Dangela in Korea

Seoraksan

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Sokcho

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Murray Camp Summer 2008

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Snake Party!

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Chiaksan National Park

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Paul Oh and Sang-Hui Park's Wedding

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Ojukheon & Gyeongpo Beach

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Springtime

2008-04-15T17:37:00.002+09:00

Day trip to a Korean Folk Village with Sahmyook teachers

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Easter 2008

2008-03-23T20:11:00.000+09:00

Trip Home! Winnipeg and Edmonton

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The rest of our pictures from the Philippines...

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Chocolate Hills

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Hilltop Cottages

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Near Laboc we stayed at the Hilltop Cottages- literally cottages on a hill! There were huge poinsettias growing beneath our balcony, and the owners of the place were friendly.

Laboc River Cruise

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After the Tarsier centre, our motorcycle driver convinced us to see a few other tourist sights in Bohol, including a record-sized python, and a bamboo bridge.

Tarsiers!

2007-12-18T07:06:00.000+09:00

The first thing we went to see in Bohol were the Philippine tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta) at the Tarsier Visitor Centre. There we were delighted to be led on a guided walk through part of the reserve, where we saw several of the adorable little primates! Although I really wanted to pet one (which was possible if you go see the caged ones at the tourist-oriented stall near our cottage), I could see that these animals were cared for on a much more humane and eco-friendly manner. Since these guys are an endangered species, we wanted to support a centre that worked towards conservation, research and awareness.

Cebu City

2007-12-16T18:28:00.000+09:00

Late Sunday night we flew to Cebu city, the Philippines' second largest city located in the Visayas. We only stayed one night, (in a wonderful up-scale hotel that included the biggest buffet breakfast I have ever seen. We could have as much bacon, eggs, and sausages as we wanted, and also help ourselves to a wide variety of fresh baked pastries, muffins, and cinnamon roles, or make our own salads, try traditional Filipino breakfast, and top it off with yogurts and fresh tropical fruits). However, it was also on our first morning in the Philippines that the darker side of this county manifest itself in several palpable ways. One look out of our luxurious hotel room that morning displayed the vast chasm between the rich and the poor in this country. And even more disturbingly, we spotted a north American fellow enjoying his buffet breakfast with a young Filipino boy.

Thanksgivings and Farewells

2007-11-22T21:03:00.000+09:00

This year we celebrated American thanksgiving along with our friends Drew and Chloe. Dan and I made roast chicken with veggies, and D&C made THE BEST PUMPKIN PIE EVER! Along with some good wine, conversation, and cheer, it made for a pleasant evening. Since then, we've also celebrated the friendship of many other people we've met here in Korea-several of which recently headed back to their various home countries across the globe. In particular, we'll really miss our dear friends Naomi and Marike. Wonju isn't the same without you!

Potluck at Matt and Cythia's

2007-11-10T20:36:00.000+09:00

On Saturday Matt and Cynthia (Dan's colleagues at ELP- they started just after I began working at Yonsei University) hosted a potluck at their place (our old apartment!). We made gingerbread people and Baba Ghannouj. Other culinary delights included dokboki, potato salad, spring roles, and freshly picked walnuts. :)

Mok-A Buddhist Museum, Yeoju

2007-11-04T20:58:00.000+09:00

Stone Bodhisattva of Son and Mother

Three Stone Maitreyas
by Mok-A Park Chan-Soo

White-clothed Avalokitesvara in Stone
by Mok-A Park Chan-Soo in 1990

One of the four gaurdians
Similar to the ones at Chiaksan and Seoraksan temples,
although this one looked more colourful and happier

Namsan

2007-10-28T22:56:00.000+09:00

Seoul Tower

We spent Sunday afternoon taking the cable car up Namsan (the mountain in the middle of Seoul) and then hiking down the mountain (in the rain!).

Ali Baba's

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After our walk down the mountain we treated ourselves to some fine Egyptian food at Ali Baba's restaurant. The rain kept coming down harder so we stayed a bit longer and enjoyed Egyptian coffee and tea (both delicious, but quite strong).

Autumn around Yonsei University, Wonju campus

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Our new(-ish) Apartment

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the view from our balcony
(the buildings in the distance are Yonsei University campus buildings)

living room

bathroom

bedroom

kitchen

dining area

Hey everyone... now I know a lot of you have been asking to see some pictures of our new apartment, so here it is (better late than never!) As you can see, it's a lot nicer than our very first place, and nicer than our previous one too. We really like it. There is also a spare-room/computer room, but it's kinda messy (so sorry, no pic).

Riding back to Kansai Airport in style

2007-08-29T13:05:00.000+09:00

Osaka's Museum of History

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View of the sail-shaped museum building from the top of Osaka castle

traditional ceremonial robes

Traditional puppet heads

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cute fuzzy kitten we saw walking back from the museum

a Ballyhoo shirt!

Dinner: seafood pizza

Our crazy hotel: "The Namba Plaza Hotel" right next to a strip club and a sex-toy shop.

That evening we shopped and explored the Namba area (where our hotel was, near the Korean consulate). We found lots of cool things including this Gumby t-shirt and dutch black licorice wheels. :)

Museum of Oriental Ceramics

2007-08-28T11:28:00.000+09:00

Mr. Ataka

Figurines of sumo wrestlers (porcelain with overglaze enamels and gold decoration)

Enjoying scones at the museum's cafe

This museum boasts the world's finest collection of Korean and Chinese ceramics. There are also many bitter Koreans who claim that these pieces were stolen from Korea during the Japanese occupation (WWII). This is probably true, but of course none of that history is mentioned at the museum. Instead, the museum literature praises Mr. Ataka, the main donor/connoisseur.

Osaka-jo

2007-08-28T11:05:00.000+09:00

Dan scaling the huge castle walls

A paneled painting depicting the horrific scene of the Tokugawa invasion in 1615.

'Soft-tops': slurpee topped with soft icecream!

Osaka castle is perhaps the biggest tourist sight on the city. We spent the morning touring the grounds, reading about the history, and enjoying the sights.

Osaka, here we come

2007-08-27T22:55:00.000+09:00

The next day we took the rapid transit train to Osaka. I spent to afternoon getting my Korean work visa application in, and then we visited 'The Floating Garden Observatory' in the evening. Although our photos didn't really turn out, the Umeda sky building offered us a fantastic view of the city lights, as well as a fun glass-escalator ride.

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After walking around Kyoto all day we were exhausted, so we treated ourselves to a delicious sushi dinner.

A cake displayed in a shop window (we were too full to try it, but it looked amazing!)

My favorite painting in the hallway of our hotel.

Nanzen-in and Aquaduct

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Eikan-do

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Hojo pond

This stairwell runs along the contours of the mountain slope, and is called 'Garyuro' because it resembles the form of a sleeping dragon (garyu).

This temple was founded in 855 by the priest Shinsho, but the name was changed in the 11th century to honour a widely respected priest named Eikan. The grounds were beautiful, with peaceful water gardens, impressive buildings, and beautiful artwork (of which, because it is a religious facility, photos are 'forbidden.' I couldn't help but compare the strict rules about photography here to the lax ones in western Europe where tourists snap away in cathedrals, the Louvre, and even the Sistine chapel).

Path of Philosophy

2007-08-26T09:55:00.000+09:00

After we left Ginkakuji Temple, we walked along the meandering 'Path of Philosophy' (where 'the intellectuals of old would come ... to seek inspiration'). Along the way we met artists, lounging felines, and smiling strollers.

Ginkakuji Temple

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Ginkakuji Temple is a Zen temple, established in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa. As we walked along the paths, we saw some of the most beautiful scenes in all of our five days in Japan. There were carefully maintained rock gardens, sand sculptures, traditional buildings, paintings and waterfalls. The view from the observatory captured the contrast between the temple grounds and the modern vista of Kyoto city.

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Walking up the road leading to Ginkakuji Temple

Mount Diamondji

2007-08-26T09:07:00.000+09:00

The garden is set at the base of Mt Diamondji. While we were wandering through the garden, an old gardener explained (by drawing on the ground with a stick, and by gesturing at the mountain in front of us, and speaking to us in Japanese that we didn't understand) that the mountain is called Diamond Mountain because the lines on the rockface look like this symbol, which means both 'diamond' and 'man'. During an annual bonfire festival, this symbol is lit up at night. We didn't see this as the festival takes place on January 15th.

Hashimoto Kansetsu

2007-08-26T09:00:00.000+09:00

Hashimoto Kansetsu (1883-1945) was a Japanese painter who created the garden at the base of Diamond Mountain. This painting is called "Monkey Waiting for the Moon." When we looked around the small art museum, we were confused to see an ancient Greek urn set among the more traditional paintings. I later found out that among other things, Hashimoto is remembered for his 'important collection of Persian and Greek art.'

Hakusasonso (Traditional Garden and Artist's Museum)

2007-08-26T08:42:00.000+09:00

On Sunday we decided to do a walking tour of Kyoto. Our first stop was Hakusasonso, a traditional garden created by Japanese artist Hashimoto Kansetsu.

Kyoto Station!

2007-08-25T07:10:00.000+09:00

During our two-night stay in Kyoto, we stayed at the "Hotel Granvia," a classy hotel nestled in the glass walls of Kyoto's space-aged Kyoto Station.

Astro Boy (Dan took this picture for you, Dave!)

Wonka's Chocolate Fudge!

2007-08-15T12:39:00.000+09:00

Chopping the chocolate bars

More chocolate bars being chopped

Lining the tuppaware with foil

Gathering the ingredients into the bowl

Eating the fudge! (and then reading another chapter of the book).

For one last fun activity before I finished my contract at ELP, my advanced primary students made fudge together as part of a hands-on learning activity alongside our reading of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In a previous lesson, each student wrote or translated a chocolate recipe in English. A few weeks later each student brought an ingredient and a cooking tool, and we all worked together to make the gooey treat.

