|
|
Unfortunately, I’ve been a bit under the weather the last several days, coughing and sneezing, feverish and chilly at times, and a bit lethargic (lazy?). So, apologies for the lengthy delay between posts.
As I stated in my previous entry, I did manage to take in the Azalea Festival at Yeongchuisan (san = mountain) here in Yeosu last Saturday. Unfortunately, we caught it about a week too early, so it was a bit of a flop. There were some sparse regions of azaleas, resplendent in their pink blossoms, but the vast fields that spring up at this time of year were sadly absent. Like I said, we were a week too early.
Still, it was a beautiful day, with clear, blue skies, warm temperatures, and little wind. Corrie, another English teacher at the university, Anne, one of our Korean students, and I started our climb up the mountain about 10 in the morning. I thought we’d have to take a gentle hike to the azalea fields, but it turned out to be somewhat of a steep trek — not grueling, but a good workout. Was it worth it, considering the lack of the flowers? Sure, more than worth it. Here’s a few photos from the day.
One of the trails up the mountain, the one we took, starts from the enormous petro-chemical area of Yeosu. Many Koreans make the trek, so we weren’t alone. Here we go, soon passed by these guys as we took several breaks on the way up to catch our breaths and rest our aching leg muscles.
 Hiking to the azalea fields Up we went, hoping for a bedazzling pink flower show, joined by many azalea acolytes. Quite a few tour buses drop off aficionados of the local flora, so the mountain does get crowded.
 Hikers going up to the Azalea Festival  More people ahead of us Unfortunately, the azaleas weren’t out on this part of the mountain. There were more blooming at the university, as a matter of fact. We could have just walked around there to see plenty of flowers, but it was worth going up Youngchuisan despite that. However, off to our left on a ridge below us, they were in full regalia. Corrie and I thought about going down to see them, but it was a LONG way down, so, a LONG way back up. There was a road there, but, unfortunately, it wandered off toward the farther mountains, away from Ann’s car. We had a good view of the flowers, despite our distance from their fields.
 Field of flowers at the festival  Another view of the flowers Eventually, we made it to one of the peaks. We saw another one about a kilometer from us and several dozen meters above, but we decided not to make that hike; the trail was packed and we were eager to take a snack break. Here’s Corrie, on the left, and Ann at the top of our little world.
 Corrie and Ann Despite the lack of azaleas on this weekend, I was fascinated by the area. The scenery was exhilirating, but the intricacies of the myriad petro-chemical plants enthralled me. Ann had to drive through several kilometers of the area to reach the mountain, and the road winds its way through the tanks and pipes and weirdness of these industries. The architecture of the area is monstrous and its pull on me is undeniable; I’m going to go back there on my bicycle or motorbike later in the summer and photograph this alien landscape.
Here are a couple of shots of the area, showing the new bridges linking the Yeosu Peninsula with the port of Gwangyang. Before the bridges were built, travel time from Yeosu to Gwangyang was probably a couple of hours, but now the journey has been cut at least in half. The bridges aren’t open yet, but they should be ready to go before the Expo opens.
 New bridges from Yeosu to Gwangyang  New bridge from Yeosu to Gwangyang The weather, as you can see, has been gorgeous lately. I also did a photo walk around campus this past Wednesday morning, an election-day holiday in Korea, and took lots of photos of the wonderful spring colors in the area this time of year. I promise I’ll try to get those up soon. More later.
Spring seems to be fully here, with the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom, and azaleas, camellias and other flowers brightening the landscape. As a matter of fact, there’s an annual azalea festival at Yeongchuisan (san = mountain) this coming weekend that I’m going to visit.
So, despite 3 inches of rain last Friday, I decided to take a bicycle trip Saturday down to Jang-deung beach here on the Yeosu Peninsula. My riding companions were a couple of the new teachers, Rob, a Scotsman, and Trevor, from Canada. Now, both of these guys are much younger than I (who isn’t?) and in much better shape (insert another rhetorical question here). Trevor, especially, is quite the athlete; he’s a dedicated football (soccer) player, rides his bicycle all over the place, jogs, plays tennis and who knows what else. Rob’s no slouch either. When they suggested the ride, I was all gung-ho. Even though it looked like a fairly long trek and that it would be my first time out on my bike in almost 6 months, I thought I’d be ok. Wrong! It turned out to be a 36-mile (60 km) round trip. I haven’t ridden that far in about 20 years. Plus, it was mostly up and down hills, hills which I mostly pushed my bike up (or maybe it was pushing me). I probably spent more time pushing than riding. And, as I said, it was the first time on the bike in quite a while, so my muscles were sorely taxed by the end of the ride. I’m still recuperating.
