Jeju Island

Off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, Jeju Island is the wonderland of the motherland ;) A veritable treasure trove of visual treats.

Loading up the ferry.

Riding the Daelim off the ferry.

The ship isn't sinking, is it?

Pretending to be a helmoni

Looking dangerous.

...a little bit less dangerous.

Hell's Angel

Mikelmoni

The beach

This is romantic?

Ajumas marching.

Flowers in the park

Stuff is falling on me.

Putting your back into it.

"I think I'm too big for this house."

Elevator music was piped around Jeju cultural park on these lovely things.

Making friends

Making friends with the mob

The famous lady divers

How's a policeman supposed to get any credibility in this country?

Sty-il- ish-ous! Gotta love the visors.

The site where stuff is supposed to roll uphill.

Mass confusion prevails. Which way is up?

Stinkiest flowers on the planet!

Checking for eggs

100 points for the most creative pay phones.

We found this temple quite by accident.

 

Rustyland

 Gwangju is home to one of the oldest amusement parks on the planet. Most of these rides are nothing short of a whole lot of rust particles holding hands whilst zooming at breakneck speeds around dilapidated tracks.

The train that delivers you (slowly...very, very slowly..) to your doom

Shake 'n bake horror ride.

The food was worse than the rides!

How to wipe out an entile row of children.

What you can't see can't hurt you.

Desert storm?! WHAT!

Peace out!

"My Mom thinks I'm a chicken."

Tell me again why we are at an amusement park when it's 0 degrees out!

This thing jiggles you about so you either crack your skull or burst your inards trying to hold on..............

.....or you fall off into the belly of the beast and get crushed by its moving parts. SWEET!

Second only to the Killer Disco Ring was the Rusty Hippo Ride of Death!

If your child survives all that you can stick it in an inner tube, put it on a hill with 700 of its buddies and see who makes it to the bottom.

....the last time I checked cabbages were for eating!

 

 

 At the stadium

Baseball games and soccer games are a great source of entertainment in Korea. Watching the crowd is sometimes more amusing than the game! 

Take me out to the ball game...

Chairman of the canine fan club...all bagged up

Sweet hats!

Mum, look! Foreigners!

Yesterday's players indulging in a few games of Go-Stop outside the stadium.

Go Tigers!

Root, root, root for the home team.

How many soccer matches do you get to go to where the male cheerleader attacks the ref at the end of the game for some questionable calls!

Outside the stadium

 

 Muju

Muju is a ski town in middle-Korea. It's praised as having the best ski fields and aside from all else was highly entertaining. Safety is not really a big consideration here and speakers strapped to pylons pelt you with elevator music till you feel like you're skiing through the set of a B grade movie.

Where flourescent palm trees grow wild.

Refished?

Wrapped up.

In his element

Out of her element!

"No,no. You go right and I go left, right. "

Hordak and his mighty tribe in the 800 people queue for the ski lifts.

Men in pink jackets handing out tampon samplers to skiing ajumas....gotta love Korean marketing skills.

 

 Mokpo

Home for a while, Mokpo was a great example of small-city Korea on the bottom end of the peninsula.

View from Chon-Sa Apart as a fire engine responds to a nearby gas explosion. Note the fabulous Family Mart.

Dusk through the windscreen of Bullet with a view of Yudal Mountain

Aileen's trusty bike 25 kms outside of town in the middle of some rice paddies

Ajuma hard at work in the paddy

Garbage left out in the street- normal practice, that contributes greatly to the aroma of the city.

Stink creek flowing....or seeping, through Mokpo

 

 The 'Beautiful' Korean Seaside

One day we decided to take Eddie to the beach to get her used to traveling. As you can see from the photos, the beach was spectacular and Eddie REALLY enjoyed herself. :)

 

 Haenam Temple

On Buddha's birthday we paid a visit to one of his temples.

Crossing over to the other side

Dragon overhead

The birthday boy in his younger days

Graveyard on the walk to the temple