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.

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.

Gecko’s of Itaewon

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This was always one of my least favorite dart venues.  Crappy service and usually filled with people looking to hook up.  Back in 2005 there was a more or less credible terrorist threat against this place because it was usually filled with foreigners.  Coincidentally, it is in close proximity to the large Muslim Mosque.

Things I don’t miss…

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…include my long commute from Stafford, VA to L’Enfant station in D.C. and back on the VRE.  If everything went right, it was about an hour and a half each way.

Somewhat surprisingly, I do miss work my working life.  I actually dream about my old job and co-workers quite frequently.  Ironic, given how I used to dream of being retired.