Various Pictures

Here're some pictures I've collected on my phone over the course of the last month or so. It'll give some idea of the sort of things that you see or do on an average day in Korea. Most of my posts so far have been of planned events and trips, but it's nice to just use some day to day stuff as well. **Warning** - Photo of Korean sex toy vending machine ahead.

This is the bear shop by the moon bear sanctuary in Gurye. I think it's supposed to look like a beaver or something. 

Have a refreshing drink of water from the Two Turtles Humping spring. 

Cool sign on a temple somewhere.

This was a particularly nice sight by the bus stop after work one evening.

My coworkers handed me something wrapped in bubble wrap one day and said "Here you go, you can have this. It doesn't have a very good taste, but maybe if you're drunk...", and low and behold it was a lovely red candle. Delicious it was not. It's also labelled "Cadle"

This was taken in the morning of the first snow in Gurye a few weeks back. 

First snowfall of the year means class is put on hold to go outside and make snowmen for a while. 

Snow on mountains

The snow didn't stay on the ground long, but it lingers a bit in the mountains, which looks pleasant enough. 

The "Mate Scrubber", for giving your significant other a glorious shine. 

Love motels are a cheap-ish place to stay for the night with all the amenities you need, like lipstick, dildos, and lubricant in vending machines. This particular place was seedier than the others I've been to, but that just adds to the charm. 

Santa holding a bottle in what's intended to be a Christmas wreath. The effect instead is that it looks like someone lodged a beverage through Santa's torso in a moment of rage that only a particularly underwhelming Christmas gift can bring about. 

The garbage bins here are only all too happy to consume your leftover food scraps with a shit eating grin. 

Luring People Into The Forest Isn't All That Challenging After All

So the area I live in, Gurye county, is right up against a portion of Jirisan National Park, which spans about three counties in total. It's also home to Hwaeomsa temple, one of the primary pilgrimages for the Buddhist religion in Korea, which is far and away one of the most beautifully located temples I've seen to date, bested only by Busan's temple on the rocks by the sea (name forgotten, Google can help though). So I fooled a bunch of people into following me up there and then on into the forest for a while, and it turned out pretty well for all involved. I think they most appreciated the part where I forgot my rope and robbery mask at home. Obscured identity is important, after all.

One of the two national treasures located at the temple: The Lion Tower Thing (suck it Suncheon)

Fall's On It's Way Out

So fall in Korea was undoubtedly one of the best examples of the season I've ever seen, and this post will just be a dump of most of the pictures I have left from those outings and hikes. Winter snuck up all of a sudden here, and one day I just walked out the door of my building on the way to work and found we'd had an inch or two of snow during the night. Absolutely nothing considerable, but I've been told that even a light dusting can get a Korean to consider it an unnecessary hazard to come to work and call a snow day. On the other hand, the drivers here don't seem to consider a layer of wet snow on the road to be a cause for changing up their driving methods, and the concept of inertia is lost on them so they take corners as tightly and quickly as ever. On a side note, if there's one definitive thing that I've learned about Korean people in my short time being here it's that they have zero grasp on the importance of avoiding contradictions. They abide by socially established rules and norms like any other group of people, maybe even more so, but to the extent that they cease to think about the meaning or purpose of what they're doing. It's rude to blow your nose in public? Alright, I can agree that that's something best left for the bathroom or in private somewhere. They will however, on a disturbingly regular and casual basis, clear every ounce of phlegm from their throat and spit it on the ground anywhere, anytime. It's undoubtedly a hundred times worse than blowing your nose. They're also germaphobic to the extent that it's not at all unusual to see a few people in every crowd wearing a surgical mask, or how they worry for your health if you so much as sneeze more than once or go outside for two minutes without bundling up.  On the other hand, the concept of covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough is non-existent, and nobody bats an eye if one a crowded bus one person starts hacking away into people's faces. Is it very cold inside? Well let's turn on the heating then. Let's also open all the windows because we need fresh air, right? So the heating is on full blast all day, but you'll be wearing a winter jacket and gloves anyway. Anyways, Koreans can be strange, but endearingly so. Let's look at some pictures of nice leaves. This was a great, mellow walking day, though it rained for most of it. What a rainy day lacks in even lighting however, it makes up for with glossy textures.

Korean children have quality camouflage skills 

This is one of my favourite shots so far in Korea