The Nami Island Bumper Edition

So I start this particular bumper edition with the note that Nami island is probably one of the top two nicest places in Korea.

The other, Jeju island, I've not been to.

I am told with genuine passion, that it is really nice however.

Interestingly, the photographs are all mixed up.

This will be interesting because you have to guess what this is, and I'm not going to tell you.

Amanda was my accomplice once again, and we rented a tandem bike on the second day on the island.

It was a dog to ride, but this made it all the more fun.  Especially when she took the helm, as fear induced hysterics could be heard echoing around the island.

It was fear that made me laugh.

This is like the one above, only slightly more  is showing.

There are wires.

This should be a clue for anyone trying to figure out what it is.

We met a couple of Taiwanese girls whom Amanda struck up conversation with.

We met them in the shop on the island; then again on the boat on the way back; then again waiting for a taxi.

These three (being chinese and superstitious) took it as a sign of fate, and ended up spending the whole day together.

They really were a lot of fun, and were amazed by UNO, which I managed to blag using our school book budget.  I said something about colours and numbers, but I can't really  remember.

So this is plainly another part of the metallic contraption above.

Wires are involved.  By looking at the photographs we can see that is massively (needlessly) complicated, and therefore bound to carry something heavy and/or important.

These are traditional Korean dancers, wearing the traditional Korean head thing that spins around.

It's rather difficult to capture movement in a still photograph, but I attempted to do just that in some later pictures.

They were rather good, I must say.

No videos this time I'm afraid, the camera I was using isn't able to capture footage.

More of the mysterious contraption.

The massive and unwieldy theme continues, with this huge suspended pylon.

This is at the top of the huge contraption.

The observant among you will notice the wires running down behind us.

Surely you've figured out what it is by now?

At the top of the massive unwieldy contraption, we had some time to kill, so started taking artsy looking photographs.

At this point, we've jumped back in time to riding around the island on the dog-of-a-bike.

I used fill-in flash (I think that's what it's called) to ensure the subject was lit well enough.

Fancy, technical photography stuff eh!

I'm a sucker for repeating patterns, and jumping back in time even further, we see a pattern adorning the wall of our hotel foyer.

This is real wood.  (At first I thought it was wallpaper, with a bizarre pattern.)

Ok, to explain this one I must let the cat out of the bag.

The giant metal doodads were all parts of a giant zip-line.

It started at 80 metres in height on the mainland (hence why we  were waiting at the top) and travels 940 metres onto the island.

This is a picture taken from above, looking down on one of the ferries you normally cross to the island with.  I didn't notice at first, but most eyes are looking directly at the camera.  Creepy.

This is the companion photograph to the earlier one, showing a sliver of the hell-bike.

It really  was terrible to ride.

This guy was preparing some glass for an exhibition.  He didn't look very good while I was peering in through the window taking pictures, but when we went inside things were completely different.  He has made some fantastic stuff.

This is while I was dangling on the island side, passing onto the landing.

These people were saying hello as I casually rolled past in my little hanging seat/harness.

The island had plenty of old things to take pictures of, and it really seems to be a great place to take photographs.  There were dozens of extremely rich people, toting cameras that made me feel somewhat envious.

They were all carrying tripods too, which makes me think I missed a trick somewhere along the line.

It took about twenty minutes to get onto the zip line, so I took this picture of shoes.

There may be feet inside them, I can't remember.

The island was full of places to sit down and enjoy the calm.

It's especially peaceful at night, after the last ferry leaves.  This is when there are the fewest people on the island, and it becomes extremely quiet.  There's not much alive on it besides trees, so you don't really hear any animal noises either.

Unfortunately it was cloudy when we went, so I couldn't see any stars.  It would have been extremely nice to see the sky without the pollution and light pollution you normally find in the cities.

Even though it hasn't snowed in a couple of weeks it's cold enough that the snow doesn't seem to leave.

The rivers surface was frozen at least a few inches thick, about halfway across.  You could easily walk at least ten metres onto it, but any more and you might find an impromptu arctic survival lesson being enacted.

This is a pictures quite near the start of the line.  Nothing is in focus, but I like the feeling of height it gives.  It really was extremely high.

