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I used to be a huge fan of the American auto racing series, NASCAR. I’m not anymore, due to a variety of reasons, chief of which is that it’s just become too corporate and buttoned-down for my taste; too controlled, in my opinion. I first started to enjoy the races in the late 1970s, when “King” Richard Petty still ruled the track. Petty won a record 7 Daytona 500 races, NASCAR’s biggest event, which is also called “The Great American Race.” It’s a harbinger of spring, since it’s held near the end of February in Daytona Beach, Florida. (I guess it’s almost always spring in Florida in February, if not summer.  )
I was browsing Yahoo! when I found this photo essay from Time Magazine that was published on the 50th Anniversary Race. It mostly features some of the early races at the beach and at the racetrack. Yeah, they used to race right on the beach. Awesome!
Here’s a photo I lifted from the Time site. I hope they don’t mind–I am giving them credit, but if they have a gripe about me using the photo, I guess I’ll have to pull it, not that they’ll notice this little backwater blog. The caption on the website reads:
Airborne
A competitor in the 1953 race hits a pothole on the beach. The early road course, over four miles long, was notoriously treacherous.
If you enjoy vintage auto racing, I encourage you to visit the web site to see more of these classic shots.
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About a year ago I wrote about the new golf course being shaped from the hills across from the university campus. Well, it’s tee time! Yes, the course opened recently, and, despite the chilly, windy weather, it’s seen some action. Here’s one of the photos I posted last February of the construction.
Here’s what the hills across the road look like today, viewed from a slightly different angle.
Quite a difference. The fairways and greens are looking a bit bedraggled, but I’m sure things will green up once spring arrives, if that ever happens, and there’s probably quite a bit more landscaping to do. As you can see, if you click on the photos a couple of times to get a medium and a large view, there are a number of golfers enjoying the warmer weather of last weekend, when I took these shots. I rarely use my 80-300mm zoom lens, but it comes in handy sometimes. Here’s a closer view of the action.
And an even closer look–a foursome teeing off.
Koreans are a hard-working lot and most of the good citizens of Yeosu would be hard pressed to sneak in a round during weekdays. However, those wishing to indulge their golfing desire are not stymied, for this is a night course also.
I’m not sure the lighting would be enough to track my hooks and shanks, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be driving along on the highway below the course while I’m teeing off. That is, IF I were playing. One of my adult students in my night class is a golf equipment salesman and he told me that a round on the weekend costs 170,000 won, which at the current exchange rate is about $150 or so. I’ll think I’ll take a mulligan . . . er . . . rain check on that. The diagonal row of lights at the top right light up the golf cart path to the other side of the hill, where most of the golf course lies. Hopefully, I’ll have chance to sneak on to visit that part of the links someday.
Anyway, whether this is a good or bad thing for Yeosu and it’s high hopes for Expo 2012, I’ll leave for others to debate. For now, all I can say is . . . FORE!
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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.
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As I wrote in the previous post, I’ll be heading up to Incheon Airport tonight, on my way to Laos. I don’t know how often I’ll be able to post in the next three weeks, but if past actions are any indication, it won’t be often. I always have good intentions to keep the blog updated when I’m out and about, but it’s not always that easy to do. Still, I’m going to bring along my memory card reader so that I can upload photos here and try to keep everyone up to date. Hopefully, I can make at least a few posts. Vientiane and Vang Vieng have many internet cafes, but if I end up out in the sticks, my chances of finding a good connection might be somewhat less.
Here’s an article from Voice of America about the SEA Games going on in Vientiane. Like I stated in the previous post, I hope to see some of the action. I’d like to take in a soccer game featuring the Laos team, but tickets might be hard to come by. Before a packed house last night, they and Singapore played to a 0-0 draw, which means that both teams advanced to the semi-final round.
In baseball news, the Yanks got Curtis Granderson from the Detroit Tigers in a trade a few days ago. It was an excellent deal for the Yankees, and, with the re-signing of Andy Pettitte, it should only strengthen their chances of repeating as World Champs in 2010. It certainly puts the pressure on Boston. Hmmmm, maybe Major League Baseball should just hand over the 2010 Trophy to New York already.  More later.
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- Boat Race I forgot to mention in my previous post that I talked to my friend Nai in Laos this morning (Sunday night there) and his village’s boat racing team won the...
I just called my friend Nai in Laos. The entire family was gathered around the TV, watching the opening ceremonies of the Southeast Asia games and they (and probably most of Laos) were very excited about the event. As far as I know, Laos has never hosted anything like this before, so the country has been quite proud that they’ve been selected as the host country. I hope to take in a few of the events when I head back there on Saturday. The Games run through the 17th or 18th, so I should have a good opportunity to do so. I’m sure Nai will be happy to watch some of the sports, especially his favorite, volleyball; he wouldn’t normally be able to afford a ticket, so I’ll buy. What the heck, I’ll buy tickets for the whole family! It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime event for them, and I wouldn’t want them to miss out on the chance to attend if they want to and if I can get tickets.
Actually, some of the events are free–cycling, golf, billiards, and track and field are some of the freebies. The soccer games, badminton, swimming, boxing, volleyball and others aren’t, but they’re not all that expensive, at least not for the “rich” westerner. Between 4-6 bucks. It should be a good time. Here’s a photo from 2005 showing Nai, a.k.a., Volleyball Slayer, trying to spike the ball. Notice the smiles and laughter from the spectators. (Click on the photo a couple of times for larger views.)
