jewllery site is also up and running. Check it out she has some great stuff and if you are intersted in any of ther stuff, just get in touch with her. I am sure she would be happy to help you out with what ever you need.

www.sirilaksamanasak.com

It is here. www.lotuseaterphotography.com 
 It is in the works but it is up and running. Give the galleries some time to load as they can be large. If you find something that does not work or and error on any of the pages please contact me. I appreciate any input you might have. Other than that, Enjoy.

And it has begun....

"An eye for and eye makes the whole world blind"

                                          -Mahatma Gandhi

How can any "civilized" society punish one crime by commiting the same crime in return?

 

 

 

            December 26, 2006 marks two years after the tsunami that changed many of our lives. Last year I chose to spend the whole day reminiscing about horrors that it caused. About separated families and destroyed lives. About the memory that for many will never go away and the fear that never quite subsides. I chastised myself last year for not doing enough to help for not being there when others needed me. Nearly 200,000 people died that day, and there was nothing anyone could have done against a force of nature so violently powerful. And in the week after, so many of us sat with our heads in our hands watching the number of dead increase and felt powerless to help. There was after all little we could have done to stop this, little we could have done against a force of nature so powerful, with out will, with out remorse or emotion of any kind.

 

            This year, I chose instead to remember those who lost their lives and loved ones in the tsunami but also to celebrate how far things have come in the last two years. Though there is still much work to be done and the memory and the pain will never subside we have come a long way. Homes have been rebuilt; businesses that were destroyed are up and running again, families have in some cases been reunited. And above all, life goes on with all its small miracles and tragedies. All its pains and pleasures.

 

            This year rather than wallow I chose to remember the spirit that brought people together, across languages and cultures to help rebuild what was lost. Though I still feel guilty for not doing enough, I realize that everything helped. Every dollar that was spent in tsunami affected areas helped, ever shovel full of sand to rebuild homes and businesses helped. With so many people helping, lending their blood, their sweat and their tears, things have started to change, things have started to get better and a difference is being made. A little bit at a time.

Kindergarden today, I hold up a flash card and say what is this, we are doing vegetables. A group of 3 and 4 year olds, cute as buttons reply very clearly "fuck". Again, what is this? "fuck". The thai word for pumpkin is fuck. I knew it was comming but still it was amusing to hear these little tiny children chant "fuck" in unison.

Even better is the Thai dish pumpkin Curry. If you want this delectable treat, all you need to do is walk into a market and ask for a gang fuck. No joke.

One foot in front of the other, that is how it starts. You build speed, the miles start to roll by until it becomes part of your life. No longer simply something that you do, something that you have to think about. There is a poetry to motion, to travel. Moving, seeing the world being somewhere new. Never quite at home in the places you visit yet strangely more at home than you have ever felt in your life. Welcomed by strangers, embraced for your differences. There comes a point when you learn that we all have more in common as humans than we have differences between cultures. Two years now on the road and I have learned one thing that I will take with me through life. There is truly a common human experience, one life, between us all. It conects us all and binds us all together. And it is what makes the world go round. It fuels our adventures, calms our spirit and brings us into a new understanding of ourselves and each other.

One foot in front of the other, that is where it all starts. One simple step.

 

What would you do if you were given a million dollars? That was the question I poised to my private student this afternoon.

 

Her reply:

"I would give the money to some men............to kill you."

Now that one was unexpected, especially the cackle afterwards. I think she was kidding but I don't think I will ever know. Nor do I really want to find out.

I have settled nicely back into the Thai way of life. Things I take for the ordinary probably sound a bit strange if you have never been to Thailand before. Things like the fact that I have eaten about 80% of my meals with my fingers. I have not had a hot shower since I have been here. My motorcycle is a way of life and I have no idea how I would get around town with out it. Strangely enough I do remember a time that I did get around town with out it but would never want to go back.

            It was not always easy to get settled; I had to do some serious convincing with Boom’s mom that it was alright if I did some of the housework. There was a week in there that she pretty much thought I was crazy because I wanted to do anything. I am now doing dishes though, it is not much but it is a start. I have also had to get used to having everything, and yes I do mean EVERYTHING that I own ironed.

