Tuesday, June 29, 2004
C E N S O R S H I P
The South Korean government has restricted access to many blog sites (blogspot.com, blogs.com, blogcity.com, etc) in an effort to restrict the South Koreans from viewing the Kim Seon Il beheading video. So I'm not able to access by own blog from here. Though I can create and edit posts (blogger.com is not banned), I can not access my blog.
Until this changes I might not be able to follow up comments.... so please bear with me.
Until this changes I might not be able to follow up comments.... so please bear with me.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Sam·gyab·saal
Sam·gyab·saal
noun
A large elaborately prepared Korean meal consisting of chiefly pork, accompanied with various side dishes like bu·chim·gae, lettuce leaves, native grass and herbs, onions soaked in vinegar, roasted cocoons, fried eggs, and a hundred other things that you wouldn't even want to know. And ofcourse, So·ju
Tranlated literally, Sam·gyab·saal means three fold flesh.
This meal is usually served at special occasions like welcome parties, farewell parties, homecoming parties, birthday parties, graduation parties, thesis defence parties, and any other goddamn reason that you can think of. Infact other than drinking beer, this is the only way that Koreans celebrate.
The table is very low and everyone sits on small cushions on the floor around it. The table, typically crowded with more than fifty bowls, has a charcoal stove in the center over which the aju·ma places a metallic plate. Everyone gets a bowl filled with native grass & weed seasoned with exotic spices.
The charcoal stove is used to barbecue raw slices of pork, which incidentally come in an almost never ending supply. The raw pork is cooked in its own fat. Some may say the fat is cooked in its own pork, but the claim has not been proven yet.
Natives will usually use tongs and scissors, to cut the pork into smaller, more manageable pieces. They will then place the pork pieces onto small leaves, garnish it with some weeds, some cocoons, onions and god knows what! It is wildly rumoured that this small snack is delicious with exotic Korean sauces. The author would not like to vouch for this fact.
After a complete meal consisting of pork and various side dishes, comes the main course which may consist of either rice with Korean curry or icy noodles. Non Koreans would normally die of overeating at this point, but Koreans are known to have the chromosome SamgyabsaalBachillus 3TZ which enables them to eat meat and drink beer endlessly.
See also, Seng·sam·gyab·saal, which translated literally means Fresh (non-frozen) three fold flesh.
noun
A large elaborately prepared Korean meal consisting of chiefly pork, accompanied with various side dishes like bu·chim·gae, lettuce leaves, native grass and herbs, onions soaked in vinegar, roasted cocoons, fried eggs, and a hundred other things that you wouldn't even want to know. And ofcourse, So·ju
Tranlated literally, Sam·gyab·saal means three fold flesh.
This meal is usually served at special occasions like welcome parties, farewell parties, homecoming parties, birthday parties, graduation parties, thesis defence parties, and any other goddamn reason that you can think of. Infact other than drinking beer, this is the only way that Koreans celebrate.
The table is very low and everyone sits on small cushions on the floor around it. The table, typically crowded with more than fifty bowls, has a charcoal stove in the center over which the aju·ma places a metallic plate. Everyone gets a bowl filled with native grass & weed seasoned with exotic spices.
The charcoal stove is used to barbecue raw slices of pork, which incidentally come in an almost never ending supply. The raw pork is cooked in its own fat. Some may say the fat is cooked in its own pork, but the claim has not been proven yet.
Natives will usually use tongs and scissors, to cut the pork into smaller, more manageable pieces. They will then place the pork pieces onto small leaves, garnish it with some weeds, some cocoons, onions and god knows what! It is wildly rumoured that this small snack is delicious with exotic Korean sauces. The author would not like to vouch for this fact.
After a complete meal consisting of pork and various side dishes, comes the main course which may consist of either rice with Korean curry or icy noodles. Non Koreans would normally die of overeating at this point, but Koreans are known to have the chromosome SamgyabsaalBachillus 3TZ which enables them to eat meat and drink beer endlessly.
See also, Seng·sam·gyab·saal, which translated literally means Fresh (non-frozen) three fold flesh.
The Birthday Party!
That's a pic from the teeny-weeny birthday party our group celebrated this evening. EunYoung (yellow t-shirt) is the birthday girl, and No! I did not ask her how old she was?!
From L: Jungho Ryu, Hwajin Kim, Soonhyun Kim, Moi :-D, Eunyoung Bae, Yiseul Park
In case you missed, that's me with my foolish grin.... god I'm so happy to eat the cake! Btw, that was no ordinary cake, it was a sweet potato cake! Yes, sweet potato! And it was tasty :-p
Going out for dinner now... Soju, here I come - oh wait! I was under self-inflicted probation for two weeks. Hmmm...
PS: Photographs courtesy Eunyoung's Digicam.
