Yellow Dust Storm

I don't have to visit China. Because it's come to visit me... in the form of dust from the Gobi desert in northwest China.

I'm heading up to Seoul this weekend. Apparently the yellow dust is a lot worse there. A coworker today told me it sticks to the window so that you can't see out. And that people in China and even here die from respiratory problems caused by the dust. As the dust spreads, it picks up carcinogens and heavy metals over industrial China, before it is dumped in Beijing, Korea, Japan, and even California! I did notice it the past few days, getting in my eyes a bit and making me really thirsty. Here's a short article about it.

Here is Beijing in 2001 dust storm:



Holy fauking crap! I can't believe how some can think that the world is advancing and is in the best shape it's ever been... I hate to admit it, but i think the world is beyond repair. :(

Act 1, Scenes 1 & 2: The Foiled Escape

Charlie's Angels make for a quick escape in the catacombs known as the Pusan subway:



But the killer eventually finds them:

º April º

Ahhh it's so much easier to be entertained and gratuitously read others' blog entries than to do the entertaining!

This weekend has been a badly needed domestic one. Stayed in on Sat. and cleaned the bathroom, my room and kitchen (even inside the microwave!), worked out (first time in a month?), skipped Korean class but studied Korean on my own, and did some reading. Man, I love hanging out with me. Today, went to Seoman market to get odds and ends. Went to an East Indian restaurant and sat on the floor next to a cockroach. It was promptly squished. Found some Nag Champra incense. Asaah!!! Saw a guy in a pastel pink Baby Milo™ sweatshirt with about 20 Milo heads all over it. I'm sure Moolz would have uttered at least a squeak.

Something that made me squeak personally was a random t-shirt at one of the zillions of open-air clothing kiosks downtown. The word 'Richmond' caught my eye and I did a double take and saw '# 3 Road' and 'Shell Road' and 'George Massey Tunnel.' Upon closer inspection, #3 road actually read '#S' road. #4 and #5 roads were also '#S' road. Somebody had gone and put a small section of a GVRD map onto a bunch of shirts. Best of all, it had USA emblazoned in large letters above it. I think they meant to put a map of Seattle on it or something, and veered too far north.

Last weekend went to Pusan:
















And Jin Hae, to see the Cherry Blossom Festival:
















Here's a video I took of a friend reading some poetry at the Monk Jazz Club in Pusan.

Daegu had one of it's sporadic air raid drills on Friday. During these drills, traffic stops for 20 minutes, military convoys drive down the streets, fighter jets dart across the sky, and the radio asks people to report North Korean spies should they come across any. Took a video from our roof and one from in front of my school. You can see the idling traffic.

Dong Hwa Temple

Went to another temple this past weekend. Dong Hwa. It was colder than expected up there and I'm battling an on-the-verge cold.



More pics here.