| KOREAN ECOLOGY |
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| Chris had the good fortune to meet Alex in the photo shop in our school building. He turns out to be an amateur ecologist whose knowledge of flora and fauna in Korea is extensive. An avowed eccentric, Alex works as little as possible in order to spend his free time in the out of doors. His wife is a very patient woman. He has gone from small time nature photographer to artistic photographer. He loves to draw the nature around him, use rubbings to study leaves, sculpt using the local wood and to take pictures of every kind of wildlife from insects to birds and larger mammals(he keeps hoping to see more of the latter). He has been documented by Korean TV as the "tree man" and is well known to residents around all of the extensive temple grounds where good hiking and nature watching exist. |
| Alex et Dennis examinant " zelcova serrata" ou neti namul en Coreen. |
| A close-up photo of the aforementioned "zelkova serrata". The bark appears almost sculpted with huge grooves cut out of it. The odd blistering look of the bark certainly makes it noteworthy on a nature hike. The size and shape of the tree itself also make it a fascinating study for the amateur artist and photographer. As a matter of fact, many of the trees in this area are very oddly shaped. They made us wonder how they could have managed to survive the harsh winds and the storms which can ravage these hills. |
| I wish dearly we'd taken some more pictures of these beautiful trees "pinus densiflorus". Their bark is a lovely reddish color and the shapes they create are interesting to no end. Their branches bend and twist every which way to make anyone think of tree climbing again. They grow everywhere and Alex admits to drawing more of them than he could count. |
| Return to anyong haseyo |
| Par chance, nous avons rencontre Alex, qui se dit naturaliste amateur dans le domaine de la flore et faune Coreenne. Il nous a invite de venir avec lui a Tongdosa, un endroit qu'il avait visite au moins 300 fois(oui, 300!). Il dessine, prend des photos et collectionne des exemplaires de la natur. Il fait du camping n'importe ou, si c'est legal ou non. Il a meme kidnappe une tortue qu'il avait vu afin de l'examiner de plus proche. Bien sure, il l'a rammene. Avec Christiane qui prend son cours d'ecologie, c'est un gars qu'on trouve fort interessant. |
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| Alex took us on a day trip out to the tree museum near the town of Masan. Anything you want to see concerning the use of wood in Korean life through the ages, is put on exhibit here. It also included a well thought out environmental awareness in all the exhibits. |