Tomorrow I leave for Taiwan. One of the nice things about visiting the island is that it's relatively close to South Korea - the typical flight time from Incheon International Airport to Taoyuan International Airport is only about 2.5 hours - so leaving in the morning pretty much ensures you'll arrive some time in the early afternoon. While I do aim for mid-morning departures, my last-minute purchase meant that my options were limited to evening flights; my current ticket is for a 7:25pm boarding time. However, this might not be such a bad thing.

Uijeongbu is the auxiliary capital of Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province), and as such the city has its own immigration office. Or rather, had its own immigration office. I stopped by the building not too long ago to buy a re-entry permit for my trip only to find out that the office has moved -- to Yangju! For those not familiar with local geography Yangju is the next city north of Uijeongbu. What was normally a 20 minute walk from my apartment to the immigration now involves a 40 minute train ride and 20 minute walk to reach the new office in Yangju. Of course, this is still better than traveling more than two hours to reach the provincial capital in Suwon. According to the sign posted at the entrance of the old location:

Uijeongbu Immigration Office will be moved to Yang-ju as of 28th Nov. to provide better immigration services in a more pleasant and comfortable environment.

Name: Yangju Immigration Office
Opening Date: 2009.11.30 09:00 (Monday)
Address: Gyeonggi-do Yangju-si Dukkye-dong 467-2

[...]

1. Subway & Bus
* Dukkye Station} 20 minutes from exit No.1 (on foot)
bus No. 72 - get off at Huichan 2-dong community center
bus No. 73 - get off at Bumyang APT
* Yangju Station} bus No. 22, 25, 25-1, 31, 36, 36-5, 37, 39, 39-1, 39-4, 39-5, 48 - get off at Woori Bank (takes 20 minutes)
* Uijeongbu Station} bus No. 31 from exit No. 1 - get off at Bumyang APT

Now I'm kind of glad to have an evening departure time, as it will give me the chance to get a re-entry permit on the same day as my flight -- either at the new Yangju Immigration Office or at the branch located inside the Incheon International Airport. It's good to see that they've moved into a new building, though I obviously would have preferred something a little closer. The Uijeongbu Immigration Office was only a quick 3 minute walk from exit 2 of Uijeongbu Station instead of the 20 minutes it (presumably) takes to reach the Yangju branch. At least it's on a subway line. And thank goodness I checked today instead of leaving everything until tomorrow!

I should add that there was a woman by the door of the old Uijeongbu Immigration Office who helped point out the sign to me. She was with a younger woman who was apparently also in need of immigration services and was consulting a map of the Seoul metro while we talked. The first woman recommended we go together, but unfortunately I didn't have the time to go and still make it to work on time -- which left me feeling a little sorry that I couldn't go with the other visitor. After all, trying to find a new place is often easier with two sets of eyes.

After last week's unpleasant surprise that my point-and-shoot camera was no longer operational I decided to spend some of Christmas Day in Seoul for a bit of camera shopping at the Yongsan I'Park Mall. I had spent most of the week looking up information and reviews on recent camera models - actually, any camera models, since my point-and-shoot was six years old and I hadn't really done much research since buying it - and brought a list of prospective candidates with me to the mall. Sadly, only one or two of the models on my list were for sale at the stores I checked. If that weren't enough of a let-down, the sales clerks were very keen to point out that those models were "too expensive" for me (despite having made no mention of my budget) and instead recommended I buy a Samsung. I know Brian gets good shots with his Samsung i8 VLUU, but I would rather not purchase a camera without doing a little research on it first.

While taking a break from the camera displays I noticed fellow bloggers Jason (Kimchi Icecream) and Julianne on one of the escalators, and eventually managed to catch up to them to say hello and introduce myself. Not only were they happy to chat with a stranger who recognized them from the internet, they also offered to show me a great place in the area to pick up a DSLR camera. Once there, they even helped in the decision-making process; Jason has a Canon while Julianne uses a Nikon, so it was great to have both of them present to weigh the pros and cons of each.

At the end of the day I picked up a Nikon D80 with a Sigma 18-200mm lens for a very decent price. The Sigma lens looks like it will be a great tool to have for architectural and landscape shots, while also allowing me to get some good images from cultural events as well. On my way home I stopped off at Gwanghwamun Square to get some pictures of the "40th Anniversary Monument of Gojong's Enthronement" that I visited at the end of October.

