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As usual, spring time in Yeosu is, quite simply, gorgeous. It’s a city that features flowers of all colors, amazing green hues in the trees and, at times, deep blue skies. Following are a few shots that I took while walking around campus when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Most of the blossoms have fallen, but right now various other flowers are dominant.
Our English Tour Guide class took a field trip this past Saturday to several areas around town, including an achingly beautiful temple up in the mountains. I haven’t processed those photos yet, but they’ll be forthcoming soon.
I’ve also been down to the Expo Site and everything appears to be up and ready to go. There was a kind of mini-rehearsal on one of my visits, when a few thousand Yeosu citizens were invited to tour the facilities. This Saturday, May 5th, is the first full-scale dress rehearsal with around 100,000 folks visiting the site–I’ll be among them.
I also tried to get some night shots of the Expo, but heavy fog prevented any long-range photos, though I think I got a few interesting shots from around the area. I’ll try to get some of those up also.
Sorry for the delay between posts, but, except for a few days of heavy rains, the weather has been fantastic. I’d rather get out and enjoy it than spend the hours inside. 
OK, here are the campus shots. I will definitely have some others up soon!
 One Campus View of Spring  Cherry Blossoms 1  Another Cherry Blossom Shot  Magnolia Blossoms  More Magnolia Blossoms  Rest Area Near the Dorms  Azalea Blossom  Camellia Blossom
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.
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.
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.
So, if you read my previous posts about Wat Traimit and Bangkok, you probably know that I took the overnight train to Nong Khai, in northeast Thailand, just across the Mekong River from Laos. If I recall, this train used to run, more or less, on time; perhaps it was late, but usually no more than 30 minutes or so. However, the last couple of times I’ve taken it, it’s been 2 HOURS late pulling into Nong Khai. It departs from Bangkok’s Hualamphong Station at 8:30 p.m., but this trip, it didn’t pull into Nong Khai until 10:30 a.m. Hmmm, don’t know why it was so late, but perhaps the railway authorities were being cautious and slowed the train down because of possible damage done to the tracks due to the widespread flooding a few weeks before.
Anyway, I made it to Nong Khai OK and was met at the station by Nai. We checked into the Pantawee Hotel and stayed a few days there. The Pantawee had hung some new, attractive lanterns in the trees at the hotel since I’d last been there. I don’t know if they’ll be permanent decorations or if they were only seasonal, but they added a nice ambience to the property.
 Christmas Lanterns at Pantawee Hotel Detracting from the usual peaceful ambience, however, was street construction going on right in front of the hotel. I usually like to sit at the outdoor patio in the morning to eat breakfast or just have a cup of coffee or two. The extreme noise and dust made it impossible to enjoy a quiet morning outside; sitting inside wasn’t too bad, though, and, occasionally work would halt for a short while, with the temporary silence standing in sharp contrast to the noise.
 Street construction in front of the Pantawee Hotel Another peaceful spot in Nong Khai is the promenade along the Mekong River. It’s quite pleasant to take a stroll, to sit in the shade of one of the gazebos, or to eat in one of the many restaurants. We usually have lunch and/or supper along here. Below are a few food photos of tom yam (tohm yahm), a spicy and sour soup, with fish, and fried rice with chicken. Nai and I shared the tom yam, and I had the fried rice. Both were delicious and cheap.
 Tom yam with fish  Thai fried rice with chicken You could also take a short excursion on the Mekong. Below are a couple of photos of boating leisure. The first was taken in Nong Khai and the second was taken last summer in Yeosu, looking down from the Dolsan Bridge. Which one would you prefer? I like both of them.
 Taking a boat ride on the Mekong River  Lazy Day Fishing in Yeosu, South Korea Probably the biggest highlight of the whole vacation was the chance to attend a live concert of Isaan music. Nai and I did just that on the evening of December 23rd. We enjoyed a 3 to 3 1/2 hour concert featuring traditional and modern Isaan music. Isaan is a region of northeast Thailand that features various aspects of Lao and Thai culture, including language, music and cuisine. I didn’t take any photos, but I did take about 50 minutes of video with my point-and-shoot camera. (I didn’t take the big DSLR with me on this trip.) The area in front of the stage was too crowded to get close, and I was handholding the camera in low light, so the videos aren’t all that great. But, I’m going to try to piece together the best bits into one video and get it posted here eventually. So, tune in for that and for a few photos of my visit to Laos. More later.
OK, here’s the update I promised. There really hasn’t been a lot of progress in exterior construction, except for a few notable exceptions, because much of it has been finished or nearly so. I think most of the work is taking place inside the buildings, and a lot of landscaping is being done. The most striking new progress, however, is that the Big O, the centerpiece of the Expo, has finally gone up. In the photo below, you can see the framework is mostly completed, so installation of the outside paneling should be starting soon.
 The Big O, Jan 28th, 2012 Elsewhere, down by the Sky Tower and next to the railway station, new construction has begun on the Corporate Pavilion and Energy Park.
 Corporate Pavilion and Energy Park Construction, Yeosu 2012 Expo, Jan 28, 2012 The Sky Tower itself has had some new additions, seen in this view from near what will be the main entrance.
