The fluffy giant monster dog and walking around the Myongdong shopping area in Chuncheon

This past Saturday Julianne and I had planned on going to Seoul but ended up staying in Chuncheon. We went downtown to try and find something to eat for lunch. Across from the Department store is the M bakery.

Inside the bakery there is also a sandwich shop. We decided to try it.

We've gotten stuff from the bakery shop that is in the front part before. It's pretty good.

Julianne likes to buy Anna's Ginger Thins here too. I can't remember what the brand name is in Canada that I've eaten before, but it tastes very similar to these. I was surprised to find them available here.

The decor and atmosphere are pretty nice.

We had to wait a little bit longer than I thought was normal for the sandwiches to be made. They were pretty good, but not great.

After lunch we walked around the Myongdong area. This is a mandu (dumplings) shop. The steam is unreal.

I can't imagine what it must be like to work here full time.

Then we saw a fluffy giant monster of a dog. I kind of felt sorry for the owner because literally EVERY Korean person walking by was freaking out, making sounds, and saying stuff about the dog--EVERY person.

There was a beautiful blue sky.

I call the motels with covered parking lots in Korea "No-tell motels." For those of you outside of Korea these are a VERY common sight in Korea. The parking lots are covered to hide the identities of the people and cars who use them. There are many different reasons why these hotels exist . . . but that's a post for some other time, lol.

"Mr. Pizza . . . made for women." I seriously wonder how a slogan like that would go over in North America . . . lol.

You also have to think about the different meanings suggested by the name of the company and its gender in relation to its slogan. A man is making pizza just for women . . . lol.

Traditional baby carrying method that freaks me out every time I see it cause I think the baby will fall out somehow--I've never seen one fall out, of course, but I still think it 'looks' a little dangerous.

Then we saw fluffy giant monster dog again. If he hadn't been getting so much attention Julianne and I might have gone over to say hello and pet him.

Julianne and I think these TINY fuel trucks are quite funny. The guy that was driving it didn't look like he could fit into the cab in the front. I guess the size and design of the truck, though, when you consider city life in Korea with streets that have incredibly narrow widths, and all of the other reasons, it's good to be driving a small delivery vehicle--it's a smart design.

I noticed this church/cathedral from the Myongdong area and we wandered outside of the shopping area to see what it looked like.

Update: I had NO IDEA that the Myongdong cathedral in Seoul's Myongdong (I think it's actually very bizarre that Chuncheon calls its downtown shopping area Myongdong because to me there is only one Myongdong in Korea--in Seoul) was being renovated. I just saw this post at the Marmot's Hole and think it's uncanny that I was taking pics of a cathedral in Myongdong, Chuncheon while--possibly--at the same time Robert was taking his own pics in Seoul--pictures that totally blow my own away in terms of quality and style . . . sigh.

On the way there we passed this shack. I'm pretty sure it's just used for storage--I really HOPE it's just used for storage because if someone is living in it or using it for a business shop they'd be freezing a lot of the time in winter.

It was a big challenge to try and photograph this cathedral because of the light levels outside.

I think I got some decent shots . . . but there's still a bit of washout.

I think this one is the best. I wondered how old the cathedral was and found a sign saying 1985--I thought it would be older.

We then walked around to the other side of the cathedral . . .

It was a lot easier to take pics here as the sun was behind us.

I noticed this chimney and thought it looked pretty old in terms of design.

Julianne and I then saw some cats sunning themselves and trying to stay warm.


Wandering further away from Myondong I saw one of the ridiculous test-your-manhood-when-you're-completly-stupid-drunk-with-your-friends machines . . .

I should have tried to see if there was a date on this machine cause it looked pretty old. I imagine, though, that being kept outside would age it fast.

Julianne then noticed a Winter Sonata sign--oh my god, they seriously are EVERYWHERE in Chuncheon.

See my post here if you don't know the TV show, "Winter Sonata (a.k.a. Winter Ballad/Winter Love Story, Korean: 겨울연가) was the second part of the KBS TV drama series Endless Love.

They even have signs with arrows and how many meters until you find the exact spot that was in the filming of the show that are out on the main street to help you find it, lol.

Julianne and I then came across these tractors in front of Nonghyup Farmers Bank. This display strikes me as unusual because the vast majority of farmers in Korea do NOT own these types of tractors.

