Mountain Hiking Trip To Bukhansan Bibong Section

Starting point signpost.
There is Geumsunsa Templestay.

The Team. One girl missing, she went to meet Zumba.

Cute, clear signboards and posters.
These creative and ideas with good design are everywhere - in the subway, inside the trains, parks.

Another peak. Look at that huge boulder. The colour of it is truly outstanding with the sunlight.
All the rays of the sun just keep coming better as the day progresses.

We are at the highest point. Alas, one peak area is off-limits unless you have professional gear, ie. a helmet, boots.

Top of the world.

Meal time. Coffee, must-eat-after-hiking-Korean-noodles, hot water 2.2 litres, and bonus Cocoa+coffee to get that nice mocha. We had pear too. The huge Korean pears. Huge, sweet.

Main meal. Healthy 5 grain rice, and splendid pork omelette.
Agasshi made them. Perhaps Andy made them!

Look carefully at the central spot. There are some hikers on that hill-top too.

We all woke up late. Then set off "late" but actually it was the best time to be on the top at about 3:30pm. The sun was at that golden angle. The rays made the foliage and rocks stand out.

Scenic view of other peaks.

학생 - Had earlier stopped by our meal place wanting to go to the peak that was forbidden by the ranger.
Then after eating, we decided to take Andy's challenge to get to the next peak (300 metres away) and the haksaeng was at this perfect spot enjoying the whole place!
We did a few superb photos here on Andy's camera. 

Steep climb almost all the way.
Amazing that we did it.
Dozens of ajummoni and ajeoshi that were pros notwithstanding.

A perfect couch.

I wish for...

... Top Of The World.

House Party At Andy's New Home

Andy and Shelly prepared a complete dinner. Gogigui, beef steak home cooked. Balsamic vinegar on the salad, roasted capsicum, onions and asparagus on the sides of the steak. Cheese cake, wine. We played some "Korean drinking games" like the "counting numbers omitting the 3, 6, 9s", spinning the bottle cap, twerking the bottle cap's locking spine (?)/ then doing the noraebang.

Huge salad.

Cooking and jumping. The huge Special Edition Metal Canister Heineken on the table.

Cooking and watching.

Cooking, watching and drinking.
This makgeolli brand is the "sitting" brand.
Hejin(Jia) just mentioned some traditional makgeolli, when consumed you apparently will be sitting all day and unable to stand. When we got the bottle out of the fridge, it was exactly the same story. 

Looks like tuna or salmon. But it's semi raw beef steak.

They made their own cheese cake. 

Ginkgo supposed to suppress or counter the alcohol, or sugar?
Not supposed to take more than 20 each.

Cheese cake, eating, hugging(!) and noraebang.

This year's craze is Bar Bar Bar, Crayon Pop.
SO since Andy and Shelly have not a clue what it is, we had to do something about it.

We want steak thiiiiiis big!
Ohh.. aigooo. (아이고 )
Then "cheeese 스"

A Sunny Day In Seoul In Late Autumn

After 4-5 days of cold weather hovering at just the freezing point, it was sunny today at close to 10 C.

Xperia L, updated to Jelly Bean 4.2.2

The thin slice of a building.
Slim customers with BMI below 17 only.

Yanghwa-ro-11-gil

Coffine Gurunaru, their colours scheme.

Still autumn, so leaves are still there hanging onto the branches.

More leaves.

Just the amount of sun to show the colours of the building.

Delivery men still doing their routine.

National Founding Day Korea celebration

Today is National Founding Day, Korea. Gaecheonjeol.
This holiday commemorates the founding of ancient Korea in the year 2333 BC.

To celebrate the day, I made a point to visit a Korean palace - Changdeokgung. I guess most westerners don't see this. But Changdeokgung, the last part is "gung" and it means palace. So just writing Changdeokgung is more appropriate than adding Palace. The redundant noun.

The weather was hot. And very bright. Took much effort to have some good photos due to other factors like the reflection of the brightness onto the sandy compound of the palace grounds. The roof had some reflective coating and in a very deep contrast of black. So challenging but rewarding once you've done some nice compositions.

Yesterday night I fixed my Xperia L phone with a new phone app "Camera ICS" by Moblynx. The original camera app seems to have poor autofocus, and inconsistent colour gradation. I tried adjusting before and actually loved my original Xperia Ray's camera interface. Since both are Sony devices, they share the same interface. While L is a new 2013 phone, with a new RS sensor, the camera app didn't live up to it's reputation. Xperia Ray had much better photo output albeit slower shutter time (due to single core and lower RAM).

So now I have better shots to show:

Palace compound

People: All clear and sharp

Vignette created by the rooft and its shadows 

Picnic with a 1000 Won kimbap
Food not allowed (I was told after eating 6 pieces)

Olympus EPL1 and LunarFly 3

Original structural wood