Yeongheung-do

I've got a lot of work to do this week, and I didn't take many photos on the trip. But here is our route to Yeongheung Island (including our side trip to Ansan):















Distance via Ansan: 66 km
Distance w/o detour: 50 km

The beach where we camped out:















If the weather holds out, I'll be going back this week to take some photos of a few interesting spots that are along the way.

Yeonan & Wolmido

It's been almost two weeks, but I'm finally getting around to adding my last trip. I biked up to two of Incheon's vaunted tourist attractions. Yeonan Pier and Wolmido Island.

My first stop was Yeonan. Home of the ferry terminal and the largest fish market in Korea. The ferry terminal is valuable if you want to head to the west islands (except for the Airport Island, which has a ferry leaving from Wolmido). I definitely plan on taking advantage of that service this year. The fish market, while large than Sorae, has much less character. Sorae is located on an estuary, and the boats pull up right alongside the market. The market itself is crowded and brimming with activity. The fish market at Yeonan is a big warehouse like building, several blocks from the port. Meanwhile, the rest of Yeonan is a big industrial zone, with lots of dust and smoke being spewed in every direction. Unless you're catching a ferry to the islands, take a pass.

After biking 10km to traverse the 100 meters distance between Yeonan and Wolmido (circumnavigating the Port of Incheon) I arrived on Wolmido Island. No longer an island, it does have some interesting attractions. The seaside area is kind of a Coney Island like atmosphere, with a small amusement park and a touristy stretch of restaurants. But the best is Wolmido Park. It consists of a hill that offers some interesting overviews of the surrounding port. Even more interesting than the view itself, is watching other people take in the view. There is a small tower near the top of the hill that is crowded with older Koreans checking out the scenery. It's times that like I wish I could converse in Korean, because I'm sure they have some amazing "What it was like I was a kid" stories. Overall, Wolmido is worth a visit. Check out the park, the seaside attractions.

This weekend, I'm off on an overnight biking trip to one of the nearby islands. It's actually several islands connected by bridges to the mainland. So no ferries will be used. Hopefully, I'll get around to posting the report and pictures a little quicker.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom as well















Ships in the docks















You can see Korea's number one export, cars, lined up and ready to go

Yellow Dust

My plan to see the cherry blossoms were thwarted by the Chinese. Or rather, their dust and debris that gets occasionally blown across our skies. My throat and eyes were burning from just sitting inside, so I decided it was best to avoid physical activity outside.

The normal view from my window















A yellow dust day view

Videos

I've added video of the bull fight to the post below. I've also added a video to this post from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Sometime soon (when I figure out how to edit them down), I'll be adding a few more videos in the future. You can just click on the video label below (or right here) to find all posts with videos.

The Bulls and the Blood

Late in the week, I found out that some people I knew were headed down to Cheongdo to see a Korean bull fighting tournament. Quickly surmising that I haven't been on an out-of-province trip in a long time, I decided to make the trek down. After an early morning subway ride into Seoul and a 4.5 hour train ride to Cheongdo, we made our way via taxi to the bull fighting arena.

The bull fights in Korea are not the same as the bull fights in Spain or Mexico. Rather there are two bulls actually fighting each other. Well, not really fighting. More like wrestling. Actually, more like pushing. According to what I've heard, the bull fights in Korea date back over 1000 years. At that time, bulls would naturally fight each other for the right to chew on the best grass. When one farmer began bragging about how pushy his bull was, another farmer soon challenged his claims. And thus bull fighting in Korea began. The pre-fight action consists of each bull handler leading his fighter into the arena and trying to get him to engage in a match. Once the bulls engage, the battle begins and there is a head-to-head pushing match. Every once in a while, one bull will make a move to overpower the other bull. It seems that when one bull is finally able to get the other bull to run away, he wins the match. There also seems to be some scoring system involved, but I never figured it out.




Here, you can see the owners / handlers guiding their bulls in battle. The handlers would make hoots and haws at the bulls, and give them the occasional crack of the whip.













But the best part was not really the bulls. In addition to the bull fights, they had a full county fair going on, Korean style. Food stands surrounded the arena, with pigs on spits, corn on the cob, and whale meat soup. Like I said, it was Korean style. Vendors were also selling jewelry, face paintings, persimmon wine, and a whole host of other goods. They had some side show entertainment as well, including acrobatic performers, and an all-transvestite band. Kids, much to their chagrin, were also getting their pictures taken atop bulls. On Sunday afternoon, the entertainment was to include bull riding by American service members in Korea. Unfortunately, it was just a one day affair for us. After the festivities were over for the day, we headed to Daegu, where we spent the night revisiting some of my old joints. We even made it to the bus HOF, a bar built into a bus, that I had always wanted to visit when I lived there. All in all, it was a long, but enjoyable weekend adventure. I'm hoping the weather is nice enough next weekend, so that I can bike to Suwon. They have an old castle there, and lots of cherry trees which are supposed to be blossoming soon.