Earthquake!!!!!!

We had an earthquake yesterday morning. I was on the computer when suddenly my apartment started shaking. I had just turned on the boiler to heat the water for my shower and a few seconds later the earthquake hit.
At first I thought the boiler had exploded. It only lasted about 2 seconds and there was no damage to my apartment. However one of my students told me that at his school some of the windows had exploded and glass had fallen on some of the students, but I don't think anyone was injured. Apparently the epicentre was in Buyeo, which is about 50 km away. I don't know how high it was on the Richter Scale.

Seongsan

Seongsan is a tiny little town on the east coast of Jeju Island. It's famous throughout Korea for Seongsan Ilchulbong, which is an extinct volcano right on the coast. Because the volcano is the easternmost point on Jeju, it's the first place to see the sunrise, and so it's very popular for Koreans to travel there to witness the sun come up. Although we stayed here 2 nights, I didn't feel compelled to get my ass out of bed to watch the sun come up.
It's a 20 minute hike to the top from the town, and from there you can look into the crater. We saw a couple of rabbits living it, and apparently there are deer and badgers also, although I didn't see any.
The first picture I took near the volcano, looking north at Udo Island. The second picture was from the hotel.

Harubang

Harubang ("stone grandfathers") are made from volcanic rock and are found throughout Jeju Island. They are famous throughout Korea as being the island's most important symbol. I don't know if anyone knows their original purpose, but now they're used because they attract tourists.
You always see them with their hands on their bellies, one a little higher than the other. Normally they're closer in size to a person, but we saw this monster in Seogwipo, in the south of the island. Dad looks like he wants to kick someone's ass, probably mine.

Hallasan

Dad's in South Korea now, so I took him down to Jeju Island in the far south of the country. South Koreans think of Jeju as their version of Hawaii. I've been to Hawaii and I think they're deluding themselves, but it's still a very beautiful island.
The tallest mountain in South Korea, Hallasan, is located on the island. I climbed Fuji twice while I was in Japan, so I figured I better give this one a shot, too. Hallasan is only 1,950m, however, just over half Fuji's 3,776m. It's a little higher than Golden Ears in Maple Ridge, which is just over 1,700m.
I caught a bus from Jeju City at 6am up the east side of the mountain to the start of the Seongpanak trail, which is just under 10km one way. I started hiking about 6:45 am, and reached the summit just under 4 hours later around 10:30. I was the fourth person to arrive at the top that day, and the first foreigner (Go Canada!) On the way back down I met a few Germans and some Japanese, but the great majority of hikers were Korean.
The trail was quite nice, and much more gradual than the trail up Fuji. The weather cooperated for the most part, however it was hazy so I was unable to see the sea.
The first picture is obviously of the trail, while the second is of the crater. During the rainy season the crater fills up quite a bit, and so there's a pretty big lake then, but because the rainy season ended a few months ago, all that remained was the little pond visible in the lower right.
The third picture is looking north toward the sea, with the haze obscuring the view.