The View from my Roof

Yeah, so this is the view from my roof in a few directions. Pretty nice, huh?

The mountains in the distance are Bukhansan National Park, where I often go hiking. Only about 15 minutes away by scooter. I will be sorry not to live close to there when I move. It is an incredible place. You could spend days and days hiking there. I've only gone about 3 hours in, but it goes on forever.

President Roh's Funeral

These pictures are from City Hall, where people gathered to watch Roh's funeral, which was held down the street at Gyeongbokgung. Very sad.

Seoul Zoo 2

More pictures from the Zoo. This chairlift brings you from the entrance. It must take 20 or 30 minutes! The whole area is huge, and even though it is just a few minutes outside of the city, you feel like you are in a Valley in the middle of nowhere.



Hye on the scooter. Much better than taking the subway!

Seoul Zoo 1

Here are some pics from the Zoo at Seoul Grand Park. The place is huge!




The peacocks are very popular. No wonder they seem so stuck up.

Wish I'd Gotten a Bike Sooner!

I just got a bike. I wish I had bought one a long time ago. This is a bike path by my house that goes along a stream. Above is the Nambu Beltway, a highway that goes around the city. It's actually really nice, and they have been re-doing the path lately. I never realized it before, but it goes directly to the Han river, which is the big river that goes through the middle of Seoul. There are paths along the Han that must be 30 miles long. You can bike to anywhere in Seoul so easily from my house, and I never thought to do it....Oh well, better late than never.


Another picture of the stream along the bikepath.



I rode to Sunyudo Park, which is an island in the middle of the Han. It's really nice, and only took maybe 25 minutes to get there.



A lone exerciser on the path across the stream.

Muuido

This is Hye standing in front of our hut on the beach on Muuido Island. It is part of Incheon, and is only a couple bus rides away from Seoul. But this time we drove. The amout of white people here is ridiculous. Maybe 70 percent foreigners staying in these huts.


We made a big fire (which I apparently did not take any pictures of). We spent all day collecting the wood, and then a bunch of deadbeats came over and sat by our fire and complained about the way we were doing it.

Fun place, but next time, no big fire.


This is the ferry to the island. It is fun but only takes about 45 seconds.


Cars on the ferry.

Observing North Korea by Scooter

Here are the scooters we rode up to the North Korea Observatory. It took maybe two hours to get there, though a car on the highway would only take about one. Its pretty close to Seoul- Maybe about the same as the distance from Boston to Worcester. You always forget that it is right there- South Korea is a small country, and we are right on top!


North Korean 전화번호 책- phone book. The museum at the observatory had tons of cool stuff, like these books, NK snacks (though I am sure most people don't have access to that kind of stuff) and a replica classroom. I bought some North Korean soju. I was hoping they would have cigarettes too, like the ones I bought on the NK tour, but only alcohol and mushrooms were available.



The view across the river to the North. Can't see much, but with the binoculars they had there you could make out people working the fields. A lot of people, like 50 times as many that would be doing the same job in the South. Food is hard to come by up there.



These are the characters from JSA, the movie about North and South guards becoming friends. Great movie.

Sorry its short dad, but Happy Father's Day! I promise there will be a new one every day this week. I have a lot of pictures to write about!