This is one of the pictures with movement I attempted to capture.  You can see the cicular motion of the head spinny thingy, and this is pretty much what they did for the entire dance.

Couple this with some fancy footwork and loud drums, and you have a winning formula for interesting cultural happenings.

This place was dappled with snow, and it was quite fun to ride through it, hoping not to fall off.

Having said this place is one of the nicest in Korea, it's because of the artwork and various installations around the place, not necessarily the scenic beauty.  It is quite nice, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing beyond what you would find anywhere in England.

The place is lit up at night.  It took a while to find a suitable position to take photographs from, on account of me being one of the poor folk without a tripod.

More crazed dancing, with more head spinning.

This is the top of the great big tower, where two very friendly locals strapped us into the zip-line.

That's four nice Koreans I've met since I've been here.

That number is growing exponentially!

An alternative view from the top of the tower, showing the snow and the extraordinary height.

It's great to see the local views from.

This is the first half of the boat from before.  Notice how all these people are also looking upwards.

The noise from this thing is quite incredible, and having been underneath someone being launched, it feels as if most of the energy is directed downwards.  I imagine this is either a deliberate ploy to grab attention, or a nice side-effect of the design.

This guy is the glass maker from before.  He looks like a homeless man, but he's very good with the glass.

I can't figure out whether he's trying not to smile, or whether he's trying not to laugh at me asking for a photo.  It is kind of ridiculous in hindsight, but a nice picture nonetheless.

I bought something from him too, so he couldn't refuse my photo request!

This is one of the Tawainese (see:chinese) girls we met on the way back from the island.

She called me smelly (despite not emitting any odours, I can assure you!) and proceeded to make fun of me for the hour-long train ride on the way back home.

She was nice; her only flaw being a liking for Korea.  This is a mistake and, frankly, a character flaw.

I generally dislike anyone who likes Korea.

Rewind:  This is the path leading up to the hotel at night.  It was quite a nice walk, meandering around the island and slipping over on the ice.

Another quick fast forward, and this is the view from the top of the eighty metre tower.

As you can see, there is a ton of pollution in Korea at all times.  This effectively limits the view you can see, which is probably a shame in this circumstance.  Anywhere else in Korea, being able to see only a short distance is a boon, as there is nothing but debris to see anyway.

On a side-note, I learned recently that Koreans used to be able to drink the tap water, but years of excessive pollution have rendered the water incapable of sustaining life.  This is how Asians, and more specifically Asians of chinese descent decide to treat the world; not even caring about human life.  At least they build things really fast.

Hey mister jazz man, play us a song.  He was quite good, (not exceptional) but his speakers were devastatingly loud.  My ears were ringing for five minutes after passing his stand; much to the chagrin of my accomplice, as "WHAT?" was the answer to everything she said.

This is the starting station for the ride.  You can just see the island off in the distance.  It's obscured not by distance, but pollution.

The contraptions you sit in were surprisingly comfortable.  I say surprising because the other attractions and themed rides I've been on in Korea are four sizes too small, and tend to be ball experiences.

This is the accompaniment that supports the manic drumming of the other head bangers.

He doesn't bob around much, and there's certainly no head banging on his part.  I would imagine that hampers the flute playing somewhat.

At a guess, I imagine this is some hippy art installation.  I can't remember why I took this picture.

Another attempt at an artsy photograph.  I don't think it worked particularly well though.

The picture I took directly after this one ranks as one of my favourites in Korea.  This was the setup shot, where I figured there was potential somewhere.

This is that same Taiwanese (see:chinese) girl.  The other was particularly shy, and was taking pictures of everything.  Seriously, a communist spy inside a western nuclear facility would not take as many photographs as these guys were.  It was almost as if they'd heard about the Japanese penchant for excessive photographic habits, and were trying to outdo them.

And this is my favourite of the island photographs, and one of the top takes in Korea.  I'm sure lots of people don't like the black block at the top, and I'm sure it's not fully focused; the white light is a giant 'blown highlight.'  There are a million problems with it, but I think it's awesome.