However, it was fun for the most part and the scenery was pretty nice. We made it to the beach and stopped at a small restaurant on the way back and had some delicious fish stew. By that time, though, anything would have tasted wonderful. I just wanna thank the young studs for waiting for me at the top of all those hills. At least they didn’t have to carry me back! Here are some photos of the ride.
First, here’s a map of the peninsula. The university, from where we started, is circled in red at the upper right and the beach is at the left center. Click for a larger image.
Here we’re getting prepared to start the trip from our dormitory. That’s Trevor on the left and Rob, already on his bike. My trusty steed is in the foreground.
 Beginning the bike trip There are many small fishing towns and harbors sprinkling the coast. We all thought that it would be great to live in one of them as long as we didn’t have far to commute to and from work.
 Fishing Village There are, of course, many beautiful spots along the coast. Here’s a small sample.
 South Coast View  South Coast Shoreline of Yeosu Peninsula  Yeosu Peninsula South Coast View  Yeosu Peninsula South Coast View The above photo is actually the beginning of Jang-deung beach, which is out of sight at the bottom of the photo. Here’s a shot of the beach.
 Jang-deung Beach And, here’s a view from the end of the beach. As usual, it’s pretty hazy along the coast looking toward the sun.
 Another view from Jang-deung Beach Rob and Trevor, showing no ill effects of the ride, mock my exhaustion. I took this shot just before I was put into the ambulance. 
 Rob and Trevor If you take a look at the map again, you can see that just to the east of Jang-deung there’s a small island called Baekyado (pronounced dough = island). Connecting the island to the mainland is this pretty little bridge. Quite a few of the islands are accessible by bridge, though many more require a ferry boat ride. Rob and Trevor are taking one of the ferries to another island this Saturday. I really wanted to go, but, like I stated earlier, I’m still recuperating and the rash I got on my, ummm, . . . well, you can guess where . . . is still bothering me, so no bike ride this weekend. The more sedate azalea festival beckons.
 Baegya Island Bridge and Harbor Our total trip time was about 7 hours, but that include dawdling on the way (the young guys waiting for the old guy to catch up) and stopping at the restaurant. I’m really looking forward to doing some other bike trips, especially later in the year when the bicycle muscles in my legs are in better shape. As always, then, more later.
Just a quick post today of a panoramic shot of the Yeosu Expo area, taken from the causeway on Odong Island. It’s a series of 11 shots that I “stitched” together in Canon’s Photostitch software. It’s not as sharp as can be, since there was a fairly stiff wind blowing at times. I might go to Odong again this weekend, but will try to get there early in the morning, when the sun will be at my back.
You should definitely click on the small photo a couple of times to get a close up view, but, be warned–the final size is almost 2 megabytes, so it might take some time to load! (But I think it’s worth it.)
 Panoramic photo of Yeosu Expo 2012
One of the biggest problems that visitors to the Expo will face is finding a place to stay. Accomodations in Yeosu are limited, to say the least. The Organizing Committee for the Expo realize this. In an article on the Korea Times website, Kang Dong-suk, chairman of the Organizing Committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu, had this to say:
“We would like to attract as many foreign visitors as possible for the largest global event ever hosted by the coastal city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province”, Kang said. “But the problem is that there aren’t enough lodging facilities in the city and its surrounding areas to accommodate a large number of non-Koreans. We have to come up with alternative measures to house foreign guests during the event”.
“We do not worry about Korean visitors because they will figure out where to stay. Churches in Yeosu told us that they will provide rooms for expo visitors for free. Many Yeosu residents have expressed willingness to offer visitors a place to stay”, the chairman said. “But our concern is where all the foreign tourists will stay”.
Kang said there are about 1,000 hotel rooms in Yeosu and the nearby areas, including the newly-constructed MVL hotel at the expo site that has 331 rooms.
“We will have no problem accommodating foreign government officials and other high-profile guests. But regular foreign tourists, particularly the Chinese, won’t find it easy to get a hotel room”, he said.
To ease the expected accommodation shortage, the chairman said the organizing committee has been in talks with travel agencies to have foreign guests sleep in Busan, Gwangju and other nearby larger cities, and bring them back and forth to the expo site.
