Some random protest and other happenings

Sooooo, here we goooo, it's weekly weekend check-in time!

After French class on Saturday, was walking downtown and snapped this photo. Oh I just love this area. So clean and metropolitan. My area is kind of dumpy in comparison. The fall days are warm and clear too. Ahhh.
Then I took a taxi ride to a temple. Lo and behold...as I stepped out of the car, a protest appeared to be just getting under way! My lucky day. I couldn't tell what was happening really, but I took some photos anyway. This one older dude was surrounded by a swarm of people and was slowly making his way down some steps outside the temple grounds. He paused to speak into some microphones. Those guys on the edge in grey robes are monks. They stood back quietly and watched the whole thing.
From what I understand, the man in question was an organizer of some of the anti-American beef protests awhile ago and was wanted by the police for encouraging the masses to do illegal things during the protests or something like that. He apparently has taken refuge in the temple for the last few months.

So anyway, he moved onto the sidewalk, surrounded by the mob. More and more people kept coming and squeezing around him.

But I still couldn't really figure out what was going on here. Why were all these people crushed around him on the sidewalk? Was he being arrested? Was he leaving voluntarily? Were those people supporters? Were they against him? Many of them were plainclothes police as well, not to mention the many reporters present.

The whole mob kept moving up and down the sidewalk for about 10 minutes...back and forth, back and forth, not going anywhere. People were snapping pictures and speaking into mics, but it was strangely quiet except for occasional outbursts of hollering from the centre:
Then a whack of police showed up (the blue-capped boys), and surrounded the mob by linking arms. Now the whole group was contained and moving back and forth, all squished as tightly as possible together. It was bizarre. The man in question has that little gray fisherman's hat on in the middle:
He was eventually wrestled into a police car amidst shouts and squirmishes. Then these people set up some banners and did some crying:
And someone got put in an ambulance. The whole thing was rather tense and quite confusing (to me anyway, for obvious reasons). This is one of those instances where knowing the language would be kind of useful...

So anyway, that was that, now on to the rest of my day. This man happened to be walking by with these giant dogs. I took their picture and was informed they are "Traditional Korean Dogs." Which is interesting, because most dogs in Korea are the stupid-looking, pint-sized, ears-dyed-blue, curly-sue, yippy little runts that make me (an animal lover by the way) feel like punting them across the street. You hardly ever, EVER see a medium-sized, or large dog here. Although admittedly it's also because most people live in apartments.
Don't you think they look like that dog from Fraggle Rock?

Constructing as the sun sets:
Then I hung around this temple for a couple of hours. There are 3 giant, gold Buddhas inside, which you can see through the open windows, that cast golden shadows across the courtyard in the evening:
Listened to some drumming and chanting (the chanting sounds really tinny in this video, but you get the general idea):


Then it was off with friends to the coolest, chillest basement lounge ever:
And...happy! My best friend is finally back in town! woo!
Ya I know, kind of fuzzy, but whatever. It was either fuzzy ambiance or white-washed starkness and I opted for ambiance. Hope you all had a great weekend too! xxoo