Saturday, June 19, 2004
It's been raining since the past few days, but it's today that it's really hit me. Probably because I haven't got much to do, other than some routine work in the lab, you know like preparing titanium dioxide coated glass slides, loading them with dioxin, one of the most carcinogenic chemical known to man, and then blowing the shit out of it with UV radiation :-)
Yes, it's hit me today. I've been in this weird mood since morning. I dont know where my mind drifts off to.
It's really beautiful. The campus with the lush greenery, all the more beautiful with the drops of rain making every tree look greener. The soft sound of rain drops hitting every surface - music to my ears.
God - it's so romantic. Now, if only I had someone...
Yes, it's hit me today. I've been in this weird mood since morning. I dont know where my mind drifts off to.
It's really beautiful. The campus with the lush greenery, all the more beautiful with the drops of rain making every tree look greener. The soft sound of rain drops hitting every surface - music to my ears.
God - it's so romantic. Now, if only I had someone...
Friday, June 18, 2004
The night the sky was on fire...
Last Saturday there was a Firework festival in Pohang. And I waited till today to write about it, cause I wanted to do it along with the pics.
It was the most exquisite firework show I've ever seen in my life. Actually calling it "Fireworks" would be derogatory... it was an experience. A lifetime experience, I'd say.
Imagine this (if you can)....
Jam!
The streets around leading to Bukbu beach were jammed. The first traffic jam I've seen in Korea till now, and from POSTECH to the Bukbu beach usually would have taken us 5 or 10 mins, that day it took us 2 full hours! Just in time for the show.
Spent another 30 mins to look for some place to park the car (Avishek's car). It was the first time I was seeing traffic rules being broken in Korea, people were breaking signals, changing lanes, making U-turns in the middle of the road. In short - it was chaos!!
Korean Mela
We were disappointed at the first glance. As they say, never judge a book by its cover, and they're right on their money! At first it looked like a Korean version of an Indian mela. The road running right next to the beach was swarming with people. There were stalls of games. The regulars were there, like shooting balloons and toppling pyramids of cans. But where else have you hooped a bottle of Chivas Regal or Johnny Walker :-D And plus, there was the stench of boiled cocoons (yes, I'm serious), live octopuses, squid and crab and freshly severed fishes :-p It's anything but food - I'm telling you.
It started...
Anyways, right at 9:30 PM (Koreans are very punctual) it started. The show I'll remember for all my life. I was standing on the beach, and right in front of me was the vast pitch dark sea, onto the left was the silhouette of a small hill, and onto the right was a huge building (some resort) behind which thousands of lights of the Posco steel factory glittered. This itself was a scene in itself... when suddenly the whole sky was lighted with a huge ball of fire accompanied with a loud sound.
The music started (there were speakers on the beach) and one after the other the sky was lit up in various shapes and colours. It was the best light and sound coordination I have ever seen.
What made it a lifetime experience was not the fireworks alone, in a moment I saw that the building (the resort on the right) was being used as a massive screen! Various scenes and graphics depicting Korea were being projected onto it's walls!
A three dimensional hologram in the form of an old man ;-)
PS: Watch Rudraaksha to get the joke!
There was more to come. After about 20 mins of this amazing show, everything stopped. And then on the horizon appeared a greenish face of an old man! It was a hologram, a light effect, I dont know how they fucking did it! And it moved. The mouth movement was synchronized with whatever he was saying in Korean.
At 10:00 PM, after 30 lovely minutes, the show came to an end with the words "I Love Pohang) lighting up the sky!
I wasn't able to capture the building being used as a massive screen but I think the pictures above will be some indication to what an exquisite show it was!
It was the most exquisite firework show I've ever seen in my life. Actually calling it "Fireworks" would be derogatory... it was an experience. A lifetime experience, I'd say.
Imagine this (if you can)....
Jam!
The streets around leading to Bukbu beach were jammed. The first traffic jam I've seen in Korea till now, and from POSTECH to the Bukbu beach usually would have taken us 5 or 10 mins, that day it took us 2 full hours! Just in time for the show.
Spent another 30 mins to look for some place to park the car (Avishek's car). It was the first time I was seeing traffic rules being broken in Korea, people were breaking signals, changing lanes, making U-turns in the middle of the road. In short - it was chaos!!
Korean Mela
We were disappointed at the first glance. As they say, never judge a book by its cover, and they're right on their money! At first it looked like a Korean version of an Indian mela. The road running right next to the beach was swarming with people. There were stalls of games. The regulars were there, like shooting balloons and toppling pyramids of cans. But where else have you hooped a bottle of Chivas Regal or Johnny Walker :-D And plus, there was the stench of boiled cocoons (yes, I'm serious), live octopuses, squid and crab and freshly severed fishes :-p It's anything but food - I'm telling you.
It started...
