\ \ Love, Donuts, 이순신, and Me.

Two weeks ago Door and I made an epic 5-hour journey on the motorcycle, all the way down to Tongyoung (통영), home of Lee Soon-Shin (이순신), Korea's most famous naval hero. First stop though was Milyang (밀양), Door's hometown and an eponymously titled movie.

Below is the view of the love motel district of Milyang as seen from the love motel room we occupied that night. Note the curtained garage entrance at bottom-left. It's so you can bring your mistress/second girlfriend/prostitute and park your car without anyone knowing you were there. You also pay upfront at love motels and leave the key in the elevator on the way out, all without the clerk ever seeing your face. Sounds super sketchy right? Like there should be cum all over the walls and cigarette burns on all the pillows? Well they're goddamn swanky! Nicer than any Holi-fuckin-day Inn I've ever stayed in and super cheap too, anywhere from $30-$50/night for a room that might have a jacuzzi, big screen TV and king-sized heart-shaped bed as well as an array of colored lights to get you in the mood at night.

That night we went to Milyang's festival and met up with Door's totally nice friend Sujin, and rather hot friend Jiyang (홍은아 질투나지마 니가 더욱 섹시해). There was also another friend, Jinsook, not pictured.
For dinner it was pots of Makgeolli and barbecue pork cut straight off a pig we saw rotating on a spit. Good times, good times.
The next day we checked out Youngnamru (영남루) one of the most famous Jeongja(정자)(gazebo?) in Korea. This sort of Jeongja was apparently used by aristocrats, who sat here all day wining and dining, playing musical instruments and practicing their calligraphy while watching over all the peons below toiling away in the fields. Can I get a resounding "Ready to serve"? Oh and I almost forgot, Jeongja means 'gazebo' as well as 'sperm' in korean, derived from different chinese characters, so those aristocrats were totally makin' some jeongja on the jeongja. Ha.

We departed Milyang, and after a lovely afternoon of riding, arrived in Tongyeong. From Tonyeong we took a ferry to Hansando (한산도), the island where General Lee's famous defeat of the Japanese invasion fleet took place. I wonder if Lee Soon Shin and Robert E. Lee would get along? They'd probably make some incredible friend chicken. Anyway...Hansando...

And the next day we found this incredible masterpiece of a T-shirt on the street in Tongyeong. Meating people in my carears sounds EXTREMELY signillcant. Especially if Mickey's involved.

Our last meal consisted of things found at the bottom of the ocean thrown into a pot of boiling water and red pepper paste (me), and raw sea squirt chopped up and mixed with rice and veggies (her). I don't know why I took a photo of this food and not the awesome raw fish we had the previous night. We found a little open-air street market, and within sat a row of little old ladies surrounded by tubs of various fish/sea animals flopping around or not. Across from the old ladies was a row of restaurants, none of which, curiously, had a kitchen. Quickly we discovered that what you had to do was tell one of the old ladies, "Hey, gimme that fish please!" and she would grab it, chop its head off, skin it, and cut it into sashimi-sized slivers all while it was still flopping around, and then hand it to you on a plate. Next you took the plate into one of the restaurants, which would supply you with all the dipping sauces, side dishes, and booze you could possibly want. We had an awesome, drunken evening eating the freshest possible sushi EVAR and drinking soju+beer boilermakers. Needless to say, after that night, neither of us were happy with the food below, even the Korean, and so first...
I screamed an exasperated "Ee Soon fuckin' Shin!" and then it was off to...

Dunkin Donuts, where we satisfied our taste buds with yummy donuts and coffee.

Goodbye Tongyoung, Lee Soon-Shin....

Monday was Buddha's B-Day, and Sunday I went to Haeinsa (a temple) with Mike and Ian. It was a good ride, took the new motorcycle, which I had to jump start the entire day by pushing it really fast down a hill, and popping the clutch in first gear to turn the engine over. The bike's a piece of shit. I've already had to do all kinds of maintenance on it, and today the kickstand broke. Arrghh. Anyway, photos of Haeinsa...

\ \ Women, Hot Cars, Monster Bull Balls

A few weeks ago the World Supercar Show at the Exco exhibition hall here in Daegu. Armed with my camera and a superhuge raging boner, I accompanied Mike, Ian, and Leo to one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced in my life. Most of of the girls, while thin and attractive, could have benefited from a few situps and/or laps around the block, and so didn't really fit into their spandex very well, which made their 'sexy' poses pretty awkward. But then there were gems like this sultry lady below:
Obviously the showgoers were mainly men, but the way the ladies were displaying themselves as if they could be purchased along with the car was simultaneously arousing and disgusting. The only way that I could take so many photos of scantily clad women without feeling too embarrassed was to convince myself that I was being an 'artistic' photographer, unlike all those 'other' assholes who either shot endless frames with their cellphones, OR if more phtographically inclined, used big penis lenses for a more 'professional' look. There were some exciting machines to be seen at the show, like the Lamborghini in the first photo, and this awesome Aprilla bike below.
The highlight of the show and by far the sexiest women there were the awesome trio that rocked out on their bedazzled keytar, violin, and upright bass(not shown for relative lack of sexiness). The violinist was by far the most attractive, and when the three of us (Leo had run off to the bathroom at this point) saw her our collective jaws dropped. Luckily we managed to snag a shot of us together and declare our love to them before they made a quick exit, not looking at all happy to have been playing bedazzled instruments in front of hundreds of horny men while wearing tacky , midriff bearing outfits.Finally, after getting bored/worn out, we left, and I for one was probably feeling more horny and animalistic than ever before in my life. Hot women and expensive cars are a dangerous mix, and the show affected me in a way that I will never forget, and am not sure I want to re-live again. --------------------------
Intermission:Start
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Chris at his best.
Billibowl! If you mix pool and bowling, you get a really fun bar game. If this hasn't been imported to the US yet, someone get on it, you could make a killing.
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Intermission:End
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Fast forward a few weeks and...
I went to the 청도소싸움축제(Chungdo Bull Fighting Festival) on Wednesday with my new special lady friend, Door. Most koreans pick lame English names like Jenny, Sunny, or god forbid, Candy, but Door decided to work with what she's got, and uses her last name, 문(Moon), which can be translated as 'door', to great effect. Door and I went to the bullfights, and...

