July ArchivesMain page is here. |
July 31 2007
Fan Now that the weather is starting to heat up, I decided to buy a new fan to replace the one that Buster broke. Recently we've been using only a tiny orange one that isn't strong enough. Every time you take a deadly object into your home, you want to take every precaution, so pay close attention to these photos. |
July 29 2007
Our New Neighbourhood
We took a taxi to Geumho Station but jumped out early because we liked the scenery. One real estate agent took us up the hill and showed us a few places that were overpriced. We discovered that every real estate agency was open here, despite the tax collectors. One guy introduced us to another guy and they took us to a series of places that were on the main floor and not that nice. Then they took us to one third-floor place where there was no answer. It was on the top floor and the apartment had exclusive access to the roof. We waited around hoping they'd get in contact with the owners, who later turned out to be shopping somewhere. We saw the place and liked it, so we decided to sign a contract first thing next day. This place is built like a fortress compared to the other two. There is a metal gate preventing anyone from going above the second floor, then our front door, and the stairs lead up to the roof which is also locked from the inside. The interior of the apartment is nice and modern and spacious. Oh yeah, and the real estate agent said I look like Bruce Willis. I told him he looks like Daniel Dae Kim (the Korean on Lost). |
July 29 2007
Oksu Oksu was an interesting neighbourhood but not the sort of place we wanted to live. It was too expensive and it was in the shadow of a major elevated roadway. |
July 29 2007
Our New Apartment
After we finished in Hannam we took a taxi to Oksu, another area Jung wanted to see. When we arrived we found a lovely neighbourhood where all the neighbours had conveniently moved out. We found a mother and her kitten and walked around one apartment without the help of a real estate agent. It was difficult finding real estate agencies that were open because July is when the tax collectors are out. Apparently the procedure is for them to drive around and try to find real estate offices that are open. If they catch you open, they charge you 7 million won and you aren't allowed to operate for 40 days. So real estate agencies stay open, but keep their ears out for any signs of tax collectors, when they'll close up and hide. It sounds like they're doing something dishonest like hiding incomes or something worth going to jail, but this is how it's done. It actually sounds more like an evil game devised by tax collectors. The previous day, we were at one office when they got a call the tax collectors were coming, so they closed up quickly. We then wandered to Achasan where we found a real estate office that was open. The woman was friendly so Jung warned her the tax collectors were near. She had her shop closed up and then took us around to a few apartments. |
July 29 2007
Hannam Jung had contacted a guy online who was moving out of a rooftop house in Hannam. We showed up and the neighbourhood was pretty nice. However, this house was too far from the station. We were interested by this hill covered in apartments so we got a real estate agent to show us around. There was one place Jung sort of liked but the building was in bad shape and it was a five-minute climb up a steep hill. |
July 28 2007
Sagajung/Achasan
The story about this day starts several weeks back, on July 7. We found the perfect apartment and announced we wanted to move there. However, the landlady was in an unusual situation. First she wanted to find tenants for the main floor apartment which we never got to see, and then she would put her own place on the market. It was great because it was two floors high and had two washrooms. The day Jung was planning to sign the contract, the landlady suddenly was impossible to contact. Then the real estate agent called Jung up, annoyed, and said the landlady had signed a contract with someone else who'd just stopped by that day. Suddenly we had no plan for where to move. Jung's mom contacted another real estate agent in the same area who had a place listed for exactly the same price, with exactly the same configuration: second floor with two bedrooms, rooftop house with one room and extra bathroom. We thought it was too good to be true, and we were right. It was the exact same place. The woman hadn't signed a contract. She either lied because she didn't want to have us live there, or because she didn't like the agent, or he got it wrong and messed up. Anyway, they gave us another unclear answer, that they didn't know when or if they'd move, so we gave up on them. We found another apartment just a bit north of there that we liked. The second place is the cheapest by a fair amount and the rooftop is the easiest to use. There's kind of a mini-house up there. The cats would've loved it because they could safely go up to the roof any time they want. I wish I got a picture. However as Jung points out it's not secure and a burglar could easily smash a window and get inside. The drawbacks are mainly that it's the least central and the surrounding neighbourhood is kind of dreary, lacking restaurants and markets. |
July 26 2007
Yatap I just wandered through Yatap taking some candid photos. These are all between my office and the subway station. |
July 25 2007
Pregnant Dog
We went to the vet with Buster for the usual checkup and one of the dogs who lives there had given birth to a single puppy. This is the most friendly dog who always stays close to me but never barks loudly. Last time I was there I noticed she had a swollen stomach and large nipples. Looks like only one will be necessary. |
July 25 2007
Home Jung wanted me to take some pictures of our apartment so we could make an online real estate ad. In the end we sold the apartment before I could get these online, but we're not moving until September. |
July 23 2007
Buster returns
