Gwangju by Note 7

Our guide pointed out these blue lines, which denote the path of a historic stream that is now underground.

Some interesting tiles.

Open empty room.

It is actually pretty nice.

That is an old calendar. Or a futuristic calendar.

That's almost as much male pattern baldness as you see at a punk show!

From higher up, I had a look at the roof's condition.

The next building over was no picnic either.

Oh yeah, that tiling looks like asbestos.

Oh look, it's Mr Robot as Indiana Jones! My actual description given of Bill so others could rendezvous with him.

We got to the roof park of a building, which judging by the outlines up there used to be a wedding hall.

We had to climb a little higher for the good view.

I'm curious what that clearing in the upper middle is, with what look like giant solar panels. A sports field?

Isaac wasn't brave enough to come with us, but I sent him this picture of his dad coming up. Though this is as far as his dad made it.

Overlooking the area where we'll go next.

Didn't go down there.

The iconic Chosun University.

I went down to the lower surface with Isaac's dad, and the others stayed up there a while longer.

Old bills.

Superheroes.

Curious why those two pinecones are there.

Some pretty extreme Mexican barbwire.

I looked up and wondered why this streetlight was on at like 4pm.

An abandoned house seen through the gate.

Elcteriorics is probably already a band name.

Why do my cats hate it so much?

Building being gutted for rent.

Hey, what's this?

Apparently it is never open.

Apparently this area has some sort of music history. The only link I found in English was on an insecure website.

An old gate.

Room for rent.

This is a beautiful building.

The one occupant, a loud dog.

This house next door seems abandoned.

Panoramifying it.

Another abandoned house.

There's a mess of stuff behind that tree.

An interesting view.

That looks like a European-style chalet on top of an extraordinarily boring building.

A view of the grounds.

And that house again.

Nice chimney.

A closer look at that truck.

This cat seemed concerned.

One more look.

I photographed this for my Hong Kong friends, before remembering they probably couldn't read it. "Chungking Mansion."

Oh hell yes, we're staying here.

Ever seen a building with breasts?

From the roof, looking at the second-best pick, the windmill motel.

A closer look at the Statue of Liberty on the roof.

I climbed up high to get this warped image.

The general scenery.

Looking back to where we were earlier.

Another weirdly skewed image.

This one best gets the dimensions.

Inside.

Not what you want to see in an ATM.

I took this to send it to Jericho who was messaging me at the moment.

Over at Bohemian for a metal show.

TThe show included a pogo stick.

Late at night, we headed over to the legendary Gwangju Speakeasy, but I couldn't help notice they had their own "Sharp Ink" tattoo shop.

I hope that is the penmanship of the original Michael Simning, someone I was in communication with but never actually got to meet.

Next day, back in Seoul, where Michael and I paused for Sinuiju budae jjigae. How exactly does Sinuiju, a city the UN forces controlled for like a couple months, have its own budae jjigae? I've heard it is just named after the founders' hometown, but it was distinct from other styles.

Two cats glad to see me at home again.

Very glad.