Meanwhile. In Korea.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

some photos

If you want bigger copies, say for desktops, just let me know. Flickr resizes everything smaller than I'd like.

So I went walking through downtown Seoul late in the afternoon. Apparently I also had shakey hands (or not enough light to work with) so here's what I saw:

I nearly shit my pants when I found this. I have the smack-my-head moment, yes, even now two months on: 'whoa, I'm not in Canada anymore.' Here was another moment. I mean, we don't really have statues of medieval ass-kicking admirals in our cities, and none of our mountains look quite like those. By the way, this is Yi Sun-sin


Is there anything more cliched in photography than 'old meets new?'


I gotta say, after seeing Yi Sun-sin, this utterly shitty piece of public art was quite a letdown. Say what you want about honoring ancient tyrants, at least we aren't staring up at a stupid gaudy shell.


Yeah, lots of traffic. Off in the distance is Namdaemun, the South gate of what was ancient Seoul.


Off in the distance, Seoul tower in the middle of a park. Closer to the foreground, you can see that Koreans are ready for Christmas. Took this shot just moments before they turned on all those lights. And I do enjoy 'happy sales.'


All that gawking at big buildings is useless without acknowledging the agricultural sector that makes all that impressiveness possible. This was a quick snapshot from the bus... farms seem to get crowded into the tiny spaces left over when the kilometres of furniture shops, driving ranges and garden centres taper off. Most food in Korea is domestic; contrary to the rhetoric of neo-liberals even 'Asian Miracle' countries like Korea protect their agricultural sectors. Korea is negotiating a free-trade pact with the U.S., and agricultural protection is on the cutting block. Just in time, the government is declaring that they will crack down on 'anti-social' elements who might object to the destruction of their livelihoods. At the same time, the Korean government seems to be determined not to lose their farming sector without shaking loose some sort of compromise out of the Americans. And American negotiators don't seem to do too well in offering compromises. Interesting times...

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