DMZ Tour

2007-08-05T23:58:00.000+09:00

Dan and Kate hangin' with Kim Jung Il

Freedom Bridge

Memorial outside the DMZ's Third Tunnel

binoculars looking towards North Korea

Guards standing at attention in the empty Dorasan Station

COEX Aquarium

2007-08-04T10:17:00.000+09:00

Live coral

shark

Dan's head being attacked by starfish and urchins

Giant sea turtle

Gian spider crabs

piranhas (surprisingly beautiful)

a friendly ray

another shark

thread fish

Since the rain dashed our plans of going up the Seoul tower and exploring Namsan, we spent the day in two of Seoul's largest malls. In the morning we went to the COEX Aquarium to admire the impressive collections of aquatic life. Sometimes the names of the fish were more colourful than the actual creatures, such as that small black and white spotted fish here, which is called a 'harlequin sweet-lips.'

Lotte World

2007-08-04T04:48:00.001+09:00

Love, Freedom, Life. We went to Lottei world for some shopping, as Saturday was a very rainy day. As we came up from the subway terminal we noticed the bases of some classical looking columns. My Latin isn't good enough to discern whether or not the rest of this inscription is as bizarre as some equally permanent English postings, but the architecture certainly was comical. You'll notice a low ceiling above my head, that very effectively hides this display from anyone more than 15m away.
Although it makes me feel a little slighted, I can hardly begrudge the creators of Lottei Mundi their keen insight at turning to the roots of western culture in celebration of the inauguration of a shopping mall that offers the freedom to ice-skate during a Korean August.

Korean Folk Village

2007-08-03T09:00:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday we wandered around various tiled and thatched traditional houses at the Korean Folk Village near Suwan. The houses ranged from simple farm houses and commoners' homes to the more regal nobleman's abode. There were also other buildings such as a shrine of scholars, the provincial governor's office, and a shaman house. Just before we left to catch the shuttle bus, we saw an acrobatic horse performance, with impressive equestrian feats, similar to the one we saw in Jeju.

National Museum of Art, Deoksugung

2007-08-02T09:10:00.000+09:00

After lunch we checked out the National Museum of Art, which was featuring a collection of paintings from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. (This was the museum we had wanted to go to on our last trip, but it had been closed in preparation for the showing). Although it was crowded, we got a chance to see some impressive works by artists such as Rubens, Rembrandt, ans Bruegel (the elder).

2007-08-02T09:00:00.000+09:00

Our trip to Seoul began on an interesting note: a complete stranger treated us to lunch at a Japanese place in exchange for about an hour of English conversation. He was a charming man with a grandfatherly way about him, and I think we both enjoyed the meal and conversation.

Rose Park (Wonju)

2007-07-31T13:39:00.000+09:00

Green-eyed Bug

Enjoying the flowers

Rose Park

This morning we went for a picnic in Rose Park. The walk there took under an hour, and when we arrived we snacked on cheese and crackers, dried blueberries, drinking yogurt, and fruit. There were hundreds of roses in bloom. A great way to enjoy a day off of work.

Deok-Su Gung Palace

2007-06-25T10:47:00.001+09:00

Yesterday we spent the day in Seoul. Our first stop was the Deoksugung Palace. The grounds made a very pleasant contrast with the bustling centre of Seoul, just outside the gates. Some of the historical artifacts also proved interesting including the remains of the oldest water clock still in existence and the oldest piece of artillery accompanied by its original blueprints. There were two museums on the palace grounds, but both were closed. Fortunately, the Seoul Museum of Art, just across the street, was open and featured a Monet exhibit as well as some contemporary Korean art.

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I got a chance to have a little chat with Claude. I gave him a few pointers on light and perspective that I think he appreciated very much.
After the museum, we took the subway to Itaewon to look at some books at one of the English bookstores and to enjoy a meal at the Foreign Restaurant.

Gyongpo Beach, Gangneung

2007-06-23T00:07:00.000+09:00

Last weekend Dan and I piled into a bus along with several other foreigners from Wonju and spent the day at the beach. We enjoyed the sun, the brilliant blue water, and best of all (in my opinion) freshly steamed king crab at a local Korean restaurant right by the beach. All of us returned home tired, and to varying degrees, sunburnt. However, since the monsoon season has recently begun (as of Thursday afternoon) I doubt any of us are sorry. :)

Rooftop Barbeque

2007-06-10T20:16:00.001+09:00

Dinner time!

Discussions ranging from useless bachelor's degrees to the best burger's secret ingredient (peanut butter)

The guy in the middle is Darren (Dan's workout partner). The cowboy is a hagwon teacher from Wisconsin.

Cool shadows

Last night our friend Emma hosted a great barbeque on the rooftop of her apartment building. It was delicious: grilled chicken, salads, and blended fruit drinks. Good company too.