            Work is going well. Although there is still no visa in my hands and I am getting a little worried about that one. I am sure it will work out fine and that last minute I will be offered a work permit by the company that I am working for now. I don’t expect anything to happen before last minute at least not with that company, this is after all Thailand.

            I have managed to convince the staff I work with that I speak fluent Thai so now all business I need to do with them is in Thai. I am sure I am missing about 60% of what is going on but it is good practice.

            And yes, I am starting to think that any food that is not eaten with at least a little bit of fish sauce and chillies is not really food at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Back in Chiang Mai. It is the first time in my life that I have gone back to a place that I had once moved away from. And for good reason, Chiang Mai is everything that I remember it to be with all its ups and downs. This town is a funky little place with an atmosphere like no other place that I have ever lived in. And as I found out this week, it also has not one but two of the craziest festivals that I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

            The first is the Songkran festival held to commemorate the Thai new year. It started as a way of giving thanks and making merit. Part of the merit making was to wash the Buddha statues at temples by sprinkling them with water. In the last ten years though, this has taken off from a mere sprinkling of water, to an all out dousing on a mass scale. It is a three day water fight on a country wide scale like nothing I have ever seen before. Before this weekend I would have called it the craziest festival I have ever seen.

            However the full moon in November marks the occasion for the biggest display of unfettered insanity I have ever in my life seen. It is the Loi Gratong festival in Northern Thailand. Traditionally this festival is to give thanks to the river for providing food and sustenance. Thais celebrate and earn merit by floating gratings (floating lanterns made from bamboo and candles and incense) down the river. Also merit is gained by floating rice paper balloons filled with hot air into the night sky. This is done on mass with thousands of these person size lanterns floating in the night sky at the same time. It makes for a beautiful and ethereal spectacle unlike anything I have ever seen before. From a distance it looks like thousands of bright orange stars floating into the night sky.

            The true insanity however is caused by the fireworks. People of all walks of life shoot off fireworks on mass at this festival as well. Markets are filled with multitudes of brightly coloured fireworks boxes of all shapes and sizes. Adults, children and even Buddhist monks can be seen shopping for fireworks prior the Loi Gratong festivities. On the night of Loi Gratong the river ping in Chiang Mai is ablaze with lanterns floating down stream as well as the sky lanterns floating into the sky. It is also ablaze with fire crackers. It is a scene much reminiscent of the bridge in the movie Apocalypse Now. At times, with all the explosions, fire and noise, it is hard to believe that this takes place in peace time.

            It is hard to imagine a more active, noisy and surreal festival. Perhaps next year I will have to make it to the running of the bulls. Perhaps, just maybe that would compete for the craziest festival.

            Oh and if these two festivals are not enough, Puket in southern Thailand also has the vegetarian festival in October. Where the Chinese population of devout Buddhists earns merit by piercing their bodies with large metal objects of all shapes and sizes, from ‘small’ needles the size of a pencil to swords and spears the thickness of a garden rake.

This is my last weekend in South Korea. Hard to believe that a year has come and gone already. Like always when I leave a place, it feels like I was just beginning to tap into how things work here and really starting to enjoy my time here. But alas, I have other things that require my attention right now and other places that I want to be. However Korea needed one last blow out to frustrate and confuse me before I left for Thailand.

This last weekend, Eric, Kerri and I had planned a trip to Soraksan National park in the North Eastern most part of Korea. Nothing was to go as planned. The lonley planet Korea, clearly states that the trip from Chonju to Sokcho is a three and a half hour bus ride and from there Soraksan national park can be easily accessed.  We had to pick up Eris's girlfriend Kerri in Wonju which was the same distance to Sokcho so we figured that the time on the bus would be roughly the same. What we did not take into account was that it was the weekend of Chosok, the largest and most highly celebrated holiday in Korea. Think Christmas but instead of toys, Santa brings large boxes of Spam. The traffic to Wonju was bumper to bumper all the way and that part of the trip alone took two and a half hours. From Wonju the bus to Sokcho took another four and a half hours. We arrived in Sokcho after the sun had set and figured we would try to find the camp ground. Asking a lady in an info booth about where the camp ground was located she gave me a strange look and called an English translation service, the lady on the phone calmly explained to me that "you have to understand, Korean people don't go camping in October" and that there was no camping to be had anywhere within any kind of easy access. So we decided to stay in Sokcho for the evening and set out to find a camp site the next day. The next morning arrived and we set out to Soraksan national park in no particular hurry. We decided that with three of us it would be just as expensive to just take a cab up to the park seeing as the Lonely Planet stated that it was an easy 4Km bus ride from Sokcho....