The first tractor is the biggest one I've seen in Korea, and the blue tractor is still a lot bigger than your typical rice farmer's tractor.

The tractors were being used to hold a banner . . .

I took a few shots of the inside of the blue tractor just for fun.

This is the typical kind of tractor you'll see in Korea. Take off the cart hitched to the back and that's the tractor. They have to be this small so that they can move in and out of the rice paddies. I have a few pics on an external hard drive of the tractors in action out on Ganghwa island. I'll have to post a few some time.

This is what the walking tractor (see below) looks like . . . when I first saw one in Korea I was really surprised because I'd only ever seen full size tractors that are driven on farms in Canada.

I looked this up on wikipedia and I guess they're called "agricultural rotary tillers"

Two-wheel tractor The higher power "riding" rotavators cross out of the home garden category into farming category especially in Asia, Africa and South America, capable of preparing 1 hectare of land in 8 - 10 hours. These are also known as power tillers, walking tractors or two-wheel tractors. Years ago they were considered only useful for rice growing areas, where they were fitted with steel cage-wheels for traction, but now the same are being used in both wetland and dryland farming all over the world. Compact, powerful and most importantly inexpensive, these agricultural rotary tillers are providing alternatives to four-wheel tractors and in the small farmers fields in developing countries are more economical than four-wheel tractors...

We kept walking and taking pictures. I noticed this cat sunning himself on a roof.

Then Julianne saw this gi-normous cat doing the same. I felt like I was in a Disney cat film where the cats have this kind of invisible rooftop civilization that exists side by side with the humans . . .

And, of course, another, wait for it, wait for it, Winter Sonata sign that something from the drama was filmed here.

I wonder if some hardcore fans try to find and visit every location . . . it seems like it'd be possible with the number of signs posted around the Chuncheon area.

And then there are the banners, lol.

I took one more picture and then we decided it was nap time for both of us after having walked for almost 2 hours up and down and around the Myongdong area.

I really like this pic. The mountain silhouettes are fantastic.

J

GS Mart has Korean VCDs movies on sale for 990won in Chuncheon!!!

I went out tonight with Julianne to GS Mart for dinner. Later, we walked around the department store itself.

I discovered that the Korean movies on VCD (oops, thanks Brian) were all discounted down to 990won per movie. So I started grabbing every Korean movie I saw that has English subtitles . . . I ended up with a pile of 23 movies--wicked!

I've been wanting to watch more Korean movies for a while now so it's very cool that I was able to pick these up for almost nothing. As I watch each movie I'm going to blog about it here.

Wikipedia has a pretty good list of Korean language movies here.

I'm kind of dreading watching some of the movies as Korean comedy either makes me laugh hysterically--or sit there and groan. Korean romantic-comedies do the same--it's a love-hate thing.

The few Korean action/war movies I've seen haven't really been that great. I watched "Taegukgi" before coming to Korea, however, and thought it was pretty good.

My absolute favorite movie of all Korean movies I've seen so far (which isn't a lot) is "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" directed by my friend Meaghan's favorite Korean movie director Park Chan-wook. I'll have to write something about that movie another time.

Be forewarned that Sympathy for Lady Vengeance has a high degree of psychological and physical violence. It is NOT for the faint of heart.

Anyways, time to go watch some movies!

J

Shaving in my kitchen, eating dokgalbi, and Julianne's first time shooting a bb gun

Julianne and I pretty much spent the day doing nothing but eating (brunch: eggs, peanut butter and strawberry jam on toast, orange juice), then surfing the Net, playing games, blogging, surfing the Net, long nap . . . . and then deciding it was time to shave . . .

I tend to post more pics of Julianne then I do of myself, or of us. Julianne mentioned to me recently that she wants to take more pics of me so I said fine, as long as I get to see what pics she wants to put up on her blog before she posts them. Here's a shot she took with her Nikon this afternoon.

The reason I thought this was 'blog worthy' is that it shows some aspects of life in Korea for us expats. I LOVE my apartment--it's the best one I've had during the entire time I've been in Korea. That being said, there are a few 'issues' I have with it. One is that the kitchen has a door leading to a balcony where the laundry machine is. This door is not well insulated and lets the cold into the kitchen area which also has the bathroom entrance (coming out of the shower tends to be a rather brisk and bracing experience). Add to the mix that the apartment's main door has a draft that can't be blocked and the kitchen area tends to be chilly . . . unless we put one of the two portable heaters in there. You can see the red glow of the heat lamp that is sitting on the floor next to me as I shave.

