Time to Puffer Up!

Just when I thought I've tried every Korean cuisine that's delicious, this was definitely one of the best. I went to a fish restaurant with one of the P.E. teachers. What stands out is that there's more fish than the usual mackerel, salmon, or tuna. We ordered the swordfish and puffer fish. At first I was somewhat nervous about the puffers because they are poisonous when alive. Our server assured us that the venom is carefully removed by their well trained chefs. I was pleasantly surprised that such a unique and amazing restaurant was located so close to my place (only a 15 minute walk). The texture and seasonings for all of the dishes were top notch.

 

 

Great Moments at IAAF

Here are some videos of some of the events from the IAAF games. I apologize that some of the videos don't capture as much action of the actual events. It was difficult to watch and film at the same time, but it still gives an idea of the atmosphere during the events.

Opening ceremony: The representatives from each country carried their flags towards the center of the stadium. 

Opening ceremony: A Korean vocalist was accompanied by dancers who performed some colorful & artistic choreography.

Walter Dix won the third heat during the first round of the 100m dash.

Usain Bolt easily wins his heat in the 100m dash. He then has a little bit of fun with the Daegu cameramen.

Usain bolts to the finish line in the 200m final.

IAAF World Championships

The IAAF World Championships is a ten day track & field event that took place in Daegu this year. This event happens every two years and takes place the year before and after the Olympics. It was crazy that I happened to be in Daegu, as it's rare to even get the chance to attend this kind of international athletic event. I was very excited to see some the best athletes in the world in person!

 Everyone scrambling to get into the stadium.

 The opening ceremony looks even better after the sunset.

 A close up of the ceremony.

Usain Bolt getting interviewed after (easily) advancing to the 100m semi-final.

All of the decathlon athletes posing for the media. Team USA, Trey Hardee and Ashton Eaton earned the gold and silver medal. Korea's representative, Kun-Woo Kim, set a national record in this event, to the delight of the crowd.

 Our entire school went to the IAAF games during the week. It was awesome to see most of the stadium packed with students and teachers from other schools.

Posing with our P.E./guidance counselor and two of my students.  

Jungmun Beach

While Jungmun Beach is one of most beautiful beaches in Korea, it takes about 15-20 minutes to get down to the actual beach.  People have to hike down a cliff to access the beach, but all of the paths have a few stairs to make the way down and up a bit easier. The awesome views make this walk worth it!

 View of most of the beach from a cliff on the northwest side

 One of the paths had a place for taking photos.

View of the entire beach from the east

Here's a video I captured once we reached the actual beach.

Lava Tubes

On the next day we visited Manjangul and Kimnyeong-gul Lava Tube, which is one of the largest lava tunnels in the world. This was originally one cave but parts of the tunnel collapsed at one point, forming two separate caves. While only 1 kilometer of the lava tube is open to the public, it still takes about 40 minutes to reach the endpoint when walking continuously. Bats can be seen lurking in this cave on a occasion. I was hoping to see one, but I had no luck. At around the midway point there is a rock that sort of looks like a turtle. The endpoint has a lava pillar, which is supposed to be rare feature in a lava tube.

 This picture give a good idea of the massive tunnel created by lava flow.

 The turtle shaped rock

The lava pillar accompanied by changing lights.

Since it was difficult to get decent pictures here, I figured a video would give everyone a better view of the lava tube.

The color of the lighting changes much more rapidly for the lava pillar at the end.

Seongeup Folk Village

This is one of the two traditional villages left in Jeju. It is designated as one of the historic locations in Korea.

Seongsan Ilchubong

Along the northeastern part of Jeju Island, we can hike up this volcanic crater. It only takes about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to get to the top. At the peak I took some amazing pictures and video of Jeju City. There is a great view of the crater at the top, but a picture doesn't really do justice on showing this natural wonder.

Hallam Park

This place is a botanical gardens that is located in Jeju Island. In addition to a large variety of trees, there is also a bonsai sculptural garden, a zoo, and a cave. The cave is one of the natural monuments in Korea, Ssaanyong Cave (this is the actual spelling when translated in English).

The entrance to Hallam Park.

 Considering the lack of lighting in this cave, I was able to get a decent shot.

This sculpture is obviously not part of the cave, but looks pretty cool for sure.

Here's a short video of us walking inside the cave.

Walking through the bonsai and sculptural garden

Some animal plant sculptures - The dinosaur ones looked the best.

Views of Namhae

Here are some pictures of the beautiful landscape at the second area we stayed at Namhae Island. I made sure to take most of my pictures during the sunny days.

During the low tide, we can walk almost all the way to the boating dock.

  

The tide can dramatically change on the same day hours. Here is a picture of the same area during the high tide.

 This was one of my favorite photos of my Namhae trip.

 Here is a view of the second boat dock. Notice how the path on the left does not connect to rest of the dock.

I was surprise that many people did not recommend Namhae Island as a nice vacation destination. Not that I was complaining since we were able to relax without having to fight through crowds of people!

Namhae Island Activities

 During the low tide, we can catch fish using our hands and a net.

 This was the first time I ever experienced kayaking.

 We went kayaking for about three hours. I was a little tired after that, but I had a wonderful time and the scenery was amazing.

This was probably the best group of people that I've ever traveled with. It was great that I ended up exchanging contact info with many of them after our trip.