My photos

Photographs in and around Andong, Korea and any place else I may visit in my travels. Most of these are scenery, but there are the odd people photos now and then. No, the people aren't usually odd.

My Photo
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Location: Daejeon, South Korea

Just passing time till I kick the bucket. I try to make my life about living rather than working.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

A little local color.

I just wanted to include a few final photos of fall before I move on to the winter shots. Most of these are just sites a bit out from the city. A couple are revisited sites. Have a look and tell me what you think.

These first few are from a time I revisited Dosan Seowon.



The maples here in Korea really show a lot of color in the fall season (and sometimes out of season).


No, I don't know who she is. Unfortunately!
I just saw her and thought it made a good picture. I think she was there with a male friend, so I hope neither of them mind.

This is the same shot you may have seen if you have visited this blog before.

This time, however, it is fall. You can see a little color there, but I think I missed to best of it.

A similar shot like this was in the earlier post, too.

The trees surrounding the site are rather colorful.

The door theme strikes again.


Yes, I have taken a lot of red pictures. That is just because it is such a change from all the green.
Remember, I grew up in the desert, so it is all a wonder to me.



That pea soup green river, which was not very green at all when this photo was taken, looks a lot better in this photo.

This is a bit far from Dosan Seowon. The lake behind the Imha dam caused a lot of things to get flooded over. This is one structure that was saved and moved to it's present site. It is another seowon, which basically means private learning place, but this one only includes the main lecture building.
It looks like someone is living in this building now. You can see the smoke marks from the 온돌 (ohndohl), under floor heating. Nowadays the heat comes from gas-fired boilers heating water, but there are still a large number of houses outside the cities that still use wood for direct heat.
The lectures were held in the center platform and the side rooms were where the teachers stayed or relaxed.

At the end of the season, after the rice has been harvested and threshed, the stalks are either collected or burned.

If the stalks are collected, they are used for a number of things including roofs, rope, ground covers, and even fodder.

Just another building that was moved because of the flooding from the Imha dam.
And a closeup of the front gate ...

This is the lake behind Imha dam. You'll notice the water level looks a bit low.

It is low, actually. At least much lower than you might expect. You can see that there is a lot of room for the lake to rise.
It has risen a bit with all the rain Korea has had, but I doubt levels have been anywhere close to the tree line for quite a while.

In a small village near the lake is this house. You are actually only seeing a small part of it.

I will give you the information directly from the information sign out front.

The I-Udang House

Kyoungsangbuk-do Folklore Material No. 49.

This house is the residence of the direct lineal descendants of Kwon Hwan of the Imha branch the Andong clan. It is called I-udang House after Kwon's penname.

Built in 1640, the house has a square layout with a courtyard at the center. It has a spacious wooden floor hall. The sarangchae, or men's quarters, was added in 1773 when the main building was renovated. It stands on a tall foundation and is surrounded by railings. It has a hipped-and-gabled roof. The house faces northeast whereas all the other houses in the village face north.

The last picture is of a 700 year old ginkgo tree 은행나무 (eunhaeng nahmoo). It is thought to be the largest gingko tree ( in girth, at least, 16 m at the base) in Korea and possibly in Asia. There is a record of when it was planted, so it is known to be about 700 years old.
That strange metal structure is there for a specific reason. Originally this tree sat in a school yard next to a stream. The rising waters from the Imha dam started to change that stream into part of the lake and threatened to destroy the tree. As the waters rose, they successfully transplanted the tree 15 meters above it's former location. The tree still lives, though it looks like it is on life support. The metal structure holds(held?) the tree up after transplanting.

That is all the photos for this time. Next time winter. I promise.

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