Ban fu and a wedding

soup anyone?

I've been staying at Chris and Katherine's for over a week now... but before any of you pull out the line about guests going bad like fish after three days, you should know that I cooked all week (here we are eating hong shao niu rou mian - Taiwanese beef noodle soup). It's been great. This could be my new career. Other friends interested in providing me with free room in exchange for cooking and help with your grocery bills can contact me by email. Your chances of being chosen for this wonderful opportunity will substantially increase if you are living in an interesting locale.

sledin'

Here are some pics of Chris, Katherine, and I hiking/sleding in the Gatineau Hills, a provincial park boardering Ottawa on the Quebec side of the river. It's been along time.

Watch that rock...



As you can see, it's a dangerous pastime. I went over a precipice once, but I managed to hold on to the edge. We put on quite a show for some of the other walkers.

Those are actually the ruins of Sir John A. Macdonald's (Canada's first Prime Minister) summer home up there.

It was my first time in Quebec, and I can report that everything you've heard is true. People really do speak French there. A flurry of French was directed more than once by passersby, each time leaving me grinning and racking my brain for "Je ne comprends pas" (twice to no avail). Of course, after a couple of seconds of silence, they repeated their questions in English. I've dealt with this in Asia for years, but I have to say it's strange when it happens in your own country (when you've grown up in Alberta anyway). All the more motivation to study French.

Skating on the Rideau Canal

I'm in our Nation's capital now... (for those non-Canadians who read this, that's Toronto). They open up an 8 km section of the Rideau canal for skating every winter. It's an old canal and an old tradition.

This was the first weekend it opened (because of global warming of course). Actually, they've only opened up a 2 km section so far because - and I quote - "the weather's not that good for swimming."

It was a bright sunny day, which is a good thing, because it was about -15 degrees celcius. Jodi, Kevan and I drove up from Guelph to spend the weekend with Chris and Katherine. The province of Alberta was represented quite finely I think.

Behold, centripetal acceleration!

Chris, Katherine and Jodi (they are making winter memories).

Bright

Songnisan National Park Riding

Here are a few pictures of a five day trip I just finished. I took a bus to the center of South Korea last Thursday to meet Gordon, already on the road, and spent the days hiking and riding back to Jinju.

It's fall.

Persimmon trees are everywhere, and they are ready to harvest.

After they get them off the trees, they tie them up to dry. We were gifted fresh persimmons and apples by many a farmer on the trip.

Walking back to the park gate late in the day after a hike.

Gord naping in the last light of day. The weather is perfect for hiking and biking, but it gets cold at night. Fortunately I have sweet sleeping bag from China that keeps me warm in my tent. Gord was not so lucky with his gear.

Fall colours riding back to Jinju.

On top of Songnisan. Obviously it was a difficult hike if hikers of this magnitude were making it too the top.

A construction sign apparently advocating child labour? Or, at least showing the influence of anime.

bike shop guy

Those who cycle and often find themselves living in new locales know the importance of finding a bike shop guy. You know, a guy to keep you in parts and - more importantly - to take you out into the country side and show you where all the good riding is.

Finally found one here in Jinju. Myeong-gook owns and runs his one-man shop downtown.



We went out on the back roads for the day, and late in the afternoon ended up at a temple where we were invited in for tea by some kindly monks. It was a good day.

Finally back on the road.

Autumn festival just passed in Korea (Chuseok), and we had a four day weekend to celebrate.

Gord and I went on a cycling/hiking tour of the area north of JinJu. We visited two National Parks, summited two peaks and cycled a couple hundred kilometers through the country side. We stayed in a Zen Temple, camped on a riverside, and spend a night at a JimJil Bang. It was a trip with a lot of firsts for me in Korea. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Korea in the coming weeks.

We stayed at Haeinsa Temple. It's another UNESCO world heritage kind of place in Gaya San National Park. They keep a hundred thousand or so of these 500 year old wooden blocks that some monks made to print Buddhist Sutras. We attended the evening chanting, and woke up to the gong at 3 am for more chanting and meditating. It was a really great experience.

We summited Gayasan on the first day after cycling to the park. A nice peak with a good view of the valleys below.

Too cool for school.

On the second day we left the park to cycle 70 k to the next park. Note the Autumn colours! I realized I haven't experienced autumn in three years (Taiwan being tropical/sub-tropical).

This pagoda was just across the bridge. I was just stepping off the bridge when I saw a small brown snake at my feet. I stepped quickly to the right and found myself standing over a much bigger snake with bright green, blue, and red markings. I jumped up in the air at the same time that it lunged at me and managed to get a few steps away. To be honest, it was not the lightning fast lunge that you might be imagining. It was fairly early morning, and I think the snakes were warming themselves in the sun. They weren't in top form anyway.

Yellowing rice fields along the way.

We found a great campsite just outside of the second park set against a natural waterfall.

Gord raided the apple orchirds in the morning for breakfast. That apple was almost as big as my head.

The third day we hiked 9 k on a deserted trail to summit a mountain that turned out to have a gondola on the other side! This is what that looks like. Gord is indicating that this is the seventh National Park he has visited. He's trying to visit all 20 National Parks in the country and climb their respective peaks.

After the hike, we rode into the nearest town and checked into a JimJil Bang. They must be a phenomenon unique to Korea. It's often called a Sauna, but it includes hot baths of differing temperatures as well, including a refrigerated pool. The unique part is that after bathing for a couple hours, you can retire to common rooms where everyone passes out on thin mats for the night. These places are full of families passing through town, so it's an interesting atmosphere, made more interesting by the fact that everyone is wearing matching cotton shorts and t-shirts. There was a restaurant, big screen televisions, and coin operated computers located among the common rooms. Good times.


And finally, a portrait of my bike. Two of these carvings (male and female) were traditionally found outside of every village to ward of evil spirits. But, these two were just looking good on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

And that was that.