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There hasn’t been a whole lot going on around here lately, but we have had some gorgeous late summer/early fall weather; deep blue skies, plenty of sunshine, moderate temperatures and lower humidity have chased away the mostly oppressive summer days. This time of year and the middle of spring feature the best weather in Yeosu, in my opinion. I’ve been out and about, hiking, bicycling, walking and taking plenty of photos. Rather than making one or two huge posts, I think I’ll dole out a few photos at a time, hoping that y’all will keep coming back for more. (Plus, I get pretty lazy, at times, about processing all my shots.  ) Some of these might be interesting, some not. Enjoy, or not. Let me know what you think.
This is from earlier in the summer when the mist/fog lent an air of mystery to things. The humid conditions didn’t stop the local golfers, however, as the lights were on for the night owls.
On one of my walkabouts, I spotted these bright red flowers in a small garden plot on a small side street next to a small house. I think they’re pretty. Anyone know what kind of flowers they are? (I’m definitely not a flower guy, but I was, and am, a proponent of Flower Power).
Finally, it seems that we just don’t get that many good sunrises and ‘sets in Yeosu, at least from my vantage point, especially compared to those I had the pleasure to see in the Dominican Republic and Morocco. Lately, though, we’ve had a few nice sunsets. Here’s one. (Sorry, there ain’t nuthin’ I can do about the power transmission towers and lines in the photo–it was taken from the balcony outside my dormitory apartment.)
I’ll definitely try to get some more photos posted in a more timely manner, probably 3 or 4 shots per post, mostly just random stuff from around Yeosu, so stay tuned for more later.
Here are a few more photos from my recent trip to Laos and Thailand. This is one of my favorite views of Bangkok, looking into the Silom area and taken from the statue of King Rama VI in Lumphini Park. I probably should have tried to take a panoramic shot to give a better sense of the beautiful skyline that surrounds the park, but this small sample will have to suffice for now. Maybe next time.
After a few days in Bangkok, it was on to Phuket and Patong Beach. We spent a week there, lazing away the days on the beach while getting a sunburn and enjoying the nightlife. I’m always tempted to try the para gliding offered at the beach, but the price seems too steep (about $20) for the short ride (about 2 1/2 minutes). It’s kind of fun, though, to watch people taking off and landing.
The beach is usually crowded, but it’s not too bad to sit under an umbrella and read a book or “people watch.” You can’t see the lifeguard station in this shot, but at least one or two people had to be rescued every day due to the strong undercurrent in this area. The guards kept warning people out of the restricted area, but there were always a few people who ignored the warnings or accidentally strayed into the red zone. Fortunately, no one drowned.
Near day’s end.
Ok, that wraps up my vacation shots. I’ll try to get some Yeosu photos up soon, although this week sees the beginning of a 3-week kids’ camp and next week marks the start of a week long camp for children of faculty members, so I’ll be quite a bit busier than I have been.
Here’s a couple I took earlier this summer, and did some HDR processing with them. The first one is the golf course across the highway with the watering system going full blast, shot with my telephoto zoom lens, which I don’t use all that often. Hmmm, don’t see anyone running for cover. With fall here and winter not too far behind, they probably won’t have the water on too much any more.
And here’s one of the few sunrises or sunsets that I’ve been able to capture here, for one reason or another. I’m gonna try to get down to the ocean early some morning and get some sunrise shots. This one is looking north from the balcony outside my dormitory apartment around sunset.
In case you didn’t see it, the Yanks stunned the Rangers in the first game of the AL Championship Series, coming back from 5 runs down to win 6-5. Agonizing to watch at first (with Texas up 5-0 early on), it got fun in the 8th inning when New York scored 5 runs. Next game–tomorrow. More of the same, I hope.
As promised, here are some photos from my recent trip to Laos. I guess we can call this the food-themed post. If you ever make it to Vientiane, one pleasurable thing to do is to eat at one of the many outdoor restaurants lining the Mekong and watch the sun slip below the Thailand horizon across the river. It’s quite laid back, though you’re right next to the main road along the Mekong, Fa Ngum Road. Along here you’ll find the Inter (City) Hotel and the Bor Penn Yang rooftop bar, from where I took the first photo below. There’s also a lot of construction going on; apparently, the authorities are building some flood protection devices, as well as creating a new park in this area. The first photo shows some of this construction. This is near quitting time, so a few of the restaurants set up some of their seating on a portion of the construction area that won’t be used again until the next morning. As you can see, you can sit at a table or sit down on floor mats, Lao style.
The menus in these eateries are quite extensive, featuring Lao, Thai and some Western food. Here’s a shot of a variety of fresh food waiting to be used in some mouth-watering delight.
Nai is preparing to wolf down a plate of Mekong clams.
My favorite dish is grilled Mekong river fish. Here are a couple of the restaurant workers (sons of the owner, I think) grilling a variety of fish, prawns, meat, chicken and other goodies. Ahhh, cripes, I wish I were there right now, out of this cold weather, chowing down on grilled fish, stir fried rice and spicy papaya salad.