Why is Jason shaving in his kitchen? EXCELLENT QUESTION! The bathroom does not have any electrical outlets--none. And my electric shaver works better when it's plugged in . . . so, that's why I shave in my kitchen. The bathroom is the only part of my apartment that I wish was different. In Korea to only have one minor issue like that to deal with in your apartment is AWESOME--I've lived in far worse, big time!

We went out for dokgalbi again in Myongdong--it's become the default choice for dinner when we don't know what we want to eat.

This picture was taken using Julianne's Nikon--it's interesting to see the differences between pics taken with her camera in contrast with my Canon.

The settings were not exactly the same so that accounts for some of the contrast, but we also have completely different lenses too. I like elements of both pictures . . . these two pics were taken with my Canon.

We went back to the BB gun rifle range. Julianne decided to try shooting for the first time ever . . . I gave her a 90 second tutorial in the basics of how to shoot a rifle . . . she's a natural. I don't know if I should be alarmed or proud or both, lol.

I then took another crack at trying to achieve the high score of the firing range. I beat my old best record of 3000 points . . . and I got 3210.

If I keep it up I'll beat the high score, or match it, within the next 3 or 4 visits. I might try to suggest to the guy who runs the place to have a timed shooting contest where the shooter must fire from a free standing position and cannot use the counter and cushion for a stable firing position. It'd be interesting to see what the high scores are with the higher degree of difficulty . . .

Julianne bought a Korean rice cake dessert to try for the first time. I took one look at it and passed when she offered me a bite. I knew that it has red bean paste inside. That's one flavor that I don't care for too much when it's supposed to be a dessert.

Lately I've been experimenting and practicing a lot with my camera. These shots of myself are from a couple days ago when Julianne and I were reading an online tutorial about aperture and shutter speeds . . .

Near the end when I was getting tired I just started doing random settings and then taking a pic of Julianne . . . it was fun.

Tonight when we got back from Myongdong I was tired and didn't feel like doing much. Julianne was in the mood to play games on facebook. I picked up my camera and started doing closeups on the monochrome setting.

I really like this picture of Julianne.

Tomorrow we're going to go to Seoul and check out some places that Julianne hasn't been to yet.

And, of course, take more pics.

Happy New Year!
J

BB Gun Shooting Range in Chuncheon

Julianne and I went to Myongdong in Chuncheon last night to eat and then wander around.

Earlier in the week, Julianne picked up a miniature globe from GS Mart to put together. She's using it in her English winter camp as something the students can look at and think about how to make their fantasy island maps a little more global, or something along those lines . . .

Anyways, Julianne loves putting puzzles together--not really my thing, so I killed some time snapping pics of her doing that.

I finally discovered the BB gun rifle range (sounds a lot more impressive than it actually is) in Myongdong, Chuncheon.

If you're in the area and want to find it walk down the main shopping walkway and when you reach the small street that has KFC on its right, turn left and walk UP the hill. On your right you'll see another shopping area with a store called ABC Shoes (I think). Take the path on the left that has shops on either side of it (as opposed to the other side where the shoe store is) and look for the movie theater and arcade that are in the back left corner of this area. Just before you reach the movie theater you'll see the shooting range on your left.

It costs 2 000won for 50 pellets with the rifle, and 1 000won for 20 pellets with the hand gun.

I wouldn't waste time with the hand gun. The air pressure feeding the guns from a hose is very high but the weight and shape of the pellet is very light and small so the velocity and accuracy of the pellets fired out of the hand gun is pretty crappy. If you've ever fired a real gun you'll just snicker at the hand gun . . .

The rifle, however, is pretty good all things being considered. I shot two sets of 50, and both times got a score of 3000. Apparently the record is something like 3810 . . . so I'm gonna go back every once and while until I beat the record, or at least achieve that score myself (I don't know if you can score above 3810, it might be the maximum). I don't think the digital scoring system keeps track of time. I think it just tracks how many times you strike and knock over the targets.

Anyways, it was a fun way to kill some time (no pun intended, lol).

There are some prizes you can win depending on your score. I'm not sure how the whole prize system works as the signs were in Korean. I chose a little key chain that you can put a mini-picture in and gave it to Julianne . . .

I'm going to go back some time in the next couple of days and try to get the maximum score . . .

J