What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

Every year the residents of this St. Catharines, Ontario road go all-out with the Christmas decorations. The street’s actual name is Rio Lane but it will always be Griswald Avenue to me.

I know what you must be thinking… “We’re into June and HoaiPhai is just getting around to doing his Christmas post-game show. He must have had one hell of a vacation!” The short answer to that question, which if you were paying attention you would have realized wasn’t even a question in the first place, is “yes and no”.

Gone are the days when I’d go to a New Year’s Eve party and sometime around the middle of February wake up in a ditch penniless and hungover with a new crop of cold sores and my pants on backwards. This Christmas wasn’t one for the record books in that sense but, hey, I only got two extra days off work this year.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mountains

Looking north across the DMZ into North Korea on a very rainy day.

I’ve been to South Korea twice and the thing that strikes me about the country is the mountains. They’re absolutely everywhere! Often obscured by the smog, they’re always beautiful and are the homes to many of the country’s great temples. The great metropolis of Seoul yields to its many mountains — its many districts are defined by the steep and uninhabitable mountains that provide a natural border between the neighbourhoods.

Korea’s Big Failure

Originally built in the 7th century, and rebuilt many times since, Baekdamsa Temple is a testament to the tradition of tradition ubiquitous in the Republic of Korea.

Before we get to the point I’m trying to make, I am compelled to put you through several thousand words of background to make you truly understand what I’m getting at.

But, before I do, I’d like to dedicate this blog entry to my dear wife who will be celebrating her twentieth anniversary of emmigrating to Canada from South Korea on July 24, 2011. I’m really glad you did, my jjaggung! I cannot imagine my life without you.