Fun in the sun

Courtney and I went snorkeling yesterday. We took a half-day trip out to Khai Nai and Khai Nok, two tiny desert islands off the east coast of Phuket. We snorkeled at three sites and had a great time. The fish were vibrant and inquisitive. There was a mention of an opportunity to see some sharks but sadly that never happened.
I couldn't help but compare the diving to my experience on the Great Barrier Reef in 2007. The Barrier Reef trip involved a 2 hour boat ride out into the ocean before we reached our dive sites so the water was crystal clear and the diversity was amazing. I'm not sure how much the reefs in Thailand have changed as a result of the tsunami or if their relative disrepair is due to tourist traffic.
Still it was a great experience. Even if we didn't go snorkeling, just going out to the islands and sitting on creamy white beaches with the surf lapping at your toes, eating watermelon, would have been enough for me.

The Vegetarian Festival

ECC made an offering to the spirits during this morning's Vegetarian Festival parade.. We were all invited to take part in the offering. It didn't require anything of us, just gave us a place to stand and watch the parade. It was an amazing parade, with some quite awesome acts of self-mortification going on.

China

Courtney and I have just got back from a week's backpacking in China. We had a crazy 3 days from me finishing work to getting on the plane. Even then I had problems with my working visa expiring, but as I wasn't going to be doing any work when I got back I could return to Korea on a tourist visa. Cool beans.
Our hostel was a brilliant place, nestled in one of Beijing's Hutong districts. We were about a 20 minutes walk south of Tienanmen Square so had a pretty central location. It was really strange and quite humbling to go from South Korea, where we have a foothold on the language and culture to being dropped right at the bottom of the pile again. Still we managed to fuddle along okay. Our biggest problems arose in restaurants where we seemed to be ordering too little food. Never quite figured that one out.
We had about 5 days in Beijing. We walked around Tienanmen Square, looked in at the Forbidden City, ate fried scorpions on sticks, saw the preserved body of Mao Zedong and rode bicycles. We also spent a day on the Great Wall in Simitai, a 4 hour bus ride from Beijing. It's a very steep section of the wall so can be kind of treacherous in places but means that its also fairly quiet up there. We walked along it for about a mile or so, awestruck that we were there on the Great Wall of China. Our exit strategy off the wall was via perhaps the best form of transport available: zip-line! We also took sleeper trains to and from Xian, where we were saw the terracotta warriors, 6,000 of them unearthed after 2,000 years underground. It was a stunning sight.
Despite the chronic lack of sleep, suffering from Beijing belly and not really knowing what was going on at any moment, it was a fantastic trip. The people of China came across as friendly and most spoke excellent English. The sights were everything we could have hoped for them to be. All in all it was a fantastic experience and a wonderful way to end my time in East Asia.

Wonders of China

The Great Wall - Simitai

Terracotta Warriors - Xian

Terracotta Warriors, Pit 1 - Xian

Beijing

Hutong door

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden City

Hutong roofs

Surprisingly delicious

Hutong

Tienanmen Square

The Next Big Thing

So I've finished teaching at OES Kids, Anseong, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It was a fantastic experience, my first 'real' job out of university and has probably marked the beginning of my ESL teaching career. Now I'm at a bit on an in-between stage as I prepare for what's next for me. Which, if everything goes okay, will be a teaching job in Thailand.
I finished work on Tuesday, had an unexpectedly busy day Wednesday as I sorted out my accounts and stuff for my trip to China. Today has been spent packing as Courtney has been told that she has to move out of her apartment by the end of the week. That leaves us with nowhere to stay once we come back from China. We have a few friends we (hopefully) will be able to bunk with but it was an unexpected and stress inducing piece of news. I'm positive that things will turn out okay.