And, of course, the aforementioned sunset.
I’ll get some more photos up soon, but this week marks the beginning of my 4-week schedule from hell, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post again There will definitely be more later.
There were a couple of nice things that happened in Laos this past Sunday. First, Nai told me that his village was having a big celebration that night for a couple of reasons. The Laos soccer team, in an exhibition match prior to the upcoming South East Asia games, knocked off the Thai team 3-0 in Vientiane, which, of course, boosted the smaller impoverished nation’s national pride. The games will be held in Vientiane, marking the first time ever that the event will take place in Laos. They are not without controversy, however, as you can read here and here.
That same day, the rowers in his village powered the winning boat in the Vientiane Boat Racing Festival, thus adding to the celebration. It was also the end of Buddhist Lent, which is detailed here in a nice story that includes a description of the launching of candle-lit banana leaf boats on the Mekong, a ceremony I hope to see in the future. All in all, it was a big day in the village, and there was a big party that evening at the temple next to Nai’s house to cap it off.
Korea had its recent celebrations, too, with the 3-day Chuseok holiday. Yesterday, a few of my students loaded me up with traditional food, including delicious songpyeon rice cakes, fruit and other goodies left over from their celebration. I won’t have to buy groceries for a week!
Since I previously posted moonrise over Yeosu, here’s a sunrise shot I took a few weeks ago from almost the same location. More later.
Sunrise Over Yeosu
Nai and I went to Vang Vieng, one of our favorite areas, for a few days around Christmas time and, in fact, spent Christmas Eve and Day there. The village was lit with a few holiday lights and fake Christmas trees, but nothing spectacular. The most notable sign that it was a holiday were the hordes of drunk, loud and sometimes obnoxious younger backpacker-type tourists celebrating the season. Like I stated earlier, this time of year is the peak of tourist season, and if I’m ever back in Laos in December, I’m going to avoid Vang Vieng.
Despite the crowds, we still had a decent time, relaxing along the river for the most part. Here are my favorite “Christmas” decorations (and any other time of year for that matter) along the Song River.
Of course, not everyone was partying and getting smashed on Beer Lao. Quite a few people took advantage of the great weather, kayaking and tubing down the river, a popular pastime here.
So, after a hard day of “hammocking” (as opposed to kayaking) along the river, it was time to go back to our room at the Riverview Guesthouse and sit on our balcony to watch the sun go down.
Here’s another view from the balcony, looking over some newly built river side guesthouse bungalows towards the surrounding mountains.
New bungalows had also been built across the river, reached by crossing a footbridge.
One of the highlights of the trip was my introduction to a fantastic Lao dessert (name unknown). Made with coconut and cream, these were cooked over an open fire in small, covered containers. Eaten fresh and hot from the fire, these were delicious!
After spending four days in Vang Vieng, it was time to go back to Vientiane and sit along the Mekong and watch the sun go down. Vientiane actually seemed more peaceful than Vang Vieng. Notice how low the river is compared to the photos of it I took last August.
So, all in all, it was a nice visit to Laos, as usual. I’ll post some more photos to the Photo Gallery eventually, so keep checking in. More later.
The last couple of Saturdays the camp has hosted a high-school age baseball tournament, consisting of 8 teams, which means all four fields have been in use. Each team plays two games, beginning about 11 a.m. and finishing around five, I’m told. (Because I’m usually in Boca Chica on Saturday afternoons, I’m not around for the finish of the games.) There are quite a large number of supporters, family and friends, I assume, who have been turning out for the games, and, with the 20 or so members of each team, the complex has been quite crowded. One of the best parts of the tournament has been the enthusiasm of the players. Cheering, chanting and hand clapping punctuate the play, and with the green, yellow, red and blue uniforms dotting the fields, the complexion of the campus is drastically changed. Very interesting and exciting. I don’t know if the tournament will be played this Saturday, since this is one of the big holiday seasons in Latin America, Semana Santa–Holy Week.
Speaking of which, we get a few days off, beginning today. The Dominican players are going home after practice today, but the rest of us, from other countries, are staying at the campus. Last year the Yanks put us up in one of the Juan Dolio resorts, just down the road about 30 kilometers, for a few days, but not this time, for various reasons. There’s quite a large contingent of foreign players here right now, probably in the neighborhood of 15 or so. Last year, too, the holiday coincided with the player turnover which takes place near the beginning of April. We’ll get a lot of new players in then and lose some, who will be moving on to Tampa. In the meantime, though, I’ll enjoy the days off, probably spending a lot of time in Boca Chica.
My jogging times are back up to over an hour, so I’m 100% recovered from my recent illness. With all the physical fitness attempts, I figure I should at least be allowed to take a few batting practice sessions to keep up with recent Yankee signee, Billy Crystal. I ain’t askin’ for a contract–just a chance to strike out against one of our young guns. 
There haven’t been too many nice sunsets or sunrises lately that I’ve been able to photograph. There was a gorgeous sunrise the other morning, but I was out jogging. The one below is about the only one I’ve been able to “bag” recently. More later.