Well an easy bus ride turned into a $20 cab ride with bumper to bumper traffic all the way to the park. The only up side to the situation was a very funny cab driver with no regard for authority. Multiple times park officials said he had to wait in line like every one else and multiple times he just sped away from them cackling something in Korean. When we finally arrived at the park we discovered that everyone else in Korea was also there and that we were just very late getting in. Seriously if you have never been to a National park in Korea it is hard to explain how many people are out for the day. A busy hike in Canada you will see about 150 people that day, in Korea a busy day means about 3500 people will be out using the same one person trail going in both directions. It was going to be an adventure finding somewhere to camp.

We hiked for about four hours before the sun started to go down and we were forced to find a camp spot. We had a nice little flat piece of ground on the trail side picked out, but decided to go for another twenty minutes so see if there was anything better. We finally came to a flat spot at the top of a hill slightly off the trail and set up tent there. We were pretty sure that we were not supposed to be camping there so we tried to keep as low a profile as we could possibly muster, turning out our head lamps when people would pass on the trail.

Ever time a group would pass, I would wake up wondering if it was a park ranger come to kick us out of the camp site for the night. Turns out every time some one passed, was about every hour, all night long. I guess the only thing Koreans like better than drinking soju all night is to go hiking all night on the night of a full moon.

At about one in the morning a group started to pass and someone came crashing through the bush up to our camp. I was sleeping out under the stars and had my sleeping bag pulled up over my head to fight of the Autumn chill when he came into the camp. Shining his head lamp into the tent and onto me, using my korean language skills. I was able to decipher some of his conversation with what mush have been his wife. It went like this.

Man: There are people camping up here. (this part is an embellishment and must have been somewhat close to what he said but I don't really know as my korean skills are not that good).

Wife: Really?

Man: Yes.

Wife: Where?

Man: There

Wife: Where?

Man: There.

Wife: Where?

Man: There.

 

Me: Shut the hell up can't you see I am trying to sleep here? (In reality I just hid under the sleeping bag till the man got bored and crashed off through the bush again.)

 

At five in the morning people started hiking on the path pretty much not stop till seven am. I think about a hundred and fifty people passed our camp before the sun was up. So much for getting a good nights sleep.

We decided that being out of food and water was a good sign that we should head back to town early and get on a bus back home. We arrived back in town at about eleven and figured that was a good sign for getting back to Cheong-ju and my own bed that night. All I needed to do was stop by a bank machine and get some cash for the bus...

 

And here it starts. After about ten minutes of walking we found the first bank machine. It would not give us money. Nor would the next one. Or the next one and so on down the line for about 15 bank machines until we finally went to a continence store to get some cash from an atm there. The lady woking the convenience store looked at our cards and said "no, bank closed. Tomorrow." We finally found a bank of the branch that we use and wouldn't you know it, it was all closed up with huge posters on the door saying what I assumed to be, "hope you took enough cash out to get through the weekend because were closed for four days and you won't even be able to get money of of the machines."

 

We went back to the bus station in hopes that they would take credit cards. Of course they don't, every where here takes credit cards except the bus station in the "number one tourist spot" in Korea. So there we were, tired, sore, dirty and with 22 buck between the three of us. With no hope to get cash from anywhere. Eric called our boss who said that the bank was indeed closed and would not be open till Monday and we were pretty much screwed till then.  It was then that our boss suggested that we go to the police station and with no other options, Eric set out to find the police leaving me to watch over the bags in the bus station. About two hours later Eric shows up with $100 buck cash and bails us out. Figuratively speaking. I'll let you read all about what he had to go through to get the cash which I am sure will be up on his blog later this week. He will tell it much better than I ever could not being there and all. So do check it out, it is the second half to this story that I just can't tell. www.soundbot.blogspot.com

 

So here I am back home a day late, but just happy not to have had to sleep on the streets of Sokcho and eat Mr. Noodles for two and a half days till the bank opened. So much for carrying a credit card to bail me out of situations such as this...And damn good thing I am leaving Korea with nothing but happy memories of how smoothly things work here.