Insadong-gil

Closed shop

Fan handles

World's only Starbucks not written in English

Bargain hunting

Fixed Fans

Painted Fans

Green Korea

Mountain Stream, Jeju-do

Bicycle and gate, Hongdae

Party Island Peak, Deokjeokdo

Hallasan Raven, Jeju-do

Farmer in rice field, Nae-ri

Suwon Immigration - The Joy of Bureaucracy

Today I was taken, along with Lyndsey, to the Suwon Immigration office. We were picked up at 7:30am outside our apartment by Mr. Bang, second incharge over at the main branch of OES. Lyndsey needed to have her Alien Card application sorted. I had to get an extension on my VISA and a re-entry permit so I can go to China and come back into Korea. Saves me from carting all my stuff with me.
We rock up at the unassuming immigration office just as the doors open. However the doors open 15 minutes before the staff start work. I suppose it gives people a chance to start queuing but doesn't make much sense to me.
Lyndsey and I were chatting away. I commented on the many stamps present in her passport and so she recanted tales of her trip through Africa, which sounded fantastic. In my original plans to go around the world without flying I wasn't planning on visiting Africa as there is a lot of land to cover there and sticking to the north meant easier overland travel but as my visions of future travels are changing I certainly plan on doing some traveling there.
Eventually the desks at the office were manned and, being early birds we were soon seen to. I needed my passport and green card, the forms had all been filled out for me. Mr. Bang told me halfway through the preceedings that I would have to go and buy three stamps. So I went over to a little desk in the corner and bought 3 stamps for 10,000 won each (five pounds). I took them back to the desk where the action was and was duely informed that I didn't need the stamps. Fortunately they were refundable. My only guess is that I needed to prove that I could buy the stamps. Go figure.

Packing for China

What would you bring on a trip to Beijing?

With just two weeks until I'm off to China m thoughts are turning to what I want to bring with me. Mainly what photographic equipment I want to take.We're planning on spending most of our time in Beijing with a trip out to see the terracotta warriors. Here's what I have:

> Canon 30D
> 430EX Speedlite (flash)
> 17-40mm f/4 lens
> 70-200mm f/4 lens
> 100mm f/2.8 macro lens
> 300mm f/2.8 lens
> 1.4x TeleConverter
> Tripod

For Jeju I took along the body, flash, 17-40, 70-200, TC and tripod. I hardly got any use out of the TC, the tripod got more use than expected and the flash only got used one evening but it helped then.
At the moment I'm thinking: 30D, 17-40 and 70-200 for sure. I'll also be bringing my laptop to download and review images.
What I'm not sure about is the flash and/or tripod. I don't know how much use the flash will get. Bringing it means bringing a bunch of AA batteries and diffuser, but that's not much of a hassle. The tripod would be handy to have, especially for landscapes and touristy self-portraits of Courtney and myself :) The downside is that its a bulky piece of kit.
This trip isn't a primarily photographic one. I'm going there to experience China and spend some quality time with Courtney. That means setting up and packing down a tripod could get in the way of enjoying the trip. I'm sure Court won't object with my photographing however, I just don't want to. However I really enjoy taking pictures (see earlier post).
After having a night to think about it and talking to Court I don't think I'll be taking the tripod as it has the possibility to limit mobility and that's important for us. I will however be packing the flash. After recently subscribing to the Strobist blog I am thinking about ways to get my flash off camera and also maybe getting a 580ex flash so I can turn my 430ex into a slave. Hmmm, more stuff :)

Free Chicken Sandwich

Courtney and I have a little sandwich shop we like to go to. We go there partly because they do pretty good food at low prices and partly because its usually the only place open early in the morning. We also like going there as the man that runs it is quite fantastic. We often come in to find him asleep on one of the benches. He wakes up and looks at us as if wondering what we're doing in his bedroom,only to realise that he feel asleep at work again. He also moves at a pace usually only measured by geologists, so going there for a quick snack isn't a good idea.
We went there this morning for breakfast. He was up and about this time as there were some customers already there. Court was a little under the weather with a sore throat so was holding off on breakfast so she just got an orange juice while I got myself a coffee and a bagel (I'm turning American). As it happened the sight of food brought back Court's appetite so I went up to order another bagel.
He was busy making a sandwich so I was standing at the counter for about a minute or so before he came over. I asked, in my best Korean, for a cream cheese bagel. A puzzled look flashed across his face and he told me 'no'. He told me no because he was making us a free chicken sandwich. It was delicious. But I don't understand why. Ah Korea.

What am I doing?

