Peeps of Geochang

Steve and myself.

Jack, Martyn and myself.

Kara, Meg Phil and Martyn.

Adrean and Jack.......I don't know what they are doing...........


Sunny and Martyn!!!

My girl Meg

Zoo Feb 18

Ste and I enjoying the zoo experience. The day was great to be kicking around outside.

This is how we got to the zoo. If we wanted to be suckers we could have walked for 15 minutes or so to the entrance, but we chose to take in the scenery from above. There was two of these, one to the park and one that skirted the park so you got a teaser of some of the attractions that we didn't have enough time to go to.


Across the way is Seoul's amusement park. This little area held the zoo, the amusement park and the museum of contemporary art. This is a weekend in its self.

The seal / dolphin show was so awesome. I have to say though, although the dolphins where the original draw, the seals stole the show. Ste took some video that will be on his blog.

I love tigers............and there were about seven of them.....but this was about as active as we saw them.......a few cages down though a black panther was looking at us like he found dinner.
My first time seeing a camel. I didn't realize how big they were.... they didn't spit at us though!

This bird wanted to munch on my finger.........and Steve found it amusing enough so he took a picture.

Seoul Aquarium

Ok this wasn't actually at the Aquarium, it was the night before at a really good Egyptian restaurant.

Steve and the fishes

Myself and tropical fishes.


Some of these fish were massive.

They had developed this cool area in the aquarium to look (I assume anyway) like the rain forest.

This fish was probably comparable to me standing up it was so long. I wouldn't want to go swimming with him!!

This is a giant sea turtle, or at least I'm thinking it is considering that it was about 1/2 the size of Steve. I'm gonna name him Gilbert.... the turtle not Steve.

The shark was swimming so fast a blurry picture is all we can get.......at least that's what I tell myself.

Picture of the coral.

The touch pond, with really cold water. That's me catching a feel with a star fish. I shared I gave the kid beside me one as well!

RAYS!!! These things are so cool!!

Ahh yes, what creative Koreans do with their fish..........fridge?.......or

How about a washing machine?

Behead Hill

How should we remember 3000 or so Christians that lost their heads? Lets make a memorial out of the location that saw their heads roll......right off the hill and into the river that flows not 50 meters away from the hill..... you have to hand it to them (the people still with their heads) they were using them. Why haul the bodies down when the river will take them away?

This is the hill of which I speak. The story begins........well awhile ago, I lost the paper so don't expect dates. A ship of French Christians came to the shores near Seoul on the suppose invite on the Christians that made their home there. Remember Korea is Buddhist country back then and today. Seems the ruler at the time took exception to them coming and decided to make an example of them. So their heads went flying and gosh did it leave a mess!!!

So much of a mess that apparently the only way to cleanse the hill was to drowned it in Christian blood. So the ruler's soldiers rounded up all the people who happened to be Christian (some as young as 13) and after they were tortured a wee bit, they had their heads removed and then had their bodies rolled off the rather high "hill" or small "cliff" into the river that runs through Seoul.

This is one of the many monuments surrounding the hill commemorating the memory of the departed.

Read a bit on the area.

The area surrounding the hill has been developed, and in fact on top of the hill is a church that runs services. Beside the church is a small museum which has various (I'm not lying) pieces of the past Christians..........like teeth and nail clippings. In the above picture you can see where you can light a candle and pray.

Here's Steve cuddling up to ............. some guys bust...... told you I lost the paper.

This guy helped bring Christianity to Korea. He luckily lived and died before the heads rolled.

He is actually the first Korean who became a priest.

As you can see the heads aren't where they should be..... and that's because it is a monument to the men, women and children who died.

This is one of the many sculptures that seemed to tell a story that circled the area. To me it kinda looks like Jesus is about to slap the people on the outsides of their heads. "Of course I'm right!!"

This is at the top of the hill across from the museum. In the display case is the various forms and tools of torture that they used on the victims before the final chop. Beware, I now know how to inflict pain if you make me angry..............all I need is some large planks......

These are some great paintings in the museum..... Steve took them for me.....and then we were caught....but we still got them.