Behind the gates

Quiet suburban street in small town America? No — well, actually kind of. This idyllic neighbourhood is part of the Yongsan Garrison, the headquarters for United States Forces Korea.

Up until recently, the closest I could get to seeing behind the walls of the base was the view from my room. That changed a couple weeks ago when Anna's friend Karen and her American G.I. boyfriend invited Anna and I for lunch on "post".

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but you can click here to check out the few I was able (or allowed) to get.

To appreciate the true incongruity of this scene, you have to know the context within which Yongsan Garrison sits. Using the amazing Google Earth you can get an excellent "bird's eye-view" of Yongsan and see the base as it is situated in the geographic center of Seoul. Click here to download a file that will plot all of the locations that I photographed in Google Earth.