Anyways, right at 9:30 PM (Koreans are very punctual) it started. The show I'll remember for all my life. I was standing on the beach, and right in front of me was the vast pitch dark sea, onto the left was the silhouette of a small hill, and onto the right was a huge building (some resort) behind which thousands of lights of the Posco steel factory glittered. This itself was a scene in itself... when suddenly the whole sky was lighted with a huge ball of fire accompanied with a loud sound.
The music started (there were speakers on the beach) and one after the other the sky was lit up in various shapes and colours. It was the best light and sound coordination I have ever seen.
What made it a lifetime experience was not the fireworks alone, in a moment I saw that the building (the resort on the right) was being used as a massive screen! Various scenes and graphics depicting Korea were being projected onto it's walls!
A three dimensional hologram in the form of an old man ;-)
PS: Watch Rudraaksha to get the joke!
There was more to come. After about 20 mins of this amazing show, everything stopped. And then on the horizon appeared a greenish face of an old man! It was a hologram, a light effect, I dont know how they fucking did it! And it moved. The mouth movement was synchronized with whatever he was saying in Korean.
At 10:00 PM, after 30 lovely minutes, the show came to an end with the words "I Love Pohang) lighting up the sky!
I wasn't able to capture the building being used as a massive screen but I think the pictures above will be some indication to what an exquisite show it was!
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Fortune (cookies) favour the brave!
Last night I had this funny incident with the lady in the Community Store who runs the cash counter. Being the handsome hunk in Korea that I am, I always used to get a smile from this lady whenever I was there treating myself to an ice-cream, or some noodles, or whatever.
Well, it was the sixth role of film in my camera, and I had grown really bored of clicking mostly inanimate objects or sceneries. So, after fooling around in the office clicking candid shots of all my labmates, I mustered up enough courage to go out and do some street photography. The real thing (tm)!
Well, 1:00 AM in the night, the best "street" I found for photography was the Jigok Community Store, thanks to my growling stomach. So I go up to the store, after failing to get some "interesting" shots in there, I get this bright idea of clicking the cash counter lady in action (which here implies accepting cash, and giving goods!)
I go right upto her and stick the camera in her face. And she starts blushing and giggling and shaking her head, and all that stuff people do when they become conscious. She stops one of the Korean lads, and asks him to ask me why I was clicking her snap! Well, surely I was dying to say... "Lady, I was getting bored, and this is the last shot in my camera, and I really dont know what to do with it, so I thought, why not you?!" But I realised explaining so much of English to the Korean lad would take me another hour, and it really wasn't a nice thing to say anyway.
"For memories. I go back to my country!"
Well said, Saurabh Nanda.
The Korean lad translated it to her, and immediately she bowed, expressing her gratitude.
"Indo?", she asked. I don't know how they got this name, probably from watching too much of live coverage of the Indo-Pak war, but that's what the Koreans call India!
"Yes, Indo", I replied.
Finally, I took the snap, ignoring the sneers and comments from Dhamija, who was standing in the corner somewhere, lest he be identified as a friend of mine!
The photograph was far from candid!
But anyways, while I was cooking my noodles in the microwave oven (there are two of them in the store itself)... the lady comes by with a pack of cookies, smiling from ear to ear. And offers me some cookies, says something in Korean, which I obviously dont understand! So lady, if a billion years down the line you learn english and you happen to read this blog, you'll know why I didnt mail you the prints!
Well, what the heck! If you get cookies for clicking such horrible snaps, who cares, keep clicking!
PS: This was one of the few shots I tried with the flash on - I know, it sucks!
Well, it was the sixth role of film in my camera, and I had grown really bored of clicking mostly inanimate objects or sceneries. So, after fooling around in the office clicking candid shots of all my labmates, I mustered up enough courage to go out and do some street photography. The real thing (tm)!
Well, 1:00 AM in the night, the best "street" I found for photography was the Jigok Community Store, thanks to my growling stomach. So I go up to the store, after failing to get some "interesting" shots in there, I get this bright idea of clicking the cash counter lady in action (which here implies accepting cash, and giving goods!)
I go right upto her and stick the camera in her face. And she starts blushing and giggling and shaking her head, and all that stuff people do when they become conscious. She stops one of the Korean lads, and asks him to ask me why I was clicking her snap! Well, surely I was dying to say... "Lady, I was getting bored, and this is the last shot in my camera, and I really dont know what to do with it, so I thought, why not you?!" But I realised explaining so much of English to the Korean lad would take me another hour, and it really wasn't a nice thing to say anyway.
"For memories. I go back to my country!"
Well said, Saurabh Nanda.
The Korean lad translated it to her, and immediately she bowed, expressing her gratitude.
"Indo?", she asked. I don't know how they got this name, probably from watching too much of live coverage of the Indo-Pak war, but that's what the Koreans call India!
"Yes, Indo", I replied.
Finally, I took the snap, ignoring the sneers and comments from Dhamija, who was standing in the corner somewhere, lest he be identified as a friend of mine!