He talks about the MVL Hotel at the Expo site, but none of its rooms will be available; they’ve all been reserved for heads of states and visiting dignitaries. It’s a beautiful hotel, and it’s described at the previous link as a “seven-star” hotel. You can visit the hotel website by clicking here.
The option to take a shuttle bus or boat from Busan seems to be on its way to becoming a reality. Dynamic Busan reports that:
Busan City has prepared a shuttle bus directly from six hotels in Busan to the expo site. To facilitate this, the city has made arrangements with the Lotte, Paradise, Nongshim, Commodore, Paragon and Toyoko-inn hotels. The packages that have been put together include expo tours and accommodation. The traveling time to Yeosu is about two hours, and guests can reserve their tickets at any of the aforementioned hotels’ websites.
Others can choose to travel by sea from Busan Port to Yeosu Port Passenger Terminal. This takes slightly longer but also affords magnificent views of Busan’s beautiful shoreline and is highly recommended for those who are not in a rush.
Busan’s representative cruise ship, PanStar Dream, will be plying this route. It will operate on six days: June 2, 9 and 23, July 14 and 28, and Aug. 11. While on board, tourists can enjoy various performances, a sauna and a cafe, as well as other luxury facilities. Reservations can be made via the PanStar website (www.panstarcruise.co.kr). Each cruise will take about five hours to reach Yeosu. Meanwhile, those who wish to organize their own expo schedule can take an intercity bus.
The bus from Busan West Bus Terminal (Sasang District) reaches Yeosu in two hours and 30 minutes, making this the quickest way to reach Yeosu by intercity bus. Six buses leave the station each day and one-way tickets cost 18,100 won ($16). Busan East Bus Terminal (Nopo-dong) is also running buses to Yeosu, with 13 leaving daily at a cost of 19,600 won. The traveling time is three hours and 10 minutes.
Visitors can also stay in the nearby city of Suncheon, which is only a 20-minute bus ride to Yeosu, or they can grab accomodations in Gwangju, a large city that is about an hour and a half by bus from Yeosu.
Finding accomodations online can be quite frustrating. I’ve had a few readers of this blog ask if I knew of any sites that are in English or that allow online booking or that have English speakers manning the phone lines. Here are a couple of websites that might help.
Hostel World lists basic guest house and dorm-style facilities. You can do a search on Busan (many listings), Gwangju (very few) or Suncheon (one), and you can book online.
A good source is also located on the official 2012 Website. There’s an accomodation search page that lists options for English language service. I assume that by checking this option, you will be given a list of accomodations where you can talk to someone who speaks English. Give it a try–it looks like a great resource.
You can also try to reserve a room in the new HS Hotel, which is located right at the Expo site. I know of a lady who was able to phone there and book a room with an English-speaking receptionist. Rates, I’m afraid, are going to be quite pricey, over $200 a night, but it’s a nice hotel. Unfortunately, many businesses in Yeosu are raising their prices (unfairly, perhaps?) during the Expo. City buses, however, will be free throughout the duration of the Expo.
If you run across any other accomodation websites, please be kind enough to mention them in a comment to help other people who might read this blog. Also, if you find a good-looking hotel or guesthouse online, don’t be afraid to give them a call; many facilities have English speakers. Even if their abililties are low-level, it might be worth it to be patient about their language skills and try to book with them.
Good luck, and leave a comment, if you desire, to tell us about your experiences getting accomodations for the Expo.
Lately I’ve been busier than expected with work, that unwelcome intrusion into my life; thus it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so, sorry about that. I and a couple of other teachers have been given a new course to teach, the Yeosu Tour Guide course, in which some of the citizens of Yeosu who are volunteering at the Expo want to improve their English speaking skills. Most of them are not bad English speakers, but we’ve been given the task of increasing their fluency. I’ve also spent many more hours than I had expected proofreading the paper that I mentioned in a previous post. We’ve also had a few teacher/admin meetings to endure, and, of course, daily living intrudes. Hopefully, I’ll be posting more often, especially now that the opening of the Expo nears.
I took a walk around the Expo site last Saturday and there have been some small, but interesting additions to the area. Work seems to be proceeding well at the site, and it appears that on May 12th, the opening day, everything will be good to go. Here, then, are a few photos of the progress.
