Where I live would be the spot where the war will first start, So I would have the choices of being a slave or a part of a resistance group. I would choose to fight the evil commies.
same here…
Trip to Korea
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Two of our buses outside the Busan train station. Traffic over there is insane. I was amazed that we didn’t get into an accident. Merge first and look after seems to be the mindset… other people will get out of your way… it is just very different from the United States. Often it took us 40 minutes just to get a couple of miles around Seoul, there was so much traffic.
Part of the UN Cemetary in Busan. It was a beautiful, but very hot day.
A wall with names of all the dead at the Cemetary… much like the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
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I lay flowers at the foot of the US section of graves. No US war dead are buried at the cemetary; those that are buried there had made it their wish to be buried there after their deaths. This still occurs. Many are accompanied by their wives.
High rise apartments in Busan. I cannot stress enough how many high-rise apartment buildings there are in S. Korea. They do not end. There are thousands. 50+ million people have to live somewhere… and extreme few live in what Westerners would call houses. The economy there is ever increasing and construction on new buildings is taking place all of the time. But the high-rise apartment buildings are endless. It was quite a spectacle by itself.
Back in Seoul… a bike ride for peace. The official name of the program was Peace Camp for Youth 2010… Grandchildren of Korean War vets from all the nations who fought with the UN were invited, so it was very much an international event… like nothing I have ever experienced. The white balloons were doves which we let go into the air.
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This is the stadium that hosted the 2002 Fifa World Cup. Big I guess, but not as big as I had expected. I am not much of a soccer fan either… I like to play it though. On our last full day we stayed at a youth hostel and I was able to play a large, international game of football with guys from all over the world. That was a cool experience! USA, England, Canada, New Zealand, Korea, Columbia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Ethiopia, Norway, Turkey … and others. It was a great feeling to be having fun with guys from all these different countries… an amazing time. Since I was playing, I have no pictures, unfortunately.
This is actually the National Folk Museum within the Royal City in Seoul. It was pretty cool inside too, but we didn’t have a lot of time to go exploring, and since we didn’t have a lot of other time to shop… I spent all my time in the gift shop.
Me in front of the main Palace building. The artowk and colorful designs on the underside of the roof and inside all the buildings was marvelous and must have taken forever to do. I guess the best way to describe the Royal City would be to call it a miniature Forbidden City (Beijing, China).
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My “back of the bus” crowd. We took buses just about everywhere… besides a boat ride and a bullet train to Busan. Starting from me and moving clockwise: Lawrence, my roommate from California; Gabrielle, from New Orleans; Nicholas, from Belgium… some of us just called him Belgium; Dayne from Pittsburgh, I flew to and from Korea with her; Ryan from New Zealand; and Bryce, also from California. The USA had the largest contingent of attendees, followed by England I believe.
(Not sure why this won’t flip) Me and the five New Zealanders. I was made an honorary Kiwi, which made me proud. I am wearing a French hat given to me by one of the Frenchmen in attendance.
At the farewell ceremony. Our motto for the Camp, as shown on the stage, was “We are Peacemaker!” … I believe they simply forgot the “s” in Peacemakers, but it sounds much more authentically Asian to leave the “s” off when saying it. I was in a drag competition at the farewell party… as part of the festivities, but we can leave those photos out. The less they are circulated the better. I nearly won though.
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Me and the righteous fanny-pack at Incheon Airport waiting for departure. This was the only time I wore it. My mother gave it to me thinking I would wear it for the whole trip. … Sorry mom, but no. That goes against man code… but then again so would being in a drag competition and dressing up like a woman. I gave it to Dayne as a going away present though; not like I was going to wear it again.
My stewardess on Korean Air homeward. We got back to O’Hare in Chicago and I creepily asked to take her picture. They were all very, very nice and they provided excellent service. They all wore these nice little uniforms too. Being that they were pretty didn’t hurt either. If you ever get a chance to fly Korean Air I would certainly recommend it. 13 hours was one long flight though.
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You wear a lot of late 60’s and early 70’s band’s concert shirts.
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@Dylan:
You wear a lot of late 60’s and early 70’s band’s concert shirts.
Yes I do… gotta wear my heart on my sleeve… or my chest rather. I do own other ones though… such as my Detroit Red Wings shirts. But you are a Canucks fan aren’t you?
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@Dylan:
You wear a lot of late 60’s and early 70’s band’s concert shirts.
Yes I do… gotta wear my heart on my sleeve… or my chest rather. I do own other ones though… such as my Detroit Red Wings shirts. But you are a Canucks fan aren’t you?
Yeah I like the Canucks.
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@Dylan:
Yeah I like the Canucks.
I was rooting for them for a while in the playoffs… unfortunately they got taken down a notch. But if you are going to get beat, it might as well be by the to-be champions. No shame in that.
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I lay flowers at the foot of the US section of graves. No US war dead are buried at the cemetary; those that are buried there had made it their wish to be buried there after their deaths. This still occurs. Many are accompanied by their wives.