The photograph was far from candid!
But anyways, while I was cooking my noodles in the microwave oven (there are two of them in the store itself)... the lady comes by with a pack of cookies, smiling from ear to ear. And offers me some cookies, says something in Korean, which I obviously dont understand! So lady, if a billion years down the line you learn english and you happen to read this blog, you'll know why I didnt mail you the prints!
Well, what the heck! If you get cookies for clicking such horrible snaps, who cares, keep clicking!
PS: This was one of the few shots I tried with the flash on - I know, it sucks!
Saturday, June 12, 2004
The Log Cabin
This one is gonna make you guys commit suicide...
As you know I'm all crazy about Soju... and if you're interested in some more trivia - any decent soft drink in Korea would cost you 600-700 Won, and the lovely bottle of Korean Vodka would cost you trifle more, just 890 Wons... so eat your heart out!
Now comes the best part. There's this place in POSTECH called "The Log Cabin", and before you get any ideas - No! that's not what the Maths Laboratory is called! I dont know even if their exists one! Why the hell do Mathematicians need labs anyways, just lotsa pots for them to keep their thinking juices (yechh :-p) flowing!
It's the on-campus pub! Yes... it's a pub and it's ON CAMPUS!! It's beautiful. It's cheap and it's a great place to get drunk!
It's completely made out of (surprise! surprise!) wood. As you can see in this picture. Just remove the tables and chairs, and I'm sure you would've mistaken this for some old English house, up in the Garwhals or some hill station. It's got an awesome location... this mansion of a bar amidst lush greenery. It almost looks like you're in the middle of a forest or something.
As you know I'm all crazy about Soju... and if you're interested in some more trivia - any decent soft drink in Korea would cost you 600-700 Won, and the lovely bottle of Korean Vodka would cost you trifle more, just 890 Wons... so eat your heart out!
Now comes the best part. There's this place in POSTECH called "The Log Cabin", and before you get any ideas - No! that's not what the Maths Laboratory is called! I dont know even if their exists one! Why the hell do Mathematicians need labs anyways, just lotsa pots for them to keep their thinking juices (yechh :-p) flowing!
It's the on-campus pub! Yes... it's a pub and it's ON CAMPUS!! It's beautiful. It's cheap and it's a great place to get drunk!
It's completely made out of (surprise! surprise!) wood. As you can see in this picture. Just remove the tables and chairs, and I'm sure you would've mistaken this for some old English house, up in the Garwhals or some hill station. It's got an awesome location... this mansion of a bar amidst lush greenery. It almost looks like you're in the middle of a forest or something.
And to boot, it's not got one, but two floors. This is a pic of the second floor. It's awesome man!
A shot of the first floor.
This is a shot of the first floor taken from the second floor.
It was freaking hard to take these pics. All in low light... with the camera up on some chair or some table, and down to a 1" or 2" shutter speed. It's a miracle that you can see something in these pics!
The chicken you get here is amazing! I can't really describe it... it looks almost raw, but it's got this lovely flavour to it... dip it in the accompanying sauce, some mayonnaise, and the shredded cabbage! Yum! And top it off with some Soju! Cambaa!!
:-)
Friday, June 11, 2004
Pics from Homigot.
This is supporting information. Read Riding into the Sunset for the complete rant.
The breathtaking sunrise at Homigot.
Another shot of the sunrise.
These were the paddy fields I was talking about. All along the way.
The windmill. Wasn't very exciting but added to the package, nevertheless
The lighthouse. This was our first indication that we were nearing out destination. From far away we could see some lights. We thought it was some car or something, till I realised it was periodic, and started measruing the delay between two flashes of light! This was beautiful. Reached Homigot just minutes before the sunrise and the lighthouse was glowing in it's soft blue light. I tried capturing the four "rays" coming from the light house... I hope you can make them out in the snap.
The breathtaking sunrise at Homigot.
Another shot of the sunrise.
These were the paddy fields I was talking about. All along the way.
The windmill. Wasn't very exciting but added to the package, nevertheless
The lighthouse. This was our first indication that we were nearing out destination. From far away we could see some lights. We thought it was some car or something, till I realised it was periodic, and started measruing the delay between two flashes of light! This was beautiful. Reached Homigot just minutes before the sunrise and the lighthouse was glowing in it's soft blue light. I tried capturing the four "rays" coming from the light house... I hope you can make them out in the snap.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Pics from Bug-yeong-sa picnic
This is supporting information. Check out The Bug-yeong-sa Picnic for the complete rant!
A shot of the street leading up to the Sa. This is supposed to be one of the most rural areas of Korea!!
Another shot of the street and shops. Really clean and quite. Not like Indian temples.
A close up shot of the intricate paintings on the wooden structures there. Looks beautiful, but nothing to match the details in Indian architecture. It's well preserved though.
