The 2005 Asian X Games in Seoul. The Skateboarding Vert Comp was super exciting to watch. There were some amazing skaters in this competition. We got some rad pictures.

Sandro Dias from Brazil. This guy lands 900's. Can you?

Serious Vert 

Vert 

Skateboarding Vert Comp. 

BMX Competition. 

BMX Comp. 

Rob and Matt. This picture captures almost the instant that these two decided to take a swim in the Olympic Pool. 

Rob and Matt sneaking into the pool. 

Olympic Pool. Home of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
Ben Johnson anyone? Go Team Canada.

Rob and Matt in the pool. 

Me being good and NOT sneaking into the pool to go swimming.

Rob and Matt post swim. 

Check out the Motorcross guy on the left. What's he doing?? Quick smell check? 

Motorcross Demo. 

Daisuke Mochizuke from Japan ended up finishing second in the Skate Park Comp.

Kinda hard to see, but the guy with the black touque and red shirt. Tell me that doesn't look similar to Jordan Simpson from a distance?? 

Ever seen someone land a 900?

Well, it made for an eventful weekend. I went to another part of the city to check out the Asian X Games. It turned out to be a lot of fun. There were a few different competitions: Skate Park, Skate Vert, BMX Park, Inline Vert, and let's not forget the Motorcross Demo.

I think that my favorites were definitely Skate Vert, Park, and BMX. There weren't any big namers or anything but there were quite a few American and Australian guys competing. Actually, it was probably the most white people that I have been around in a long time without fearing for loss of my wallet. It was super chill, not a drunkfest like some foreigner areas. Actually there was no alcohol allowed, so it was pretty nice.

Rob and I spent almost all of Saturday and Sunday there just chillin, acquiring sunburns, and watching some guys pull some rad tricks.

There was this guy named Sandro Dias, from Brazil and he's one of only three men in the entire world to ever land a 900. Tony Hawk was the first guy, followed by Sandro and some Italian dude. After the vert comp Sandro decided to keep skating until he landed the 900. It was honestly incredible to watch someone spin that many times and land it. The guy was an incredible skater, really fun to watch. Not surprisingly, he won the competition.

For the skate park comp Chris Senn ended up winning, but not by much, this other guy named Daisuke Mochizuki from Japan was not too far behind. This guy Rob and I referred to as "Jordan Simpson." I mean, I know that Jordan's Thai 'n all, but really, the way he skated and wore a touque at all times, the guy was a replica. So when this Japanese dude was going Rob and I were definitely cheering "Yeah Jordan!" The guy had a crappy warm up, but he came out pretty huge for his second run in the finals.

Anyway, it was super fun. Rob and I spent quite a bit of time there enjoying ourselves and realizing that there isn't much of a skate culture out here, and it's something that we miss a little. Rob did, however, buy a skateboard setup from one of the two skateshops in Seoul and he's super stoked about it. There's a park pretty close to here that he's going to check out.

That aside, random story of the weekend. So it has been pretty hot here, like maybe mid thirties or so, and this X Games was held at the site of the 1988 Olympics. Me, Rob and Matt decided to try and find this random Dog show that we saw signs for. Anyway, we ended up inside the old Olympic pool. The diving pool was next to it and totally empty, but the Olympic sized pool was full and Rob and Matt decided to go swimming. No, the pool was definitely not open for public use. In fact, there was virtually no one in the building, so they decided to jump in. I, however, politely declined, but volunteered to take some pictures. It was pretty funny to watch, but I kinda sketched out at the end, thought they were going to get into trouble so I left the stadium and caught up with them later. It was pretty funny and I know that neither Rob or Matt regret it for a second.

Anyway, the weekend was definitely eventful. I wish I could see skateboarding more often, but I guess that's just something to look forward to when I get home...that and let's not forget...SNOWBOARDING! Hehe.

Me and Erin just as we arrived and were about to begin our 5.7km walk around Suwon Fortress Wall.  

Rob at the beginning of our walk. 

Me at the top of one of the lookout towers at the beginning of our walk around the fortress wall.  

Rob was so excited to gong the Bell of Filial Piety. He paid a dollar and rang this gigantic thing three times. He was pretty happy with himself.

Looking between the cracks in the wall. Doesn't it remind you of Robin Hood? 

View of Suwon City from one of the wall peaks. 

Located about a quarter of the way through our walk was a small market. The town now crosses over the path of the wall. This store is called PAT. Basically they've ripped off GAP in every way, shape and form. Why choose PAT? No one knows.

A look out point near the secret entrance gate with a small pond and tons of green!