Road Trip: Taedunsan

Another stop on our road trip - 대둔산 (Taedunsan, or Daedunsan, depending on which romanization you prefer - and believe me there's no standard, so feel free to switch on a whim!).  Taedunsan is famous for it's two iron bridges, one which is strung between two peaks, and another that's more like a very steep, slippery ladder.  

Apparently it used to be quite a trek to get to these bridges, but now there's a cable car which takes you up the hill so you can do the whole walk in about 30 minutes or so.  But don't be fooled in to thinking this is a leisurely stroll - the Bridge of Doom, Ladder of Potential Heart Attacks and the Goat Track of Peril (as we renamed them) are still delightfully challenging.  And if you are a bit scared of heights like me, the ladder type bridge is especially delightfully challenging (and by 'delightfully' I mean one step short of a complete panic attack).

Every single day before and after our visit to Taedunsan was blue sky, sunshine and a pleasant 20 degrees.  But on the day of our walk it was cold, wet and grey.  I mean, it actually literally properly snowed. We were completely unprepared for this sudden flash back to winter, and arrived sans any warm clothing what so ever in the manner of the worst/best hiking survival stories.  Thank goodness this was hiking Korean style (it's the best way to do it!), which meant there were restaurants and beer joints and shops selling scarves and warm socks everywhere.  One happy ajumma and four ridiculous looking beanies later, we were properly kitted out and on our way.

Despite the fog and cold it is a truly beautiful part of the world, and the walk is on the right side of difficult (enough so you feel like you've accomplished something, but not so much that it becomes a boring trudge).  Lovely.

ps. If you want more Daedunsan action, head on over to my Flickr (you may also find a picture of The Big Garlic here, if you have a good look around!).

Road Trip: Busan Fish Market

On our recent-ish road trip down south we stopped at one of the big fish markets in Busan (it's a seafoody kind of town so there's a few of them).  I could have happily spent hours there with my trusty Canon, snapping away, but I was traveling with Mr Attention Span Of A Gnat, Mr Impatient, and Mr Why On Earth Are You Taking A Photo Of That so it was not to be.  Which may have been for the best as some of the stall holders were not overjoyed with my photographic interest, so moving on quickly proved fortuitous. 

Anyway.  Look at the colours!  Notice how all the fishmongers are women?  And they wear the most amazing outfits - bright pink rubber gloves, aprons in vibrant green and orange and red, layers and layers of clothing in floral patterns and blocked hues.  And then there's the giant crabs and long fish, and those strange things that look a bit like dragon fruit but clearly aren't.  Plus sting rays!  Yes, sting rays!  Have you ever seen a skinned sting ray before?  Plus those rainbow umbrellas, and the pink and blue plastic trays everything sits in (I am most definitely getting me some of those).  Wonderful stuff.

There'll be some more fish market magic somewhere on my Flickr, if you are so inclined.

A day at the Zoo

When the step-sons where here for the Australian school holidays we went to the Seoul Zoo.  It's part of a huge sprawling complex that also includes a theme park and art museum, as well as parks, lakes, hills, hiking trails and, of course, hikers.  

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and a weekend, and we were a bit taken aback by the mass of people (silly, I know).  It was really, really packed.  Which kind of added to the festive air and the Korean-ness of it all, but limited our actual ability to see any animals.  Which probably wasn't a bad thing, as whilst a lot of the enclosures where quite large and appropriate, some of them were a bit depressing (seeing my favourite animal - the pygmy hippo - in a concrete bunker nearly broke my heart).  

On the positive side the giant river otters looked happy and playful and super cute, and the lions had a big family unit and lots of space to roam about.  Plus, there were awesome balloons everywhere, and a super long chairlift ride with fabulous views.  Three stars.

Three photographers I love right now...

You may have noticed that when I choose to use other people's photography on this blog it tends to be of the soft, vintage feel variety - muted tones, vaseline smeared lenses, filters, layers, scratches.  Which is kind of strange because the kind of photography that really gets my heart pumping, that makes me feel a bit tingly all over when I stumble across it, is the exact opposite of that.  The stuff I really get excited about is fleeting, raw moments captured; it's strangers on the street; it's often stark, urban, beautiful and a little bit bleak (a bit like a Jeffrey Smart painting I guess).  

Here are three photographers that I really love right now:

Matthias Heiderich who is based in Berlin.  That's his photo up there.  He has the most amazing eye for form, colour and texture.  His urban landscapes are beautifully framed, the way he picks out pattern and symmetry and bright pops of colour really bowls me over - what skill, what talent (and he's self taught)!

David Runacres (aka RunnyInHongKong) who is, unsurprisingly, based in Hong Kong (and I just realised originally from Melbourne, Australia!).  David plays with a wide range of cameras to capture Hong Kong, and he really does exactly that - capture Hong Kong.  Each of his beautiful street shots are a little slice of that most fabulous city.  I especially love the black and white ones, so much texture and movement and life!

Dayv Matt is a new favourite, currently based in Seoul (I stumbled upon him via Twitter).  His webpage says he's 'addicted to cursing, simple white dress shirts, and shooting street photography.' His images are not about fancy post-production, they are about capturing moments - revealing, funny, sad, romantic...

Who are your favourite photographers?

Kids in the Kitchen

[image by the always amazing TADA's Revolution]

Nope, not that slightly tragic 80s band...I'm talking about your kids, or your brothers kids, or those kids across the road - are they in the kitchen?  Do they cook?  And at what age do you start them off?  And why bother?  I've been thinking about this because the eldest step-son (who just turned 13) has always shown a bit of an interest in cooking, and because I've been thinking about the best ways to get both the step-sons actively involved in the whole meal preparation shamozzle.

Why?  Well, there's the obvious thing about learning a basic life skill and about making a connection between raw produce and what you actually put in your gob, there's the nutrition side to it too.  But cooking is so much more than that - it's about planning and timing and learning to sequence things. There's multitasking and co-ordination and self-sufficiency.  And there's science - how do you thicken a sauce?  Should you cook the onion or the garlic first?  What is the best heat for cooking bacon so it doesn't crisp up? 

I have fond memories of being put in charge of the family meal at an early-ish age (well, they are fond looking back now, I can't actually remember if I loved it at the time or not).  Once a week my sister and I would be responsible for planning and cooking dinner for the four of us.  And looking back I'm so grateful for having been given that chance, because now I have such a solid base to build on - it means I can do my favourite type of cooking which is more about combining flavours than following a recipe.  It means I can take five recipes for the one thing, pick out the bits I think will work best, and just wing it.

And even though getting the kids to take over the kitchen sounds a bit like bliss (a night off from meal planning!), I've come to realise it actual takes a great deal of patience (and a love of chicken, kids love to cook chicken, don't they?).  You have to restrain yourself from cracking the egg, cleaning the mess, correcting the measurements.  Which I'm actually not very good at...but I'm trying to get better!  Step one was to put Sam (step-son number one) in charge of lunch one day during the recent school holidays - he chose to make chicken schnitzel with potato wedges, which was seriously tasty!  Hurrah for chef Sam!  

You can find the recipe we used here (we left the spice off the spicy wedges) - it came from the Australian Women's Weekly Kids in the Kitchen cookbook which I would most definitely recommend if you're looking to get your young-uns in to the kitchen.  Just ignore the fact that in their menu suggestions dad gets lamb cutlets whilst mum gets beetroot dip, and there is no 'dinner for mum's brother's partner, Barry', or 'lunch for step-mum' for that matter...

I meant to take a photo of the finished product, artfully arranged on a serving plate but, well, I was hungry and it was delicious...ooops...