Pretty much all of my classes have finished the semester and I’ve got most of my administrative duties completed, so the next couple of days I’ll be packing and preparing to go. I’ll be leaving here on Friday night on the 11:10 p.m. (and only) bus to Incheon Airport near Seoul. I’ll get there about 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning and then wait around for my 10:30 a.m. flight to Hanoi. That flight arrives at the Noi Bai Airport around 1:30 p.m. and then I have another 3 1/2 hour wait until the 5 o’clock flight to Vientiane. Long night and day, but for the most part I love traveling and hanging around airports.
Incheon is one of the best airports in the world, but Noi Bai leaves a bit to be desired. However, the last time I was there, a lot of construction was going on in the transit area–it looked like a lot of new shops or restaurants were going to be opening, so I’m certainly curious about what developments have taken place. You all will be the first ones to know, since I’ll probably write a post from one of the restaurants there that has internet service. More later.
Noi Bai Restaurant from last December
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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
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Work continues on the new golf course across the valley from the campus. Right now it’s a real eyesore and from what I hear, many people in Yeosu, including a large percentage of golfers, opposed its creation. As you can see below, half a mountainside is being altered, for good or bad, to make way for the links. I hope it’s worth it.
Here is the main site, but there is a smaller section off to the right.
And here’s a closer shot.
The course is supposed to be open by the 2012 Expo being held here, and it would be interesting to see what it looks like. However, I doubt I’ll be here to see it. Due to the still-rotten currency exchange rate for the Korean won, I’m starting to look for greener pastures, where the currency is more stable, perhaps somewhere in the mid-East. I’d love to stay here, but under the current financial condition, that’s more or less impossible.
We’re finally going to get some decent weather, with the forecast calling for mostly sunny skies and temperatures hovering near the mid-50s this week. While that’s nice, I’d still like to see about 25 degrees more. 
It’s Super Bowl day in the U.S., but to tell the truth I didn’t even know where it was being played or who was playing until just a few days ago. American football’s not my cup of tea; never has been. I’ve been thinking more of the fact that the baseball camps in the Dominican Republic probably opened this past weekend–sunny skies, warm weather, beautiful beaches, the crack of bat against ball . . . ahhhhhh. As frequent reader and Red Sox fan OGM is sure to remind me, Spring Training begins soon. More later.
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Well, it seems that way; at the least, I’m always a week late in my posts here. Anyway, last Sunday was a great day, as far as sports go, at the Weekend Office. I watched the Yanks score 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to win their 5th straight game, 6-5 over Seattle. Then, I remembered that the Indy 500 was running. I asked one of the waiters to switch the TV and I was lucky enough to catch the last 24 laps of that event, won by Scott Dixon. I think that’s the first Indy I’ve seen live since I left the U.S. back in 2003.
The week before, once again, the Canadian National Junior All-Star team visited the camp to play an exhibition game against the Yankee squad, and, once again, like last year, they kicked rear end, beating the Yanks 13-2 or some such ridiculous score. They’re a very good team, obviously. Sporting flags and banners, lots of Canadian embassy people turned out to watch. Here are a few of them making their way onto the field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Here’s a shot of the game in progress.
I bought my ticket to Thailand this past week. I fly out of Missoula on July 25th, arriving in Bangkok on July 27th. I’ll probably work on getting my Korean visa there, then head on up to Laos around the 30th or 31st. After spending some laid-back time in the Land of a Million Elephants (not that many left, I’m afraid), I’ll leave on Aug. 24th for Korea, Land of the Morning Calm (but frenetic at any other time of day). Koreans, according to this survey, put in more hours per year on the job than any other people. I can definitely vouch for that. Andong University students put in just as much time, staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning, grabbing a couple of hours of shuteye and then going to 9 o’clock classes (so they told me). It’s like a never-ending urge, on the part of the entire country, to succeed at ALL costs. Lose one hour here or half an hour there, and your prospects and your life, become a shambles. It’s utterly ridiculous, in my opinion, but to each their own. It will be quite a cultural warp going from languid Laos to intense Korea, but, having worked there before, I’ll manage just fine because, well, just read the title of this post again. 
Today is Opening Day of the Dominican Summer League, but both Yankee squads are traveling to other camps to play, so there will be no opening ceremonies here, like there were last year. Perhaps I’ll tag along with one of the teams. More later.
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I forgot to mention in my previous post that I talked to my friend Nai in Laos this morning (Sunday night there) and his village’s boat racing team won the big race in Vientiane yesterday for the 3rd straight year. I wish I were there to celebrate with the locals, but congratulations to them. Here’s an interesting short article about the race and specifically about a team of ladies who compete every year.
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Ok, I promised some photos of my recent trip to SE Asia. First up is one of the big boat race I wrote about earlier. (See the entry for August 23rd or click here). Here are a couple of the beautiful long boats after finishing their race. The guys in green, nearer the camera, won this one. They are the same crew that raced against the Sitthanthai team in the final race, finishing second to the Sitthanthai stalwarts.
If you click here, you can download and view a 30 second video of the Sitthanthai guys practicing on the Mekong. Be warned, though, that it’s a 50 megabyte file, so if you’re using a dialup connection, it’s going to take a while to download.
Below is a shot of some of the Sitthanthai supporters whooping it up after the team won a race. Notice the ubiquitous bottle of Beer Lao.
I’ll try to get some more photos up soon, and I’ll also post a lot more in the gallery than I will on the blog. I’ll let you know when the gallery ones are in. More later.
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