About John McCrarey

Born and raised in southern California. My career exodus has taken me to Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, DC. And as of 23 January 2005, Seoul, Korea. Married with 6 grown children (blended family). First grandchild is in the oven! I created this blog to document my adventures as an expat living and working in Korea. I'm also pretty confident that I will on occasion feel the need to express my views on current events and other matters I find of interest.

Grand Ole Opry

Probably the biggest dive in Itaewon and the closest thing to an old fashion Southern honkytonk you’ll ever find in Asia is the Grand Ole Opry bar.  Dirty, dingy, and half way up Hooker Hill.  Great place to go for country dancin’.  At midnight they play Proud to be an American by Lee Greenwood, and folks stand and sing along with lighters held aloft.  This is followed by The Star Spangled Banner.  And then it is back to dancing with Skynard’s Sweet Home Alabama.

I didn’t frequent the place too much.  But if I was ever feeling a tad homesick, this is where I’d go for a taste of deep fried Americana.

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Dinner and a song

Sometimes after a night of darts and drinking at Dolce Vita we’d have a late night dinner at Don Valley and then head on over to the norebang for some music making.  I must be good because my singing never fails to bring tears to my listeners eyes.  Even when I sing a happy song!

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I started a joke…

Visiting Dosunsa Temple

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At the bus stop in Itaewon

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Down on Main Street, er, Itaewonno Blvd.

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Ok, where’s the damn bus…

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…ah, here it comes

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Woo hoo!  A seat for everyone!

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My tour guide (girl friend) suggested we switch to the subway…

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Alright, this is where we are, now to get to where we are going

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Maybe we CAN get there from here!

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Here come da train!

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Restless riders

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After another short bus ride we reach Uidong…

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The temple is up the mountain and we are going to join the hikers…

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But first we’ll have some lunch at an outdoor cafe and enjoy the springtime flowers…

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…and the view from our table

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Meat on the grill…

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…sides on the table.

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We enjoyed this gurgling stream on the way up Bukhansan…

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…and the blossoms just past their peak

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Eventually we made it to the temple gate…

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Even statues love flowers I suppose

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Regurgitation?

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A better photographer would have found a more pleasing way to capture what was really a very nice view…

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The lanterns were nice too

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Colorful architecture

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Didn’t want to stand to close to this one for fear that I’d get my belly rubbed too…

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I think this is kinda like a wheel of fortune, but what do I know…

Anyway, my girlfriend was there to worship and I’m also uncomfortable taking photos of the Buddha while folks are being reverent, so this is all she wrote.

Hiked back down the mountain (much easier that way!), lined up for the bus in Uido and reversed our trek.

And so ends today’s journey down memory lane.