On Saturday morning, I dragged Raswan to Coex with me to attend the Seoul Photo and Imaging Show at Coex.  I had pre-registered us a month earlier, and didn’t have to pay the 5000 won entrance fee.  This ended up being a good move on my part because once we arrived around 10:50 am, the lines were already long.  There seemed to be a line with 40+ people, and an empty pre-registered line.  I had printed out our online confirmations, and within minutes of handing it to the front staff, we had received our name badges.

Of course, this wasn’t what my badge really said.  It had my name and university on it.  Upon entering the doors, you immediately saw booths for the big boys: Nikon and Canon.  Most of the big vendors gave out bags with their logos on them, stuffed with brochures and catalogs for their products.  Some of them also gave away those “things” that dangle off your cell phone - nothing to get truly excited about.  Still, people were lining up for these bags as if they had free filters, photographic paper, or at least something useful.  To me, it seemed like a game to see who could collect the most junk.

As an prosumer photographer, I found the event to be just “okay.”  Upon entering, you could see what a male dominated hobby this was.  Not only did these men have cameras, they had CAMERAS.  They were big, long, and I had to constantly dodge these lenses as they neared my head.  So, the men were taking pictures while ALL the models were females draping over one thing or another.  This is not the beginning of a feminist rant.  I just found it boring taking these model’s pictures.  They were paid to look pretty, stand relatively still, and look in everyone’s direction at some point.  It’s much more interesting to get a good picture of someone being natural, laughing, or doing something unexpected.  In the beginning, I found that I was pushing into these male crowds to take pictures of these models too.  After awhile, I realized I was only taking their picture because everyone else was clamoring to take their pictures.  This is how I felt after awhile: bored.

What I really wanted to do at the show was try out some lenses, because I’m hoping to make a purchase within the next month.  Of course I can go to Seoul and try out used lenses, but I was hoping to play around with some there.  Bart told me that unlike here, you can try out all kinds of new lenses in Japanese camera shops.

I didn’t take many pictures, but you can view the rest of these photos here.

 Magnolia and tulips.

Mother and daughter enjoying the tulips downtown.

The area of this hillside will be full of purple azaleas at the end of this month.

Every time I take a regional bus and go to my dentist in Gangnam, I pass by Yangjae and all the nurseries in the area.  Yesterday, Ras and I drove to the Yangjae Flower Wholesale Market.  (Directions: By subway, take exit 7 out of Yangjae Station.  Walk south for 10-15 minutes.  It will be on your right at an intersection.)  The market opens by 7am daily, with the wholesale auction house opening at 1am!  Parking is 1000 won per hour.

*The entire photo album can be seen on Flickr.

It was really a fun place to browse.  There were trees, shrubs, plants, and herbs outside:

I really enjoyed the indoor section of the market.  There were orchids everywhere!

The pictures below are from the fresh cut flower section.  Chrysanthemums look so soft and pure.

We also bought three bulbs of lilies for 3000 won each.  They’re the orange looking ones in the middle of this picture, called “Rich.”  Hopefully they’ll bloom with no problems.

Overall, we had a really good time and would have stayed a little longer, but Raswan was getting hungry and we left a little early to get lunch at Costco.  After visiting this place, I wish we had a garden to plant some of the great things we saw.

Hey, better late than never, right? I had a good time this year at the VFW’s annual Super Bowl party in Haebangcheon, near Itaewon. Here’s a good map to the VFW Canteen, with directions, from Republicans Abroad Korea. Bart was sick with food poisoning that morning, so it was just me, Ras, and Kevin. We arrived at 6:45, 15 minutes after the doors opened, and there were only two tables left. Of course we headed for the breakfast buffet first. I filled myself up with breakfast, coffee, and donuts throughout the game.

Most of the crowd was rooting for the Giants. I asked Kevin why everyone hated the Patriots so much, and his answer was along the lines of, “Because they’re so perfect!” Ok, I can live with that.

I also met a Canadian who had found my blog online before coming over to visit his friend in Seoul. He read about my Super Bowl post and dragged his friend out of bed to come see the game. Here’s a picture of Freddie and Scott below. Speaking of meeting people, Steve of seoulsteves.com introduced himself to me near the bar. It’s always nice to meet other bloggers and put a face to a name.

Jeff, who had initially emailed me about the event, was very gratious and walked around the tables making sure everyone was taken care of. He dropped by our table and thanked us for coming out.

Good times all around. If I’m still in the country next year for the Super Bowl, this is the place I’ll be.

I’ve been having a good time relaxing at home, but was starting to get cabin fever.  I got a chance to stretch my legs by spending yesterday with the Flickr in Seoul group.  Our plan was to go to the 63 Building aquarium, and then wing it from there.  All the pictures I took can be seen HERE.

Tickets were 12,000 won each.  Even though there were 15 of us, we didn’t qualify for the group discount!  I believe the minimum is 20 people.  The aquarium is decent enough, just a little small.  Plus, with it being a Sunday afternoon, there were lots of families there.  We had to wait in line to get some face time with the fish.

Afterwards, we had coffee near the river and spent about an hour getting to know each other.  After the sun set, the ones who wanted to went to Itaewon and had dinner at Gecko’s Garden.  I had a Cesar Salad with a REAL anchovy(!) and a delicious dessert.

I encourage anyone who wants to meet new people to join the Flickr Group.  You don’t have to be good at photography or have a dSLR or know any camera lingo.  What it is, is a chance to hang out with some new people on a Sunday afternoon.  There are meet ups every other week.