Ding-Dong bell. Pussy in the well. Who rung the bell? The monk before the prayers!
A nice shot of typical buddhist temple architecture.
The same building in full splendour.
That's Joshi. We're on our way to the waterfalls now. It was a beautiful 3 km trek.
Destination #1. Twin waterfalls. Love the ripples on the water. Could've taken a but more depth of field.
Destination #2. Another twin waterfall. This is where we had lunch.
(From back) Dhamija, Joshi, Ganeshan, Me, and Little Johnny :-)
Another shot of the waterfalls. Got this one correctly. The ripples near the camera and the waterfall at the farther end - both in focus.
A bridge we had to cross to reach the final big waterfall. The final waterfall wasn't that beautiful as the previous one though.
Tried to "freeze" the motion of water in this one - but failed :-(
I simply love this one. Just right. I bought one of these showpieces as a souvenir.
A shot of the street leading up to the Sa. This is supposed to be one of the most rural areas of Korea!!
Another shot of the street and shops. Really clean and quite. Not like Indian temples.
A close up shot of the intricate paintings on the wooden structures there. Looks beautiful, but nothing to match the details in Indian architecture. It's well preserved though.
Ding-Dong bell. Pussy in the well. Who rung the bell? The monk before the prayers!
A nice shot of typical buddhist temple architecture.
The same building in full splendour.
That's Joshi. We're on our way to the waterfalls now. It was a beautiful 3 km trek.
Destination #1. Twin waterfalls. Love the ripples on the water. Could've taken a but more depth of field.
Destination #2. Another twin waterfall. This is where we had lunch.
(From back) Dhamija, Joshi, Ganeshan, Me, and Little Johnny :-)
Another shot of the waterfalls. Got this one correctly. The ripples near the camera and the waterfall at the farther end - both in focus.
A bridge we had to cross to reach the final big waterfall. The final waterfall wasn't that beautiful as the previous one though.
Tried to "freeze" the motion of water in this one - but failed :-(
I simply love this one. Just right. I bought one of these showpieces as a souvenir.
Riding into the sunset...
Walking into a sunrise was more like it!
This must've been the weirdest trip that I've had in Korea till now. I guess it all started after the trek I recently went for (with Nikux, Pant, RD & Nishant Tripathi) to Kunwari Pass. Yeah! That's when it started. The penchant for adventure. The insane liking to stretch my limits, to subject my body to enduring pain - till I start feeling I cant take it any more and then I do it just a bit further.
So, I packed my camera, a towel, my Jockey underwear :-), shorts, t-shirt, a full sleeve shirt [Ed: Note the emphasis] and one & a half bottle of Soju - yeah the omnipresent Soju - my favourite alcoholic drink this part of the world. It's only 1000 Won. 40 rupees for a bottle of Vodka!! (I know you're jealous - Muahahaha)
So, where were we off to? Didn't get it, did you? We were off to Homigot. The eastern most point of Korea. The first point to receive electromagnetic waves in the 400nm-700nm range and a little in the infra and ultra region as well.
My past experiences with Korean sunrises, thanks to this stinky habit of blogging, was that they start off at 0400 hours. Two choices were staring right into our faces. Hire a cab to Homigot at about 0300 hours - and shell about 50,000 Wons!! Or, take the last bus at 11:00 PM in the night - and wait at Homigot till morning :-)
Being the adventurous buggers that we are, we chose the most obvious one. Bus #300 took us to the bus terminal. The soju was feeling rather lonely, so we took a pitcher of beer to keep it company and some chips, peanuts and biscuits to munch along.
Oh an btw, we refers to Dhamija, Murugeshan (his guide - Dr. Moo for short) and Moi.
All we knew was Bus #200 would take us to Gur-yeong-po which is very near to Homigot. There were buses to Homigot too but the last one was at 08:00 PM, which we obviously wouldn't get.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing - they say. We had a hard time figuring out exactly which stop was Gur-yeong-po. An excerpt from the many similar conversations I had with the people in the bus...
Me: This bus, go Homigot?
Pasenger: Yay!
M: Homigot, where?
P: Chang po hwang do dhing dhang bush ko maar do kam sa meeda.
M: Homigot, homigot.
P: Yay!
M: Gur-yeong-po, last stop?
P: Yay!
M: Gur-yeong-po, first stop?
P: Yay!
So, you know the territory we were on :-D
With all the commotion in the back, the bus driver became aware of the fact that there were three buggers who wanted to go to Homigot - the Sunrize Plaza - in the middle of the night! He was kind enough to throw us out of the bus at the last stop, which incidentally happened to be Gur-yeong-po. Ah! Thank god for small mercies.
All he said was "Tuxi! Tuxi! Homigot!" - and we were swamped by a swarm of Tuxi drivers.
Me: Homigot, al ma ae yo? [Ed: Korean for "How much to Homigot?"]
