Daegu IAAF World Championships

After a slight change in plans, we arrived in Daegu early on Sunday afternoon via KTX from Busan. With no tickets for Saturday and not sure of the scalping procedures in Korea, we weren't counting on getting in to see any events on the first day of competition and first checked into our hotel. 

maybe i'm a little more excited than Tim.

made it!

We took a free shuttle bus to the stadium which lies a little ways outside of Daegu and wasn't the most convenient location to get to (or from).  

The stadium grounds were pretty impressive, the stadium itself able to seat just over 60,000 spectators.  

We arrived just after the opening ceremonies had started and finally agreed to pay face value for a couple of tickets in the 2nd row, right in front of the long jump pit.  Lucky us, because the women's long jump qualifier just happened to be scheduled for that evening!

We caught the tail end of the ceremonies and entered just in time to see the singing of the official song of the games sung by 2 Korean singers who, I'm sure, are very popular in Korea but actually unknown to me. 

?

Our seats for the evening allowed us to take in the men's decathlon high jump, the women's 10,000m final, and the women's long jump.  We also got a view from across the track of the men's 100m 1st round of heats.  

We sat about 3m away from the long jump pit and were able to see the athletes talking with their coaches and getting supporting words from their families. It was a really cool experience to see that they speak and get worried and laugh just like anyone else - but they also break world records.

the eventual silver medallist, calling for her coach.

a  blurried view of the women's 10 000m.

    

It was a long evening and a long walk to the subway station from the stadium, but we were up and at it again on Sunday with tickets for the whole day which we'd purchased nearly a year ago. 

I made a sign for the last event of the evening, the 100m final, with hopes that I'd somehow make it onto TV.....

Our seats were 12 rows back from the start line for the 100m, which was also a great view for the men's decathlon pole vault event which took place early in the afternoon. 

We saw Canada's Damian Warner do a few jumps and proudly waved our mini Canadian flag for him. 

I've decided pole vaulting is my favorite event to watch... partly due to the sheer magic of someone being able to launch themselves 5 metres into the air. 

We also had a great view of the top men in the decathlon, Americans Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee.

go canada!

We took a break in the afternoon to take in some of the events going on outside of the stadium and I was quite surprised at the lack of commercialism on the grounds.  At a similar event in North America I'm pretty sure that there would be dealers hocking their wares left right and centre, and just as many people buying.  But, in Daegu the only place to buy things was a smallish souvenir booth with a few t-shirts and souvenirs. Even adidas, the main sponsor had no shoes, or other paraphernalia for sale. 

don't worry. I won't quit my day job.

We ran into a man who may just be Usain Bolt's biggest fan, and snapped a shot with him, as well as with the Daegu mascot. 

Back inside the gates, our tickets allowed us entrance to a buffet for supper, where we caught up with some running friends and some of us enjoyed a few free beer:)

I excused myself a little early to get back to the seats for the men's 800m semi final which was a really enjoyable race to watch.  Long enough to settle in, but fast enough to be exciting. 

The women's long jump took place along with the men's 100m semi final heats when we got another, much closer look at Bolt who ran a relatively slow 10.12 sec 100m to win his heat. 

Other races on the track were the women's 400m semi-final with American Allyson Felix, and the 10,000m men's final in which the reigning 5 year champion withdrew due to injury, midway through the race. The final lap came down to a battle between Brit Mo Farra and Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan.  Our friends Simon and Adam (fellow Brits) managed to become part of Mo's family for about 3 minutes while they snapped a few photos with him during his victory lap. 

adam and simon with mo.

walter dix, 100m semi final

the bolt himself.

semi final 100m

men's 10 000m

The men's 1500m race was the final event for the supremely athletic male decathletes and it was heartwarming to see the cheers for Korean Kim Kun-Woo who nearly won the race but lost his lead in the final seconds.  

And..... the moment we'd all been waiting for finally arrived.  Bolt strutted in, showboating as usual, doing his hair in the camera/giant megatron screens, and being as cocky as possible (and why shouldn't he be?) As the men lined up, the audience was abuzz with predictions, all of them starting with ' well, AFTER Bolt it'll be....'. 

The men did their warm-up, stripped down to their uniforms and took their places on the start blocks.  Everyone was silent until the gun went off. Then the gun went off again. 

