A Birthday Celebration.

A few weeks ago, in Korea and much of the rest of the Asian world, it was Buddha's birthday. One of the ways it is celebrated here in Andong is with lantern festivals and parades. The lanterns are generally made of paper or fabric stretched over a frame.This particular "lantern" was rather elaborate. Not only was it very large, it also moved and breathed smoke and fire. I'll try and get some more of the pictures up soon.

Despite it being Buddha's birthday, unfortunately, they weren't serving any birthday cake.

Random Photo From The Past #3

This photo is also from Malaysia, but this time from a little further south. I am pretty sure this is from very early 2000 but I don't know the exact date. Generally I am not much of a people photographer unless I know the person, but now and then I do fire off a few shots.
No, I don't know the man. He was just sitting in a corner outside a church and he looked interesting. I remember actually waiting until he looked up at me. Then I clicked, gave a friendly smile, and moved on. I think it is his glance at the camera, from just under the brim of his hat, that makes the picture interesting to me. What do you think?

To Your Health

We all know that kissing can be fun, but now scientists have found that kissing can also help people suffering from allergies. Scientists in Japan have determined that a 30 minute session of kissing may help to suppress your body's allergic reaction to pollen.The scientists found that kissing works by relaxing the body and reducing the production of histamine which is what causes the sneezing, watery eyes, and runny nose when you are exposed to pollen. The experiments also showed that hugging and cuddling were not enough, it had to be kissing to reduce the levels of histamine. I have always wondered what purpose my allergies serve. I would much rather spend 30 minutes kissing each morning than take a pill. Now all I have to do is find someone to help me out. Any volunteers? Read more here. "Her kisses left something to be desired - the rest of her." ~ Unknown "To me, there is no greater act of courage than being the one who kisses first." ~ Janeane Garofalo "For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." ~ Judy Garland quotes

The Big Picture

OK, here is another update on all the bicycle rides I take here around Andong. If you haven't seen the earlier postings, what I do is strap my Garmin eTrek unit to the handlebars of my bike (I have kind of MacGyver-ed my own mount) and go for a spin around the countryside, all the while recording my position via GPS satellite. When I get home, I download the data to my computer and display the maps in any number of various ways. All good fun!

I have displayed all the recorded rides this time, so things are looking pretty colorful. As you can see (click for a bigger image) I have covered a lot of territory. I don't have a total distance for all these rides handy, but the last one I took, that southern yellow east-west line, was just over 88 km. all the way around. Maybe some day I'll post some statistics on the rides.

If you want to have a closer look at some of the rides, I have a Google map for you of the last five I took. Click this link and a Google Map will open in a new window. Once there, you can scroll around by clicking and dragging the map, zoom in or out with the scale on the side, and turn individual rides on or off by clicking on the colored name.

Something interesting ... Find the spot on the dark blue trail, 23-April, where I cross the lake/river - straight to the north. Center the map on that spot by double-clicking there. Then click on the zoom scale between the 5th and 6th mark from the top. (Note: if the trail doesn't redraw after the zoom, you can make it redraw by clicking the trail name off then back on. It might be slow.) With the trail off, you can see the bridge. With the trail on, you can see where it looks like I went past the bridge and down into the lake.

I assure you I didn't ride my bike into the lake. I am not sure when these images were taken, but the lake is not as wide as it looks in the picture. There is a boat ramp there, and actually the lake is about half the width you can see in the picture. I don't think the lake has been up to these levels in quite a while.

If you want to see the rides in 3-D you can download the Google Earth KMZ file. Just click on this link and the file will load and start up Google Earth. Zoom, pan, tilt, and view to your heart's content.