Tuxi Driver: il-man-ee-cheon [12,000 Won]
Well. Thank you, but we'll walk!
And we started walking. Someone on the street told us (wrote down actuall) that Homigot is 7 kms away. We can do it - we thought!
It was beautiful. One loan road. Pitch dark. Flanked by the vast ocean on one side, shimmering with the silver light of the moon. Sometimes vast paddy fields on the other side. Sometimes shops, with huge aquariums full of crabs! Thousand of them! Crammed into one small space. Ready to be eaten fresh!
We spent about an hour on a beach enroute. It was amazing. The moon illuminating the ink blue sky. The vast ocean glimmering in its silver splendour. The waves soflty lapping at our feet. It was romantic.
I guess beaches look much better in the night. Much romantic. When you can really *listen* to the ocean talking to you. Without the noise of the day to disturb.
Dhamija and Dr. Moo preferred confining themselves to one spot enjoying the beer, as I took a stroll down the beach with my Soju. I guess it was probably because they were freezing in their t-shirts. Now you know why I emphasised the full sleeve shirt ;-) And yeah - I caught a crab!! Yes I did. I've even taken a proof-of-capture photograph after bringing it back to my dormitory :-)
So we took off after about an hour.
And we walked.
And walked.
Till we reached a sign board which read Dae-bo (that's the place where Homigot is) - 7 Kms! WHAT?! We were halfway throught and 7 *more* kilometers to walk! So we ended up walking 14 fucking kilometers in the middle of the night to reach Homigot. And we reached just in time. Five minutes before the sunrise started.
It was breathtaking. I'll let the photographs do the talking. Clicked a lot of them. Hope they come out well.
There was a lot of other stuff to see there as well. A lighthouse, a windmill, a museum. None of us was in the position to wait till the museum opened. So we took a cab back till Gur-yeong-pe and all way back on buses to POSTECH to our heavenly rooms!
Definitely the weirdest trip I've ever had!
This must've been the weirdest trip that I've had in Korea till now. I guess it all started after the trek I recently went for (with Nikux, Pant, RD & Nishant Tripathi) to Kunwari Pass. Yeah! That's when it started. The penchant for adventure. The insane liking to stretch my limits, to subject my body to enduring pain - till I start feeling I cant take it any more and then I do it just a bit further.
So, I packed my camera, a towel, my Jockey underwear :-), shorts, t-shirt, a full sleeve shirt [Ed: Note the emphasis] and one & a half bottle of Soju - yeah the omnipresent Soju - my favourite alcoholic drink this part of the world. It's only 1000 Won. 40 rupees for a bottle of Vodka!! (I know you're jealous - Muahahaha)
So, where were we off to? Didn't get it, did you? We were off to Homigot. The eastern most point of Korea. The first point to receive electromagnetic waves in the 400nm-700nm range and a little in the infra and ultra region as well.
My past experiences with Korean sunrises, thanks to this stinky habit of blogging, was that they start off at 0400 hours. Two choices were staring right into our faces. Hire a cab to Homigot at about 0300 hours - and shell about 50,000 Wons!! Or, take the last bus at 11:00 PM in the night - and wait at Homigot till morning :-)
Being the adventurous buggers that we are, we chose the most obvious one. Bus #300 took us to the bus terminal. The soju was feeling rather lonely, so we took a pitcher of beer to keep it company and some chips, peanuts and biscuits to munch along.
Oh an btw, we refers to Dhamija, Murugeshan (his guide - Dr. Moo for short) and Moi.
All we knew was Bus #200 would take us to Gur-yeong-po which is very near to Homigot. There were buses to Homigot too but the last one was at 08:00 PM, which we obviously wouldn't get.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing - they say. We had a hard time figuring out exactly which stop was Gur-yeong-po. An excerpt from the many similar conversations I had with the people in the bus...
Me: This bus, go Homigot?
Pasenger: Yay!
M: Homigot, where?
P: Chang po hwang do dhing dhang bush ko maar do kam sa meeda.
M: Homigot, homigot.
P: Yay!
M: Gur-yeong-po, last stop?
P: Yay!
M: Gur-yeong-po, first stop?
P: Yay!
So, you know the territory we were on :-D
With all the commotion in the back, the bus driver became aware of the fact that there were three buggers who wanted to go to Homigot - the Sunrize Plaza - in the middle of the night! He was kind enough to throw us out of the bus at the last stop, which incidentally happened to be Gur-yeong-po. Ah! Thank god for small mercies.
All he said was "Tuxi! Tuxi! Homigot!" - and we were swamped by a swarm of Tuxi drivers.
Me: Homigot, al ma ae yo? [Ed: Korean for "How much to Homigot?"]
Tuxi Driver: il-man-ee-cheon [12,000 Won]
Well. Thank you, but we'll walk!
And we started walking. Someone on the street told us (wrote down actuall) that Homigot is 7 kms away. We can do it - we thought!