High rise apartments in Busan. I cannot stress enough how many high-rise apartment buildings there are in S. Korea. They do not end. There are thousands. 50+ million people have to live somewhere… and extreme few live in what Westerners would call houses. The economy there is ever increasing and construction on new buildings is taking place all of the time. But the high-rise apartment buildings are endless. It was quite a spectacle by itself.
Back in Seoul… a bike ride for peace. The official name of the program was Peace Camp for Youth 2010… Grandchildren of Korean War vets from all the nations who fought with the UN were invited, so it was very much an international event… like nothing I have ever experienced. The white balloons were doves which we let go into the air.
Do you want to be buried there when you die?
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Do you want to be buried there when you die?
Is this a serious question Calvin?
First of all I couldn’t be buried there because I did not fight in the War.
I like Korea a lot, it is a beautiful place with wonderful people, but the United States is my country… if anywhere, I’d be buried here.
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Do you want to be buried there when you die?
Is this a serious question Calvin?
First of all I couldn’t be buried there because I did not fight in the War.
I like Korea a lot, it is a beautiful place with wonderful people, but the United States is my country… if anywhere, I’d be buried here.
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
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I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Oh, I see. Sorry for the confusion.
Yeah, You have to have served in the War, in some capacity, to be buried at the UN Cemetary. Therefore, I could not be buried there. It was a very nice place though. Still… Even if I had the option, I’d rather be buried in the US.
Having my body ejected into space seems kind of cool too…
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Do you want to be buried there when you die?
Is this a serious question Calvin?
First of all I couldn’t be buried there because I did not fight in the War.
I like Korea a lot, it is a beautiful place with wonderful people, but the United States is my country… if anywhere, I’d be buried here.
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Where have you been lately.
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@Dylan:
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Where have you been lately.
Yeah, literally… Have you been out of the country again or something? It seems like you were not posting as much as normal.
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@Dylan:
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Where have you been lately.
Yeah, literally… Have you been out of the country again or something? It seems like you were not posting as much as normal.
I haven’t had net acces for a while. The places in India we visit usually don’t have internet
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@Dylan:
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Where have you been lately.
Yeah, literally… Have you been out of the country again or something? It seems like you were not posting as much as normal.
I haven’t had net acces for a while. The places in India we visit usually don’t have internet
Your in India? Make a thread called
“Trip to India” Or what the hell post on this board who cares?
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@Dylan:
@Dylan:
I misunderstood when you said “no US war dead are buried here.” You said those that wish to be buried here are. I didn’t realize that mean only veterans
Where have you been lately.
Yeah, literally… Have you been out of the country again or something? It seems like you were not posting as much as normal.
I haven’t had net acces for a while. The places in India we visit usually don’t have internet
Your in India? Make a thread called
“Trip to India” Or what the hell post on this board who cares?
Yeah, but in 24 hours, I’ll be on a flight to Heathrow which connects to a flight to San Fran.
I’d like to post photos, but I don’t know how. I’m not sure if we brought the tech equipment to upload photos.
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@Dylan:
Your in India? Make a thread called
“Trip to India” Or what the hell post on this board who cares?
Yeah, sounds good to me. I wouldn’t care if you posted here, or make your own.
If you have a digital camera all you’d need is an accompanying USB cable to upload the pictures. At this point it might be easier to wait until you get home though.
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Sure. I actually don’t have that many of India. We did tourism in Europe but India is just to visit family. The conditions are unbearable here. The power goes out frequently, and I have to sleep in a bed with 3-4 people and sit in 5-seater cars that have 6-8 people. I never get any privacy. In addition, it’s really hot and I get a lot of mosquito bites. I wonder how the Brits survived here for over 200 years…
I spent 4 days in London, 1 in Paris. The last day in London was not used for sightseeing; just packing. On the 2nd day, we forgot to charge the camera battery, so we have no pics of the Greenwich Observatory or the Imperial War Museum. In Paris, we missed our train back to London so we had to sleep in a 2-star hotel near the train station. Here is what I saw:
1st day in London: Big Ben/Parliament(How many people know that these are connected?), Trafalgar Square(that was hard to find, and I mistook a statue of the Duke of Wellington for Nelson’s column).
2nd day: Tower of London, cruise on the Thames, Greenwich Observatory, Imperial War Museum(there, I found a German propaganda leaflet from post-Dunkirk which said, “your fleet is crippled.” I laughed at that.)
Paris: Arc de Triomphe, Louvre Museum(boring to me. I accidently told my dad it was 1 hour later than it actually was so we left early), Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower(2 of us went to the very top, the other 2 stayed on the 2nd floor. We went straight down, they stayed on the 2nd floor. This wasted an hour of time, making us miss our train). I never had to use my high-school French(except for saying ‘douze’ when the ticket lady couldn’t understand twelve); everyone spoke enough English to understand us. All around Paris there were Indian guys selling hundreds of differently-sized Eiffel Towers.
3rd day in London: Changing of the Guard, British Museum, London Eye, back to Parliament/Big Ben to take night photos.
London was a very diverse city. I saw whites, blacks, Asians, and Indians there. If you google “London world in one city,” you get a blog where 2 Londeners find citizens from 189 of the 192 UN recognized countries living in London.
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