Winter in Seoul

Jongmyo Shrine UNESCO World Heritage Site where Confucian rites have continued unbroken for over 600 years. The tablets and (I guess) remains of all the Joseon Kings are inside this mysterious building that looked so cool in the snow.

The King's Pagoda representing the openess to all sides and people, its in the womens palace Changyeungung right across from the above shrine in the Palace district of Seoul. All the wonderful wives and concubines lived here which was later partly destroyed (like everything!) by the Japanese and turned into a zoo for a while, now Korea are working on it to repair it back to its original gentle grandeur. The interesting thing here is that while all other palaces face south, this one faces east to see the mountain, view won over feng shui for once in ancient Korea. ^^

This guy was outside the Jongmyo park feeding the birds who obviously knew him quite well. The snow was deep and it was damn cold about -15 (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!). Its getting colder now (-20) and is the coldest winter since 1930 with loads of snow, especially up in the mountains, kids in the city are skating on frozen lakes, and icicles hang from traffic lights -its nice to have 4 seasons!

Kid on the edge of his seat (his dad's shoulder) at the Seoul Snowboarding World Cup in Dec2009.

close-up of the action in the Snow Park with the Korean riders flickin some sick tricks. Stoked!

Graphic shot of Seoul Snowboard World Cup, (could be a Promo) Korean rider climbing back up the slope to blitz some more moves in the snow park. Infinitely yours, thats a typical korean slogan, bit OTT but I kind of like this one! ^^

This was a lot of fun shooting the riders, got some good portraits and action shots too, check flickr for more. www.flickr.com/r0r0planet

Seoul's snowy winter landscape by the light of the setting sun. January has been so white everyday (since christmas day we've been snowed in!). Super!

Hope you like these shots, just my selection of winter so far in Seoul -a few different perspectives on whats going on here, and trying to see the color through the white snow thats covering everything right now.^^

So far the seasons here are all so different, Spring has the amazing blossoms everywhere, Summer just heats up like an oven until the sun is so bright, the colors so vibrant and the bugs so numerous and loud, Autumn cools down and the color just gets better and better, especially in the mountains where its unbelievable! Winter, as you can see is fantastic, and cold -real cold, but with the snowboarding season, and the snowcapped mountains all around Seoul and in Gangwon-do looking more and  more like Alpine Peaks, tis the season to be merry and full of Jul mo tea (the best invention in liquid form-tea made from nuts of various trees-its a warmer and a filler-upper!)and cinnamon pancakes out taking in the frozen world of Korea (which actually has pretty clear night skies now too-in Seoul).

Awesome!

Ro