Short Break, Madness Resumes

So the there are still a ton of pictures to upload.

I'll start with this one, and hopefully end on something completely different.

If all goes well, this will be my last batch of photographs from the Seoul trip.

The palace grounds are separated into numerous courtyards, and from the few I've seen, they all seem to be divided this way.

The spaces vary in size, but tend to have a single domineering building, surrounded low level quarters.

I guess the peons worked outside the main building, and were the first line of defence against intrusion.

So during my homeward journey, I gazed into a window idly, to see something that made me chuckle.

In the country of dog eaters, the poodle is king.

In my mind these girls were preparing the dogs for dinner.

It could only be improved if there were a restaurant next door...

The next stop on my 'Around Seoul,' trip was Lotte world.

It's a (mainly) indoor amusement park, and has a number of different attractions.  Some are fantastic, like the indoor roller coaster, while others are somewhat more tame.

We took the monorail to have a look around.  I was thinking it would be tiny, but it really is deceptively large.  They have utilised the space efficiently.

I desperately wanted to take my camera on the roller coaster, but I was borrowing it, so I couldn't.

I offered to tape it to my hands and everything!

Despite being rather short, it was particularly jarring and intense, considering the lack of height and speed.  I would definitely recommend 'the French revolution,' to anyone who ventures into Lotte world.

The extremely high-up balloons (probably not the correct name) was a ride I couldn't go on.

If you want to see around the park, either choose the monorail or the balloons.  It's my understanding that the balloons don't go outside, to the island attached to the park, so the monorail wins for pure interest.

I did want to see how high the roof was though, looking down on all the ants wandering around...

Maybe that's just my inner dictator kicking in though...

After not being allowed to take pictures on the roller coaster, I was determined to get pictures from at least one ride.

Some bargaining later, I procured this shot of the swinging ship.

It seems another park-goer had the same idea as me, and I can only assume he has the same shot in reverse.

That would have been interesting to see, alas I didn't get any of his information.

In the queue for the ship, it occurred to me that the facade of such places is always broken, no matter how much effort is expended in keeping the experience 'authentic.'

The illusion is broken often, and in extremely obvious places; so I'm always surprised when people come here for anything other than rides.

It's certainly something else to be indoors for most of the time though, as all the noise is kept echoing around.  I suppose this is one of the benefits of having a place under roof, as it always seems more interesting and exciting than it actually is, because of the crowded conditions and constant noise.

At least they tried to write something in English.

It's probably gramatically correct, but I don't think anyone has used 'lest,' in around two hundred years.  Good effort though, at least.

Another shot from the swinging ship.

I couldn't turn the flash off, no matter how hard I tried.  It was pretty powerful though, judge for yourself in this picture.

It lit up a kilometre of park...

As is customary, I ate several dozen family sized cakes when I was there.

This  is but one of those cakes, and  delicious it was too.

They have a real talent for making good, cheap cakes.

PB means Paris Baguette by the way.  (Free advertising)

Everything has hearts on it, you can't escape this.  Think of the most unlikely, outlandish item.  Now attach a heart to it.

Possibly pink.

That's how people enjoy their products here.  I feel awfully sorry for the men.

The next day I happened across a man selling personal stamps.  He sets up shop on the side of the road, bringing with him a laptop and a CAD machine.

The whole setup is quite surreal, but fantastic.

I had to purchase one, purely for the nostalgic value.

The following sequence is how it was made!

First I chose my design, and the style of handle I wanted.  Being dragon born, I chose my name around the outside, with the chinese symbol for dragon in the middle.

He sorted it all out on the computer, selected the wood, and let the machine do all the work.

This is the overall setup in one shot.

Spartan, but effective.

The wood is sanded, primed and placed into the machine.

The cutting head then moves into position, with a small pressure sensor.

This moves over the wood finding the edges of the piece of wood.  It's surprisingly effective, for such a simple concept.

The sensor takes only a few measurements before the cutting begins.

I have to wonder where he got the software for this machine, and where he got the machine itself.

The whole thing cost roughly fifteen pounds.

I bet he had to make an awful lot of these stamps to pay for the equipment...

These are the handle designs.

They're all wood (I think.  Some looked suspiciously like ivory) and are extremely simple.

The handles are pre-shaped into interesting and exotic patterns, the ends of which are cut by the machine.  No extra work is done on the handles themselves.

He occasionally brushed the machine down, keeping detritus clear of the head.

It's a remarkably efficient process, but I was left wondering whether such a cheap street vendor could produce something that worked.

He had a pair of hands that looked like they'd single handedly pulled Korea into the twenty-first century.

They were scarred, cracked and definitely wisened; but he smiled all the time, so I'm sure he enjoyed what he was doing.

Or he was enjoying the conversation with the woman in the background.  Come to think of it, they were probably making fun of the  dumb foreigner with dragon in his name.

And finally, the finished product.

It came out spectacularly well considering the cost and venue.

If you receive a letter from me, then it will undoubtedly have this stamp affixed somewhere.  I carry it with me to most venues, regardless of whether a stamp is needed.



And those are the Seoul Summer Holiday snaps.  They really were little more than snapshots in the end, but I had fun taking them.

Until next time.