Nae-ri, South Korea

I really enjoy taking photos. Most people who know me know this. I just haven't really worked out what it is that I love taking pictures of the most. I really enjoyed taking pictures of all the sporting events I could at university. I really enjoy the kind of random travel/street photography I do here and there. I've starting to really get into wildlife photography in South Korea. I've also had good experiences with music and event photography.
Unfortunately a lot of the advice that I've read about going professional suggests specializing over diversifying. Being a jack of all trades but a master of none is not seen to be a good position to be in. I just need to decide which area to specialise into. Now specialising into a position doesn't necessarily mean stopping sport photography in order to focus on in on wildlife when both go on outdoors. I just need to work out where my niche in the market is.
My photo website is divided into three sections: sport, travel and wildlife. Within those three categories I need to find a common theme. There is, as mentioned, the notion of all three going on outdoors. That doesn't fit well for me at the moment. I feel that the 'outdoors' doesn't seem to quite encapsulate what it is that I do.
It doesn't help that I'm not entirely sure about what it is that I do. At the moment it's teaching English that's paying the bills. I just don't ever see myself as identifying myself as an English teacher. Nothing wrong with being an English teacher, its a job I really enjoy and am looking to pursue for a few years yet, but its just a inn on the road I'm traveling, not the final destination. Not as I envision it at the moment anyway. The dream destination is that I'm getting paid to take pictures. My photos adorn magazine covers and are the centre of advertising campaigns. They are on the covers of books, they are dotted around the internet. People have them as their desktop backgrounds. I just don't know what they're of yet. Still, I'll keep sticking my camera in front of my face until I take them.
Courtney has always said that we are at our most useful where our skills and passions intersect. I am passionate about wildlife, sports, photography and general adventure. My talents include photography, motivating others and appearing better at sports than I really am. I know that to succeed in the photography business I'm going to have to focus as much on the business side as the photography side, if not more so. I feel as though I'm taking steps in the right direction. I've hoovering up as much of the useful online advise that I can find. Although wading through the countless get-rich-quick schemes looking for useful advise can get quite tiresome. That said there are plenty of useful sources. There are also several good old fashioned books I want to get that will hopefully point me in the right direction. It doesn't help much that I'm at a bit of a crossroads at the moment leaving Korea and I feel as though I've got about a bajillion other things I need to sort out (transferring my Korean wages home, sorting out a visa extension, planning my trip to China, planning my trip home, booking CELTA courses).
Everybody is always busy and its through being busy that we get things done. So telling myself that the reason I'm not taking steps towards my dream is because I'm busy could mean I never achieve my dream because I'm always busy with something else. Plus I'm never really that busy. I've got enough time to update this thing don't I? I suppose the really difficult thing is to create a balance between all the things I want to be doing. I often find myself thinking that I'm never taking enough pictures, I'm never exercising as much as I want to be or I'm not reading enough. All the while overlooking the fact that I'm still managing to do all those things, albeit not to the extent that I'd like to be. (My perfect day: get up before sunrise (without the whole feeling tired from lack of sleep thing) take some dawn photos, go for a jog, have breakfast, enjoy some delightful company, go for a bicycle ride, take some more pictures of the wonderful places we pass through, have a swim in the sea, read on the beach, go for a stroll though the woods, take some photos in the evening light then retire for the evening). So really there is never, or at least very rarely, the perfect time to do things. We just have to make do with what we've got. Which I need to remember for these next few months as everything is going to be a bit of a mess. I've got two weeks until I go to China, about a month before I fly home to the UK, a month there then I'm flying out to Thailand where, hopefully I'll be doing a four week CELTA course, then I'll be looking for a job in Thailand. All the while I want to be developing my skills as a photographer, an entrepreneur and English teacher. Phew. As I said its while we've busy that we get things done.

So some aims for myself:
> get back into the habit of exercising regularly, I've done it before, I can do it again.
> start a 365 project to make sure I'm taking pictures regularly.
> learn a new thing about business or photography every week, and write it down.
> start entering photo contests

Consumerism/Anti-consumerism

You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy. ~Eric Hoffer



At the moment I'm living a fairly spartan lifestyle. Everything I own will fit into a couple of bags, it has to if I want to take it home with me. Yet the things that I do have are generally quite energy intensive: mac laptop, graphics tablet, dSLR, lenses. I tend to swing quite wildly from a fairly anti-consumerist/environmentalist outlook on life, to thinking how wonderful the new ipod touch looks.
A big part of my desire to reduce my consumption is to reduce my impact on the world. This year I've already flown a couple times and will be making at least three more international flights in the near future. Big CO2 emissions right there. That said, my day-to-day life is fairly low impact: I take to bus to and from work, I'm trying, fairly successfully to not use plastic bags and I recycle my plastics, tins and glass.

During my final year at university I took an environmental politics class so I have a fair idea of how bad the state of affairs are at the moment. I'd certainly like to do more to keep up to date with current environmental issues. I listen to a few podcasts here and there but just keeping abreast of the issues isn't enough, especially when done through electricity guzzling gadgets. This revival in trying to do my bit has been sparked by the trailer for the film No Impact Man, a film about a New Yorker who for a year tries to ensure that his family and himself have zero environmental impact. Some may think that do such a thing would require serious curtailments of their comfortable living and I for one am eager to see just how big the adjustments are that they have to make.

This led me to thinking, just how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to help reduce my impact on the planet? I suppose the wise thing to do would be to first workout what my current impact is. I'll let you know how that goes. But just doing a mental checklist of the things that I do have, I don't think I could do without many of them. I love digital photography, and hoopefully through wildlife photography I will be able to use my skills to raise awareness of environmental issues so no getting rid of my camera. Which means I need my laptop. And my external harddrives. I could probably do without the graphics tablet but I don't think that adds much to the equation. I don't have a car or a motorbike, but I do tend to sleep with the air-conditioning on. So that's something right there I could deal with.
The next major impact I have would be the traveling I do. In just over a fortnight I'm flying to China for a week, then I'm flying back home to the UK for about a month, then the plan is to take a one way flight to Thailand. I do have the option of offsetting that through a company that specializes in such things but I don't really trust many of them. Partly because I don't really understand them. How does my money offset my carbon? Another thing to look into. Before leaving university I came up with the idea of traveling the globe without flying. The idea of a world trip is beginning to lose interest for me as my time in Korea has taught me the value of staying in one place to gain a more complete experience. So perhaps I could look into more terrestrial travel for the shorter trips I hope to be making. It might mean more time and money, but it will lead to a better understanding of the distances I'm traveling and the way the landscape changes, experiences that are difficult to have from 30,000 feet.
Just some of my rambling thoughts.

So much clearer now.

My Korean-American coworker Claire just translated the itinerary to me. Looks like its going to be a pretty regimented trip. Not a great deal of time to ourselves. Which is a pity as I was really looking forward to hooking up with Courtney and Co. on the island. Nick is always good for a laugh and Colleen certainly seems to be a cool cat.
Claire seems to share my concerns about being carted around for the whole weekend so the two of us might make a break for freedom. With her linguistic skills and my ability to lift heavy objects, nothing can stand in our way.
Having said all that, it will nice to be shown around Jeju. I know Court is a little concerned about finding her way around, as she will probably do the talking for Colleen and Nick. Plus everything is on the island is being paid for by work so I should probably quit complaining and enjoy the amazing opportunity I'm being presented with.

American Colonialism

So Courtney's friend, Colleen, from back home is here with us in the Land of the Morning Calm. She arrived last night and will be staying with us in my apartment. Courtney seems quite excited but is making sure that I don't feel as though they're taking over my apartment. At the moment I certainly don't and I don't see it becoming a problem for the week that Colleen will be with us. There's plenty of room for the three of us, especially since Court and I moved one of the beds downstairs a while back. This means that Colleen has the upstairs as her own, minus the space taken up with all my drying laundry!
I'm excited to have someone new here. It was great when my friend Nicky came for a weekend. Having people over to visit helps remind you about what is great about Korea, things I've started to take for granted. The food alone is worth coming here for, let alone Korea's rich history and vibrant modern cultural identity (this is expressed through K-Pop, Animal themed coffee shops and a serious passion for fashion).
There will be quite a crowd of us going to Jeju. Not only the whole OES workforce, but Courtney, Colleen and Nick will all be on the island this weekend. I still haven't managed to decipher the itinerary for the trip yet but I really hope it won't be a too rigidly structured trip. It would be great to hang out with Court and Co. rather than my work colleages, as nice as they are.

Take my advice, I'm not using it...

So much for focusing on my time in Korea.
Been looking at the CELTA course that ECC does in Thailand. It's a tad annoying that after three years and ten grand it looks like I'm going to have to fork out another thousand pounds for another qualification. Normally the idea of paying for some sort of course wouldn't be much of an issue for me, except that I'm getting the qualification to do a job I'm already doing.
Except there are no mangoes growing in Korea...