This is a wide-angle version of the harness contraption.  How do you say 'over engineering,' in Korean?  It's actually not surprising, as an american company came up with the concept, and we all know how they like to over-develop their products.  (see:this)

The island had a number of particularly nice snow themed installations dotted around.  They were all reasonably interactive, and most lit up at night.

This was one of the more impressive features.

Without a tripod it take forever to find an angle that is both interesting and viable, as resting on beams, poles and posts becomes your only option.

I tried using the head of the living bipod following me around, but she couldn't stand still for long enough.

This place is so experimental, they don't even follow language conventions.

These girls were completely snap-happy.

They loved to take pictures of absolutely everything.

Ironically I had to persuade them to hold the cameras up for a shot of them actually taking pictures.  About fifty percent of their time was spent taking pictures of mundane objects, yet I couldn't take a picture of them while doing so.

I maintain that they are actually employed by the People's Security Service.

Then again, stealing state secrets from Korea is like stealing advanced aeronautics and space faring technology from North Korea.  You can work out how they're similar.

This ice flow is continually topped up with a spray coming from a gentle misting machine.  It looks like it's been built up over time, and is quite magnificent.

This is the whole apparatus we slid down on.

It's deceptively complicated.

Another ice sculpture at night.

A number of photography websites say, essentially, avoid working at night.

I think it gives a really nice effect.  It's difficult for sure, but it's an underused tool that is ripe for exploitation.  Especially given the insane ISO ratings of most modern digital cameras.  Even taken with a little noise, these pictures come out fantastically.  Even better if you can leave the camera open for a while (with no movement in the picture) the results are fantastic.

The splashdown zone.  It's a really gentle landing.

I was moving very slowly, but the layout of the springs ensures all the momentum is absorbed at a gradual pace.

This is the view from a quarter of  the way down the zip-line.  I don't know why cameras can't capture a vista as human eyes see it; the island was nowhere near this obscured.

It was, however, ruddy cold on occasion - a sentiment neatly captured by this picture.

I don't know whether you'll like this picture, being the internet and all, but I certainly do.  It's pretty much the view I see all the time as she runs off and does whatever she wants.

Natsukashi ne!

This is a completely bizarre close-up of the harness.  The reason it's bizarre?  If you can't see the demented hell-swing torture device style of the thing, (at least while devoid of setting and surroundings) hanging high up in the sky, then you probably don't get half the stuff I've written on my blog thus far, and probably won't from this point onwards.  I suggest you continue foraging in the murky abyss that is the internet until you happen upon something more to your tastes.

If you do see the resemblance to a crazy medieval torture device, sans smiles, then continue.

This is the braking system as demonstrated inside the building.  Having tested a few of the spring systems (they all seem to be closed systems, independent of the next or last) they seemed rather flimsy.  To get around this, they strung dozens, if not hundreds together to create an extremely soft, cushioned landing.

This row of trees marked the focal point for a famous drama filmed upon the island.

It's the primary reason why so many visit this island, and unbeknownst to me (at the time) was the reason my accomplice came to know of the place.

It's also the reason why so many foreign visitors accumulate on these shores.

(The drama that is, not this set of trees.)

And here is the disembarkation point.  Looking something akin to a Hindu god, Amanda sits waiting to be let off.  The process for heavies such as myself is simple; stand up, unharness, off you go.

For lighties like Amanda however, it requires the strain of a substitute heavy (the third and fourth arms of Vishnu, A.K.A the member of staff who is almost the exact opposite number of those who work for Top Events GB, now with an insane ropes course!)

This is the backup safety device.  If it all goes seriously pear-shaped, the loop is attached to the wire directly, which is attached to this braking system.  Should something fail further up the line that causes it to drop, the rubber pad (see the small square, top left of the picture) will fling upwards, instantly braking (if, as I suspect, somewhat slowly) the unfortunate Seoul (sic) attached to the line.  Clever?  Yes.  Overcomplicated to an unnecessary degree; absolutely.

This final picture is of the landing area looking towards the anchors that hold the other end of the line in place.  All things considered, it is a magnificent piece of  engineering, especially considering the rigors of a country whose daily temperature goes from 35+ in the Summer, to -10 in the Winter.  Those measurements are in Celsius by the way.