Widgeon Creek

When I was back in Vancouver last month, my buddy Fudge and I took my Dad's canoe out one day up to Pitt Lake.
As you can see, the weather was perfect, and because it was a Friday, there weren't a lot of people there, other than a couple of groups of school kids.

We found a place to pull over for lunch. I wanted to see how far we could make it up the creek, but unfortunately we had to turn around because Fudge had to head to work.
On the way back we decided to go in for a swim. Because the creek is mostly melted snow from the mountains, it was FREEZING!!! So we didn't stay in too long, but it felt great after we dried off.

Gangneung Danoje Festival

This festival is held every May/June in Gangneung, a mid-sized city about 40 minutes from my place. I went last year and it was okay, so I decided to check it out again today.
In the top picture you can see them performing a show/dance that was telling a story about farmers plowing the fields and planting rice.
There were four guys who played the roles of the two cows. I was hoping they were going to have a bullfight or do something exciting, but unfortunately they just walked around in a circle.
I've seen this look at other Korean festivals but I'm not really sure what it means. The performers dress up to look like a cross between a bum and a clown and they play the drums and sing.

Hanseom Beach

Hanseom is the closest beach to my place, being about a 15 minute walk. As it was sunny and in the mid-20s today, I decided to head down there for a while to enjoy the peace and quiet.
Officially, beach season runs from July 1st to August 31st in Korea, and so Koreans, following the herd mentality common in Asia, rarely go outside of this time. This means I had the whole beach to myself, even though I was there in the middle of the day and it's so close to downtown.
A month from now, though, even if the weather's exactly the same, it'll be packed and so I won't be going. So I'll just enjoy it all by myself in June and September.

This is looking out over the Sea of Japan towards southern Japan.

Election Day

They're holding provincial and municipal elections today in South Korea and I guess it's a kind of quasi-holiday. I'm not really sure of the details, but I got today off so I headed up to Mureung Valley again to go hiking.

I wanted to beat the crowds, so I was up there and on the trail by 8am. It was nice and sunny today, low 20s, and the humidity hasn't really kicked in yet (surprisingly, but no complaints.)

Here's a picture of a couple of minnows feeding on all of the insects buzzing over the river.

And this was the best part at the end. Even though the water was freezing, it felt good on my aching feet.