We brought Buster home from the vet, and Millie wasn't happy. She'd spent the entire day being lonely, and now that she had company again she wasn't impressed. After a few hours I caught them sleeping next to each other though. We have to give Buster this special water with electrolytes and other nutrients but he won't drink it. Millie likes it though. |
July 23 2007
Kim's Club There's apparently some sort of civil unrest in the neighbourhood around my office. From what I can tell it's related to Kim's Club, a large department store/Korean version of Costco. Apparently there's a labour dispute. I'm sure it's not enough to warrant dispatching nine riot buses, but when you have nine riot buses available I guess all problems start to look like riots. |
July 22 2007
Sindaebang
I was feeling restless and returned to the condemned neighbourhood in Sindaebang. This time I slipped inside three condemned houses and looked around. I think these are some of the best pictures I've taken there. |
July 21 2007
Buster Buster has been sick recently. On Tuesday he started throwing up. It was mostly just water. Every time he tried to eat he would throw it all up too. He stopped eating, drinking, and even using the litter box. We all thought at first it was related to hairballs. Then we thought maybe he'd eaten something worse, like plastic, and had a blockage. After several X-rays the vet decided surgery was necessary. In the operation he discovered the problem was that he had a weak pyloric valve, which is the muscle that pushes food from the stomach into the small intestine. He was born with it, and it's cured now. We're taking him home tomorrow night, but he's not going to be in good shape for a while. Also, the operation was much cheaper than I think it would be back in Canada. |
July 17 2007
Constitution Day
We had the day off on Tuesday so I took Jung out on a scooter ride. We went to the demolished neighbourhood which she'd never seen before. Our visit was cut short when we came across an arsonist in the act of setting a fire. He was extremely nice to us and had the typical conversation with me that all foreigners go through in this country, and all the while I was looking over his shoulder at the flaming box and wondering if he was going to stab me. We also went to Planet Boramae, a park that always seems to be in a state of disrepair whenever I see it. |
July 15 2007
Panoramas Now that I've figured out you need software to put together panoramas, I've found some old panorama pictures I took a long time ago and never successfully stitched together. Most of them involve skiing. This also means I'm going to resurrect more of my archives soon. |
July 14 2007
Scooter Ride
I went to a few places on Saturday. First I returned to Little Nagasaki, but there were too many people around so I left. I headed up one of the small mountains nearby, and made it to the top just at the start of dusk. There was quite a view. Then I went down back to Little Nagasaki to take some pictures under the cover of dark. |
July 13 2007
Planet Themepolis
I returned to the rooftop a second time to get a better look around without being interrupted. This time I found there really wasn't much, but it gave me a good view of the city. |
July 13 2007
Planet Themepolis
Next to the building where I work there's a small shopping mall called Themepolis with movie theatres and a supermarket. For some reason Korean malls tend to have shopping underground, and parking above ground. In this building levels five, six, and seven are parking, and level eight is a rooftop park. Anyway, this mall doesn't seem to be doing so well, judging by all the empty retail space. I went up to the park yesterday only to find the doors leading into it were chained shut and in view of security cameras. The park is a mess, littered with debris and dust, despite the decent health of the trees. But sneaky me I found a service stairwell with the door unlocked at the top. I looked out and verified I could get out there, but my SD card was full. |
July 9 2007
Planet Yatap
I found an interesting instructional guide to making planetlike photos and decided to give it a try. Hopefully I'll find a better area where the buildings are smaller and/or farther away. It didn't turn out as well as the original but I'll figure it out better. The main problem with this one is the watermark for the panorama generator program. Hopefully I'll get more use out of it, anyway. Here's the panorama without the filter effect. |
July 7 2007
Looking for an Apartment
We need to move out soon, and went to the east end of the city looking for a place. We started around Gunja and Achasan and headed up to Sagajung, a mountainside neighbourhood with lower rent. We found one place that we both really like. The problem is the landlady lives there. First she wants to find renters for the main floor residence, then she's going to put her place up on the real estate market and we're going to take it. It's a second (or third) floor apartment with two rooms, and also a small rooftop house with one bedroom and extra bathroom, plus roof area. Also good is that the key money is lower even than our current place. Hopefully we'll be moved in by the time my parents come to visit next month, as it's not far from their hotel. |
July 7 2007
Boxing
Millie got her paws on a husk of corn and hid inside a box. The perfect ingredients for a Buster attack. |
July 3 2007
Bye
Nels left on July 4, so we got together on July 3 and looked at some of his pictures. Unfortunately I didn't see all of his pictures, and we forgot to look at his DMZ photos. I'd like to find a way to see them. |
July 1 2007
Movie
We met up on Sunday to see a movie. Nels was half an hour late and I waited precisely 29 minutes and gave up. Luckily we think alike and met up in the McDonald's in the movie theatre. |
CONTACT
Jon underscore Dunbar at Hotmail
010-3212-2812
Please remember that these photos are all copyrighted to me. If you want to use them in any way, there's a 90 per cent chance I'll give you my permission, and be able to give you a copy with a higher DPI.Copyright Jon Dunbar 2004
Photos taken by
Nikon CoolPix 950
digital camera.