Homeward Bound . . . soon

July 28 and 29

Another excellent 2 days of biking with sore muscles and sun burns to prove it. After not biking for a month in Japan, my butt is much sorer than expected. However, the ocean views and good times made it all worth while. Ed and I are now back in Jeju City and getting ready to head off for our final dinner together before my 24 hours of travel tomorrow - Jeju to Busan to Tokyo to Canada to SFO. Don't worry - I have a new book downloaded on Kindle and a jar of Valium . . . I kid, I kid!

Ed and I after conquering the Kimnyoung Maze. No helped needed from the Maze Rescue Squad!

Lava stalactite, infinitely cooler than regular stalactites.

The world's longest lava column inside the UNESCO Manjanggul lava tube. Just squint really hard and use your imagination.

We made it to Gimnyeong Beach in time for a shower and the sunset - another day of pedaling 85 kilometers!

Just another example of what I was riding along the last four days.

The Jeju mascot. Why doesn't CA have one of these?

Jeongbang Falls - apparently the only waterfall that empties into the sea in Asia. Apparently.

1/2 Way Home

July 26 and 27

Nothing says a sore butt and legs and calves and body like biking 120 kilometers in the last 2 days on mounatin bikes. However, as you can tell from the pictures below our efforts are worth it! The views are great, the chocolate is amazing and the weather is . . . . well we are having fun all the same despite the humidity and sun or the pouring rain! :)

Who needs clip-ins and their 33% more effectiveness now?! Wusses!


Some of our scenery along the Coast Road of Jeju Island.


There are great bike paths along the roads here and a surprising amount of cyclists using them!

Volcanic rocks...

and pristine beaches.

The solar farm on Jeju Island.

You can see our high tech waterproof gear bags on back.

The Chocolate Museum - rated one of the world's top 10! Sooo good!

The owner of the Chocolate Museum with our newly purchased box of vegan dark chocolates!

Mount Songak. Thankfully we went around and not over.

Goodbye Mud Fest, Hello Love Land

July 24/25

Here's Saturday in a nutshell: repeat Friday's mud craziness and add about 30,000 more visitors with a super fun dance party in the evening. Too much fun!

Today, Sunday, was mostly a day of travelling with a stop in Seoul at an amazing all you can eat vegan buffet! Soooo good. I am now on Jeju Island, Korea's Hawaii as it is dubbed. Ed and I made it to Jeju Love Land tonight, an art park of sorts, started by Korean art students with big plans for the future. We have bikes rented, a safe-ish spot to leave the majority of our luggage, a map of the island, and big dreams to spend the next 4 days bicycling around the island. I'll let you know how that goes. . .


The entrance sculpture of LoveLand, Desire. That's about the only sculpture PG enough to put on my blog!

More Love Land sculpture fun!

An idea of the craziness of the Mud Fest on Saturday!

The calm before the mud storm. You can see one of the mud slides on the right.

Mudtastic

July 22/23 2010

After the Great Truck Disaster of 2010, I took the morning of the 22nd off and went jogging by the Hangang River. The river is lined by jogging routes and bike paths and even free outdoor gyms. After a quick shower, Ed and I headed off to Boryeong in time for the free concert on the beach. And today was nothing but mud, glorious mud! Mud baths, mud painting, mud wrestling, mud slides, mud obstacle courses, mud prision, and mud fun! You wouldn't believe how soft my skin feels . . . and the places where I am still finding mud - yikes!



Friday night's entertainment - dance performances. Take that Dancing with the Stars!


One of the highlights of the mud fest - colored mud! My second favorite activity after the mud wrestling pit - complete with volunteers to instigate wrestling matches.

Best field trip ever!

If you are not muddy enough, here's where you end up so others can throw mud on you.

It was a tie!

For those who prefer to apply mud the polite way - with paintbrushes.

Electro Boys -one of the many music groups from our Thursday night concert.

I am finding a new appreciation for Korea's love of LED lights.

Beach life at the Mud Fest.

Ed and I at the 13th Annual Boryeong Mud Festival, outside the amazing Mud Skincare Center. That's right unlimited mudbaths, hot tubs, salt soaks, cold pools, and saunas for $3.

Art Fabulous

July 22, 2010

I think I will let the pictures do the talking for me today: it was art walk and palace day here in Seoul.


Those wacky university art students. But it was a good hug!



One of the many art complexes I wondered into today. Seoul has great community spaces - this one was filled with local artisans.

A Korean funeral bier at the National Folk Museum, also inside the palace grounds.

Korean Palace guards at Gyeongbok Palace in downtown Seoul. I also got to see the changing of the guards today. I thoroughly appreciated the bows and arrows they carry.

Standing in front of one of the buildings on the Palace Grounds.

Famous local Korean artisit, Kim Youngtai, at one of the many art galleries I popped into today.

More crazy Korea modern art, this one by Chang Kyum Kim part of the PHOTO Project with 2 other artists from Munich and New York.

N. Korea is Whack

July 20, 2010

What a crazy day: exploring the distaster that is North Korea only to then spend the evening soaking up the eye candy that is Seoul.

Learning about how horrible N. Korea really is through an actual defector and a documentary film was a sobering experience indeed. We learned about the mandatory public executions, the millions who are starving, the concentration camps that still exist and what life is like for those who live there both rich and poor. Shocking. Feeling the tension at the Joint Security Area was awakening to say the least - we had to wear shoes we could run in, had to follow a strict dress code and had to sign a UN waiver saying we may get shot.

I certainly appreciated the vibrant art and night scene of Seoul afterwards!




The free laser show that takes place every half hour on the Cheonggyecheon River. It was an old freeway that was restored into this amazing community space, great for strolling, running splashing about and picnicing.


A couple enjoying the 2 hour ongoing free art exhibit, Fractal Flowers on the Cheonggyecheon River.

My new partner in crime Ed and I cooling down on our night walk around downtown Seoul. There were people everywhere splashing about and enjoying the evening.

One pissed off North Korean soldier keeping his distance from the Panmunjeom - the building were N. Korea and S. Korea go to have their meetings. Sometimes the soldiers come down to look at the tourists. We were only allowed in for a a few minutes.

I am actually standing inside N. Korea -ohhh!

Here is where our fine leaders meet to discuss N. Korea's use of Nukes and such. Those are S. Korean soldiers in there keeping us safe. The soldiers aren't allowed to intermingle after the axe murder incident of 1976.

This is me spying on North Korea from the Odusan Unification Observatory.

Day 1 Korea

July 19th

Today was actually quite uneventful with training from Busan to Seoul sort of last minute and without any real plans as to where I was going. I did however find a great guest house and headed off to enjoy Seoul.


A fine view of the Hangang River and downtown Seoul behind it.


The Nambaemun Market - more cheap clothes and new food such as silkworm larvea - apparently a Korean classic.


My bicycle buddy for the hour, Ralph from South Africa who now teaches English in Seoul.

Shackleton's Voyage

July 18th

From the impressive sounding title you would think my day was full of adventure on the high seas, however, you would be dead wrong. My biggest adventure was trying to figure out how to use the public bath on my 11 hour over-night ferry with out offending the locals as I was the ONLY white person around.


On board the Kampu Ferry just leaving Shimonoseki, Japan.


My fine 2nd class room, only shared with 5 others! I can now relate to Leo in the Titanic and what it would be like to be left to drown with the poor below deck.


When was the last time you saw the Power Rangers?

Japan's Kanon Straight.