Korea has again been swept by an incredible wave of soccer fever, and thank God they won their first match against Togo otherwise the suicide rate may have just gone up with the pain of defeat. Koreans seem to take it all so seriously, as though their international reputation could be indelibly scarred by a quick defeat. This cute kid was on his way to City Hall to cheer on "the Reds" and luckily, he was going to be pretty rapped with the final score. As fate had it my exams started the next morning after the game, and so many students turned up bleary-eyed and hungover, and weren't too focused on giving their Powerpoint presentations to the class. The second game is tonight at 4am (!) and guess who has another exam tomorrow morning at 10am - viper teacher ('doksa' as they say in Korean), but what can I do? It is the final exam week after all.

Even lovers got in on the act by jousting with their inflatable "On the Reds" toys.

Thousands of Koreans gathered last week in front of City Hall to cheer on their team playing Togo. This shot was taken at 4pm and the game didn't start till 10pm! We gave up on trying to find a spot and ended up watching the game right next to a giant plasma screen in our favorite neighborhood pub.

One of Korea's most famous players, Park Ji-Seong has been immortalized on a downtown skyscraper. It's going to be hard for him to live up to the incredibly high expectations of Koreans. Good luck mate!

Alberta backcountry - breath-taking!

Snowshoeing was tougher than I imagined. Next time I'll stick with cross-country skiing.

Lake Louise was iced-over and a castle had been carved out of ice blocks! Surreal landscape it was...

The last Canadian trip photos, I promise! Banff was stunning as expected but I think I preferred the more sedate, low-key surroundings of Lake Louise. Banff was just a tad too polished, and catering for the well-heeled crowd who'd just jetted in from Calgary. Picture-post card it was, although a little too sedate after all the wild rooming moose had been relocated out of town because of silly tourists being gored while trying to feed them.

Bright colors in the animal kingdom often warn of poison and so it isn't surprising that these jellyfish would conceal a hefty sting in their tentacles for the unwary. But talk about grace and poise. I'm finding the intricate patterns of close stills captivating me more and more as they contain their own private, unexplored worlds.

Never thought that smoke stacks could be especially beautiful but at 7am on a crisp winter day in Vancouver this was a striking image as I came out of a metro station and had to admire the billowing wisps in the clear morning sun. Who said that smoke stacks can't be photogenic, huh?