Seogwipo's "Son of the Wind" beats Tiger Woods

This past weekend was the 91st PGA Championship, which featured the best in golf. It's not surprising that Tiger Woods would be leading the pack by four strokes going into Saturday, but after missing several key putts, he was within reach in the final round, including by one Y.E. Yang, a Seogwipo native.

Hat tip to ROK Drop for this article published by the Associated Press:

Y.E. Yang was already 19 when he first picked up an iron at the country club where he had a low-wage job shagging golf balls. He practiced late into the night after the paying customers had gone until he became good enough to turn pro.

Now, at 37, following a stunning victory over Tiger Woods, he is the first Asian-born man to win a major golf tournament — not to mention the pride of a golf-crazy nation and the toast of a continent.


Yang's parents getting a call shortly after he won the title

Yang, known as "Son of the Wind" for his consistency even on windy days, had beaten Woods at a tournament in 2006, but never in a major.

Woods, the top player in the world, had never lost in the 14 previous majors in which he had taken a lead into the final round. Yang went into the tournament ranked 110th.

Unfazed by the gallery that trailed Woods, Yang prevailed, keeping his calm and then pumping his fist into the air when he had nailed the title, thanks in large part to a thrilling shot over a tree and onto the green from 210 yards on the 18th hole.

Yang calls himself an "average Joe" from a humble farming family from a village near Seogwipo. He says he once aspired to be a bodybuilder and dreamed of owning his own gym.

But a knee injury forced him to reconsider his bodybuilding career, and at age 19, he took a job collecting golf balls at one of Jeju's posh golf resorts.

Most South Korean golfers go through a rigorous "elite" course for aspiring pros. But Yang was already far older than the students training to becoming pro golfers, and he didn't have the money for lessons or green fees. He agreed to pick up balls as a trainee in exchange for off-hours access to the driving range and a small monthly wage, officials said.

Yang is legendary for having arrived as early as 5 a.m. to practice before the range opened and returning to hit more balls after closing time, even stringing up his own lights after dark.

Yang had played only about 100 rounds of golf by the time he left the country club for compulsory military services. When he was finished, he went to New Zealand to concentrate on golf for three months. In 1996, he turned pro — against his father's wishes.

Yang Han-joon, who grows root vegetables, pressured his son to join him in the fields. "Golf is for rich people," he recalled saying. "Why are you trying to become a golfer? Please don't do it."

Jeju, famous for its waterfalls, volcanoes, seafood and sunshine, is a popular honeymoon spot and in recent years has become a luxury golf destination. Green fees can be several hundred dollars a round...

Yang's play throughout the tournament was nothing short of amazing, I'm happy for the guy and glad that someone was finally able to beat Tiger; chalk another one up for Jeju's awesomeness.

Cool Summer Nights

Hat tip to ROK Drop, an article published at the end of July in the Chosun Ilbo brings attention to some interesting climate differences noted in this year's summer:

Sleepless tropical nights seem to have disappeared from Korea as the climate becomes more unpredictable. The Korea Meteorological Administration on Monday said Seoul saw an average of 8.8 nights when temperatures did not fall below 25 degrees Celsius from 2000 to 2008, but there has been only one tropical night so far this year.

Since 2000, Busan averaged 13.8 tropical nights during the summer until last year, but the southern city has had just one tropical night this summer. Daegu has had three against usual average of 17.9, and Jeju just 11 against 27.1 on average, the KMA said. Chuncheon and Daejeon did not see a single one so far.

The KMA finds the reason in the prolonged stay of a cold air mass from the north over the Korean Peninsula, which suppressed expansion of the North Pacific anticyclone from the south that brings sweltering heat to Korea. Jin Gee-beom, the chief of the weather forecast bureau at the KMA, said, "The Okhotsk Sea anticyclone has been especially strong this year, so the weather in Korea has been heavily influenced by cold wind from northeast. The cold air mass stays in the upper sky, and when the temperature rises during the day, it creates sudden showers and keeps temperature cool during the night."

Even though it has been cooler at night here, we've still had a lot of beautiful days of sunshine, which have been perfect for days at the beach. I just hope this doesn't mean cooler weather leading into the fall and winter...

