A steak turns into a dessert

We had a fine dinner at the Hotel in Mizawaki in the tappanyaki style. The ten course meal culminated with the bread that the steak was served on reworked into a waffle for dessert. Wild!

Japanese wildlife

Encouraged to study the local fauna, I had better luck after the sun went down.

More Yufuin

Yufuin hot springs and art colony

The Yufuin area, Marc Chagall Museum, Motor Museum and a temple.

A side trip to Japan

After a week in Seoul, we headed to the Inchon airport for a little side trip to Japan.
The flight to the big city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu took just over an hour.

Kyushu was formed from many many uplifting volcanoes and still to this day this is a land of hot springs everywhere. Our plan was to first stay in Beppu on the Pacific coast and possibly visit Aso volcano. A gigantic active caldera over 80 miles in diameter, Aso is the largest in the world encompassing towns, cities and train lines. Our plan to visit was cancelled however due to poisonous gas emissions. We stayed the first three nights in Beppu on the Pacific coast and visited Yufuin, an art colony in the hills above.

Here's a few views of Yufuin including an unlikely car museum!

A tributary of the Han River.

Across the street from the Bethke's apartment along this tributary of the Han River one can ride a bike into downtown Seoul.

Pretty shop girls in Apgujeong

The Russians are coming!

Collections in Seoul

Los Angeles has over four hundred collections, museums and special collections libraries. Seoul may not be to far behind. So far I've discovered numerous niche museums such as a museum of embroidary and a museum of silk. Here's a few more.

Yatap gu

Here's a memorable sign at a local fish restaurant.

Views of Apgujeong-dong

This area is one of the trendiest in Seoul. It's the headquarters for most of the ruling big companies that dominate Korean business.

More Seoul images

Here's some more randon views of downtown Seoul near the embassy.

Victrola's in Korea

I discovered an antique shop in Insa-dong that specializes in Victrola's and Edison wax cylinder machines. Here's a few crummy photos. I'll return toInsa-dong later this week and take time to take better.

Insa-dong

The Insa-dong neighborhood is close by the embassies and Bukchon and is filled with galleries and antique shops. Public art abounds in Seoul and near the entry to Insa-dong is this sculpture of a giant artists brush.

Bukchon

Between the two large palaces near the northern gate is a neighborhood previously inhabited by "old money" court bureaucrats and officials. During the Josean era (pre-1910) only around 30 villas were found in the area. In modern times however the spaces between the villas were filled in by a new tradition - the "urban hanok" or homes for the middle class. Quaint little alleyways then formed between the structures creating a delightful walking neighborhood with occasional odd coffeehouses and museums.

US Embassy in Seoul

Erik had to spend a day in the office and so I was off to spend the day on my own.

He asked if I would stop by the embassy to find out what it would take to get more pages tipped into his passport. From his home the subway ride is about 20 stops into downtown. The embassy is located near the ancient northgate so there is plenty to see around there. There was extra heavy police out that day as they were preparing for more demonstrations against lifting the US beef restrictions so I was a little uncomfortable taking pictures in the front.

Here's a view of a Buddhist temple in the block behind, a pool hall next door and a view of the rear of the embassy. The police were a little edgy so I spent as little time there as possible.

First pictures in from Seoul

The first day son Erik and I went to his office in downtown and then went on to the Trade Tech emporium to buy a digi camera. You can't do much with pricing there but they do throw in as many accessories as needed to close the deal. I'm set now with tripods, extra batteries, mem cards and good to go.

Here's a little test shot from the balcony of Erik's home looking over the gu (district) of Yatap Station.

Neil arrives in Korea, Summer '08

Well my good friend Clay Stalls kicked me out at the curb at Bradley International at LAX May 31 and after a little breakfast at the Daily Grill I boarded around noon. The flight was absolutely uneventful. I did watch Charlie Wilson's War, slept and played the onboard computer chess. The flight is long but the funny thing is we were never out of sight of land. The route follows the Pacific coastline up to Alaska, across the Bering Straight, down along the Russian coast and into Inchon Airport on the Siberian Korean penisula.