P.S. For anyone who is wondering how Nai is doing, well . . . he was doing pretty good, but now the doctor tells him that he has malaria! Go figure. He’s also been complaining about one of his eyes hurting him. This is one of the results of the motorbike accident that is still lingering and it’s something I’m worried about. He says he can barely see out of it, and I can’t figure out whether it’s bruised, or a scratched cornea or a detached retina, which is serious. I warned him to see a doctor right away, which he did. The doc seemed to feel that it might be ok. Nai said he would send me an email, written by his friend, explaining what the doc told him. He’s pretty despondent right now and weak, but I hope he’ll get through it all ok.
I arrived back at the baseball camp near Boca Chica on Sunday morning, and it felt great to leave all the noise, pollution and chaos of Santo Domingo behind. I dropped my bags off at my room at the camp and took my taxi, which waited for me, into Boca Chica. I had to get a haircut and buy some REAL coffee for the Mr. Coffee machine in my room. (I’d been drinking Nescafe Instant for the last 6 weeks.  Of course, I could have done these tasks in S.D., but I needed an excuse to go to the beach!
I was happy to find that the multitude of young shoe-shine boys has doubled or tripled. I don’t wear dress shoes, but they can also clean tennis shoes, so they don’t have a reason to bypass me. I’m gonna have to start wearing flip-flops when I go into B.C., since I’m sure they would insist they could clean sandals, too. They’re cute kids, 7-9 years old, but they can be quite the pests when you’re in the town. I hardly ever see them on the beach; thus, another reason to spend time there, soaking up some sun, writing lesson plans and notes for the blog.
So, it’s back to work. Basically, I goofed off while I was in S.D., except for a couple of workshops I conducted earlier, which was not a problem because I get 20 working days off. The embassy didn’t have anything for me to do; it was holiday time and the schools were out, so I looked at the time as a vacation. Some of you have indicated that I’m on perpetual vacation. (And you know who you are.) Not so! //sarcasm on// I miss the foot-deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures of Montana winters. //sarcasm off//
Below are a couple of photos. As you can see, the view from my apartment in S.D. was less than ideal for photographing sunsets.
And one from the camp just last evening.
Again, we had some heavy showers over night and again, for the 5th straight game, the team won’t be playing here today. It looks like the bus is fired up, so perhaps the away game might be played. Now, though, the skies are clear and sunny, so let’s hope good weather is here to stay.
As promised, I finally took some photos of Boca Chica, most of which I’ll post to the Photo Gallery. But, here are some for your perusal.
Here’s a scene along the main road in the town, Avenida Duarte. There’s lots of these places where you can buy a large variety of paintings. I don’t know how much of them are mass produced. I saw a guy painting one once and the canvas had all the outlines of the various elements already drawn in, much like a Paint-by-Number kit. Still, they’re pretty. The canvas rolls up easily for traveling, so if I have enough room in my baggage, I might bring a few back.
Here’s a shot along the beach. It’s unusual in that there are very few people here, even though it’s a Saturday.
Maybe everyone was at the Harley-Davidson festival that day. Here’s one of the bikes–lots of nice looking ones.
Here’s a view from my usual hangout, under the palm trees. This is the best part of the beach, in my opinion. Everything here, food and drink, is a bit expensive, but you’re really paying for the ambience.
Finally, we haven’t had too many good sunrises or sunsets lately, but this one was kind of nice. The white dot in the upper middle of the photo is Venus.
Also, I forgot to mention (and I hope I don’t jinx them) that the Big Club has now won 8 in a row and cut the Red Sox lead to 8 1/2 games.
Breaking News!
Ok, it’s not that breathtaking, but since I started writing this, the Diamondbacks bus came to the camp. At first I thought that they were going to try to play a game here, but, looking out my bathroom window, I see that the Yankee team is boarding the bus. Obviously, the Arizona club, which was supposed to play here today, sent their bus to pick up the Yanks and take them to the Diamondback field, which must have missed all the rain. Our bus, in the meantime, is transporting the Bombers to the regularly scheduled away field (haven’t looked to see who they are playing). Obviously, our camp lay right under the path of the bands of rain clouds that have been passing through the area, but some of the other camps were spared.
I’ve been a bit under the weather the last few days with some kind of virus, but I’m starting to feel much better. Just in time for a return trip to Juan Dolio and the Decameron Resort. Rumor has it that we’re leaving tomorrow (Wednesday) and returning on Monday, the 9th. However, the last official word I got was that we’re leaving on Thursday and returning on Sunday. Who knows. At any rate, it’ll be nice to relax on the beach for a few days. This morning, about 20 players left for the training complex in Tampa, from where they’ll be assigned to the various minor league teams–I wish all of them good luck.
We’ve had a few beautiful sunsets lately, so I’ve posted a couple of photos below. I’ve also added a few more to the main Photo Gallery.
This one was incredibly red, and capturing some of the subtle details was very difficult.
This one features the moon and Venus right above it near the center-right of the photo. If you squint, you might be able to see them.
Opening day of baseball season was yesterday. The Yanks won–woo hoo! More later.
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