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I took in the full-scale rehearsal this past Saturday along with about 100,000 other awestruck visitors. My quick reaction: the Yeosu 2012 Expo is amazing. It met and exceeded all my expectations. If you’re in the area, you should definitely attend. I arrived at 10:30 in the morning and stayed until closing time at 11 p.m., a pretty tiring day, but well worth it.
Most of the pavilions were open, but a few were still being worked on; I imagine they’ll all be up and running in time for next Saturday’s official opening, which I’ll try to attend if I can get a ticket. As a matter of fact, I’ll probably buy a season pass, which costs 200,000 Korean won, about $175.
I took close to 500 photos throughout the day and night, and I’m still going through them, culling, deleting the obviously bad shots and deciding which of the others are worthwhile. It’s going to take a while before I process the good ones, but I’ll get them up as soon as possible.
One of the highlights was the beautiful experience of the centerpiece of the Expo, the Big O. After the night time stage performance, the Big O took over, showing off with a 3-D laser show incorporating bursts of flame and colorful fountains, mist and fog. It was very difficult to photograph properly, with the lighting changing constantly. About all I could do was fire off a burst of shots, adjust my settings and fire off some more. I didn’t have a tripod, although that probably wouldn’t have helped, but the lens I used does have an image stabilizer feature, so some of the shots didn’t turn out too bad. Here’s one of them.
 The Big O Shows Off I was able to process a few more photos before going to work this morning, so here are a couple of views of the Theme Pavilion, the first one taken from the International Pavilions building, and the second taken from behind the Theme Pavilion, looking toward the Sky Tower and the Corporate Pavilions on the right.
 Theme Pavilion  Theme Pavilion Here’s a shot from behind the Samsung Pavilion looking toward the Sky Tower.
 The Samsung Pavilion with Sky Tower in the Background And here’s the Samsung Pavilion from the front.
 The Samsung Pavilion Finally, another one of the Sky Tower.
 The Sky Tower I’ll have many more photos to post and some other impressions of the Expo. I’ll try to get some more up later today. Enjoy.
OK, one final post with photos from my vacation in Laos and Thailand back in December. I put up some children’s photos last time, so this one has a few photos of adults.
Most of these were taken around the New Year holiday, but the Lao people like to start celebrating several days before and continue for a few days after New Year’s Day. Here’s lunch at Nai’s house on Dec. 31st, eaten by about 7-8 family members and friends. Let’s see, what do we have here? Looks like the remains of some fish, deep-fried chicken feet, various greens, a veggie salad and, of course, Beer Lao.
 Lunch at Nai's House While some of us were eating and talking (with me pretending to listen–I don’t speak or understand the Lao language, yet), other folks, including Nai, were playing cards. It looks like a Lao version of gin rummy, I guess, with small wagers included.
 Afternoon card game These are a few of Nai’s brother’s friends, who are working on a good-sized platter of semi-congealed cow blood soup. Various herbs are thrown into the soup, along with a couple of hands full of peanuts. Yummmm! Nai’s sister Nui is on the left.
Next are Nai’s brother Pui (Poo-ee), in the center, flanked on the right by cousin Mot (Maht) and on the left by another lovely cousin, whose name I’ve forgotten. Mot’s mother (one of Nai’s sisters) and father live and work in Thailand, but he was visiting the homestead for a few weeks. I mentioned to Nai that Mot didn’t appear too happy to be here, but Nai told me he wasn’t happy to be going back to Thailand (and to school) soon. The young lady asked me, through Nai, to find her a Western boyfriend. I told her I’d put her photo on the internet, so here it is.
 Laos friends The day before, on the 30th, Nai and I were in Vientiane visiting a Lao friend’s pub. While shooting pool, Nai introduced me to a friend of his from Nai’s village. He’s a policeman in Vientiane, I believe, and a very friendly fellow. Here he is, posing with Nai.
 Nai and Friend I really love this guy’s expressive face. To me, he looks like one of the characters in the early-60s hit TV comedy “Car 54, Where Are You?” Actor Joe E. Ross played my favorite character on the series, Officer Gunther Toody. Mr. Ross is on the right. On the left is Fred Gwynne as Officer Francis Muldoon. Gwynne was also famous for the Herman Munster character on “The Munsters.”
 Fred Gwynne and Joe E. Ross What do you think–resemblance or not? To help you decide, here’s another photo of Nai’s friend with me, an obligatory shot, I suppose. Nai took the photo, but he did such a lousy job. It makes me look too fat! Where’s my chin? I DO have a chin. (I must have had my head tucked into my neck on this one!)