Icheon Ceramic Village

2007-05-20T22:25:00.000+09:00

Last weekend Dan and I caught a bus to Icheon and met up with Adam and Elisa (friends from ICS in Toronto) for a weekend jam-packed with ...pottery! I loved it all. There were various designs and styles ranging from the green polished Goryeo celadon to heavier and more rustic earthenware.
Even though the practical side of me thought that buying any pottery in Korea would be stupid, since it will more than likely crack in the passage home, I couldn't resist buying at least one piece to decorate our new apartment. We ended up getting two vases (a matching pair), as well as some wooden pieces and hanji crafts for possible wedding present (for the many weddings we are missing this summer).
Here are some of the 'twin vases' similar to the ones we got. I have yet to take a photo of our pottery, but it's coming!

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After eating dinner at a Kalbi restaurant, we took a stroll around the lake. We were delighted to discover turtles swimming around along with the giant goldfish!

After it got dark, we walked around downtown exploring the markets a bit. We had some frozen yogurt at the 'Red Mango' and then lounged in a jazz bar for the rest of the evening.

Hae Gang Ceramics Museum

2007-05-20T05:59:00.000+09:00

The next day we spent the morning exploring a small ceramics museum, and then took a walk around the grounds which had several traditional kilns (and judging by the makeshift seating areas and cardboard footpaths, they seem to be still in use today), a huge chimney with broken pieces of celadon pottery at the base, and lovely old-style buildings.

21st Icheon Ceramic Festival

2007-05-20T05:34:00.000+09:00

After we went to the museum, we spent the rest of the afternoon at a ceramic festival called "Reshaping Asia," which featured hundreds of potters selling and displaying their work. There was too much to see! There was everything ranging from elegant to tacky. Check out this ceramic-plated car...

One the many displays, with potter's stalls in the background

Giant ceramic covered boy.

Towards the end of the hot afternoon we drank iced green tea in little cups that we got to take home with us.
All along the walkway around the lake there were sculptures from all over the world. This one is from Belgium.

Children's Day

2007-05-05T21:55:00.000+09:00

Children's Day is a South Korean national holiday celebrated on May 5. It was founded by the Korean children's writer Pang Chong-hwan in 1923. So on Friday ELP treated all the students to chocolate milk and 'sugar bread': what looks like a hot-dog bun with white icing in the middle. Yummy!

May Day

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What IS there to do in Wonju, anyways?

2007-04-01T09:57:00.000+09:00

On April fool's day Dan and I, along with Emily and Trenton, went ten-pin bowling. I won the first game- no joke! The night before the four of us went to a DVD-bang (the same one we went to with James) and watched 'Ladder 49.' It was so nice to relax and socialize, without thinking about teaching, meetings, and our upcoming class-observations...

Signs of Spring

2007-03-30T23:52:00.000+09:00

Forsythia

Magnolia bud

Rhododendron

Mog-ryun

In Korea, spring is not a leisurely Saturday morning where you can gradually stretch your limbs and enjoy your mind’s slow thaw. Instead, it announces its presence in loud colours and gaudy buds (like a clock radio or a happy puppy).

Goodbye KL!

2007-03-01T23:14:00.000+09:00

After our feast at naab, it was pouring rain. So we spent the rest of the afternoon in the nearby shopping malls. Now, I've been wanting to get my hair cut for a few months now, and since people in Malaysia have much better English than the average Korean does, I decided to get it done that afternoon. In a moment of spontaneity, I also got it dyed. There's a first time for everything! I also found an outlet of one of my favorite stores :P

Culinary Adventures

2007-03-01T12:08:00.000+09:00

Since Singapore and Malaysia are known for their culinary delights, we thought we'd share a few of our tastebuds' adventures. Dan's favorite (and my second favorite) feast was at naab, an Iranian restaurant in downtown KL. Here we feasted on kebabs, saffron rice, pomegranate juice, and yogurt salad. It was all delicious. For my last dinner in Singapore, I tried barbecue sting ray! Here are pictures of the live and cooked specimens.

Temples

2007-03-01T10:38:00.000+09:00

On Thursday morning we saw some of Malaysia's temples, including the Buddhist Pagoda (built in the 1800's by Sinhalese Buddhists from Sri Lanka) and Sam Kow Tong Temple (with colourful dragons soaring off every edge and corner of the building).

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber Players

2007-02-28T21:47:00.000+09:00

While we were waiting around for our 12:30 guided tour of the skybridge, we came across an advertisement for an evening chamber concert- for only 10MR (that's less than four dollars Canadian!). Since there was a semi-formal dress code, we spent the afternoon shopping for pants for Dan, and shoes for Angela (at one of the MANY malls in KL). There was no photography allowed in the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, but I did take a quick picture of Dan looking snappy in the foyer, and of the huge chandelier hanging above the first two floors of the main entrance to one of the Petronas towers.
The concert was composed of three shorter performances. The first one was a violin and cello duo performing a piece by Zoltan Kodaly. Dan nodded off during this one, but I enjoyed it. The second piece was the shortest, but I think it was my favorite. It certainly woke everyone up. It was called "Tarantella" composed by Anderson Koppel. Again, there were only two performers on stage, but this time the duo was a violinist and a small Asian woman playing a huge marimba. She played with four mallets in her hands, and the music captured the steps of a spider perfectly. The piece was composed in 1996, and was apparently inspired by "a traveling story Koppel first heard in the 1950s which painted a vivid picture of the famous dance, said to have been named after the frantic leaping and gyrating of a person bit by a tarantula" (concert programme).
The final performance was Dan's favorite, and it featured an ensemble of clarinets, French horns, oboes and bassoons. Together they played Mozart's Serinade No.11 in E flat (K.375). All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening, and we also got a chance to see the Petronas towers all lit up at the end of the night.

