Rooms with a View

As promised - Views from our apartment.

Today was an exceptionally clear day, so I got some great views of Uijeongbu. We have seen this kind of clarity only twice since our arrival. These first two pictures were taken out the front living room windows. The first one is towards the Southeast and shows many of the buildings in our vicinity, the metro tracks (they look like a concrete bridge), and some of the city. The next one is the same view on a misty day. This time of year it may look overcast and cool, but it is really quite hot and VERY humid.

These next two are towards the South in the direction of Seoul. More high-rise apartments and a teeny bit of downtown Uijeongbu peeking out behind them. The closer view shows the mountains that are in Bukhansan National Park. This park includes Dobangsan where Layden went hiking a couple of weeks ago. The suffix "san" means mountain. Also in the closer view you can see some tan roofs just behind the edge of the soccer stadium. These are barracks on post. We are about a half mile from there and it is a pleasant walk for Layden. Not so much for Sarah, who has been having some foot pain. She went in for an X-Ray and found a bone spur - ouch! It has been there for a while but not too noticeable while she was favoring her knee. Now that she is walking properly the spur has become aggravated. Out of the frying pan, into the fire! The prescription: "Stay off your feet." Easier said than done with no car and a whole new country to explore.

Here is the soccer stadium, and the view to the south on a misty day. The mountains pretty much disappear in the fog.

This is out the back window and is towards the Northwest. It is a relatively rural area. We have another view of mountains, which is particularly lovely at sunset. There is a large garden just below our window. We can't buy direct from this garden as it seems to serve the restaurants and markets, but there is an organic garden up the street. The patch of bright green across the street is a small rice paddy. There is also a church - one of several in the neighborhood - and an elementary and middle school next to it. Below is the view North towards the cities of YangJu and Dongducheon.

This is a view of our neighborhood. We have lots of interesting things to explore here. There are markets, restaurants, and a whole bunch of little shops. There is a bus that stops right in front of our building. It is only one bus line but it can take us to the metro or to stops that connect with other lines so we are able to get around fairly well.

These remaining pictures are nighttime views. The red signs are mostly crosses. There are a lot of churches and most of them have a red cross on a tall steeple. As it gets darker more and more will be illuminated, and so will lots of other lights, so it is never really dark in our apartment. We need to invest in heavier curtains!