Total Solar Eclipse

In case you missed it, here are some pictures from the Total Solar Eclipse which was viewable from Southeast Asia and Northeast Oceania on July 22nd:





Despite being incredibly cloudy, it was a sight to behold.

Photos courtesy of Brian Miller

Mac is Back

Got my laptop back from Seoul and everything is working perfectly. The best part, it only costed me 5,000 won for the shipping to Seoul.

Courtesy of Korean Macintosh User Group, an Apple authorized distributor and service provider, my laptop is now back to working condition; I'm not sure what they did, but they did replace some hardware. More blog updates to come...

Missing Apple

My laptop has been non-functional for almost the last week now; it's a hardware issue which makes it even worse.

Apple has very few retail stores in Korea, so hopefully I can call Apple back in North America and figure out an alternative. PC rooms may become my new home for the time being...

Japanese Excursion Day 1: 祭 Matsuri nights, Kyoto

Having just got back from my short vacation to Japan on Thursday, I'm still processing all that went on. I feel like I've done so much that I'm not really sure where to start, but having recorded loads of video both with my flip and Canon HD, I think I'll have good account of what happened after going through them and sharing my experience with you.

First took off from Jeju Thursday morning, July 16th. Landed in Gimpo airport and took the shuttle to Incheon International airport for the flight to Osaka. I thought there might have been not enough time with the shuttle transfer from the airports and boarding an international flight, but everything went smoothly.

My first glimpse of Japan from the plane:



Once the plane arrived in Kansai airport, you can get to Kyoto via the JR West railway line. For around 2400円 (yen) you can get a non-reserved ticket on the Airport Express HARUKA line, which is approximately a 75 minute trip.

For 1950円, you can get the slower (95 min) train to Kyoto Station, but have to transfer in Shin-Osaka. To avoid any unnecessary confusion, the Airport Express is your best bet.

Before you embark, they have attendants clean the train, even the chairs help out:



It's not much of a view on the ride; you can see the outskirts of Osaka as they lead into Kyoto. On the upside, the chairs are pretty comfy and are perfect for those who like napping.



Once the train arrived at Kyoto Station, I felt really out of place. I had a map of where I was supposed to go, but wasn't really sure how long it would take to get there, or if the bus was a better option. Having remembered that the cabs here are ridiculously expensive, I tried the walking approach.

Located on Kawaramachi-dori (street), the Econo Inn is about a 15 minute walk from Kyoto station and is easily visible from the sidewalk with it's big bright blue sign; it is particularly useful later in the evening when you might have had a few drinks.



The Econo Inn was surprisingly cheap at 3495円 a night/per person. The room was small with an even smaller bathroom, but it had an extremely comfortable comforter and bed to make up for that. It's a great place to stay on a budget and is within walking distance to many of the shopping districts and sights in Southern 東山区 Higashiyama.



Spotted a rainbow from the balcony of my room, always a good sign:



Nothing could prepare me for the craziness on the streets along Kawaramachi-dori and Shijō-dōri. In the nights leading up to the 祇園祭 Gion Matsuri parade, people walk about the streets in their summer kimonos, watching artistic and musical performances whilst perusing through countless street vendors.



Went to a nearby traditional Udon restaurant, Mendokoro Kyoumen, in the Gion District.



It was the best beef udon ever, priced at 1050円.


The nearby 八坂神社 Yasaka-jinja (Yasaka shrine) is the spot to be on the 16th, with swarms of people and shops on the shrine's grounds.



Inside the shrine, there are numerous concession stands selling everything from pineapple on-a-stick to cans of Asahi, to yakitori (barbecued chicken skewers).



Inside the shrine are several golden 神輿 Mikoshi (portable shinto shrines):

In 869 the mikoshi (portable shrines) of Gion Shrine were paraded through the streets of Kyoto to ward off an epidemic that had hit the city. This was the beginning of the Gion Matsuri, an annual festival which has become world famous.

There were several people ringing the bells nearby, praying for a wish.



We stumbled upon a 神楽, かぐら Kagura performance, "a specific type of Shinto theatrical dance — with roots arguably predating those of Noh." I was delighted.



It was a lengthy performance, but well worth watching. The next scene the main character has a battle with dragons; awesome.



He eventually kills the green dragon, who proves to be the most stubborn and powerful amongst the lot. The actors reveal themselves and bow to the large crowd.