 New Sky Tower additions So, what is that reddish-orange contraption on the right hand side of the structure? From a brochure I have, here’s a description of the Sky Tower.
The Sky Tower is a monumental piece of art, recycled and redesigned from a pair of abandoned 55-meter cement silos on the Expo site. The harp-shaped exterior is an embodiment of the giant waves of the coastal waters of Yeosu. Moreover, the tower is a fully-functional pipe organ that will play the tunes related to the sea for the enjoyment of visitors.
If it works as intended, it should be pretty impressive. Next, a shot of the Expo City apartments, which are quite colorful.
 2012 Expo Apartments The hotel hasn’t shown much change, but the land around it is being landscaped and smoothed over to make way for walking and (perhaps) parking areas.
 Expo 2012 Landscaping Here’s an enlarged shot of the construction taking place around the Big O. (As usual, click on the image for larger versions.)
 Closeup of Big O Area Construction Here’s what the brochure says about the Big O.
The Expo is jam-packed with cultural programs, with 40 performances and events taking place every day for the entire period of 93 days; that is, 3,700 in total! It features large-scale events, such as the state-of-the-art Night Multi-media Show taking place at the Big-O, world-class performances, and concerts of popular singers from Korea and around the world.
The brochure goes on to mention The Fountain Show (“. . . on a stage constructed on the sea. It will be shown through the world’s first Living Screen at night, creating an awe-inspiring, dreamlike atmosphere.”), The Big Ocean Show (“. . . a performance utilizing the seas, the beach and ships . . . staged on a weekly basis”) and The World Ocean Performance (“featuring performances of artists from Korea and beyond, will take place on the floating stage and utilize the sea as a platform for cultural activities.”), all of which take place on or near the Big O.
Here are a couple of overview shots taken from different vantage points.
 Overview of Expo 2012  Expo Jan2012 Overview from Jasan Park Also in preparation for the Expo, Yeosu has been installing quite a few bicycle stations, from where you can rent one of these “hot” blue bikes to get around. I’m not sure if they’re coin-operated or bank/credit card. Probably both.
 Bicycle Station Finally, not more than 10 seconds after I pulled my camera from my bag, one of the guys working on the Expo came over and pointed to himself and said “Picture, me.” I was only too happy to oblige.
 Expo Worker So, that’s about it for the Expo photos for now. I’ll probably get back down there in March or perhaps late this month to shoot some more. Stay tuned.
I’ll get the Wat Traimit photos up soon and I’ll also post some new photos of the Yeosu Expo 2012 site, since I took a walk down in that area yesterday. As usual, I hiked up to Jasan Park to get some shots and then walked down the other side of the hill to catch a bus back to my apartment. In Jasan, there’s a small kids’ playground area that is very colorful. I took a photo of it and played around a bit in Photoshop. Here’s the result.
 Jasan Park playground in Yeosu This took me quite a while to do in Photoshop. I added a new background layer and converted it to black and white. Then, with a layer mask, I brought out the colors in the underlying original photo using my mouse. Whew! It took quite a while to do (using a mouse) and it made me realize that if I want to do more of these types of “enhancements”, I’ll have to invest in a Wacom pen tablet, which makes things a bit easier and faster and which I think I can buy here in Yeosu.
So, be on the lookout for more of these types of shots. Next, though, I’ll get the Wat Traimit photos posted and then some updates on the Expo, followed by other shots of my recent trip to Thailand and Laos. (Maybe not necessarily in that order.)
Geez, it seems like I’ve been insanely busy lately, though I know it hasn’t been all that hectic; it just feels like it. Anyway, here are the other shots of the Expo site that I promised in my previous post.
First up is another shot of the International Pavilion area. In the lower right is the beginning construction of the Big O, which will be the centerpiece of the Expo.
Next, the Korea Pavilion from a different viewpoint, just to the right of the previous photo.
There are a lot of things I like about the Expo construction so far, but I think my favorite is this little bit of whimsy on the roof of the Expo Organizing Committee building. The forward looking lady is gazing out to sea with her spyglass. Definitely click on the photo a few times to get the largest view and to get a good look at her face. Love it!
Here, Expo Town is still under construction just behind The Spyglass Lady.
Finally, this was the busiest construction going on at the time, in the area of The Big O and the Thematic Pavilion, if I’m not mistaken.
We’ve had some great weather lately, and today was no exception–clear blue skies and a moderately warm afternoon. So, I took another walk in the Expo area and got some more shots. I’ll get ‘em up quickly, I hope. More later.
Here are a few photos taken in one of Yeosu’s indoor fish markets last April, which just goes to show how timely I am at posting some of my shots. The fish markets are located in the area of town where there are dozens of folks selling vegetables, fruit, fish and other staples in a hodge-podge of outdoor and indoor markets. Here’s a view of the main street of this area.
Anyway, the outdoor market is still open, but the indoor ones, of which there are a few, are much nicer for winter shopping. Here’s a photo of the outdoor market, which I took way back in October of 2008 (and which I DID put in the main photo gallery, but not on the blog).
Inside the market, folks are busily engaged in buying and selling all sorts of seafood.
Following are several shots of various creatures from the sea; I know about the crabs and fish, but what the others are called, I have no idea. If anyone knows, please leave a comment. Enjoy.
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