I uploaded the pics from our four day Shanghai trip. We set out to find good food, shop on the cheap, experience the city’s culture, and just relax … and we succeeded. Shanghai was a wonderful city and both of us wouldn’t mind going back for another round. Enjoy!
We (Tre and I) just got to the airport here in Shanghai, and it just happens to be New Year’s Eve. Purely coincidence, but I’m curious what the Chinese will do to celebrate the New Year, since it’s not significant on their calendar.
Anyhow, I’ll post pics when we get back; only here for a few days.
Incidentally, facebook is blocked, but watchtower.org is not. 
A brother sent this to me. I don’t know who made it, but the video is a nice montage of pictures from the “Keep on the Watch!” International Convention held in Seoul this August. You can play directly from the link or right click and choose “Save Link As…” to download to your computer. Enjoy.
2009 Seoul International Convention.wmv
Edit: I’m sorry, but the link above no longer works because the large number of downloads exceeded my bandwidth limits. If you send me an email at dhochee_remove_this@gmail.com, I would be happy to provide you with a copy of the file via a public file sharing service.
Just got back to Seoul after three weeks away. The last week I spent in the Bahamas with my friends Nick and April.
We had a blast swimming, snorkeling, parasailing, eating conch, zipping around on scooters, and otherwise doing a lot of nothing.
Here are some pics. I should hopefully have a few more to add, including some underwater shots, when Nick gets me the pics from their cam.
Sorry I was slow to post the pics, but here they are …
A few weeks ago I had to leave the country due to visa limitations, so I decided to take a quick hop over to Japan. I visited Osaka and Kyoto and had a great time, even though three days is, of course, way too short. In any case, I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you like nature shots, I recommend jumping straight to section #4, “Kyoto - Around Nanzen-ji.” I thought I was going there too late in the season to get good color on the trees, but it turns out I was wrong. The trees were quite nice.
I’ve added most of the comments already, but plan to add a few more. In any case, enjoy.
Since everyone had off work last Monday for Chusok, some friends in the hall decided to make a day trip out of climbing a mountain here in Seoul. The chosen hike was to the top of Mt. Baekundae in Buhkansan Park, which is the highest peak in the area at 837m (2746 feet). That may not be so high compared to really large mountains, but it was just right for giving us a workout which took most of the day, and I was blown away by the 360° panoramic view from the top. It was a bit hazy, but you could see Seoul stretching out into the distance. There were also some very impressive rock formations along the way.
One of the more exciting parts of the adventure was the final ascent to the peak. Most of the 6km hike was on a fairly nice path, sort of like climbing rocky stairs that aren’t too steep, but the last bit of the climb required using a metal rope to haul yourself up the extremely steep rock face. It would have been a heart-pounding challenge at any time, but the crowds of people made it even more nerve-wracking. Even so, we persevered, and we all felt pretty victorious by the time we reached the top.
I’ve uploaded pics of our adventure. It’s a combination of pictures from me, Suwon, and Song Cheon. Hope you enjoy them.
We rounded off the evening with some spicy chicken and mekju, but Eugene pretty accurately captured everyone’s feeling in the last picture.
For a few nice additional pics that really portray the nature of the climb, check out the pics on this blogger’s page.
EDIT 9/25/08: Updated to include pictures from Kwan Song Cheon.
Not that anybody would check my site for this sort of information, but …
I’ll be returning to Korea on Sept 4th (arriving on the evening of the 5th). I’m planning on staying for six months this time. I’m putting all my stuff in storage here in Spokane, so I won’t have to pay rent on an apartment. Kinda adds some more fuzziness to the question of which place I call home. Is it the place where I’ve spent 12 of the past 15 months, and where I have my own apartment, or is the place where all my stuff is in a storage unit? Hmmm …
What happens after the next six months is still undecided, and depends on unknown factors. Guess we’ll see.
I spent the last six days catching up with old Bethel friends in San Diego (Richard), Phoenix (Chad and Ron), and Estes Park, Colorado (Jerry). It was a blast, and I posted some new pictures. The great majority were taken while hiking with Jerry in Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountains were breathtaking. Enjoy!
Note: Many of the pictures are very large. If you have a slow internet connection or a small monitor, you can see a reduced-size version here.
I had a great four day trip to Beijing over the Lunar New Year break. I joined a friend from my hall on a bus tour and saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and other such noteworthy sights. A good time was had by all, and pictures have been posted. Perhaps I will find time to add captions before long.
I added some new pictures from my last trip to Korea and a few in Miscellaneous as well. More will be up soon, and I’ll get the captions edited shortly. Enjoy.