 Ron and Nai's Friend We also took a walk along the Chao Anouvong Park along the Mekong. One of the signature features of the park is a larger than life statue of King Anouvong, the last ruler of the Lan Xang (Million Elephants) Kingdom. The Vientiane Times of June 15, 2010 (by way of LaoVoices) states that:
“Since Chao Anouvong is remembered for reuniting the country, his statue will depict the strength of his leadership, and should be as close to lifelike as possible,” said Head of the Ministry of Information and Culture’s Fine Arts Department, Dr Bounthieng Siripaphanh.
The statue, which is costing about 5 billion kip to make, will stand about 8 metres high and 3 metres wide. The king will be represented holding a sword in his left hand while gesturing with his right.
One of the greatest achievements of Chao Anouvong’s reign was the construction of Vat Sisaket, Vientiane’s oldest standing temple today.
This Wikipedia article, however, is not so kind to the king:
Modern Lao nationalist movements, on the other hand, have turned Anouvong into a hero, even though his strategic and tactical mistakes combined with his hot temper led to the end of the kingdom of Lan Xang (Million Elephants) destruction of Vientiane, and a permanent division of the Lao people between the country of Laos and the Lao-speaking provinces of northeastern Thailand.
Hero or not, it’s still an impressive statue.
 King Anouvong Statue That wraps up my vacation to Thailand and Laos, so we’ll be goodnight and adieu, until next time.
 The Moon and Venus at Dusk From Nai's House
If you have clear skies this evening (Feb. 26th), look towards the west after the sun sets, when the sky is just starting to darken. You’ll see a beautiful formation of Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon. Here’s what it looked like from Yeosu just a short while ago. Definitely click on the photo a couple of times to get the large view. Not one of my better shots, but I hope you enjoy anyway.
 Moon, Venus and Jupiter
Yes, I stayed up late last Saturday to try to take a few photos of the lunar eclipse. It was spectacular here, the moon high in a mostly clear sky and sporting a deep rust-red color, which made taking photos a bit difficult. I walked down to where I usually go running, the soccer field by the gym, which has a wide-open view of the sky.
I use Canon Image Stabilizer (IS) lenses on the camera. IS lenses are supposed to reduce blur when you’re hand-holding the camera in low-light and other situations, but I’d read that you shouldn’t use the IS function when using your camera on a tripod, because the lens will look for camera shake when there isn’t any. Using it with a tripod, then, will add some blur to your photos. Well, I thought that I’d turned off the IS, but when I got back to my apartment, I noticed that it was turned on. Sure enough, all the shots were a bit on the blurry side. Lesson learned–double check all settings, especially if you’re going to be out shooting in the dark.
Anyway, here are a couple of shots. The first one is of the pre-eclipse moon, which I was able to shoot from my apartment, and the second is of the moon during totality, around 11:30 p.m. local time on Saturday. The only post-processing I did in Photoshop was to sharpen both images a bit. The color of the moon in the second one is as I shot it. Click on either image to get a larger view.
Another astronomical event is occurring tonight. The Geminid meteor shower will best be seen between 10 p.m. local time and sunrise tomorrow morning. This annual shower has been picking up steam in recent years, and, despite the presence of an almost-full moon, some of its fireballs, characteristic of the shower, could be seen. Give it a try. Me? I’m feeling a bit lazy, but I might try to watch it from my apartment, though I have a very limited view of the sky. More later.
Well, it was pretty quiet last night after the Laos-Malaysia soccer match. Yes, unfortunately, Laos got beat 3-1. Malaysia scored about 15 minutes into the game on a spectacular over-the-head scissors kick. It stayed that way until the second half, when Laos put on charge after charge toward the Malaysia goal. They finally broke through about halfway into the period, tieing the game at 1 apiece. It was bedlam when the goal was scored, with all the Laos fans (and yours truly) screaming and shouting with joy. Hope had been restored that the unexpected might happen–that Laos might play for the gold medal. Alas, Malaysia stormed back with 2 goals to win the game. Not all is lost, though–Laos still plays for the bronze against Singapore this coming Friday, I believe. Viet Nam squares off against Malaysia for the gold.
Below are some photos I’ve taken recently. None of them have been optimized and I won’t be able to do any postprocessing work on them until I return to Korea. But, I suppose they’ll do until then. Enjoy.
Here’s a shot from yesterday with a few of the Viet Nam fans sporting their colors. I took this from a tuk-tuk, so the sharpness isn’t probably all that great.
Here’s another shot taken last night while we watched the soccer match. We usually eat at one of the outdoor restaurants along the Mekong, and this one is our particular favorite. Here, a couple of the guys are busy cooking up some goodies. I love the big fish you can see on the grill. They’re stuffed with some kind of herb and coated with salt, which gives them their white color before they’re browned. Yummmm.
To continue with the food theme, here’s the view of the Hotel Lao’s charming courtyard, where breakfast is served. As you can see, there’s an empty chair at my table. Care to join me?
