The Pond, 2010 edition
Since Erin and I are both back in East Lansing this winter, it’s time for another round of pond pictures.
For those that don’t know the story, this is a pond that Erin and I discovered while living in the university apartments. These were older buildings, next to the express-way and the train tracks. There was a surprising amount of swampy, wooded land near-by, and it made for fun exploring when we were bored.
The pond itself is shaped like two perfect rectangles; I’m assuming it was a borrow pit left from the construction of the express-way. If you’re curious, you can see it on Google Maps.
This was our first trip this year. It was a beautiful day for a walk, and I wanted to check the ice conditions. I looks like there’s enough ice for skating, but the surface is pretty rough. We’ll need to get a patch cleared off and see if it smooths out.
Here are some pictures:
Pictures from Bangladesh
Here are two galleries of photos from Bangladesh. I’ll do a longer write-up later, but I’ve got lessons to plan right now. Enjoy!
A Wednesday Walk
Our year here is winding down, and I’m wishing I’d taken more photos. Lately, I’ve been trying to do just that, but as much as I like taking pictures, I hate lugging a camera around.
For the next seven days, I will attempt to post at least a few pictures every day. This will force me to carry a camera. In return, I get the narcissistic pleasure of people viewing my pictures. (Also, it should make my mother happy, as she always wants to see photos.)
Without further ado, here is a walk along the river on a Wednesday evening:
Mureung Valley
This weekend we took an amazing hike up Mureung Valley, near Donghae (about 45 minutes south of Gangneung).
Hiking is pretty popular in Korea, especially in Gangwondo. Every weekend, the parks fill up with people, and quite often a “hike” is actually filing up a big stone staircase in a line with hundreds of other people. Not exactly my idea of a good time.
If you get off the official path a bit, things are completely different. After walking up the path for about 20 minutes, we dropped down onto the river bed and rock-hopped upstream. There were a few people sunning themselves or having picnics, but we walked a few minutes upstream and had the whole river to ourselves.
We spent the day swimming in the river and lounging on the rocks. In the evening, a few more people showed up, and we set up camp. We pitched tents, cooked some food, and drank some beer. We hiked back down on Sunday, after more swimming and lunch.
I wish I’d known about the valley sooner, but I’ll definitely return before we leave.
Here are some photos. Also, I’m looking for feedback on the new photo system. I’ve wanted a Lightbox script of some sort to overlay my photos and display captions. Some of them run really slowly on my server, but I think I’ve found one that works. I’m still tweaking things, but let me know what you think.
Pictures - Weekend in Hyeonri
Our friend Jose lives in Hyeonri, a rural village near Inje. This was a long weekend for us, so we spent Friday and Saturday night with him. We went whitewater rafting on Saturday and took a nice hike Sunday morning.
It’s a gorgeous place. Here are some pictures:
Pictures - Gangneung Cherry Blossom Festival
These pictures are from April 10. Erin and I rode our bikes to Gyeongpo Lake to check out the cherry blossom festival. Enjoy!
Pictures from Thailand
So here are a bunch of photos from Thailand. In order, these are from Bangkok, Koh Lanta, Sukhothai, and Ayutthaya. The pictures look OK for the most part. I think the colors look a bit washed out, but I’m certainly no photographer and it’s just a point-and-shoot camera.
Again, these images are resized and watermarked. If you want a clean file, just let me know.
Enjoy!
A few older pictures
I found a handful of pictures on Erin’s camera that I had forgotten about. These are from an afternoon bike ride we took more than a month ago. They were taken at Gyongpo lake, a small lake near the ocean. There are paths that circle the lake and run through the rice fields nearby. A very pretty place.
The pictures aren’t great, but here they are:
