Saturday, July 24, 2010

A brief chess update followed by more pictures!

I have played a little since I got back.  In 7 games I have 2 wins and 5 losses.  None of the losses were total blow outs, but I was having clock issues.  It's hard calculate quickly when one's brain is functioning at 1/4 speed.  I will post some games later, just so that people will remember that this is a chess blog.  In the meantime a few mores pictures and highlights from my trip.



Busan city skyline from my hotel window.
Rainy night, and a rainy next day.

We spent the night in Busan, which is the second largest city in Korea.  It's a major seaport and has many beaches.  We actually spent the night in a hotel across the street from Haeundae Beach which can get quite crowded in the summer months.  However the morning I walked on the beach it was pouring rain, so with the exception of a few hearty souls swimming it was very empty.  I was not amongst the hearty souls in the water.

Wet in the water or on the beach.


Can I find a place for my beach chair?


Singing in the rain? Fred Astaire I'm not!

Fortunately our touring activities for the day were indoors.  However one of them was a visit to Yongdusan Park which has a tower in it.  The views from the top were not as spectacular in the rain and fog as they are on a bright sunny day as pictured in this blog.

Busan Tower

Harbor in Busan


 Play ball! There actually a baseball field on top.



Even though the views from the top weren't great there are a number of very interesting buildings, statues and trees in the park.  Photographing them without get the camera wet was challenging.  That's what husbands with umbrella are good for.




Information booth in old style building.




Dragon Sculpture _ Plaque all in Korean




Yes those are raindrops on the lens!




General Lee Sunsin


Many interesting trees in the park.


I was so glad we had lunch before our next stop.  We ate at a fish restaurant and then afterwards visited the fish market.  Maybe my chess game is off because you are what you eat.  I was eating a good amount of fish on this trip.  I did not have any of the types of fish pictured below.  


I'm not sure what these were.


Eel


Squid


Not sure what these were either.

After the fish market tour we went to the airport to catch our flight to Jeju-do Island, the Hawaii of South Korea.   (South Korea is probably redundant since I suspect there is not an equivalent place to the north.)  With all the rain, our flight was delayed.  Though the Korean idea of a delay is much different then a US delay.  They wrote on a white board that the flight was delayed until 15:32 which was 2 minutes later then the scheduled departure.  Then they changed it to 15:34.  Stop it! You're killing me with those delays.

After a flight of less then an hour we arrive in Jeju-do.  Stay tuned for my next report.


Jeju-do Island as seen from the air.

5 comments:

From the patzer said...

Nice pictures but since i am not a fish eater i guess i will not visit S. Korea soon. Or was their steak and such also?

Liquid Egg Product said...

You didn't have eel? Oh, man, that is great stuff. Not that you couldn't get it in New York.

Polly said...

Tiger: They have pork, chicken and beef. Also many vegetarian dishes. Pork and beef are usually thinly sliced and brought to the table raw where you have a grill and cook it yourself. You can add vegetables to it too. The do it yourself barbecue is quite good.

LEP: I like fish that looks like fish. Eel looks like snake.

Liquid Egg Product said...

One of these days, I'm going to take you to a sushi place and "accidentally" order eel for you instead of the special fish roll. Then you'll see what you've been missing.

Polly said...

Salmon about the only fish I'll eat in sushi.