Petronas Towers

2007-02-28T10:45:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday morning Dan and I headed downtown early in order to score two of the limited free tickets up to the 41st floor skybridge (170m above ground). It was definitely worth our while! The view was amazing. The southeast view captures the beautiful KLCC park, and the opposite view shows the busy intersection and skyscrapers jutting out into the skyline.
The Petronas towers are currently the tallest twin towers in the world. They are 252m tall, and when they were completed (in 1996) they were the tallest architectural buildings in the world (apparently this category does not include 'needles', such as TO's CN tower). They have since lost that status, but remain the tallest twin towers.

Downtown Colonial District

2007-02-27T13:03:00.000+09:00

After the Islamic Arts Museum we took a self-guided walking tour through colonial KL and Little India. Here we passed some of KL's oldest buildings (displaying a unique blend of Victorian, Moorish and Mogul architecture) built in the late 19th century. We also enjoyed sitting beside many of KL's unusual gardens and fountains, including this giant pitcherplant fountain. We ended our walking tour with a delicious feast at Saravanaa Bhavan, a fantastic little Indian vegetarian restaurant. I had cottage cheese tikka with two lassies, and Dan had a spinach dish. In my opinion, it was the best food we had during the whole trip. Also, the best Indian food we've ever tasted (even better than New Asian Village in Edmonton :P).

Islamic Arts Museum

2007-02-27T11:45:00.000+09:00

It was a refreshing change to see Islam from its own perspective. Like other children of Abraham, if the glosses to the exhibits are any indication, Islam sees itself as a peaceful movement and a blessing to the nations. The spice trade, like Islam, "spread peacefully across the nations, without much drama." "The decoration of guns was perfected in Persia, but the use of guns in war would be perfected in Europe." "Unlike Christianity, Islam does not disallow the beautification of women." These statements exercised my ability to be a charitable reader. Fortunately (for my ability to appreciate Islam, but not generally), my own faith has its own incongruous self-descriptions and glosses on history. In order to love myself, it has been necessary to learn how to love a confusing and self-contradictory understanding of the world. How can it be that Christians claim to love peace and yet Christian organizations still take the word crusade (a perfect translation for Jihad if ever there was one) for their name. It is all too natural to include St. Francis among the ranks of Christians in history but not the Jesuit missionaries to the native people of north America. To think of ourselves as disciples according to Bonhoffer rather than Rushdoonie. We point out that Martin Luther King Junior was a Lutheran pastor and ignore the fact that South African apartheid was justified according to Christian philosophy. In times when Islam is quite suspect in the eyes of the world, it was good to remind myself, that it, like Christianity is a bewildering and various complex of faith, religion, population, culture and historical movement. Although some of the claims made by the museum grated me, they were relatively small and few, and paled in comparison to the obvious blessings that Islam has bestowed on the nations in philosophy, the arts, sciences, architecture and culinary craft.

Taman Rama Rama

2007-02-27T11:00:00.000+09:00

Our final destination within KL's lake gardens area was the butterfly park. Here there were thousands of butterflies fluttering through the walkways and feeding on flowers. It was tricky trying to take pictures of them before they fluttered away!

2007-02-27T10:45:00.000+09:00

As you exit the butterfly park, there is an insect gallery. Here we saw 'man-faced bugs,' live scorpions, and all other kinds of strange, creepy, and beautiful insects. There were also displays of butterflies from all around the world, grouped by genus and species, and all carefully pinned and labeled. One particular butterfly genus caught my attention for two reasons: the iridescent blue colour of the male butterfly's wings, and the distinctly mythical Greek names attached to their species names. The Morphos butterflies carried names such as helena, achilles, cypris, and hecuba.

Taman Bunga Raya

2007-02-27T10:30:00.000+09:00

Just down the hill from the orchid garden was the hibiscus garden. Since the hibiscus rosa-sinensis (called 'bunga raya' in Malay) is Malaysia's national flower, they created an ornately designed garden in honour of it.

Taman Orkid

2007-02-27T10:00:00.000+09:00

Just across the road from the aviary was the orchid garden. Although this collection was not quite as spectacular as the one in Chiang Mai, it did display many different kinds of orchids in an environment closer to their natural habitat. There were also some very beautiful non-orchid flowers.

Sneaky monkeys

2007-02-27T09:29:00.000+09:00

Just on the other side of one of the nets that keep the birds in the park, we saw a whole colony of wild monkeys! They even found a small hole on the netting, and slipped into the park. On the street outside, we saw this monkey crossing sign.

