Last summer I took up cycling for exercise and also for fun. I live within a few kilometers of the Han River, which offers plenty of riding opportunities too. The problem is that at the Han River there are often too many people to make riding a joy. But I've found ways around this. Last Monday was Children's Day, and there were throngs of people along the river, but if you ride west, the people mostly dissapear. This photo was taken in this quieter area; from the look of it you wouldn't know that it was a national holiday.

Looking east towards Seoul, you can see a string of tank barriers, they extend from the highway on the left all the way into the water. They're the last line of defense for Seoul against a tank invasion. Up on the road is a what's know as a "rock drop" (not pictured), which is a rather ugly tunnel that all the cars drive though. In the event of an invasion, explosives in the walls of the tunnel are set off and the structure collapses to render the road impassable.

Couples in Korea generally celebrate every 100 days of their relationships--up to a point where it pretty much becomes forgotten about. But the 1000-day marker is one you can't miss, and so I planned for Una and me to still be on our Chuseok vacation in Thailand when it happened. The photo above is from part of our dinner that night. We went to a restaurant on Koh Samui called Poppies which has a great reputation, but we were rather unimpressed so we just had a couple of drinks and the "softshell crab with green mango" appetizer (it was fair). We ended up having dinner back at our hotel's restaurant since their Thai food was always quite nice and they had live music that night too.

Anyway, I've got lots of photos to put up here. Just need to pace myself (one-a-day -- I can do it!)

I've been content to stay in Seoul for the past several Chuseok holidays. Whereas I've heard that a decade ago most everything was closed, I find plenty of businesses open despite the deflated city. Seoul becomes peaceful for several days thanks to drastically reduced traffic and the near absense of the automobile horn chorus.

But this yeat things are different. I'm hopping on a plane tomorrow morning with Una and we're heading to Koh Samui, Thailand for a week.

Ah, the picture above...One component of Chuseok is gift giving. King of the heap is the SPAM Gift Set; who wouldn't want to receive $80 of the stuff?

The blogroll of links to other websites that's usually on the right side is temporarily gone until the developer releases a new compatible version.

While many flock to the mall or underground shopping arcades to beat the heat, a few go to the park. I found cool black stone benches in the shade on the islands and napped away the afternoon heat.

At night, vendors set up food stalls (Yatai) along the Naka River in Hakata. The most popular dish, ramen, is pleasantly made with fresh noodles. It isn't too spicy either. All of the vendors are Japanese, and a great deal of the customers are Koreans who've taken the (relatively) cheap boat ride from Busan.

Like many things in Japan, this is not a cheap place to eat. A bowl of noodles and two lage bottles of Asahi beer cost 1800 yen (~$15). But you can enjoy the river, and if you speak some Korean you can always suprise the other diners.

My interpretation...

Left: This is an area for bell-headed rubber men and their turkey drumstick-armed daughters.
Right: Nothing is forbidden.

In Fukuoka, Japanized Maneken Pis fountains feed a digital water clock as a completely western-dressed local woman walks by carrying a parisol that better resembles today's umbrella.

After that incident it was of little surprise when booking this ticket to Japan that Asiana popped the question about with whom I like sex (see the photo). Choices? Men or women. Sorry bisexual folks.

UPDATE: All flights out of Korea are now subject to the inane requirement that all liquids in carry-on luggage be in containers no larger than 100ml and all placed together in a separate clear plastic bag. What's to stop someone from concealing larger amounts of liquid on their person?

UPDATE 2: Same crazy liquid rules apply to all flights leaving Japan. A note about the Duty Free shopping in Fukuoka, unless you're looking to buy a bottle of whiskey, scotch, or sake then you're going to be very disappointed. Fukuoka's airport has the worst liquor selection I've ever seen. I should have bought a bottle to bring back at a supermarket downtown, because even there the prices are half of what they ask in Korea.

This next photo shows just what kind of Sausage Party this show actually is.

With that many photographers it's a real bitch to get good shots. Keep in mind that this photo was taken on Thursday, the opening day of the show. At that time for each hot model there were 20-50 photographers. On Saturday and Sunday there could have been about 100 photographers per model.

Please note that hotlinking to my images is not allowed (in fact, it won't work, an anti-hotlink photo will be displayed instead). But feel free to post the link or upload them elsewhere so long as my watermark remains intact and you post your link in the comments below.

If you've enjoyed these photos then I'd appreciate if you would leave a comment below--it's what inspires me to put these photos up. Thank you!

The holiday I can't forget, today is American Independence Day. I celebrated it by not having a holiday and eating a burrito. Woohoo! With America's current status of immigration I actually think a burrito was quite the proper way to mark the day.

The above photo was taken in downtown Seoul at the conclusion of the Hi Seoul 2006 festivities. I unfortunately missed the 2007 festival as I was abroad.

Young men stand in the median across from the Coex Mall with illuminated backpack signs advertising Domino's Pizza's new "Thai Tare Pizza".

In addition to shrimp, squid, and flying fish eggs they've added bisque sauce. I'd have named it The French Bastard. Not that I have anything against the French, I just don't believe they're known for mixing bisque sauce with squid... on pizza.

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But what's the whole "exfeel-s" thing? What's that supposed to mean? I want to use "exfeel" like a term for an exgirlfriend you had in middleschool. Ah, wait, the website is catered for women--this is girl beer! The "S" is in reference to the current fad of the "S-line" body, for describing today's supposed perfect form, the S-curve. See the stunning example in the ad photo beside. :)