Andong Mask Festival

The 2008 Andong Mask Festival-but you could probably tell already.

Got this one walking through a horde of people dressed in incredibly ornate costumes. Was rather fun actually.

Spotted this classy lady walking with her hand bag dressed in tradional Hanbok.

The face of the statue is representative of one of the tradional masks worn in a dance peasants preformed during the Joseon Dynasty. It was typically a satire poking fun at the Korean elite. Now the elite put on a festival to parade around their politicians and turn a buck off the peasant culture.

Kelly, China Women, + Sarah

"Welcome! I'll need you to put the backpack down, raise your hand over your head and spread your legs."

This guy was relaxing to the fullest. White gloves and all.

They had several types of puppets. Sarah got one that looks more like a monk.

Say, "Kimchi!!!"

A bit of tradional Korea dance, dress, and music.

This lady looked like she walked right off a movie set. She was great!

She was a lot of fun, too. They took photos with everyone, but they didn't turn out to good.

Our friend Dale takes a second to pose for this one. I'm not going to cut on him while I'm still living in Korea. He's a bit of a loose cannon. He once nearly flipped his tank while on maneuvers in the Outback.

Some days just aren't that happy in Korea.

These guys share their head dresses with the local highschool cheerleading squads during the week. Communism still has a hold on some parts of Korean society.

Would have paid a hundred bucks for a paintball gun!

"Come on Kim Su. I see big brother running this way."

"Hey...pass that over here Mr. Lee. You geezers are going to drink it all!!!"

Sobaek-san National Park

We started the hike at Samga Vistor Center (bottom right). It was a great day!

Birobong Peak 3.4km back up the way we came.

A nice pine forest with a rough 4X4 road as our trail.






Don't know when they built this trail, but the chunks of stone they used must have been hell to work with. This was a couple km from where vehicles could access the trail.

A couple Yew Trees. They ranged in age between 200-500 years old, according to our guide book. This small patch of trees is the largest grove of Yew Trees in Korea.

Gnarly old trees, ehh?

Don't know what kind of tree this is, but it had an interesting shape.

A leg of the trail to Birobang peak--on our way down.

Grassy meadows and some pretty steep sloping terrain.

A group shot on the peak.

(1439 meters)

A trail leading off to Gungmangbong (Peak).

Sarah is all smiles while looking around at the views.

A news helicopter pass by, as a couple of Koreans wave hello.

Sarah and Nathan taking a rest after reaching the summit.

Approaching the peak. The legs were shot, so I took a ton of shots on this final stretch of trail.

Approaching the peak. The entire hike up was well forested. So we really couldn't see much of the surrounding mountains until we arrived at this point.