I've been inspired. I have come across some amazing web sites lately and I have been inspired to improve my own. I the future, I am hoping to have a new web site in order to showcase my photography and log my adventures, however my lack of computer skills at this point is going to limit me to some minor changes in the layout of this site. First there will no longer be two photo pages with random places on them. I am in the process of changing that over so that there will be a portfolio of the best photos of my travels and a recent photos section that will be updated by the month and the oldest photos being deleted. I have also put links to the photo sites near the top of the page as well as in their old location at the side of the site. With some luck and some free time in the next half year, I hope to have a brand new and much improved site up and running by early 2007, I would love some input as to what would make a good site and what you would like to see out of the new site.

I've been inspired. I have come across some amazing web sites lately and I have been inspired to improve my own. I the future, I am hoping to have a new web site in order to showcase my photography and log my adventures, however my lack of computer skills at this point is going to limit me to some minor changes in the layout of this site. First there will no longer be two photo pages with random places on them. I am in the process of changing that over so that there will be a portfolio of the best photos of my travels and a recent photos section that will be updated by the month and the oldest photos being deleted. I have also put links to the photo sites near the top of the page as well as in their old location at the side of the site. With some luck and some free time in the next half year, I hope to have a brand new and much improved site up and running by early 2007, I would love some input as to what would make a good site and what you would like to see out of the new site.

Ok this post has been a long time coming and I know I am way behind and I have repeatedly promised and update. Here it is, well part of it anyway due to the amount of time that has passed between entries I have forgotten some of the stuff I was going to say and have things to say that I didn't when I made promises all those months ago.

 

Ok so the Seoul trip deserves mention. I made an allusion to riot police and I can't leave you hanging with that one. Made a trip into Seoul a couple weeks back. No real plans, just to wander around and take some photos. Just getting out of the big city and into a bigger one. Most of day day passed with out much going on, Eric and I were going to head to a little street that has some nice little shops on it, just to look around maybe get some good photos. We came out of the subway, looked across the street and there was a line of police dressed in full riot gear. Did not think all that much of it at the time, figured something must be going on but didn't think a couple of foreigners would see any of it. We got to the street that I thought that the little shopping avenue was on, turned down it and started to walk. A couple of blocks in we wander onto a protest of some sort with about 1000 people dressed in camo and red head bands, some sporting face covers to avoid any identification. Being curious and not of the feline persuasion, I figured we were safe to take a bit of a closer look, I did however joke to Eric that I hope this is not an anti American protest of some sort. We managed to make it right to the front of the crowd toting cameras all the while. At the front there was a police bus with the windows covered in mesh and water canons mounted to the top in case things got out of hand. All the while I had this distinct feeling that we were not supposed to be there, however every one else seemed to be oblivious of our presence. After about an hour with out incident we began to feel a bit more comfortable and decided to really put this foreigner card (the card that by way of not being a local allows you to get away with all sorts of stuff that no Korean could ever pull off, there is no real card for this but there should be)to the test and see how far behind the police blockade we could get before getting turned around. We walked to one side of the bus and the row of riot gear clad police politely moved aside for us and waved us through. Half not beliving it, we went through to find ranks of police  behind the bus with an entire city block cordened off so that no one could get through. There must have been 100 of these riot busses behind the main blockade. There was also platoons of police waiting impatinely for some action behind the bus. We kept going farther and farther back. I am pretty sure we were not supposed to be there but again the forgiener card worked its magic and the police just kept moving aside and letting us through.