Here's a picture of the monument using my old point-and-shoot. This is a composite image that was created by stitching together seven or eight shots:

Here's a picture of the same monument using my new Nikon. The image comes from the opposite corner, and is a single shot taken from approximately the same distance:

One thing that I need to get used to with the Nikon is how much heavier it weighs. Without a tripod it's really hard to avoid blurry night images due to the camera bobbing up and down in my hands. Of course, it was also snowing - so obviously below freezing - on Christmas night. It also snowed on Boxing Day, and we got a decent bit of snow in Uijeongbu today as well.

Our academy's winter vacation is coming up next week, and as part of my time off I will be spending four days in Taiwan before returning to Korea for a meeting with Amanda during her trip to Korea. So naturally, while taking photos in my apartment on Tuesday, I went and accidentally dropped my camera -- rendering it inoperable. Granted, it's a Canon point-and-shoot that I've had for the better part of five years now and already had a piece rattling around inside, but I've been pleased with its performance so far and it's been a nice camera to use while progressing from factory settings to playing around with some of the manual functions. Now I have four days to find a replacement if I'm to take any photos from my journey to Ilha Formosa.

I've considered buying a DSLR camera since the summer but kept putting it off. Now might be a good time to make the transition, though I'm not overly fond of spending that much money without carefully weighing my options. While it sounds like Namdaemun and Yongsan are the two main destinations for camera shopping in Seoul, getting a decent price from a reputable seller and with a decent A/S (warranty) could be challenges if I go on my own and shop to a deadline. (Just as an aside, I had been thinking about a Canon EOS 5D, EOS Rebel XS, or Nikon D3000.)

With that in mind, picking up a replacement point-and-shoot doesn't sound like a bad idea. The idea of buying something that runs off a pair of AA batteries is also appealing, as they're not exactly a hard item to find in urban areas. Plus, if I'm underwhelmed with how the new point-and-shoot works I'll only be out a couple hundred dollars. After spending the last two days looking up reviews of point-and-shoot models though, it's hard to make a choice. There are a number of different functions that look appealing -- zoom is nice if I'm stuck at the back of a crowd for a cultural event and macro settings are great for entomological photos, while easy access to different settings, portability, and the aforementioned AA battery usage all come into play as well.

The models I read about come from Canon, Fujifilm, Samsung, and Panasonic. What's a consumer with time constraints to do -- roll a d20 and hope for the best?

Returning to the topic of my trip to Taiwan, I'll be visiting one of my Flickr contacts who I have never met before. When I proposed visiting Danshui (淡水) during my stay he replied with:

On the 29th, I will be in the office. So maybe we can visit some spots not far from Danshui. Not sure about if you like hot spring, and it's odd to meet with you totally naked for the first time......hahaha But there's a good vegetarian restaurant in "Beitou".

The transition is humorous to me, anyway. And while I know a vacation is meant to be a time to relax and enjoy oneself, I've always been kind of uncomfortable with the idea of spending time at a hot spring or getting a massage when I could be out doing other things. On one of my earlier trips I had two female friends suggest getting a massage and I voted to visit a night market instead. Then again, when it comes to activities in Taiwan, eating will almost always win.

My fingers are feeling better compared to yesterday and I still want to write about the changes to downtown Uijeongbu's Jungangno (중앙로) but I have no idea where to begin. Back in May the city ruled the street off-limits to cars, and I made a brief reference to construction going on back in August. While remodeling work conducted at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul resulted in the removal of 29 ginkgo trees - placed elsewhere in the capital - Uijeongbu's city planners actually tore out the street and replaced it with 64 trees that tower 20m above street level. The new flora is Pinus densiflora for. erecta, which is known as 금강송 in Korean and the Japanese Red Pine in English.

Japanese Red Pines. Photos from over the summer.

Never put off for today what you could have done yesterday. Tonight is when I had planned to write about the upcoming celebrations in Uijeongbu that will mark the official opening of 'Culture Street' - including some photos I've taken since this past summer - but during my last class of the day a student slammed the classroom door on my fingers and now they're very sensitive to pressure. One of my fingers is still this lovely shade of red that makes it look like a ripe strawberry. Too much typing then is probably a bad idea. As such, the details will hopefully appear tomorrow, since the celebration itself will take place on 24 December.

In the meantime, here's a photo from Jungangno (중앙로; the former name of the new Culture Street) in September 2008:

High school student (?) beatboxing during a summer street festival

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* Entry title edited to reflect a grammatical mistake in the original. Many thanks to the reader who took the time to email me pointing out the error.