Decided to turn in at that point, and prepare for the parade of floats early the next day.

비자림 Bijarim

Brian and I were out to 비자림 (Bijarim Forest) a couple weeks back to take some pictures and write about it for a Jeju Weekly story. Neither of us had ever been before, but after hearing about the "Millennium tree", a tree more than 800 years old, it sounded worthwhile.

Designated as a natural monument, Bijarim Forest has a group of about 2,800 Bija trees which are 500∼800 years old. They are 7~14m high, with diameters ranging from 50~110cm. This is the largest forest of bija trees in the world...In 1992, Jejudo Island renovated a walkway at this site for the citizens and tourists to enjoy forest walks through the wonderful forest.

It's a little tricky getting there if you don't have your own vehicle, but once you sit down to figure it out, it's still manageable. Take a bus from Jeju-si or Seogwipo-si to Sehwa-ri, where you can then take a cab to Bijarim for about 7,000 won; admission is free with your Jeju residency card.

We decided to bring a lunch with us, since the bus ride was about an hour and a half and we weren't sure what kind of place we were going to be dropped off at; gimbap with tuna sandwiches and some flavourful raspberry makgeolli to wash it down.

The beginning of the path into the woods is quite nice, with a big freshly mowed grassy field in the center and a quaint pebble walkway leading towards the forest. There are various species of trees and bushes, each with a marker to indicate what they are.



After finishing our lunch on a picnic table near the entrance to the woods, we started our walk through the old nutmeg forest.

A natural nutmeg grove (Torreya nucifira community) on Mt. Hallasan (designated Natural Monument #384), extends over 448 thousand square meters...In the past, nutmeg was valued as vermicide and its wood was popular for high quality furniture and paduk (go) boards for the wealty. The area is also noted foor many rare orchids which grow naturally.

The canopy within the forest adds to the atmosphere; you feel like you're walking through an enchanted old forest.



After walking roughly half of a kilometre, you come to this crossroad; one path leads towards the exit, another back the way you came from, and the third to the mysterious "Millennium tree". We went with path number three.

In the middle of the forest is an 800-year-old tree, the oldest tree on Jeju-do Island. The tree is 25m high and has a girth of 6m and is called the ancestor tree of the Bija trees.

As we approached the Millennium tree I felt somewhat eery by its presence, like the first time I saw the Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time; another 1998 classic.



All around the forest are name tags on the nutmeg trees, indicating they're "sister trees". Trees that are part of an ongoing project working towards bringing awareness about this forest to people in Korea and beyond.



There are also some campgrounds not too far off the returning path. So for anyone looking to stay the night or bring the family out, there's somewhere to camp. I spotted some oreum in the distance which looked like they would give a pretty good view of the area, but Brian and I were unable to find a path up.

If you're interested, you can find out more about Bijarim and other Jeju forests in my Jeju Weekly cover story, "Walk on the wooded side."

The Jeju Surf and Rock festival 2009

Over the July fourth weekend, the 7th Annual Jeju International Surf Competition and 6th Annual Stepping Stone Festival was held at Jungmun beach.

I arrived on the beach to find that there were no waves; Jungmun was a lake.



Plenty of surfboards, surfers and trophies were on scene, all around the beach and tent city setup near the entrance. Check out Jeju Weekly for a full report of the Surf Contest.



People were still enjoying the sunny day despite the lack of waves.

Matt and I tossed the football around for a bit and invented a new game dubbed "Suicide ball"; I needed to go to the hospital two days later to get sand removed from my ears.



The second part of the day was the Stepping Stone Festival, which included a line-up of various indie rock, reggae and other lively musical ensembles.


The concert was a bit behind schedule, but the bands still managed to set everything up and get the stage ready for the evening festivities.



The "Windy City" starting their warm-up:



Their performance was probably the most memorable of the evening, since the rest of the night got a bit hazy afterwards.



As the night descended upon the beach, everyone started to flock towards the stage.



Another band took the stage as the crowd was embracing the music fully. The Jeju weekly has another in-depth look at the event, in their article on Stepping Stone.



It was probably the greatest music performance of the year on Jeju, and was a great way to end a fun-filled day.



With a little fireworks display brought by the crowd, it was quite the unique celebration of the fourth of July; I had a blast and so did everyone else.