Sunday, 30 August 2009
CREEEEEEEPY CRAWWWWWWLY CREEEEEEEPY CRAWWWWWWLY
CREEPY CREEPY CRAWLY CRAWLY CREEPY CREEPY CRAWLY CRAWLY CREEPY CREEPY CRAWLY CRAWLY CREEPY CREEPY CRAWLY CRAWLY...
As the unbearable humidity begins to disperse and a day at the beach involves increasingly less fun in the sun, it is time to make for the hills. Or the mountains, rather and enjoy some of Korea's beautiful countryside. In addition to the visor-clad ajumma or halmoni, there are a few other local ladies one should expect to see.
The first and most populous is Nephila clavata, known as 무당거미 (Mudangomi-witch spider) in Korean, Golden Orb spider in English and more interestingly ジョロウグモ or 絡新婦 (Jorōgumo -binding lady) in Japanese. She is a creature of Japanese folklore, a spider which can transform into a seductive woman in order to capture and eat her man, and after observing this beautiful yellow and black creature you can certainly sense the power of the female as she clouds over the short, stout males on their triple tiered web.
She spends late summer to mid autumn mating and before dying out in winter she leaves behind numerous egg sacks, each containing between 400-1500 eggs. Nephila derived from Ancient Greek to mean 'loves spinning' sums up this spider well and the Golden Orb name refers not to the spider's yellow colour, but to the colour of the silk spun to make the web. This silk is remarkably strong and not only survives the rainy season, but also builds massively adventurous webs that often span from tree to tree.
In amongst the myriad of Nephila webs, it is possible to spot something even more spectacular. A highly visible zig zag detail, often surrounding another, very interesting spider.
Argiope Amoena or St Andrew's Cross spider (due to its unique way of resting its legs in an 'X' shape) sits its yellow and black body majestically on its web, while stretching out its four pairs of brown legs together, with the jazzy zig zag detail following on from where the leg ends. At first glance I imagined this web 'writing'or stabilmentum to be a way to make the spider appear bigger and more threatening to predators, but the theories as to why it makes it seem to be endless. From reinforcing the web, to sending out a mating signal to the (again, smaller and much more insignificant looking)males.
Apparently E.B. White was so taken by the sight of this kind of web that he went on to write the children's classic, Charlotte's Web back in 1952.
Spiders, although not specifically Nephila or Argiope genera have always had a relationship with humans, from helping Mohammed escape the Christians and inspiring Robert the Bruce to defeat the English, to The Who's bassist, John Entwistle and his joke song come concert favourite 'Boris the Spider'.
Whether inspired or terrified just remember, 'If you want to live and thrive, let a spider stay alive'. They will kill the mosquitoes at the very least.
Posted by my very first guest blogger, 누구.
As the unbearable humidity begins to disperse and a day at the beach involves increasingly less fun in the sun, it is time to make for the hills. Or the mountains, rather and enjoy some of Korea's beautiful countryside. In addition to the visor-clad ajumma or halmoni, there are a few other local ladies one should expect to see.
The first and most populous is Nephila clavata, known as 무당거미 (Mudangomi-witch spider) in Korean, Golden Orb spider in English and more interestingly ジョロウグモ or 絡新婦 (Jorōgumo -binding lady) in Japanese. She is a creature of Japanese folklore, a spider which can transform into a seductive woman in order to capture and eat her man, and after observing this beautiful yellow and black creature you can certainly sense the power of the female as she clouds over the short, stout males on their triple tiered web.
She spends late summer to mid autumn mating and before dying out in winter she leaves behind numerous egg sacks, each containing between 400-1500 eggs. Nephila derived from Ancient Greek to mean 'loves spinning' sums up this spider well and the Golden Orb name refers not to the spider's yellow colour, but to the colour of the silk spun to make the web. This silk is remarkably strong and not only survives the rainy season, but also builds massively adventurous webs that often span from tree to tree.
In amongst the myriad of Nephila webs, it is possible to spot something even more spectacular. A highly visible zig zag detail, often surrounding another, very interesting spider.
Argiope Amoena or St Andrew's Cross spider (due to its unique way of resting its legs in an 'X' shape) sits its yellow and black body majestically on its web, while stretching out its four pairs of brown legs together, with the jazzy zig zag detail following on from where the leg ends. At first glance I imagined this web 'writing'or stabilmentum to be a way to make the spider appear bigger and more threatening to predators, but the theories as to why it makes it seem to be endless. From reinforcing the web, to sending out a mating signal to the (again, smaller and much more insignificant looking)males.
Apparently E.B. White was so taken by the sight of this kind of web that he went on to write the children's classic, Charlotte's Web back in 1952.
Spiders, although not specifically Nephila or Argiope genera have always had a relationship with humans, from helping Mohammed escape the Christians and inspiring Robert the Bruce to defeat the English, to The Who's bassist, John Entwistle and his joke song come concert favourite 'Boris the Spider'.
Whether inspired or terrified just remember, 'If you want to live and thrive, let a spider stay alive'. They will kill the mosquitoes at the very least.
