The first question you might ask is that "why the hell is this trail so damn long?" Well, in fact, it is actually two trails which I decided to do in one go. The reason behind this is because Hwangpo-hang, which is the meeting point of the two trails, is a small fishing village with less than ten buildings and the buses come every two hours, making going back to Anmyeon Bus terminal a pain. My adventure started at 0630 when I took the express bus to Anmyeong Bus terminal. From there I took the 0750 bus to Yeongmok and started making my way up the coastline. There were a few woodlands, beaches and wetlands that I passed through along the way. In total, it took a good 5 hours and 16 minutes for me to finish the 29KM trek. Although the views were spectacular, the consequence of walking 5 hours straight was that my feet were swollen. The last kilometer to the bus stop felt like a life time with my feet in agony. If you would like to tackle this fabulous stretch from Yeongmok to Kkotji or vice versa, do bring a lot of water and something to eat. There aren't that many corner stores on this section of Haebyeongil. Enough chit chat. Please enjoy the photos!
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There are a lot of escalators in Hong Kong. Heck, it's one of the main modes of transportation in Central on Hong Kong Island to ferry people up and down the hill. This project, "Escherlators" was inspired by M.C. Escher Relativity, where the stairwells lead into difference dimensions, into an never ending loop. The escalators in Hong Kong are some what the same; take the wrong one and you end up on a floor that you didn't intend on going to and trying to find your way around can be confusing.
Hong Kong was the place where I started taking up on Street Photography back in 2012. It started out as a way to relax from the stress of working there. As time progressed, it turned into an interest. Going back to Hong Kong during this long weekend in Korea gave me a chance to practice and sharpen my street photography skills which I have not been able to do here in the countryside (although one might argue that you still can but my rule is that I don't sh*t where I eat). I did find out that I have a preference for taking photos inside of buildings rather on the street since it's interesting how people's behaviour change when they are in an interior environment Vs. when they are out on the street. People tend to be more interesting once they are indoors whereas it seems as if they are constantly rushing from point A to point B when they are on the street. Then again, that is my observation. Enough reading. Here are the photos.
The cold weather is finally behind us and all my surroundings at home and work are finally lush green with beautiful flowers sprouting everywhere. Although it is technically still Spring, I am excited of what's to come in the summer. The just are a few snapshots I took over the past few days. I can't wait to go stargazing on the beach at night once the dust from China eventually stops making the sky hazy.
Since Kevin and I are early risers, we decided to wake up real early (I woke up at 4am) and start our hike at 5am towards the foot of Baekhwasan in town. I estimated that by the time we arrived at the peak we would be able to see the sunrise. Well things didn't go as planned. Once we reached the top, the skies were cloudy but it created a really nice calming atmosphere since it gave the surrounding landscape a shade of blue. Setting up my camera and my tripod, I started shooting away. Here are the results from early this morning.
The weather this week hasn't been the best and fearing that the rain might destroy the last of the remaining cherry blossoms, David, Dylan and I decided to visit one four major temples in Chungcheongnam-do, Gaesimsa (개심사) located in Haemi Eup, Seosan City. The original site was founded in the Baekjae Dynasty but was destroyed in a forest fire in 1475 and rebuilt in 1478, which are the buildings that currently standing today. We took the 522 bus which left Seosan Bus Terminal at 09:15 and it dropped us off at the foot of the temple around 35 minutes later. Lanterns were up along the trail as well as around the temple in preparation of Buddha's birthday. There was a prayer session going on at the temple, hence the lack of photos of the buildings. Seeing that there were more and more people coming to the temple to see the cherry blossoms, we decided that we did enough exploring around the area and started to head down to the main road. Along the way there were was a lane lined up with cherry blossoms trees in full bloom. Since most of the tourists headed directly to the temple, it was a wonderful opportunity to take photos knowing that a random ajuma won't walk through your photo. Once we were finished, we continued our way along the trail which followed an agricultural reservoir. Although it was a bit foggy, the light was soft and the scenes around us looked like as if they were paintings. We're defiantly coming back to visit the temple and the trail later on once the area is green again. If you happen to be in Seosan during the weekend, this place is one of the city's best kept secrets that you should explore.
In 2012, I took a small detour to work in Hong Kong but things didn't go as planned hence I came back to Korea. It was at Hong Kong when I started to experiment with street photography since the place is a massive urban jungle. I didn't had the chance to visit the natural side of Hong Kong up in the New Territories since I never really had the time to venture out that far. Therefore I spent most of my time wandering around in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Most of my photos were converted into black and white at that time, but as I went through them again today, I decided to re-edit them to see how they would look in colour. To be honest, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Here they are.
Due to the warm weather that Korea has been getting lately, the cherry blossoms have bloomed earlier than expected. Seeing that I might miss my only chance this year if I continued to wait for the flowers to bloom in Taean, I decided head out to Seosan Lake Park, where I knew that most of the trees were in full bloom. Words cannot describe how beautiful these delicate white flowers are, especially when the white petals gracefully dance among the wind. I think I'll stop here and let you enjoy the photos.
A few weeks ago when I making my way down for the top of Baekhwasan, I noticed this clearing which I though to myself would be a great place to get another photo of the sunset. Noticing the weather might be suitable today, I headed up to that spot after work and patiently waited for the sun to set. Once I started taking photos, things didn't go as planned since the sun disappeared under the hazy skyline just before it dipped under the mountains. At least I got a shot which I'm happy with and here it is.
Seeing that the weather was going to the lovely on Sunday, Kevin and I decided to tackle the stretch of Haebyeongil which started at the Hakampo and ended at Shinduri. Know as Pala Gil (바라길), it connects to the Sowon Gil (소원길) at Shinduri. We took the first bus left for Hakampo and 09:30 and half an hour later, we were at our starting point. We started by exploring the harbour and then made our way to the beach. The tide was low enough today that we were able to walk to one of the islands near the coast. The rocks were covered with oysters which made me wish I had a knife with me to shuck these oysters. After being distracted with the abundant amount of free seafood, we headed towards the trail were slowly on our way. We passed through the beaches of Guryepo (구례포), Meondong (먼동) and once we arrived at Neugpa Temple, the trail took us into the woodlands. Once we reached the clearing, we arrived at the Shinduri Sand dunes (신두리 해안사구) which we never really expected to see. After another hour of walking, we arrived at Shinduri and took the 14:25 bus back to town. It took a total of 4 hours to complete the 12 km section. Now that I have finished northern section of Haebyeongil, off to the southern section!
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