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.

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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 capture everyone’s feeling in the last picture.

For a few nice additional pics that really capture 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Last Saturday I returned home from two months in Seoul. Perhaps you think I will tell you that the key to beating jet lag is to stay awake the entire trip so that you’re so exhausted that you have no difficulty getting to sleep at the right time and thereby reset your internal clock. Well, I tried this (30 hours straight with no sleep), and it works. But there’s a problem. Did you notice the words “you’re so exhausted”? Isn’t that what I was trying to avoid in the first place? So now I’m back to a normal sleep schedule, but all that lost sleep weakened my immune system and I came down with a cold, in addition to still being pretty tired. Nevertheless, I have to admit it’s better than the last return trip, when I could barely stay awake at work for several days. I guess this is the best I can hope for.

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A friend from my congregation back home (see, I still call Spokane “home”) is on his way to Mali, where he’ll spend 8 months doing … whatever it is you do in an extremely poor semi-arid desert country with a 45% literacy rate. I presume this would involve ostriches and camels. Although there is still some question regarding internet availability, we hope to follow his exploits at: http://kalebwenzel.podcastpeople.com

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Apparently I’ve been pretty slack at updating my friends and family with the minor detail of my delayed return to the States, cause I’ve had several people, my mom included, wondering if I was already home. Well, people, even though I know you probably won’t think of checking here due to my complete failure to update this site, I’d still like to go on record as having informed you that I will not be returning home until October 13th. However, it’s a bit like I’m going on a vacation to the States, because the plan is to return yet again to Korea on November 11th. It’s starting to feel like home here. Kinda weird.

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I now have a working internet phone with a Spokane phone number and a cell phone with a Seoul number so friends on both sides of the Pacific can contact me without paying crazy international rates. Since both numbers will likely be used for the long term, I’d rather not post them, but feel free to drop an e-mail to dan@danhochee.net if you would like and I’ll be glad to share. Besides, it would be nice to hear from you, since we never talk these days.

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