KL Bird Park

2007-02-27T08:37:00.000+09:00

Early on Tuesday morning Dan and I set out for KL's bird park- the world's largest walk-in free-flight aviary. For the first few hours, hardly anyone else was there and it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. We saw hundreds of different kinds of birds, and many of them were free-ranging. We could walk right up to egrets, pelicans, western crowned pigeons, and even peacocks. Other birds were in cages or pens for their (or our!) safety (like the owls, which might snack on some of the smaller free-ranging birds, or the ostriches and emus, which might not respond very nicely to people walking right up to them). For lunch we enjoyed some fine Malaysian food (such as chicken satay and tropical fruit juice) at the park's "Hornbill Restaurant", where you can dine above the hornbills on a wooden balcony inside their large netted living area.

Swiss Inn- Kuala Lumpur

2007-02-26T12:11:00.000+09:00

On Monday afternoon we took a bus up to Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia). During the bus ride we met a fellow Canadian couple, and we had dinner together at our hotel's restaurant. For about half the price we paid for a shoe-box room in a hostel in Singapore, we stayed in a finely decorated, breakfast buffet inclusive hotel here in Malaysia.

My friend Fluffy

2007-02-25T23:40:00.000+09:00

In Singapore, we stayed in a hostel that housed two very furry friends. I call this one fluffy (although I think the hostel patrons named him 'Romeo'). This docile feline was the fluffiest cat I have ever encountered; but don't worry Toque, he had none of the charm, playfulness, or quirkiness that you do! Aww, Toque, we miss you!

Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo...

2007-02-25T11:09:00.000+09:00

I do believe it, I do believe it's true. We took a cross-town bus, and it was rainy (but not cold). We spent the day walking along the paths that weave through the 28 hectares of lush animal living spaces. We saw so many animals... highlights include white tigers, manatees, tapirs (the black and white one above!) and giraffes. The zebras, however, did not seem very reactionary, and the zoo keepers did not seem all that fond of rum.

So many monkeys!

2007-02-25T10:27:00.000+09:00

The Singapore zoo boasts the world's largest primate collection. Among its many wildlife conservation efforts, this zoo has worked to create a thriving orang-utan colony. As evidence of the zoo's hard-work and success, the colony has had a total of 33 births over the years. Also, the proboscis monkeys have produced 17 babies. As far as zoos go, this one seems to be doing laudable work with endangered species, education, and conservation. I was impressed!

Chiakson in February

2007-02-11T11:07:00.000+09:00

At the weekend, James came up for a visit.

We took the opportunity to see Chiakson in the winter.

The frozen waterfalls made the trip worth it

Later that evening, the three of us watched a movie at a DVD-bong (which is like renting a living room with comfy couches and a small film screen for a few hours).

Kindergarten Play!

2007-02-08T01:36:00.000+09:00

Young Genius

2007-01-19T21:49:00.000+09:00

The common gingerbread man, shown below, is a docile creature, comparable to the Dodo bird in defensive instincts. Lately, I have been teaching my kindergarten students about this variety of gingerbread man, and also about the rare, but famous subspecies, "Running Gingerbread Man". There are few substantiated sightings of this species. In the most famous sighting, the specimen was destroyed in an unfortunate encounter with a fox. In order to increase my children's knowledge of this rare species, at the same time as introducing the ethical complexities of eating intelligent higher lifeforms, I chose to focus on a less well-known sighting. In this, more recent sighting, a family spotted the cookie, and rescued it from peckish pigs. The Gingerbread man was given a gingerbread house and enjoyed a more permanent position in human society than any cookie in the literature (I did not have the heart to tell my children the part of the story where the poor cookie was literally eaten out of house and home and consumed by hungry children). To solidify the learning, my children will be acting out this story in a play next month. I feel proud for my student's obvious talent (and not a little for my own teaching genius) to combine ecology, ethics, and drama, in a second language, at such an early age. They're really cute too. The children, from left to right, are: Hyung Lyul (Tony), SooYeon, EunJi (Candy), YeonSeo (Sunny) and HwangGang(Glory). I'm the tall one.

Last night in Chiang Mai

2006-12-27T23:53:00.000+09:00

By the end of our trip we were happy and tired... Dan was all curried out so he enjoyed the first burger he's had in 6 months :)

Chiang Mai's Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006

2006-12-27T21:40:00.000+09:00

In honour of the King's diamond jubilee, and his upcoming 80th birthday, Thailand hosted an international horticultural exposition. Thousands of people traveled to Chiang Mai for this particular event. Since we happened to be in the city at the same time, and since all four of us were shopped out and toured out, we decided to spend our last day at the floral festival. I was especially excited to see it, and I have concluded that it was a great way to spend our last full day in Chiang Mai. Even though Dan and I stayed almost until closing time, we still didn't see everything... the gardens and venues together cover 80 hectares!

