Seoul - Summer of 2008 - Part 4

The is probably my last post for Summer of 2008 in Korea. Yes, I know its almost Spring 2009 now and I'm posting old stuff. Better late than never, so I still wish to share some experiences I found with my Seoul visit.

A colleague told me that there are some nice shots of Tulips when he visited the Seoul Everland theme park 2 weeks ago, so I thought I shouldn't miss this.. but I must say the view two weeks later was somewhat different...


Among all weird signs I've encountered.. this one should top the list.

Here's some of the left over tulips that's still standing in May...

Some white ones..

Always love shooting butterflies.. so this one didn't manage to escape a shot from me.

Walking around Namdaemun looking for camera stuffs, I met this stall and grabbed some lunch.

Angel in us Coffee.. yeah it has to be a mocha... in the fine prints.. it says "The world's Best coffee'. Thats a really satisfying mocha... but, "The world's best coffee'??

KW2000 each ... shouldn't miss it but they smell a bit.

Decided to try out the stuff on the street this time, since its nice to walk around in the evenings, so tried out this sausage looking thing... the owner actually preferred the shot to be taken without him.. so that explains why the stall looked unattended. I have agreed to help him promote his food.. and yes they are awesome...

Another something I tried.

Bought this from the Lotte basement food court for a quick bite between visits to City hall events.

Seoul - Summer of 2008 - Part 3

Besides the Seoul Friendship fair, it was also around the time of Spring celebration, so managed to attend some of the Korean celebration around City Hall too.

No idea what is this.. but I thought worth a shoot.

This is the Korean traditional dance with some background music that sounded a little serious.

This is, of course the not so boring part of the night.

Lead guitarist in action

Yeah, with lots of pyro too...

and this is her concert... no idea who is she, but it was a Korean rock concert.


again, walk towards the man-made river and check out what new additions they have this time...

Seoul - Summer of 2008 - Part 2

Here's some pictures taken during the actual day of Seoul Friendship fair. Pictures shown here are happenings around the City Hall, while other activities not captured are booths from each countries, selling their special products.

This is the guy that first came out to perform some calligraphy during the opening ceremony...


and these are his inks.

I'm going to let the rest of picture tell the story of that day itself ... so, enjoy...

Old man with nice Leica..

and.. this picture is captured to show how Korean policemen looks like..

Seoul - Summer of 2008 - Part 1

During one of my visits to Seoul, I've stayed around City area to get a better view and experience Seoul. It also coincide with their annual event of Seoul Friendship Fair 2008. So as usual, I'm more than happy to bring along my camera and snap away.


This is one of the streets in downtown closed off for the event use.

Some Korean flowers

Took a picture of this while I was taking a break in the coffee hse. Ordered a mocha for myself and it is really something. In the fine print, it says "World's best coffee", from Angel-in-us Coffee. Should give it a try if you haven't already the next time u sees one.

One of the performers of the event during rehersal.

This guy is not a performer though.

Think he is part of the event as I saw him on both days.

Another Chinese performer.

Some Korean student taking self portrait. I am always curious how people takes their own pictures using mobile, so I had to capture this shot to remind me of how it is done.

Dirt biking in Malaysia - December 2008

After a mountain biking trip in Yuzhno that did not allow us to cover as far as we planned, a trip on dirt bike in Malaysia was planned before departing Yuzhno.

The day was a Sunday, and we agreed it is time to take the bikes off road. Breakfast was part of the plan, so we arrived 1 hour before the trip start to have our meal. It was about 830am when we arrived.

Everyone arrived around 945 and we were told to take the bikes for a spin to make sure they are in good condition. Alex, the shop owner gave us some protective gears, e.g. riding boots, knee/elbow guards, gloves and we took the bikes for a shakedown.


Here are the monsters.


Our first stop was at the Shell station, to fill up the tanks. Everyone took this opportunity to fill up their system with some 100plus or RedBull during this time.


Yours truly posting for a shot with his bike.

Trial #1, to cross this small river on planks. Good balancing skills and balls required to acomplish this first task, especially for beginners. Ok, I didn't manage to pass this.

A short break after our first 15 minutes of ride.

Some pointers on how to handle the bike going in and out of muddy waters.

The bikes...

Getting ready for some more action.

The lack of pictures for the later part of the trip explains the difficulty levels and weather conditions. We went through hilly slopes, muddy waters, palm oil estate dirt tracks and crossing some drains we never thought possible.

We arrived back at our starting point at around 5pm, exhausted, wasted, dirty, breathless, bruised, but glad we made it back and most importantly, made the trip happen.