Stuff that doesn't really merit a blog post to itself.

New Bike

When I moved here I inherited a bike from the previous incumbent. It sat out all winter in the snow and I didn't think to move it until the weather cheered up. When I did I found that what I'd inherited was a heap of junk. It couldn't me taken higher than the third cog on the rear gear shift without the chain slipping almost constantly, and even then I had to be fairly careful of putting too much pressure on the pedals. The front cog was also stuck on the lowest cog, so I ended up cycling around the town with my legs going much faster than I was.

I decided that I'd shell out and get something decent. I live in a beautiful part of the world here and there a plenty of wonderful (if mountainous) cycling opportunities. So here she is, my as yet unnamed new machine. Isn't she beautiful? If you have any name suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

New camera

You may notice a slight increase in both the quality (as in megapixels rather than the skill of the photographer) and quantity of photos on here. That's because I also bought a new camera to go with my new bike, the plan being to cycle off into the Korean wilderness and bring back lots of lovely digital images for you. Here are some to start with.

Further up the valley.

Field in the hills to the East of Jinbu

Korean chickens. Hope you like them Mum.

Trees on Trucks

This is a curious phenomenon in my part of Korea. Most days I see at least one lorry carrying a decent sized pine tree to one place or another. I'm not quite sure what's happening, but it can be rather dangerous. The trees swing out from the back of the lorries when they corner, and the drivers seem to be oblivious to this fact. Following a caravan of four tree lorries along a twisty road I saw more than one car almost wiped out my a fast moving cloud of pine needles. Korea: mental.

Gyeongpo beach and the Dome House

On Saturday I took my first proper trip to the beach. I put my feet in the East Sea / Sea of Japan for the first time, and found it to be almost unbearably cold. Still, the sand and the sunshine was nice. I also ate lunch at The Dome House, which turned out to be rather disappointing from a food point of view, and the fact that they didn't have a basil plant for sale. Still, an interesting setting. Here be the photos:

Looking North from Gyeongpo

Out to sea.

Pine tree on the beach.

The Dome House from the road.

The dome house interior.

Korean Lesson

It's late, and I don't have time to delve into the phrasebook, so here's a useful Korean word for you:

자전고

Ja-jeon-go

Bicyle

Toodle-oo,

A

A