It was beautiful. One loan road. Pitch dark. Flanked by the vast ocean on one side, shimmering with the silver light of the moon. Sometimes vast paddy fields on the other side. Sometimes shops, with huge aquariums full of crabs! Thousand of them! Crammed into one small space. Ready to be eaten fresh!
We spent about an hour on a beach enroute. It was amazing. The moon illuminating the ink blue sky. The vast ocean glimmering in its silver splendour. The waves soflty lapping at our feet. It was romantic.
I guess beaches look much better in the night. Much romantic. When you can really *listen* to the ocean talking to you. Without the noise of the day to disturb.
Dhamija and Dr. Moo preferred confining themselves to one spot enjoying the beer, as I took a stroll down the beach with my Soju. I guess it was probably because they were freezing in their t-shirts. Now you know why I emphasised the full sleeve shirt ;-) And yeah - I caught a crab!! Yes I did. I've even taken a proof-of-capture photograph after bringing it back to my dormitory :-)
So we took off after about an hour.
And we walked.
And walked.
Till we reached a sign board which read Dae-bo (that's the place where Homigot is) - 7 Kms! WHAT?! We were halfway throught and 7 *more* kilometers to walk! So we ended up walking 14 fucking kilometers in the middle of the night to reach Homigot. And we reached just in time. Five minutes before the sunrise started.
It was breathtaking. I'll let the photographs do the talking. Clicked a lot of them. Hope they come out well.
There was a lot of other stuff to see there as well. A lighthouse, a windmill, a museum. None of us was in the position to wait till the museum opened. So we took a cab back till Gur-yeong-pe and all way back on buses to POSTECH to our heavenly rooms!
Definitely the weirdest trip I've ever had!
Friday, June 04, 2004
More critique!
This was some interesting shadows that the lamps were casting. I croppeed the image from the top to eliminate the ropes. Not great - but good for beginners though :-)
And oh - check out the cool copyright notice on the bottom left corner :-)
The pic was taken during the trip to Bug-yeong-sa. The second roll has not been developed so I'll post the pics together.
Later. Gotta sleep it's fucking 4 in the morning!
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Bremen
That's what the POSTECH music club is called. It's doesnt mean anything in Korean for sure. I'm not too certain about English either. I think it's a town somewhere in Europe. And there's a folk tale about it.
Anyawys, so tonight in the Students' Union Building (SUB) Cafeteria (it's called Snack Bar, I came to know rather late :-) ) was POSTECH's musical extravaganza. The annual performance by Bremen.... Yoooohoooo! Alright, so you're not excited but I was - fuck man when you've been sitting on your ass all day in front of the computer even looking at the squid swimming in aquariums downtown is exciting (they actually are exciting!)
The Snack Bar at the SUB. This is one of my older photos. Was taken at about 12:00 midnight. Probably the only photos that I exposed correctly in normal room lighting. Had placed the camera on the table (to eliminate shake) and went in for about f/11 aperture with 1/30 speed. I think it's a nice one - atleast for me :-)
So that place above is where Bremen performed. The chairs and tables had been removed ofcourse and the lights were turned down really low, with a couple of red stage lights brought in to set the mood.
There were 3 bands. All the songs they played were in English, except two or three in Korean. There was What's Going On by Four Non Blondes, Breaking the Law by Judas Priest, Scar Tissue by RHCP, some songs by Green Day, and one song which had a nice guitar guitar riff to it... something like - Too-Too-Too-Too-Ti-Ti-Ti-Yeah!-Yeah!-Jhang-Jhang-Jhik-Jhang-Jhang... I hope you get it.
These Koreans are rather tame. Not bhasadis like us. Some of them started headbanging towards the end but the number was really less. No pseudo rockers like in IITK either :-) Y'know the kind who just go up to the stage and start headbanging without understand a freaking word of the lyrics or the music.
I tried a bit of flash photography as well. My T70's got one helluva flash - the one's you can detach. It's almost as big as the camera itself, and it's got more controls than the camera!! I coulnd't find the manual for the flash off the net so I just arbitrarily did something and clicked away. I dont know what the pics will be like, plus this was the first time I'm shooting with a ISO200 speed film.
Why does our music club has difficulty getting female performers? Bremen had one female lead singer (the sole lead singer for the band, mind you, not a side kick), one female keyboardist and one female drummer! And I think some groupies as well! And these girls kicked ass man!
There was this fundoo guitarist. Much better than what I've seen in any college band. Actually the rock scene here is pretty decent. Many people know how to play a lot of stuff. Back there in Delhi, I've noticed that the chinkis play a lot of rock. I think it runs in their blood group Chinki Rock +ve or something (you don't need to say that - I'm pathetic - I know!)