We’re heading out to Nai’s house today, so I’ll probably be out of contact for a while. But, as always, more later.
Yesterday, the 11th, was Pepero Day in Korea. It’s akin to Valentine’s Day, which is also celebrated here, with young people and couples exchanging candy, mainly the Lotte Corporation’s Pepero brand. The 11th is Pepero Day because, according to this article, the date 11/11 resembles four sticks of Pepero. However, the name Pepero in Korean, which you can see on the product box below, also resembles 11/11. At any rate, some of my students gave me several boxes of the treat, which makes for good munchies. (Reminder to self: jog an extra half hour next time out.)
I was out walking around a few weekends ago and took the following shot from near the Soho Yacht Marina area, along the sidewalk back toward the main part of town. Yeosu is quite pretty at nighttime, as you can see from the photo. I took a bus there and back. The bus system in town is very extensive and you can travel almost anywhere for 1,000 won (about 85 cents), unless you have to make some transfers. It doesn’t run like clockwork, though, because you might have to wait 30 minutes for a specific bus to come along and then 2 or 3 of them show up within 5 minutes of each other. There are no timed stops, so it’s kind of hit and miss as far as timeliness. More later.
Unfortunately, there were some deaths in Laos caused by Typhoon Ketsana, at least 16 according to this report. Tonight, Nai told me that Laos TV news reported that 20 had died. In addition, a new typhoon, Parma, is now ripping through the Philippines. Only yesterday, the tracking map on some weather sites appeared to me that it might continue on into Viet Nam and, perhaps, Cambodia and Laos. Now, however, it appears it’s going to swing north-east into the Pacific.
I took a few nighttime photos of Yeosu from my office this evening. The first one below shows the nearly-full moon rising just after sundown.
Moon Over Yeosu
The following shot is an experimental effort in color enhancement. I thought the various yellow, orange, blue and purple hues contrasted nicely, so I played around a bit in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to give them a bit of “whoomp.” It looks much better when you click on the link below the photo. Enjoy. More later.
Nighttime in Yeosu
No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth–just busy settling in at Yeosu and teaching classes at the university. This weekend and Monday is the Korean holiday of Chuseok (chew-sock), so I have a bit of time off to catch my breath and make a post. I promise I’ll try to do better with the frequency of entries.
Right now, though, I’m watching CNN International and following the landfall of Hurricane Ike along the Texas Gulf coast, an area where I lived when I was a youngster. It looks to be quite bad in Galveston and other areas, so we can only hope for the best for those folks. My brother in Fort Worth might also see some severe effects of Ike as it passes through his neck of the woods.
And speaking of hurricanes, the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, has also been hit extremely hard in the past month or so. I guess I left just in time, more or less, and my sympathies go out to those people, also.
We’ve also got a typhoon, Sinlaku, heading in our direction, but it’s predicted to turn to the north east and rake the eastern coast of Japan. For now, though, we’ve had some very nice early fall weather, with clear, blue skies and mild temperatures. The area is quite beautiful, where mountains meet sea, and I’ve posted a few photos below and more on the new Yeosu section of the Photo Gallery.
Everyone I’ve met so far has been extremely friendly and I’ve struck up good friendships with the other 4 foreign teachers. There are 2 Aussies, a Canadian, and a fellow from just north of Boston (but I forgive him for his baseball loyalty to you know what team). Word is that the uni is hiring another teacher from New York, so maybe we Yankee fans will be in the majority.
Here’s a night shot of Yeosu from the campus, which sits high upon a hill overlooking the city.
I took a hike in the surrounding mountains last weekend and caught my first view of the ocean from the top of high hill. The photo I took is below. I rode my motorbike down to one of the beaches (didn’t have my camera), and it was quite nice, though not exactly the type of beach I’ve been used to for the last few years. 
Here’s a view of the Cheonnam National University campus.
And, finally, a shot of the building in which I work, the Health and Human Sciences building where the Language Education Center is located. More later.
I’m off to Marrakech tomorrow morning, catching the 7:55 train. It’s also the first day of Eid in Morocco. Since believers are supposed to go to early morning prayers at the beginning of the festival, I’m hoping the noise will settle down early tonight so I can catch some sleep before getting up at 6 a.m. I’ll probably be out of touch with the blog for the next three days, but I should have a lot to report about the trip and Marrakech, hopefully with some photos to put in the gallery.
It looks like Friday and Saturday will be devoted to sightseeing and whatnot, with a welcome dinner to the conference on Saturday evening. Nabila and I give our workshop at 9 a.m. on Sunday, then I’m supposed to catch a 2 p.m. train that afternoon. I might, though, see if I can change my ticket, maybe coming back on Monday instead. More later.
Here’s another mosque photo.
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