All told there must have been about 2500 police officers clad in full riot gear, maybe three for every protester. Now if there is a good way to make sure no one is going to make trouble it is by making sure that the protesters are out numbered three to one. Most of the police looked like they were sixteen, a impression that was added to by the fact that some of the ranks were sitting quietly eating ice cream bars, but still, way to keep a totalitarian state. Not that Korea is really all that totalitarian but it seems like it should be sometimes. Just ask Eric about the police trying to protect people from the dangers of..... swimming. Yes that is right swimming, I didn't think it was all that dangerous if you were careful but the police running down the beach with whistles blowing trying their best to keep people out of the water, would lead one to believe otherwise.

If you are interested in some photos from the protest you have but to ask and I will post some. Other wise there are some in Eric's blog as well as a different take on the whole situation. His blog can be found here.

Well seems like time has run out again and I have not said all I want to say. I have been busy lately with only one more month left in Korea, I am trying to suck the marrow out of my little time left here. I will post more soon, but for now I hope you have enjoyed.

Ps... I never did find out what exactly the protest was about. The papers had some reference to the visit by the Japanese president but that seemed to be pretty small scale and this seemed to be something major. Who knows, the press may have just been covering it up....

Ok mini update here, I have a major on coming up when I find the time. Should have more after next week as I will be done my summer semester and will have mornings to myself once again. I will have to tell you about my Seoul trip, the riot police (no shit), my $150 vaccation etc so on and so fourth but it will have to wait for just a little while longer. For now there are some more photos up. Enjoy.

Ok new photos are up for the contest, little different format this time around. This time anyone who wants to vote on the photos is welcome to do so and all the scores will be tallied at the end of the week. The photos are also in a totally random order this time. The photos are from the last week of our holidays and there has been no other guidelines for them so if you feel like it post a score for each photo from one to ten. If not, just enjoy the photos, there are some really good ones this time around.

I have noticed a lot of people taking my photo lately, and I am seriously thinking about moving into the realm of male modeling. I have started a bit of a portfolio of photos of myself that people have lovingly posted of me. Here are just a few of them.

Am I not amazingly hot in these photos or what. I don't know what it is about me but when I have a camera pointed at me I have to make some sort of a silly face. The first on was posted on the climbing gym web site, now I am sure all the people I climb with who I can't really speak to think I am a total weirdo.

In an effort to curb bordom I and a few friends have started a photo contest. The stakes are going to be high, the one who wins, gets crowned that months champion and gets beer. And not the crappy Korean beer either, good beer, from Belgium. I have posed a link to the site over on the right side link menu, ya the one that says "photo contest" go figure. I have also posted a link to slrclub.com a korean site for photo enthusiasts. It is a pretty good site for up to date Korean photos, most of them are photoshopped to hell and some times guys just post photos of girls at car shows but it is worth a look and it gets refreshed every day.

For the last month, I have also been looking for Tool tickets in Seoul. I knew they were playing there but have been having no luck finding them at all. No matter what I searched I could not find the tickets at all. Last night I managed to come across Metallica tickets in Seoul. Now seven years ago I would have been all over that, I don't know if I have matured or Metellica has just gotten to sucking lately. I think it is the later. Out of a whim though I looked into the concert and found out strangly enough that it was on the same day as the Tool concert. And in the same place to boot. After more research, I found out that Tool was not playing in Seoul, they were opening for Metallica in Seoul. No wonder I could not find tickets, the tickets were being advertised as Metallica tickets.

So now I have a dillema. The tickets are rather expensive. If I go for it it will be three times the price that I have ever paid for a concert ticket. 120,000 to be excact. Alex mentioned to me that there is a big festival in Osaka and guess what, Tool will be playing there too. The tickets for a full day of music with 20+ bands is just a few dollars more than going to see the concert in Seoul. However for those of you who know your geography and have been paying attention, Osaka is in Japan. Ryan is in Korea. Now these might sound close, and I guess by some standards they are, I have travelled farther to see a concert, it will be quite an endevour to get over to Japan for a music festival. I just don't know if I can pull it off. However if any one out there would like to sponsor me I would be more than willing to accept.

