Gambling with Buddha

... is the title of this post. It was a rather eventful weekend. Saturday after my obligatory teacher-student afternoon we checked out Buddha's Birthday party in Insadong. My man knows how to throw a righteous bash. There was a parade with a 100 meter long dragon and other paper floats (look rapidly from left to right at the pictures below to feel like you are at the parade.) All this culminated with dance performances at a stage that shot flames, sparks, and bubbles while jamming rock music. Buddha, Buddha, Buddha!
This 500 year old tree was supported, but still had leaves at the top. I will take a cane if I can still have my hair.

These are lanterns in the temple that represent wishes and the need to see where you are going. Good thing we bought a little redemption earlier because now for the sin...
after the party I played a little Texas hold-'em with Dave and a few friends. I may have lost a little in terms of money, but it's all part of the hustle baby. After that we busted it back to Sinchon and met up at Rolling Stone bar for some good times and overpriced Cokes.
(me and my bodyguards Mike "don't make me repeat myself" and Al "I shouldn't have had to tell you the first time"- notice the flamboyont money gesture with the hand)

Sunday started with some whopping omelettes to settle down a few unstable guts. Then off to the races. The Seoul Racetrack is quite nice with mountains in the background and well-maintained facilties. But what would truly be beatiful would be to win on an exacta. The crowd was large (perspective provided courtesy of Hye Jean's head) and the money was flowing. I got into my groove and almost hit on a q-p with 1 of my 2 picks winning and the other getting nosed out of placing at the line and me out of 50 buckaroos. In the last race I was playing a big payout exacta which actually stood up for oh, about 3 seconds as the rounded the final turn before fading fast. ...it's all just another day at the races.