The only thing missing here was good company. I was with Dhamija and Jung Een Lee (my guide here in POSTECH, she's female). Dhamija isn't quite a rocker and well... Jung Eun was sitting - so you get the point :-)
And hey, for a minute I was stunned when they started shouting Ek aur, ek aur - later I realized it was Encore, encore!!
Tan-ten-nen-ten-ten-ten-ten-taooooon.
That's all folks.
Anyawys, so tonight in the Students' Union Building (SUB) Cafeteria (it's called Snack Bar, I came to know rather late :-) ) was POSTECH's musical extravaganza. The annual performance by Bremen.... Yoooohoooo! Alright, so you're not excited but I was - fuck man when you've been sitting on your ass all day in front of the computer even looking at the squid swimming in aquariums downtown is exciting (they actually are exciting!)
The Snack Bar at the SUB. This is one of my older photos. Was taken at about 12:00 midnight. Probably the only photos that I exposed correctly in normal room lighting. Had placed the camera on the table (to eliminate shake) and went in for about f/11 aperture with 1/30 speed. I think it's a nice one - atleast for me :-)
So that place above is where Bremen performed. The chairs and tables had been removed ofcourse and the lights were turned down really low, with a couple of red stage lights brought in to set the mood.
There were 3 bands. All the songs they played were in English, except two or three in Korean. There was What's Going On by Four Non Blondes, Breaking the Law by Judas Priest, Scar Tissue by RHCP, some songs by Green Day, and one song which had a nice guitar guitar riff to it... something like - Too-Too-Too-Too-Ti-Ti-Ti-Yeah!-Yeah!-Jhang-Jhang-Jhik-Jhang-Jhang... I hope you get it.
These Koreans are rather tame. Not bhasadis like us. Some of them started headbanging towards the end but the number was really less. No pseudo rockers like in IITK either :-) Y'know the kind who just go up to the stage and start headbanging without understand a freaking word of the lyrics or the music.
I tried a bit of flash photography as well. My T70's got one helluva flash - the one's you can detach. It's almost as big as the camera itself, and it's got more controls than the camera!! I coulnd't find the manual for the flash off the net so I just arbitrarily did something and clicked away. I dont know what the pics will be like, plus this was the first time I'm shooting with a ISO200 speed film.
Why does our music club has difficulty getting female performers? Bremen had one female lead singer (the sole lead singer for the band, mind you, not a side kick), one female keyboardist and one female drummer! And I think some groupies as well! And these girls kicked ass man!
There was this fundoo guitarist. Much better than what I've seen in any college band. Actually the rock scene here is pretty decent. Many people know how to play a lot of stuff. Back there in Delhi, I've noticed that the chinkis play a lot of rock. I think it runs in their blood group Chinki Rock +ve or something (you don't need to say that - I'm pathetic - I know!)
The only thing missing here was good company. I was with Dhamija and Jung Een Lee (my guide here in POSTECH, she's female). Dhamija isn't quite a rocker and well... Jung Eun was sitting - so you get the point :-)
And hey, for a minute I was stunned when they started shouting Ek aur, ek aur - later I realized it was Encore, encore!!
Tan-ten-nen-ten-ten-ten-ten-taooooon.
That's all folks.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
More pics coming your way!
Awright! Got two more reels developed, courtesy the FDI (Fuji Digital Imaging) Lab on campus. One was shot with the Olympus point-and-shoot cam and the other was my first role with the manual mode of my Canon T70.
These ones are with the Olympus, shot on the Bukbu Beach. Read Nanda's Day Out for a complete account.
That' me posing on the rip-raps like some hot model :-)
Dhamija and me getting romantic. How sweet!
Me on the water scooter. No - I did not drive it! That man did. And was he good at it?!
That's me on that darned banana. That was the ride of my life!
Joshi and myself. Drenched and doing a Full Monty!
This was a rather amusing video game that I noticed in one of the many arcades downtown. The controls are basically 5 squares on the board and the screen quickly flases a sequence of these squares, and you have to stomp in exactly the same sequence. And to add to the thumping and stomping there were huge speakers... the harder you stop the louder the music!!
And folks.... the photo you've been waiting for! Yo! Baby! Yo! Baby! YO! ;-)
These ones are with the Olympus, shot on the Bukbu Beach. Read Nanda's Day Out for a complete account.
That' me posing on the rip-raps like some hot model :-)
Dhamija and me getting romantic. How sweet!
Me on the water scooter. No - I did not drive it! That man did. And was he good at it?!
That's me on that darned banana. That was the ride of my life!
Joshi and myself. Drenched and doing a Full Monty!
This was a rather amusing video game that I noticed in one of the many arcades downtown. The controls are basically 5 squares on the board and the screen quickly flases a sequence of these squares, and you have to stomp in exactly the same sequence. And to add to the thumping and stomping there were huge speakers... the harder you stop the louder the music!!
And folks.... the photo you've been waiting for! Yo! Baby! Yo! Baby! YO! ;-)
