MontanaRon

An English teacher's blog about his travels and his digital art.

Tag: Odongdo

Expo 2012 Construction Photos

August 18, 2011 /

It’s another oppressive, humid gray day here, just like yesterday and the day before and . . . Yesterday was a bit exciting, I guess–after my 3 p.m. class, I walked down to one of the local markets to buy a few groceries. Although it was overcast, as usual, there was no rain in the forecast, so I didn’t take an umbrella. Well, on the way back, the skies opened up and I got thoroughly drenched in what was quite a gully washer. It only lasted about 20 minutes, but I was soaked from head to toe.

In lieu of any recent photos, here are a few more shots of the Expo 2012 site under construction. These are from May, so they’re a bit old. Starting Saturday, we have a 12-day break until the fall semester begins, so I hope to get down to the construction area and get some updated shots.

This first one is a shot of a portion of the site, from Dolsan Island. There’s more construction off to the left, including the new hotel, which I featured here. As usual, click on the photo a couple of times to get a large version.

In the middle of the above shot, you can kind of make out the buildings of Expo Town going up. One of my adult students told me he had entered a lottery drawing for one of the apartments. Apparently, after the Expo, these buildings will be used as apartments for Yeosu citizens. Potential renters got in the lottery to draw for specific apartments, which they can either reserve or turn down, depending on the location. This student told me that he had drawn a 10th floor residence, thus assuring him and his family a great view of the harbor. He was, of course, quite happy. He said if he had drawn anything below the sixth floor, he would have turned it down. The following shot is a close-up of that area, taken from the train station.

Oh, heck, might as well throw in a shot of the station, while I’m at it.

Also from Dolsan Island is a shot of the new red lighthouse, right across from the new white lighthouse. The two strange-looking ovals in the upper right are highway tunnels.

Finally, here’s one of the new tourist hotels, just down from the big hotel on the Expo site. I don’t know about this one–it’s located right by the new highway, so I kinda wonder about how quiet it’s gonna be.

That’s it for today; I’ll get some more photos up soon that I took on one of my bicycle rides earlier in the year.

Out of the Cave

February 26, 2011 /

We’ve been experiencing some glorious spring-like weather lately, so I decided to step out of my cave a few days ago and head on down to the Expo 2012 site to see what kind of progress is being made in preparation for next summer’s big event. The day started out overcast, but ended in some nice sunshine, so the earlier photos I took that day are a bit drab.

First, here’s a look at what the site is supposed to look like when it’s finished. As always, click on the images to get a larger version, especially this one in order to be able to read the map legend.

So, let’s start walking down the hill toward the site, near Odong Island. The first photo looks down on the site from just below the bizarre “whale” church. You remember the whale church, don’t you? Here’s a shot of it I took last year, in case you forgot what it looks like.

Here’s a photo of the area showing where we’re at in relation to the site.

We’re way up in the left corner, near the white structure with the thumb-like appendage sticking up. So, what does the site look like from there?

You can see Odong Island in the background with all the construction cranes working on the site. I counted a total of 18 cranes in operation, so work is proceeding apace, although only a few buildings are going up right now. The new hotel is at the far right and the green construction area just to the hotel’s left must be the aquarium, according to the map. If you enlarged the map, were standing a ways above number 9. So, let’s walk down to the site and go out to the island, just for the heck of it. We’ll climb up Jasan Park later and get some better shots of the site.

A new extension onto the jetty, with lighthouse, has been constructed, but it’s still being worked on and not yet open to the public. Here’s a couple of shots of it.

The airplane propellers at the top of the poles are wind-driven generators that provide electricity for the lighting. Here’s a closer view of the lighthouse.

Okay, let’s walk back and climb the steps to Jasan Park. On the way, from the causeway, we can see the new hotel going up (number 19 on the map).

Halfway up the steps, we get a better view of the site.

Now at the top of Jasan, here’s another view. Compare it to one taken last year, which follows the first one below.

There are a few noticeable differences–the new road snaking its way farther toward the site, a new building in the foreground, and other spot-the-difference details.