Here are a few shots from the back entrance to the Expo from a bit higher vantage. The first is of the Big O, the centerpiece of the Expo, followed by a view of the hotel, which now sports its name on the upper floors, the MVL Hotel. I’ll write another post about the hotel soon.
 The Big O  MVL Hotel Here’s a shot of the Theme Pavilion taken from near the railway station.
 Theme Pavilion I love how many of the buildings and their surroundings reflect the oceanic theme of the Expo. You can see how the Theme Pavilion mimics ocean waves, and other areas bring to mind the sailing ships of yore that made Yeosu a port of call.
 Railway Station Entrance to the International Pavilion  Expo Shelter Areas One of the last venues to be constructed has been the Corporate Pavilion (I think–the map I have doesn’t quite match up with the area). Here is some front and back construction on the the building, which is located near the railway station, behind the Sky Tower.
 Rear of Expo Corporate Pavilion  Work on the front side of the Corporate Pavilion I finally managed to be in the right place at the right time to capture an image of the KTX “bullet” train at the Expo railway station. Here it is, waiting to zoom its way to Seoul and destinations in between.
 KTX Bullet Train As I walked down the road near the railway station, I couldn’t help notice my Favorite Expo Lady, gazing out to sea with her spyglass.
 Spyglass Lady A shot from near, I believe, the Korea pavilion.
 Korea Pavilion Sculpture And another shot of the Big O.
 The Big O and the Theme Pavilion at Expo 2012 Here’s a close up panorama shot of the area around the Big O showing the floating stage and the seating areas. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view. Discerning viewers may be able to make out the seam where I “stitched” a couple of photos together to make this shot. I used the Canon Photo Stitch software to do this and I was quite surprised that the result turned out so well, especially since I didn’t take the two photos with the intention of making a panorama shot. I took the shots from the side of the Jasan Park hill and zeroed in on the area at 200mm with my 55-250 Canon zoom lens.
 Big O Panorama Finally, taken from the same Jasan Park area, an overview of the Expo site, a view that I always try to get when I’m in the area. If you want, you can go back through some of my older posts and check out the differences since construction began.
 Expo 2012 March 17 Overview In my next post, hopefully coming tomorrow, I’ll comment on and try to offer some solutions to The Big Problem associated with the Expo (in my opinion) –accomodations in Yeosu. Stay tuned for that.
 Photo From the USA Pavilion Organization
I’ve finally found some information about the United States pavilion at the 2012 Expo. There’s an article on the Korea IT Times that gives some details. Some snippets from the article are:
“The USA Pavilion will use the power of storytelling to bring to life the core values of innovation, partnership and hope that define the American spirit for millions of visitors,” said Andrew Snowhite, chief executive officer of USA Pavilion 2012.
A main attraction of stunning images, music and film will be projected in dazzling clarity across a 70-foot wide screen. Created around the simple yet impactful concept of “This is My Ocean,” individual voices and stories will unfold during the presentation to convey the diverse beauty of the American coastline and the many personal and profound types of connections Americans enjoy with the vast ocean. . .
A large screen composed entirely of water will amaze guests when they enter the USA Pavilion. This fluid and shifting surface is the perfect canvas to begin a unique journey that will take guests from the shorelines of America to the frontiers of deep ocean research . . .
There’s a lot more information on the the USA Pavilion Expo 2012 website, so check it out if you get a chance. I’ll be doing a photo walk tomorrow around the Expo site here in Korea, and I hope to have the latest construction photos up shortly thereafter.
That is the headline from a Yonhap News Agency article.
An exhibition center at the site of the upcoming Yeosu Expo caught fire Wednesday, but no casualties were reported, police said.
The fire destroyed 500 square meters of a vegetation mat covering the roof of the three-story building under construction for completion at the end of this month, the police said.
The article also stated that it was probably caused by welding work, and Expo officials said there should be no disruptions in the Expo preparations.
If you read the article, you’ll see this image.
As you can see from the photo below, which I posted on Dec. 4, 2011, the area that caught fire is part of the International Pavilion, though I didn’t identify it as such. Following the photo is a map of the site, and you can make out the “troughs” in the pavilion roof. (#10 on the map)
 International Pavilion Roof  Expo 2012 Map Let’s hope there are no other mishaps.
I’m still quite busy with work. Although the new semester’s class workload seems to have settled down, I was offered a project, which I’ve been working on the last several days. I’ve been proofreading a rather long paper written in English by a couple of Chinese students here at the university, a paper about three early-20th century Chinese and Korean writers. I finally finished that today, though I may have to make a few other revisions to it.
