Updates, and a weekend in Ichon.

I've got two updates.  

First off, I'm not usually one to throw clothes in the trash.  But the my shedding sweater from my first or second post has gone into the trash,  it's begun to molt for spring.  So I had to put her out to pasture.  It was starting to remind me a bit of Ramican.  Just in the taking of these pictures I had to swiffer the entire floor because of the huge amount of hair that dropped off of it.   I was considering collecting all of the fibers and saving them, making yarn, then knitting something out of it.  Maybe a sweater.

not so sad to see you go.

Update # 2  

North People

I just keep running into these.   And to be perfectly honest I hope I never see the end of them.   I stalked this guy through a subway station, but couldn't get a clear shot.   his jacket was made by the company "North People"   

Just got back from a weekend in Ichon.   Ceramics center of Korea it's called.  Mitch and I rode an easy 35 miles from my apartment to get there.  Ken brought her friend Yoon Mi  to keep her company on the hour long bus ride.   It ended up being a 60-70 degree weekend all weekend.  Perfect weekend for our inaugural bike trek of the summer.  

Also it should be noted that it is cherry blossom season.  

The mask and the lead helmet are just in case they're radioactive cherry blossoms.

Saw some Jebus on the way.

Rode through a couple dicey tunnels.

First stop.  To buy canned tea.

Second stop.  To fix Mitch's flat.

It was a team effort.

Those are all porcelain bowls of different types mounted to the side of the hill

After we got to town we got some shrimp burgers at the McDonald's equivalent. 

Then the gals showed up and we went to see the thing that makes Ichon a place of interest.  


The ceramics village.

Kimchi Urns

Kiln shed

Earthen kilns

Ceramics shop

Ken at a stone tea table

I've started my Korean Hummel collection.

Buddha's birthday is coming up and there was a monastery on top of the hill at the end of the road in the ceramics village.

Here's what Jon's bean field pizza oven should look like.

the monastery grounds

the bell pavilion.

the drum pavilion.

the drum.

waiting to hear the bell toll and the drum hum as the sun sets.  

Almost nobody is immune to the digital age.  Not long after this she almost ran me over in her Mercedes SUV.  The funny thing is that I'm not kidding.  I was taking a the pictures for the panoramic above and Yoon Mi had to grab my arm, and pull me out of the way.   I am trying to get a video uploaded somewhere of the bell ringing,    Check this video out and let me know if you can see it.  

Then we got food.

Then we got coffee.

Then we got tired.  

Adios muchachos.

Hikin n Bikin

I'm still looking for the blueface, the yellowface, the greenface and the purpleface.  I'll post them when I find them.

I’ve been hiking and biking a bunch,  mostly biking.  I biked 8 miles to a nearby mountain called Nakseong san (I think).   And climbed it.  here are a bunch of photos.   I’ve been told by just about everyone about the weekend barrage of fully geared hikers out for two hours on a mountain.  All weekend long on the subway you will see fully geared middle aged hikers coming or going to whatever mountain (san).  The think that the thing that I like the best is the older gentlemen who all seem to appear on the subway at dusk, reeking of soju and stumbling around on the trains in their full hiking gear.  Mitch tells me that they just hike a few hundred yards up a mountain throw down a blanket and drink all day.   Although I haven’t seen them on the mountain personally (only in the trains) it seems obvious that that is what is going on.  

The other unusual thing that happens on the side of hiking mountains is these outside gyms. You can pause a couple of times on the way up to work out. Various machines and jungle gyms for adults.

Concrete bench press.

Hulahooping is very popular here.

I stumbled on these machine gun nests built into the top of Nakseong san.  I looked for passed out hikers in them, but I don’t know how they would have gotten in there, considering all the razor wire placed in the entrances.  

And there is a helipad at the top.

Fully geared.  Cell phone in hand.

Seoul from the south

Here’s my bike parked at the base of Nakseong san below a buddhist somethin-or-other.  These guys insisted on being in one my picture.  And if they knew that I was publishing these,  I’m sure they’d insist that I publish the picture with them in it.

I didn't smell any soju on their breath,  they just seemed naturally happy.

There are kilometers and kilometers of bike paths along the rivers and streams in Seoul.  However as soon as you head west on the Han river you head straight into a constant 15 mph wind coming from China.  I call it the  WBW  or the Wicked Bitch of the West.

The Han river facing North.

Portapotties.  They play classical music in these things.

Always in my Happy Zone

A posse of one.

Many bikers wear these filters when riding. Many wear ones that look more like bandanas. Which makes most bikers look like bank robbers. I love it. The other thing that Korean bikers never do is return a draft. They're more than happy to suck a draft. But they don't seem to understand the idea behind taking turns at the front. I guess I'll just be that much stronger.

For some reason.  Every car company has has their logo slapped on these cheap little bikes with 20” wheels.  I’m looking into it to make sure that they’re actually licenced to do this.  I saw a Saab bike but it looked just like the Cadillac bike the Chevy bike.  

Check out the blue one.  United Colors of Benetton.

Just in time for this weekend!!!!!!

These bikes are for carrying large loads

Re-bar reinforced cockpit.

I've never seen a flatland mountain trick bike in person.    They're strange.    Ala Danny MacHaskill.

These little folding full suspension rigs are popular too.  They're like the multi-tools of bikes.  The more functions it has the less likely that it's going to do any of them well.  Ye ol' Surly is there just for size comparison.   Reminds me of a clown bike or something.  The little folder, not the Surly.

I'd like to think that this is somehow inappropriate.  But it really isn't.  There was another one in with the car bikes.

Mitch and I went on a good long ride last weekend.  He said that we were going to ride out into the country and visit his old school.  But what he hadn’t realized is that the city had engulfed what used to be country, and we rode around amongst cement trucks to-and-froing.  They seemed to be building city faster than we could ride.  Because we never saw the country.

5 or 6 years ago this was country.  It's just like any other sprawl now.

I think there was a view of a mountain over that wall.  

We took the train back. The last car frequently has special places for your bike to rest. That night I crashed at Mitch's place and He and Ken were nice enough to make breakfast for me.

Mitch and Ken making breakfast.

G'night all. It's 2:30 a.m. here.