 

 

Last week marked my eight month point in Korea, meaning I have another four to go. With that eight months I have been thinking recently about things that I have become desensitized to in Asia that I would have been very aware of when I first got here.

Today, I was getting some baked goods when the woman who was selling me them told me the price I had no idea what she was saying or what the price was. I asked her to repeat and she did and again I did not understand. For the third time I asked her what the price was and this time she said it was 2300 won. Feeling a bit strange for not understanding what she was saying, I was thinking about it while I was walking home. On the walk I realilzed that the first two times she had said "two thousand three hundred" in English, she did not have a thick accent, I was just not expecting it and because I was expecting the price in Korean, I simply did not recognize the English. It has become such a rare thing that someone speaks English to me that I do not even recognize it when I hear it.

Comming out of the washroom the other day there was a lady cleaning in the middle of the men's room. I barely noticed. If this had happened in Canada I would have been shocked to see a woman in the middle of the men's room in broad day light. If a woman had had to clean the washroom in Canada it would have been locked and closed down while it was being cleaned.

Squat toilets have become common and I don't even think about them anymore.

So have the stares from people and the pointing fingers from small children who attempt to draw their parents attention by pointing and shouting "American". In Korean of course.

Being bummped into and cut in front of in line is common for me. I have even taken to doing it myself. If you give some one any distance in a line up, you will lose your place. At bank machines, I have to stand directly behind the person in front of me, giving them not personal space what ever.

Drunken people are common. People pass out in the street all the time. If I saw some one at home passed out on a corner I would probably help, here it is just common place and you just leave them to sober up on their own and sleep it off on the street.

Ok enough negative things. Being offered food and drink from people I don't know is also common. In Canada I would wonder what these people wanted from me in order for them to be so nice to me. Here is just normal for people to invite you to eat and drink with them. I think I get this even more than Korean people do because I am different and Koreans are looking to show their best face to the world. The certianly do that in spades.

Paying for food when I go out has also become uncommon, if I am out with Koreans they insist on paying and get quite offended if I try to pay. I would feel very uncomfortable with this and feel like I am not pulling my weight in Canada and a bit like I am mootching off some one. Not so here, I have just had to accept the fact that others want to show their hospitality by picking up the bill.

Ok that is enough for today, I will end this post with a Giant spider. Yes I did take the photo and belive it or not the spider was BIGGER than it looks in the photo. It is by far the biggest spider I have even seen in nature. Oh and there are some new photos up.

My boss took me out for lunch the other day. The choices were salad buffet or pizza buffet. Being a fan of  pizza and a long way away from the nearest decent slice my vote was cast for pizza buffet. And pizza buffet it was. I was not expecting much because this is Korea and pizza buffets in Canada are generally crap so how good could it have been right?

Well, long story short it was pretty damn good. It was not at all what you would have found in a western buffet. There was fresh rasberry smooties, fresh rambutans and leechies, a potato salad made from pumpkin rather than potato (i guess that makes it a pumpkin salad does it not?) and of course pizza. The Pizza was hit or miss but the fresh fruit more than made up for it. I have really not been eating much fresh fruit here because it is expensive. Well at least expensive after spending a year in Thailand and getting a whole fresh pineapple for 40 cents. The were also numerous other things to gorge myself on which I did in spades.

All told it was a wonderful meal that brought me a bit of western food when I have not had any for a long time. Usually I don't miss it all that much but after 8 months a pizza buffet was just what I needed.

Oh and that said, yes it has really been 8months here, that means only four more to go and I will be back inThailand. It is hard to belive that time has gone this fast sometimes. It has been a wonderful journey and I look forward to the next four months of it. I know in some ways it will seem like a long time but in others it will seem way too short.

 

For those of you who have been paying attention I did indeed purchace a new camera last week. After about seven months of research and one broken camera I finally got my ass in gear and made the big purchace. So yes, I am the proud owner of a brand spanking new digital SLR, my first and hopefully last...at least for a while. So far, I am loving it it like anything has it's good and bad features but all the things I wished I had in a camera are in this on. Think at some point in the near future I am going to need to invest in a different lens for it as I am not overly happy with the kit lens but then again, I knew I was not going to be.

