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My first picture in Japan, the balcony of Megumi's apartment in Kyoto.
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I visited some of the temples around Kyoto with my friend
Yukiko. Here we visited the temple of gold, built by a shogun
in the 14th century.
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A Japanese high school student who had to ask me a few questions for an
assignment. I thought it was kinda fun (the first time), so I took a
picture with him.
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The Japanese are big into the simplistic beauty of rock gardens.
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A street in the Gion region of Kyoto. Rumor has it that Geisha may be
seen walking in the streets of Gion at night, but I didn't find any.
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A street in the small town of Hikone, where I met up with Emily.
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A garden in Hikone, Japanese style.
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Part of an old sake brewery in Kyoto. Sake requires very pure water;
here Megumi and I drank from the tap of an underground spring.
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A Bhuddist temple in Nara.
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The five-tiered Bhuddist tower in Nara. Traditionally, students of high
school age go there to find American toursits to teach them English.
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A closeup of the A-bomb dome in Hiroshima. It was the closest building to
the center of the blast, but was miraculously not completely destroyed.
Today it stands near the Hiroshima memorial peace center, dedicated to
the iradication of nuclear weapons.
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A second look.
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Dinner with Megumi's family in Hiroshima.
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Megumi and I went to Miyajima island near Hiroshima to visit the
temples there. All temples in Japan have gates like this one.
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Two of the temples on Miyajima.
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The balcony of the house where I stayed in Korea.
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Here's my homestay family on a trip we took to the beach on the east
coast of Korea. The figurine behind us is a commemoration of the new
millenium.
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At the grave of my host father's father, shortly after performing the
traditional bowing ceremony. Korean graves always have mounds like
this one. In the old days, the more important the person being buried,
the larger the mound would be.
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A look in the other direction at the mountainous terrain that covers
most of Korea, including my host father's hometown.
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My host mother making kimchi.
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The bride at the wedding we went to. Unfortunately the wedding pictures
didn't come out.
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Me and my cousin David at the army base in Seoul. Not my best picture
ever. ;-)
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On the base.
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This is Jihye (Sophia), a good friend I met in France. I made many
friends in Korea, but I think they'd all be angry with me if I put their
pictures here. (I know Jihye will. ;-)
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The Korean Village, which showed what life was like before this century.
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The changing of the guard ceremony in front of the palace Duksugung.
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I stopped for a pose with one of the guards.
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An aerial view of the palace, taken from the top floor of one of the
city hall buildings.
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A temple in Kyungbokgung, the most well-known palace in Korea.
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Gwanghwamun, the front gate of Kyungbokgung. Behind it you can glimpse
the crazy traffic in Seoul.
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There was a mural nearby to commemorate the recent meeting between the
North and South.
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A rainy day in Namdaemun market. It rained at lot while I was there,
especially during the monsoon season of early July. The rain offered
some relief from the summer heat, but it was always very muggy.
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One of Namdaemun market's many entrances.
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A view of the olympic stadium in Seoul, before the Pavaroti concert.
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A view from technomart the day I bought my cell phone. It's on the number
2 subway line, which I rode every day for my hour-long commute to
school.
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A view of the south side of the city from Seoul Tower.
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A street in Seoul.
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A view of Shinchon, a popular area near our school.
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With some Princeton friends at the Princeton Square cafe in Shinchon.
We couldn't resist going in.
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Hanging out with some friends from class and our teacher at a cafe in
Shinchon.
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My school building.
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Working hard in class.
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Cooking japchae in class.
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Our class picture.
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Dinner with my class near the end of the term.
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Me and my teacher on the last day of class.
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A group of high school students crossing Ehwa Woman's University. I
crossed the Ehwa campus every day to go to school.
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The Chinese-born Japanese TV star that Megumi ran across in front of
Ehwa Woman's University.
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A view from my hotel room in Kyungju.
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A royal grave in Kyungju.
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An ancient observatory.
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Chamshil church, where I attended bible study on Sunday afternoons.
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Choonghyun church, which had a Sunday morning English service.
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Friends from bible study, a couple days before I left.
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A few friends from church and I enjoying a full course Korean meal.
There is no main course, only side dishes, but all of them are unique.
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