Diesel and the Kingdom

2006-12-27T21:36:00.001+09:00

I was expecting to enjoy the Royal Flora Expo to a lesser degree and for a shorter duration than Angela. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the expo was not only about looking at pretty flora, but about appreciating how the flora relates to all aspects of life. The first exhibit we entered informed us about the sustainability initiatives of king Rama IX (to whom the whole expo was dedicated). Some of these included the restorations of mangroves, the prevention of soil erosion with vetiver grass, and highly efficient aquaculture techniques. The second exhibit we visited showcased Toyota Thailand's (royally supported) bio-diesel R&D initiative. Cleaner burning, renewable diesel, whose main by-product is organic fertilizer. (Those of you with some good fashion knowledge may notice that I am appropriately attired in a knockoff "Diesel" t-shirt)

The Orchid Pavilion

2006-12-27T21:31:00.000+09:00

My favorite part of the floral festival was the orchid pavilion. For the most part, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...although I will also mention that we also enjoyed smelling the chocolate scented orchids here, and seeing the world's smallest orchid (less than half a centimeter in diameter, we peered at these small blooms through a magnifying glass).

More Orchids...

2006-12-27T21:29:00.000+09:00

Tempura Morning Glory for dinner!

2006-12-27T21:28:00.000+09:00

For dinner Dan and I ate at a restaurant overlooking the lake. When I saw a curry with 'morning glory' listed with the English ingredients, I assumed it was also the name of a fish or something. However, when I found out it really was the flower (or stems of the flower) decided I should try it. Eating flower stems with Thai curry shrimp at an international flower festival in Chiang Mai seemed like a perfectly fitting choice. They were delicious, by the way.

Thai Silk

2006-12-27T21:22:00.000+09:00

One of the highlights of the festival was the Thai Silk exhibit. We got to see all of the steps on the silk-making and weaving processes. We saw a live display of the life cycle of silk worms, a hands-on opportunity to make silk thread, and and an informative demonstration of traditional hand-loom silk weaving. The guide at this particular venue had good English speaking skills and a fantastic sense of humour. He followed us through the exhibit and gave us lots of commentary, made sure we tried the mulberry tea, and gave us two silkworm cocoons and a silk ratchaphreuk flower (a national Thai symbol, as well as the emblem of the festival) to take home as souvenirs.

Soiless and Desert Plant Greenhouses

2006-12-27T21:07:00.000+09:00

As the evening was winding down, Dan and I stopped in at the hydroponic/aeroponic and desert greenhouses. When it was too dark to take pictures we headed for the bus, but took time to enjoy the water fountain show on the lake, and shop at the mini market that lined the pathway to the bus terminal. I bought a leather handbag, some postcards, and a Christmas star to hang on our tree in years to come, so that we will remember our Christmas in Thailand!

A Candle light service and chocolate cake...

2006-12-27T10:54:00.000+09:00

While we were in Chiang Mai, the four of us stayed at 'Hudson's House', a guest house run by Gordon and Norma at the Mekong centre. In former days, Gordon was Trenton and Emily's prof at Mt. Carmel Bible college. For a few days they became surrogate parents for all of us: we joined them at a beautiful evening candle-light Christmas service, Norma fed us cocoa and Chocolate cake, and we were even surprised to find small Christmas gifts on our door Christmas morning!

Day II of the trek

2006-12-26T21:06:00.000+09:00

On Boxing Day we woke up early after a chilly night sleeping under mosquito nets and thin sleeping bags. The eight of us ate breakfast, packed up our bags, and then we were off again! We hiked to a local school where we played some volleyball with the kids, visited another waterfall (where Dan had a bush-man's shower and left his swimming trunks behind), bought hand-made goods from local tribes people (this cat belongs to a lady from whom I bought a silk-woven table cloth. After I timidly shared a few crumbs of potato chips with it, the lady grabbed a whole bag of barbecue flavoured chips and fed it to her cat who hungrily ate them all! Maybe thats why this adorable cat is so ugly...) and ended the trip with a ride down a river on a bamboo raft!

Evening and Morning at a Karen village

2006-12-25T21:56:00.000+09:00

Just before it began to grow dark, we arrived at a small Karen village where we spent the night. We spent the first part of the evening in the 'kitchen' (a small hut devoted to food preparation) socializing with our trek leaders, some of the villagers, and the other four tourists who were on the trek with us. After we ate the delicious Thai dinner, we spent hours sitting around the night fire entertained by our trek leaders' jokes and stories, as well as the local peoples' string games and music. Although I was a bit leery about the whole idea of a trek that involved visiting hillside tribes people, since I thought it might be terribly intrusive, insensitive, and consumeristic in that neo-colonial sort of way, I felt like the tourists, trek leaders, and villagers all seemed to enjoy connecting with each other. I like to think that we all learned something from the others.