The next few days I’ll be working on meeting the new requirements for English teachers to keep their visas (or in applying for new visas). Before, U.S. citizens used to be able to get a notarized criminal background check (cbc) from our home states. The law was changed a while back, so that now we have to get an FBI national cbc. Even though I’ve not been back to the ‘States since I arrived in Yeosu, I still have to get the FBI check. This involves getting a set of fingerprints, which I can do here, and sending those in with an application form to the FBI. They then send it back, at which time someone (the teacher, friends, or relatives) have to hand carry it to a State Department or Justice Department entity to get it notarized. Quite a process and one which I can’t easily do. Luckily, there are a few businesses that will do all the legwork in the U.S.; I’ll be using one of those.
The whole process takes anywhere from 3 to 4 months, and, since I’ll need the paperwork by the middle of August, I’d better complete my end of the procedure this week. I also need to have my diplomas from the University of Montana notarized. Luckily, the U of M offers this service, so I have to contact them for that stage of the process.
I also have to prepare my IRS tax form and send that in soon. Whew! I’m still fairly busy. Although rain is in the forecast for this coming weekend, I’m going to try to get down to the Expo site and shoot some photos of the ongoing progress.
The upshot is “Hang in there” while waiting for more posts on the blog. I’ll get ‘em going sooner or later.
If you know me well, you know that before I became a dashing, international English teacher, I was involved in ten-pin bowling for many, many years–25, to be exact. My main occupation was pin-spotting machine mechanic (and quite a good one, if I may so humbly say), and I also worked as manager (briefly) and co-owner of a 12-lane center in the small, but friendly town of Glendive, on the eastern prairie of Montana. Due to the circumstances of the occupation, I also became quite a good bowler, but I eventually tired of the job and decided to pursue what I’m doing now.
 My Favorite All-time Bowler, Dick Weber Although the only time I bowl nowadays is when I go back to Laos and Thailand (because I introduced my friend Nai to bowling), I still keep up an interest in the activity. So, I was quite attracted to the information that my friend and former bowling buddy, (let’s call him, umm, . . . Ken) from Great Falls, Montana, a member of the Montana Bowling Hall of Fame, (despite being left-handed) sent me this news about international bowling.
Go ahead and click on the link to get the details, but international bowling is coming to Daejeon, South Korea on June 16th this summer. “Ken” indicated that if I were interested in taking in the event, he might try to come to Korea (he’s been here before) to see it also (and to visit with me). Unfortunately, that’s the same day I start my summer vacation, and I’m flying back to Thailand on that very day. “Ken,” if it’s still gonna be here in 2013, I’ll definitely make arrangements to see it with you.
But, for everyone else, if you’re going to be attending the 2012 Expo here in Yeosu around that time, you might consider taking in the Daejeon international pro bowling tournament. More later.
Here’s an article entitled “Yeosu Expo struggles with signage in other languages” from the Korea JoonAng Daily newspaper. The main premise of the article is that there are not enough directional signs in Chinese and Japanese to help visitors from those countries to find their way around Yeosu during the Expo. OK, valid supposition–I’ve seen no signs in those languages in Yeosu, but I haven’t really been looking for them either, so there may be some. However, the main point of this article to me is that it states:
About 250,000 Chinese and 150,000 Japanese are expected to attend the Yeosu expo. Organizers estimate they will make up approximately 73 percent of all foreign participants in the event.
Excuse me? This seems to be so typical of the misinformation going around about the Expo. Let’s see, 250,000 Chinese visitors and 150,000 Japanese? According to most of the other information I’ve read, there will be an estimated 8 million visitors to the Expo during its three-month run. That works out to about 85,000 visitors a day, something I find incredibly difficult to believe. I sincerely cannot imagine that there will be that many people coming into Yeosu every day, on average. Where the heck will every one stay? The weekends will be horrible. I just don’t believe the “official” estimates. I’ll find out this summer, and if I’m wrong, I’ll let you know. However, if there are going to be that many visitors, why is it that, according to the article, there will be such a small amount of Japanese and Chinese attendees, countries that are just a hop, skip, and a jump from Yeosu? Hmmmm. Another piece of info about which I am skeptical. Out of a supposed 8 million visitors, there will only be 400,000 from China and Japan? I’d say the reporting about the attendance in that article is completely wrong.
|
|
