Seoul Stop Before Indochina Tour

Seoul is open for business!

One of the great benefits from foreign travel is the occasional opportunity to make good use of a long layover.  Today on our way to our Indochina trip, We had a 12 hour layover in Incheon Korea so we decided to take advantage of our time and tour around Seoul while we waited for our flight to resume to Bangkok.  The street photography was amazing and we got some great images so we are sharing a few unedited JPEGs to give you an idea what we are seeing here… Come Visit!

This is the Gyeonbokgung Palace in Seoul.  We were able to tour the grounds and get some great images.  The next two are from the same palace.  Bet you can’t see this in Brooklyn! 

Below is a local Buddhist  temple grounds.  We were able to visit during a prayer session so we have images of the locals in attendance and the well-kept grounds too..

See if you can spot Mike Gulbraa poking in one of the doors.  Yep, same Columbia shirt you saw him in 2 years ago.  He said he washed it.  Fantastic color and weather for photos. 

This is a strange shaped cigarette butt collector.  Very decorative and photogenic.

From here we are off to Indochina so stay tuned for a few posts as we progress on the trip.  Wish you were here.  This is stunning as always!

Kamakura, Japan

Kamakura is a coastal town in Kanagawa Prefecture, less than an hour south of Tokyo.

Kamakura became the political center of Japan, when Minamoto Yoritomo chose the city as the seat for his new military government in 1192.  The Kamakura government continued to rule Japan for over a century.

After the decline of the Kamakura government in the 14th century and the establishment of its successor, the Muromachi government in Kyoto, Kamakura remained the political center of Eastern Japan for some time before losing its position to other cities.

Today, Kamakura is a small city of under 200,000 but it remains a popular tourist destination among Japanese and foreign travelers.  Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan, Kamakura offers numerous temples, shrines, and other historical monuments.  Kamakura is also known among Buddhists for being one of the cradles of Nichiren Buddhism in Japan.

We had a great time in Kamakura and spent the majority of our time at 2 locations – The Great Amida Buddha & Hasedera Temple.  Hope you enjoy some of our shots from these 2 memorable sites.

Canon 24-105L @ 28mm 1/60 f9.5 ISO 100 w/Tiffen Polarizer & 2 stop Grad ND filter

Canon 24-105L @ 105mm 1/45 f8 ISO 100 w/Tiffen Polarizer & 2 stop Grad ND filter

Canon 24-105L @ 35mm 1/90 f4 ISO 800 w/Tiffen Polarizer

Canon 24-105L @ 105mm 1/90 f4 ISO 800 w/ 2 stop Grad ND filter

Canon 24-105L @ 45mm 1/45 f8 ISO 100 w/Tiffen Polarizer & 2 stop Grad ND filter

Canon 24-105L @ 73mm 1/60 f8 ISO 100 w/Tiffen Polarizer & 2 stop Grad ND filter