Christmas in Thailand

2006-12-25T21:25:00.000+09:00

And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices
. . .
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

I first came across this poem in my first year at King’s, in Carol Everest’s English 211 class. My first impression of the poem quickly got mixed together with images from Yeats’ parallel poem, and well as images from his “Second Coming.” It wasn’t until years later, when I taught the poem in my own first-year English course at King’s, that I took a closer look at the poem’s imagery, history, and startling questions. More recently, I taught this poem to one of my advanced ibT TOEFL students at Yosei ELP. Perhaps it was this student’s totally fresh perspective and honest questions, or it might also have been my own recent experiences as a foreigner in a strange land, but I began to see glimpses of my own life in Eliot’s words. At the candle light service we attended with Norma and Gordon, the preacher quoted lines from this poem,.and I carried them with me throughout the trek. There were a few moment during those two days when I saw images of what that first Christmas might really have been like...straw-thatched shelters, poverty, night fires going out, cattle on the hillside, and wild poinsettias framing a rustic village setting. Beauty and ugliness juxtaposed, stirring thoughts, and forming questions that I cannot answer.

Starting Off

2006-12-25T10:28:00.000+09:00

Our guides picked us up from Hudson House at about mid-morning on Christmas day. The first point of interest was an elephant camp, where elephants carried us to lovely landscapes and feeding stations, where a bundle of sugar cane or a bunch of bananas could be purchased for 20 baht. Our particular elephant was 4 months pregnant and (I can say without exaggeration) raised her trunk to ask for food two dozen times more often than any of the other five elephants in our caravan.
After the elephant rides, we rode a little further in the back of the pickup and began our hike. As you can see, this included some fine scenery and refreshing swimming.

A walk through the Mangroves in Krabi

2006-12-23T23:33:00.000+09:00

The morning we left Ko Lanta we had a few hours to spend in Krabi before we caught our flight to Chiang Mai. We explored the city a bit, ate some more cashew curry, and then discovered a walkway that took us right through a mangrove forest. If we could read Thai, it probably would have been very informative, since there were labels and signs all along the paths. Despite the lack of English signage, we enjoyed spending an hour or so admiring the twisted branches, hanging roots, and strange mud formations all along the trail.

Snorkeling Tour

2006-12-22T19:37:00.000+09:00

On a one-day tour we traveled by boat to 4 of the islands near Ko Lanta...we had a buffet lunch of curry, fresh fruit, and stir-fry for lunch on a secluded beach, had the opportunity to snorkel around two different islands (and yes, even I snorkeled! I wore a life-jacket and saw blurry colourful fish! (I accidentally left my contacts at home :( ) The highlight of this day trip, however, was our experience swimming to and seeing 'the Emerald Cave"...

The Emerald Cave

2006-12-22T07:53:00.000+09:00

We passed many islands as we motored about the Andaman sea, all of them quite beautiful. Several of them had steep cliff faces towering out of the water. These were beautiful in an untouchable sort of way. It would be very difficult indeed to set foot on one of these islands. One island, looked just as inhospitable as any. There were openings in the rock at the water line, and one of these was marked. We dawned our life jackets and entered the cave. By the time I had pushed Angela and her life-jacket 100 feet, the light of the sun was completely hidden. We swam about the same distance again and saw light at the end of the tunnel. When we reached the end we found ourselves nestled in a cozy little tropical nest, with walls towering above on all sides of a small beach.
This warm windless world had attracted many visitors, despite her modest outward appearance. Unique flora, and birds had made homes here and, so said the signpost on the beach, was a temporary storage for pirated loot.
We scanned the beach for some emeralds left behind by the pirates, but didn't find any. We were not disappointed. The beach and protective walls were treasure enough for us. This made it all the more delightful to make a discovery as we returned to the windy world. Our eyes were adjusted to pitch darkness, and most of the light that reached our eyes as we approached the exit was filtered through the blue-green water of the Indian Ocean. Emerald indeed.

Tropical Drink Meltin' in your Hand...

2006-12-21T21:45:00.000+09:00

Exquisite...the sand, the sunset, the drinks with pineapple and dendrobium on the rim of the glass, and whose that hottie? The Southern Lanta Resort was like living a Beach Boys song. The atmosphere was throughly relaxing. The sun was bright, the water was warm. Stray dogs and cats were calm, relaxed and came and went where they pleased. The food was great at every restaurant we tried. When the sun went down, there were bonfires, massages, fire-dancers ...

Elephant Riding

2006-12-21T11:20:00.000+09:00

In Ko Lanta we had our first elephant riding experience. The one-hour ride took us through some tropical forests, rubber plantations, and dusty-red terrain. These elephants were better behaved than the ones on our trek in northern Thailand: not once did this elephant raise her shiny pink-tipped trunk to beg for sugar-cane treats (like the ones on the trek did!)

Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace

2006-12-19T23:36:00.000+09:00

The royal pantheon is an impressive example of Ratanakosin: old-Bangkok style of architecture

Phra Mondop: a repository for Buddhist sacred scriptures, which are apparently inscribed on palm leaves and kept in a mother-of-pearl inlaid cabinet

An artist working on restoring the gold leaf on one of the murals of the Ramakian (the Thai version of the epic Ramayana)

The four of us standing in front of a series of monkeys and demons (who are basically holding up the universe)

One of the many ornate chimeras decorating the grounds