Saw this massive wooden bull carving that was made from a date tree that had been struck by lightning! Don't even tell me that doesn't scream POWER. RRRrrar! or Moooooooo!
This guy, who looks as if he's never been sober for a day in his entire life, was also interested in the wooden bull.There was also a giant chia pet-style squirrel, who was apprently being robbed of his shubberies when I snapped this shot.And this baby was rockin' the backseat with his gramma, who seemed rather perplexed by the plastic bull wearing a football? helmet.Door also seemed a bit confused when it became difficult to drink from this cup after she chewed it to bits.But I reassured her that it is OK to chew on your cup, and she hugged me and we took a photo.On to the bullfight! It was pretty fun. In Korea, the bulls fight each other, and the fights not over until one bull turns his back and runs away. Most of the fights lasted for only a few seconds, when one bull would get bored or decide the other bull was his friend, but a couple fights lasted for over 30 minutes, and resulted in blood-bathed bull heads, and sometimes the bulls would strain so hard they would shit all over the place and their huge bull balls would recede into their bodies. Eventually, we decided that we felt sorry for the poor animals, and left, but not after a bottle of soju and some green onion pancake!
It was a great time, and I seem to have found a really cool woman. So don't expect frequent posts from no on, cuz I've got better things to do!

\ \ Rad!

Check this guy's awesome improv rendition of 'House of the Rising Sun' on a diatonic accordion. Rad!

\ \ Some Korean Music Videos

This one's by a band called Hot Potato. Thanks to the lyrics being written across the bottom of the video, I can vaguely make out that this song is about everything going through it's cycle and changing except the singer.



3rd Line Butterfly. This song makes me wanna drive cross country in my car and not worry about anything.



This one is by Humming Urban Stereo. In the beginning of the song all of the women in dude's life ask him, "Don't you love me?" and the rest of the song is about lovin'. The sign he holds up says "My Love".


Rainy Sun MV - Regret. Dude's voice is awesome. Can't make a word of the song out except about halfway through where he says "You bastard".


Finally, the hungarian suicide song, "Gloomy Sunday". Not Korean.

Have I just been in Korea too long, or is this not good music? The longer I'm here, the more good music I run into. Originally it was really disheartening to think that the only music in Korea might be the vapid, soulless, derivative crap that is played day in day out everywhere you go, but I guess it's the same at home too, no? I mean hell, until I left Arkansas, the only non-crap I had to listen to was classic rock and whatever indie rock band came to Vinos (did here some good music that way, like when the Misfits came!), and I don't think it was really until the proliferation of the MP3 that not very commercial music became easily accessible. At any rate, I'm happy to be continuously finding a small number of good korean bands to listen to. Enjoy. Oh, but if you're sad, don't listen to the hungarian suicide song, or you will kill yourself.

\ \ Some Random, Totally Achronologically Posted Photos (Is That Even a Word?)

Hello Moto...

Oh yeah, subtle pink...

A beautiful moonlit evening in Daegu...

Music teacher eats 떡볶이ddukbogki(not sure if I spelled that right in either language)...

The calm before the storm. About 30 seconds later, in a burst of laughter accompanied by a sweeping arm gesture, she sent both our coffees flying through the air and all over everything, but luckily for me, mostly her skirt, which was completely soaked. It started to get sticky so she went out and bought a little pink miniskirt for $10. Unfortunately for me, then she went to church...

Gayageum strings...
Balance...
See ya!
Scary tree #1 (I'll send you a signed lithograph for $100)
#2

These are my Korean Studies classmates. As you can see, I am the only non-chinese person except for the teacher, who is the older looking guy left of center...
When I went up to Seoul to purchase the projector, I also purchased a new camera lens (30mm f1.4!) and took pictures of this guy being very passionate in front of what used to be Namdaemun (Seoul's ancient south gate) before it burned down a few weeks ago...
Here he is giving a fervent speech about something or other. Did I mention that the bum who burned down Namdaemun said in an interview that all the bums in town used to have bum parties inside? Apparently one corner was for the party, another corner was where they threw all the empty soju bottles, and a third was for pooping. Not sure about the 4th corner...Group sex?

Here is Leo sporting the 오배근 tshirt!

My steed and I took a trip up into the mountains while everyone else was in Thailand or Japan or whatever...
Here's Murray's new motorcycle! Now I have a riding buddy.
This man does not have an afro.
Neither does Mike.
Beautiful.