My new camera, well not really this on is some one elses but it looks like mine.

That said, keep looking at the site as I will be continually posting new photos as I get them. And as I have said before, I would love some feed back on them.

 

I guess this also means that photography officially clocks in as one of my hobbies now.

 

It has been a month since my last entry and that was more of a blurb saying that I was simply to lazy to make an entry and I would do it soon. Soon ya right, I am sorry for those of you who still check the site, but here is a small entry and I will be posting more soon.

The weeks in Korea have been getting progressivly warmer in the last month and more and more I am motivated to get outside, climbing, traveling and just being out in Korea. Spring is in full swing now and it is verging on summer and with the warm dry weather, it has been a pleasure to get out and do some travel on the weekends. I have even made and investment in a sleeping bag so that the weekend can be extended and the money streched out. Not that it was a big investment by any means. Alex and I ended up at the local super department store, trying to be as thrify as physically possible, shifting through the pile of sleeping bags for something that comes under my budget. Finally settling on the cheapest of the cheap, a $14 sleeping bag that does not look like it would keep me warm in any kind of foul weather. The camping investment however was limited to sleeping bags and to save money I have taken to sleeping on picnic tables that have rain covers rather than making the big purchace of a tent.

The investment in a sleeping bag was prompted by a climbing trip a few weeks ago. Both Alex and I were under the impression that we would be staying at a friends house and because of that we packed the minimum neccicary to make it through the weekend. However when we arrived at the climbing area we realilzed that we would not be going back to his house as it was about two hours drive and instead camping at the climbing area for the night. As we curled up for the night and the rain set in we realzed that it was going to be a bit cold that night. There was another climber that was sleeping on a picnic table next to us who noticed that we were ill equpted to deal with the camping situation and thoughtfully found us a blanket. It was the thickest most comfy blanket that I had ever seen. However there was a dillema, there were two of us and only one blanket. It was more than big enough to share but the tables were to far apart to be able to share it anyway. So we decided to settle it the way that Koreans settle matters of this nature, with a good old fashioned game of rock, paper, scissors. In a bizzare twist of events, I won, I never win this game, for some odd reason when there is anything on the line, I NEVER win this game. It was a pretty good night because of that blanket but it did make me realilze that things could have been worse, so it was off to E-mart to buy a sleeping bag.

The climbing that weekend was wonderful. I tried to climb a 5.12, which is probably the hardest thing I have ever climbed and most definately the hardest thing I have ever lead. I did not manage to do it clean but I did do pretty well and with a bit more time on it, I think I could put it together. All in all it was a wonderful area and the best climbing I have done since I left Thailand. To be honest though, this is almost the only climbing I have done since I left Thailand. If you are interested here is a link to the koreaontherocks site.

Ok time restraints are working here so I have to go. There is more but it will have to wait till a little later this week. I will get the update in later this week though I promise.

Oh and there are some more photos to check out if you care to.

Here

and Here...

And some that are not mine here.

and one to leave you with...

OK been a while since the last update. A long while I have been told. No excuse, just no motivation lately. My camera broke a couple of weeks ago which I have been very upset about. Seems I did not realize how much I liked taking photos and how much time I spent doing it untill I was unable to. So in typical Ryan fashion, I am now looking for a replacement. Alex has lent me his film slr so I have been taking photos, although I am not sure how they are going to turn out but it sure has been fun taking them with a different system. There are some of the last photos that I took with the camera up if you care to look, they are under the heading cherry blossoms.

Ok bored of writing again but I will put an update up soon.

