Picturing Mom and Dad

The early stages of photography in Korea.

Cocktails and House of Bols

In Seoul, a street vendor serves up cocktails
on Insadong Street.



Set amid his offerings, Bols Blue.
  A taste of Amsterdam in Seoul is good, but not quite the
same as being there.
If ever in Amsterdam and grown weary of staring down
priceless van Goghs and Rembrandts,
and feel in need of a different type of inspiration,
pop into the House of Bols on the Museumplein square
to witness artistry in motion
as bartenders prance and perform as they mix and shake
an array of dazzling, colorful cocktails.

Columbine

A columbine bloom in Seoul this week.

To Bite or Not To Bite

In an Insadong alleyway in Seoul, it is correctly noted
on a label affixed to its forehead
that this Pomeranian does not bite...

...but according to a placard mounted on a red Volkswagen Beetle parked
alongside a nearby Bukchon neighborhood restaurant,
the tteokbokki served therein does.  It's a fair warning.  Korean cuisine
often packs a considerable degree of heat.

Prime Minister's Residence

Beyond this guarded gate in the Jongno district of Seoul is the official
residence of the Prime Minister of South Korea.
The Prime Minister is appointed by and serves under the democratically
elected President, and is first in line of succession should the
President be unable to discharge the duties of the office.

Insadong Rain

Saturday afternoon's rainfall did not deter pedestrian
traffic along Insadong Street in Seoul.
The street is noted for Korean traditional culture, and is home
to art galleries, teahouses, and craft shops.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Looking in from left-center field toward home plate
at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul
on Thursday evening as the Samsung Lions
took on the Doosan Bears
in Korea Baseball Organization professional league play.

A Samsung Lions fan beating noisemakers to rally
the team.  It didn't work.
The Bears shut out the Lions, 7-0, snapping
Samsung's eight game winning streak.

A Girl and a Dog

On a Sunday afternoon in Seoul,
a girl and a dog in a park along Han River.

Jusangjeolli Cliffs

The geologically extraordinary columnar joints along the Jusangjeolli Cliffs on the Daepo Coast of southern Jeju Island, Korea, are the result of rapidly cooling lava of volcanic, basalt flows dating back to 25,000 years ago.  Molten lava contracts during cooling, splitting the rock into columns typically having five to six sides.  The resulting symmetry has more of a man-made than a naturally occurring appearance.

The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and northeastern Wyoming's Devils Tower are other well-known examples of the columnar jointing phenomenon.

Columnar jointing along Jeju Island's south
coast near Jungmun.

Looking west toward Mt. Sanbangsan
from a viewing platform
atop the Jusangjeolli Cliffs.

Looking down on the cooling cracks
of a basalt flow.

An inlet along the cliffs.

Viewing platform (upper left) at the popular, much visited
Jusangjeolli Cliffs.

 

Songaksan

Songaksan Mountain is a windswept, dormant volcano on the southwest tip of Jeju Island, Korea.  Its coastal ridge offers stunning, panoramic views of Jeju Island to the north, the East China Sea to the southeast, and Gapado and Marado Islands to the south.  Tiny Marado Island is the southern terminus of Korea.

From Songaksan, looking north toward Mt. Sanbangsan
and the surrounding oreum (parasitic cone volcanos) of Jeju Island.

On Songaksan's coastal ridge with Mt. Sanbangsan
in the distance.

The occupying forces of the Imperial Japanese Military
dug cave trenches along the coastal ridge line of Mt. Songaksan
from 1943 to 1945.

From these dugouts, Japanese soldiers peered
out across the East China Sea,
awaiting the great, decisive battle
of the Pacific War.
That battle never reached these shores.

Songaksan coast with the East China Sea
as a backdrop.

A treacherous stairway descends
from the top of Songaksan Ridge down to the sea.