I am a bit scared of my old laptop. There are several reasons for this. It is packed away in a room that is in desperate need of organizing. The hardware itself sounds like a jet engine going off. It takes a long time to load, and while I could leave it for a while I am a bit concerned that it will explode if I don’t keep an eye on it.
In spite of its many afflictions, I have not yet disposed of this monstrosity. That is because it still contains the pictures I took during my year living in the Republic of Korea and my various trips abroad while I was living and working there. I have literally filled several journals of my thoughts and experiences of South Korea, and accumulated gigabytes of digital pictures from cameras that didn’t necessarily survive all those experiences.
However, seven years later (including another University degree, a family, and a career) I am revisiting the pictures at least. I have recently intensified my passion for my very amateur photography, playing around with iPhoto, and fuelling that passion with my heavy use of Flickr. It only made sense then to brave the old laptop and see if I couldn’t lift some of my favourite photos (that didn’t involve overconsumption of Korean beer and soju) and play around with them a bit. Maybe gather a couple of “favs” from fellow Flickr addicts.
The following images are the results of my nostalgic journey back to the somewhat Peter Pan / NeverNeverLand lifestyle of living overseas with no family or significant debt to speak of. I will share a little bit about each photo and each experience that they came from. If you ever get a chance to live in another culture for an extended period of time, I highly recommend it. It is a beautiful time of my life that I consistently look back to and cherish, and use as another perspective to make my life as a Ontarian /Canadian / North American all that more rich.
Shrouded by Me. (Click pictures for larger versions)
Instead of taking a very short trip to a big area with my friends (Southeast Asia), I decided to take a short trip to a small place by myself. I figured Taiwan was a fairly safe bet. This shot was taken on a van trip up to Chiouffon Village, an artisan village on the North coast. Side note, the driver of the van belched constantly throughout the trip. I don’t know if it was exhaustion or just my sense of humour, but I found this hilarious. Everybody else on the tour had a poker face on, and nobody seemed to even notice this performance. I was practically crying from keeping the laughter to a barely audible minimum. The gentleman probably had some sort of health condition that caused this overabundance of gas, and this memory always has a bit of guilt attached to it.
Chiouffon Street by Me.
Lanterns by Me.
If I were to ever return to Taiwan I would most assuredly return to this beautiful village on the North coast. I would not, however, recommend taking the van tour. While I appreciated the help, the Chiouffon experience could be compared to a three or four street sprint through an art walk. Imagine the wind rushing through your hair as you dodge bystanders who are enjoying the village in the way it is supposed to be enjoyed, slowly. That air carries with it the smell of coffee and tea, and gastronomical delights in cafes that perch on the edge of coastal hills. The smells were still tickling my nose hairs by the time I came out of the narrow streets and unwittingly back into the confines of the van and the belching driver.
Photo of Greatness by Me.
If you ever go to Beijing and from there to the Great Wall of China, as I did with four of my friends be prepared for the hawkers. From Mao’s red book to post cards to kites you will be approached and you will be pressured into buying it, and the prices will lower for every half hour they spend trying to convince you. The most amusing of these run-ins was at the Great Wall at Badaling. In fact, it is a bit surprising that the couple trying to sell us post cards were not in the picture as they were our constant companions for the duration of our stay. I suppose they were probably beside or behind me, just out of reach of my lens. It got to the point that we were dodging them and doing football style dekes to escape. The important part was that we were all laughing, hawkers and tourists alike, and that I never gave in and actually purchased the bloody things. It was a matter of principal at that point.
Crowded Peak by Me.