Well, now, as long as we’re here, let’s hike over to the other side of the park and see if the new bridge has been completed. Here’s a map of the park, by the way.

The previous two photos were taken from the path above number 12 on the map, the statue of the legendary Korean Admiral Yi Sun-shin.

Let’s continue along the path . . . whoa, what the heck’s that?

Ahhh, it’s one of the several monuments to Korean and international military veterans of the Korean War. This particular one, seen in silhouette against the sun, is number 5 on the map.

Alright, here’s a somewhat clear shot of the new bridge from Dolsan Island to the mainland. Hurray, it’s finished and the engineers got the two extensions to meet up in the middle! 🙂 It’s not open yet, since there’s no sign of a road going anywhere on this side.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little walk. I’ll continue to post more photos of the ongoing construction of the Expo 2012 site, so stayed tuned for more later.

One more shot, though, to show the potential of HDR photos, about which I posted here. You can get some pretty surreal effects from HDR photography, but the photo below shows a more normal use. It’s of the hotel taken from inside the pagoda, number 13 on the Jasan Park map. If I had exposed optimally for the interior details, the background highlights would have been “blown out (overexposed);” if I had exposed for the highlights, the interior details wouldn’t have been visible (underexposed). My camera’s dynamic range could not take in both the shadow details and the background sky details in the same shot, though my eyes could easily see both. HDR (high dynamic range) to the rescue.

A Few Yeosu Photos

October 30, 2010 /

So, yeah, I’ve been out and about lately, taking some shots at various areas around Yeosu. Here’s a few, with more to come in the following days.

Keeping to my “theme” photos, sort of, here’s a shot of one of the many “love” hotels around town. These are primarily for overnight or hourly “stays” (cough, cough). Many of these places have quite interesting exteriors, some of which I’ll post. Here’s a rather titillating one representing Venus, perhaps.

Here’s the Narsha, a new tourist hotel that went up not too long ago. I like the way the blue sky reflects off the windows. One of the other teachers told me that the best steak in Yeosu can be found on the 3rd floor grill. I haven’t been there to check it out yet, but I’ll let you know, one of these days, how it is.

Another study in blue is the new ferry terminal, where you can catch a ride to many of the numerous islands in the area. This is the pedestrian walkway at the back entrance.


I was up at Jasan Park, which overlooks Odong Island (Odongdo) and here’s a stylized photo of the island. (Put through a few Photoshop filters.)

Ok, nothing too exciting, I suppose, but I was recently at the top of one of the mountains near the university and got some spectacular shots. I’ll get some of those posted in the next few days, along with some new night shots, and I’ll probably be putting some more in the Photo Gallery. More later.

Odong Island

March 5, 2009 /

I walked to Odongdo Island (do, pronounced dough, = island) last week, a round trip journey of about 9 miles or so. Including walking around on the small island itself and afterwards exploring Yeosu’s good-sized market area, I probably put in around 11 miles, all told, and my feet were feeling it. I had planned on taking a bus or taxi back to the university, but I decided that since I didn’t jog that morning, the extended walk would be good exercise. There is such a thing as overdoing it, though, so I didn’t jog the next morning. Good excuse, eh? 😉

The day was overcast, hazy and gray, which led to some rather flat, dull photos. The one below is representative of the batch that I took. This Saturday’s forecast is calling for sunny skies and warm temperatures, so I think I’ll return to the island for a reshoot. I’ll post some of the good (hopefully) shots here later.

Odongdo1

The new semester is in full swing. I’ve got some decent classes, and the kids seem very polite and eager to learn (most of them, anyway). The classes here are sorted according to what major the students are working toward, and I somehow got stuck teaching mostly engineering students, the vast majority of whom are 19-20 year-old guys. Out of around 100 students, only 5 are young ladies. Quite a disparity.

The Korean won continues its catastrophic plunge in relation to the dollar. I’m almost afraid to check out the daily exchange rates. Enough said about that for now. More later.

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