 

At the climbing gym last night, Boom hands me a Korean climbing magazine wanting to show me one of the photos that was in it. I took a brief glance at it not really expecting to see what I saw in it. It was a little hard to tell what the photo was of at first, it was an interesting photo to be sure. A hand, latched onto climbing holds, contorted to an awkward position. A face in the back ground. And then some of the details started to come to me, the hands were white, the magazine was a Korean climbing magazine. The face was interesting too, it was blurred, in the back ground with the focal point of the photo squarely on the hands but it was most definitely my face. That’s right folks, my photo is in a climbing magazine.
It was about a month ago when the photo was taken, I remember a couple of Koreans coming in and taking a bunch of photos of the gym and of some of us climbing. I didn’t really think much of it at the time. Of course it went through my head that maybe I would be in a climbing magazine of some sort but more likely in the back ground than anything else. I did not expect that I would have the first page of the article on the climbing gym in Cheong-ju. It was quite a surprise when Boom pushed that photo under my nose.
It makes me feel proud but at the same time there is another photo of me in the same magazine. It is a group photo of the all the people that happened to be in the gym the night that the photographers where there. Everyone else looks good in the photo but for some reason that I don’t fully understand, my face is contorted into a very odd expression of, surprise, stupidity, wonder god only knows what. I think with out doubt it is the worst photo I have ever taken and it is now published in a magazine for every one to see (everyone being the Korean climbing community). It makes me wonder what celebrities feel when they get bad photos of themselves published on a near weekly basis. I kind of feel sorry for them, I know I would never want to be in the spotlight like that. Although I have to say it was kind of nice to be in a magazine for doing something that I love to do. Just need to figure out how to get paid for it now.
I will post the good photo as soon as I get a photo of the photo from the magazine. I still have not decided weather I want to buy the magazine or not. I probably should, when am I going to be in a magazine again? And as for a posting of the one where I look like a moron, you will just have to find that one for yourselves.

Stuck inside yesterday, rain for the first time in months. The good kind of rain, the first rain of spring. The one needed to wash away the collective garbage and dust of winter, to wash away the brownness that has covered everything for the last 4 months. Peeking my head outside today, I awoke to an overcast day but one that was clear of the stink that has been in the air lately. An overcast day but one that is because of clouds because of droplets of water lingering in the air rather than from dust and pollution.
And with the rain comes green, the deep green that can only be found with the onset of spring. One day of rain and the grass has grown. Rice patties are no longer plain dirt fields but alive with the next years crop. Trees, no longer dead skeletons of their once mighty selves, they begin to show a green aura about them. Over night the city has changed from a dead concrete jungle to something alive once again. It is not only greens that cover the city but yellows too. Bright yellow flowers on the trees, the same yellow as the rape fields of Alberta. A yellow that cuts the dark hues of winter like a sword cutting though silk. It brightens not only the city but my heart. It is easy to find the upward curl of a smile on children’s faces here, knowing that spring is here and the cold weather is gone for yet another year.
Soon the cherry blossoms will be out here. I have never experienced the cherry blossoms but I have seen photos and heard stories about how beautiful they are. Pink white flowers by the thousands. For a few short weeks, not even that long, the trees will be covered, with a second snow, one that signals not the onset of the cold dark winter but the onset of spring. They have already started, the young trees are nearly in full bloom, the older ones hold the green buds that will soon be an explosion of colour. As the blossoms age, when the birds and the bees have done their work and the fruit of their labour will begin to bend the branches of the trees, the blossoms will fall from the trees, fall upon the ground like snow. For so many things, this weeks is a beginning. It is my signal to explore Korea more. I feel as if I have been hiding from it for the last four months and now that spring is here I have no excuse to hide any longer. Weekends will be full with climbing out doors, the weeks will go by at an accelerated rate from here on and before I know it, it will be Autumn again and the start of yet another adventure.
And despite the fact that so many things are beginning this week, there are also some things that will be ending. Boom has spent the last two weeks here and we have grow even closer together. It will be hard to see her go at the end of this week but due to circumstances beyond both of our control we must yet again part ways for what could be another six months. We both hope that it will not be that long but in reality, it very well could be. And as I think about her impending departure, I find myself wondering if the glass is half full, or half empty. In two short weeks, I will be six months through my contract, half way exactly. At times it seems as the last six months have gone by incredibly fast but at other times it feels as if they have gone by painfully slow. It has been hard to force myself to be away from the ones I love the country that I want to be in and the life I want to be living but I know in the long run, it will be worth the effort. But I do wonder after growing even closer to Boom in the last three weeks, if it will be even harder to be apart for another stretch. I can only hope that the spring, and then the summer will make time go even faster and that I will soon be ‘home’.