Posted by my very first guest blogger, 누구.
Friday, 28 August 2009
Bread but not as you know it.
Imagine for a minute, 2 thick slices of doughy white bread, a thick layer of very good butter, Welsh butter perhaps and several slices of sizzling bacon, all pressed gently together to form the king of sandwiches.
Maybe you prefer your bread infused with green tea and dipped in whipped cream or even in a strange shape.
Whatever your bready preference imagine if you had to cut what looked very much like a human head in half to be able to stuff it with all manner of delicious or strange fillings. A baker in Thailand has given people the option of having their bread in the normal, boring loaf or, for a more exciting breakfast, int eh form of human body parts. Have a look at the video below for a gruesome tour of the bakery and all their creepy products.
It might be nice to understand what he is saying too, so if anyone can speak Thai please translate it.
Courtesy of Matadornights.com
Maybe you prefer your bread infused with green tea and dipped in whipped cream or even in a strange shape.
Whatever your bready preference imagine if you had to cut what looked very much like a human head in half to be able to stuff it with all manner of delicious or strange fillings. A baker in Thailand has given people the option of having their bread in the normal, boring loaf or, for a more exciting breakfast, int eh form of human body parts. Have a look at the video below for a gruesome tour of the bakery and all their creepy products.
It might be nice to understand what he is saying too, so if anyone can speak Thai please translate it.
Courtesy of Matadornights.com
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Mook Hyang Japanese restaurant Jeonju
Photographs from a Japanese restaurant opposite my apartment. Excellent service, very nice setting and a lot of food. Pricey though. 80,000 won for 2 which included a bowl of udon at the end because, the chef said, Korean people kind of expect some rice or noodles to make it a substantial meal.The chef also threw in some free sushi, in fact he gave us o-toro sushi, the most prized part of the tuna, which, if I understood correctly would normally cost almost as much as the meal itself.
Oh and the photos are in reverse order because blogger decided it was better that way.
Oh and the photos are in reverse order because blogger decided it was better that way.
Korean Music
A few videos of Korean bands I have had the good fortune to see live in the past few months, namely at the Jisan and Busan rock festivals.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Sunday, 12 July 2009
The dancing murderers are at it again
Ok, I don't really know what crimes they have been incarcerated for but the orange jumpsuited felons are back with first a tribute to the former king of pop and then a rendition of another K-pop classic, if such a thing exists!
Thursday, 2 July 2009
The Cuckoo: Nature's Bastard
The documentary showed how the cuckoo watches, spying if you will, a roosting mother. The mother is of course of a different species to the cuckoo and when the hardworking mother has to go out for the day to hunt and gather for her brood the sneaky f'ing cuckoo nips in and drops one of its own eggs into the nest. The cuckoo egg is the same colour as the host eggs but a lot bigger and so when the chick hatches (for the retuning mother apparently can't count) it is also much bigger than the other chicks. Predictably the bigger chick then takes the, well I suppose the cuckoo's share of the food.
Not content with taking most of the food, growing bigger and disappearing (probably in the middle of the night the sneaky bastard), the chick then systematically starts evicting the other chicks from their own nest. The Mother fumbles around in the nest, apparently unaware that her chicks are being thrown to their deaths and the smug little cuckoo chick just keeps on opening its fat, greedy mouth and taking the food.
The narrator of the program actually said that the father and mother looked on bewildered at what was going on and although I admit I am no expert at bird body language I am not sure how he could claim to know that.
Anyway the summary is that cuckoos are bastards and I shall not ever purchase a cuckoo clock because they are both ugly and tacky but most of all because every hour I would see a little wooden cuckoo and it would remind me of what little shits they really are.
My kind of cuckoo clock!
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Le petit France
Le petit France is a resort village themed on Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince. Visitors to Petit France can see the signatures of the entire cast of Beethoven Virus. A 150-year-old residence has been brought here all the way from France and there is a gallery showing the works of Saint Exupery, as well as the Orgel House, which features beautiful antique music boxes. A variety of exhibitions and hands-on activities are available all year-round and there is also accommodation facilities. This is one of the only places in Korea you can experience French culture. A trip here can also be combined with a visit to Namiseom Island and Homyeong Lake nearby.
Address: 616 Goseong-ri Cheongpyeong-myeon Gapyeong-gun region, Gyeonggi-do province
Tel: +82-31-584-8200
Website: www.pfcamp.com
How to Get There: From Dong Seoul bus terminal or Sangbong bus terminal, take an intercity bus heading for Cheongpyeong -> Get off at Cheongpyeong station and take a shuttle bus for Petit France From Cheongnyangni station take a train heading to Chuncheon -> Get off at Cheongpyeong station and take a shuttle bus for Petit France.
*Shuttle Bus Hours:
From Petit France
Weekdays 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 14:00, 16:00, 17:00
Weekends 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00(Sat)
From Cheongpyeong station
Weekdays 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:30, 16:30, 17:30
Weekends 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30(Sat)
There do appear to be some other attractions at Le petit France but you have to go to the bottom of the page for the 'extras'. Have a look at the photos if you can't see it.
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