USAIN BOLT IS DISQUALIFIED!

bolt before the 'mistake'

Due to a new regulation by the IAAF, athlete's who commit a false start are immediately disqualified from the race.  There used to be an allowance for 2 false starts but this was changed to quicken the pace of races, apparently. 

So, to everyone's surprise, shock, and utter disbelief, after a very obvious premature jump out of the blocks, Usain Bolt, world's fastest man, was disqualified from the world championship. 

After everyone calmed down and realised the race still had to happen, with or without the Bolt, the guys took off and saw fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, Walter Dix, and Kim Collins take the podium with a winning time of 9.93. 

Bolt in 3-4 more sleeps.....

So, I know I said the next post would be continuation of the beach, but! I am just too excited about the IAAF champs this weekend in Daegu that I had to write it down somewhere.  


It's hard to believe that we've been in Korea almost a year to the day, and that we've had this weekend planned pretty much since then.  


This Friday, we will take the KTX up to Daegu and cross our fingers for a place to lay our heads that night. Saturday was a 'maybe' for us because there aren't many key events that day, but we've decided to go on Friday night in order to catch the women's marathon that starts early Saturday morning.  (The marathon will follow the same course as the race the happened in April of this year, through downtown Daegu).


On Saturday, we have full day tickets reserved and we will take in some women's 1500m heats, some men's 400m heats, as well as final events in the women's long jump, men's 10,000m and..... da da da.... THE 100m FINAL!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!


Our tickets look really good, right at the start line, so I may end up with about one hundred pictures of Usain Bolt's bum. But hey! That's ok!


Anyways, this was just a quickie, and there will undoubtedly be a full recap after the actual event. 

bolt in maybe the most awkward picture of his life, Daegu.

The Beach. Part One: What should I bring?

Summer has finally settled in to Busan and we've seen many days un-interrupted by typhoons, rain, and clouds.  The humidity is high, the sun is hot, and I can officially say this is the most I have continually sweated in my life. 


There is only so much you can do with a sweaty body, and among those things going to THE BEACH tops the list.  


Living in Busan makes us some of the luckiest people living in South Korea.  Due to its location on the southeast coast of the peninsula, Busan has a four or five beaches that are in easy travelling distance of the city and a couple that actually lie in the city.  From our apartment in the east side of Busan, our two most frequented are 


1.
Seongjeong beach, a quiet, family-vibed expanse of sand with few facilities, but a nice quiet atmosphere.  This beach takes a little more time and effort to get to, but has slightly more space to relax and a cleaner feeling swimming area. Seongjeong also has a surfing area as well as surfboard, windsurfing and wetsuit rentals.  

seongjong before it heated up for the summer.

blue crush.

prepping The Party Bag (see list below)

2.
 Haeundae beach, the most famous in Busan, and arguable Korea, this beach sometimes sees one million tourists on its busiest days.  Because this beach is surrounded by several of Busan's nicest hotels, restaurants (many of them western) and is located on the subway line, it is quite often packed with Koreans and foreign tourists.  If you're in the mood for the full Korean experience (crowds) and have some patience to spare, this is the place to be. On the other hand, If you want to listen to the waves crash against the shore while breathing in the smell of salt, you're out of luck. Haeundae is the party beach - at least from July until August when the weather is nice and many Koreans have their summer vacation.

one section of the beach on a 'slow' day.

As our moods change, so does our beach choice.  However, this past weekend we put in three tough 8 hour days at Haeundae and had no regrets.  A run-in with an old co-worker led me to this article about Haeundae in the LA Times:
South Koreans Stay Out of the Sun
and inspired me to do an entry on Busan's beaches..... at least my two favorites.


A Day at the Beach 


Spending the day at Haeundae - or any beach- is not for the faint at heart.  Do you think you can handle the sweltering heat, the unforgiving UVs, and  the surrounding sand without a few preparations? Well if so, then think again, my friend. 
As seasoned sun-sitters, we know that having a beach bag that is always ready and waiting by the door is key to making it to the coast early enough to maximize our fun in the sun.  
'What is a beach bag?' You ask. 'What do you even PUT in it?' You wonder. 
Wonder no more, here are the essentials:


Beach bag (should be large, with an open top such that is sturdy enough to stand on its own without tipping over.  Zipper is optional, handles are mandatory)


1)Towels: the number of towels should be equal to 1.5 x the number of beach goers. Each person needs one towel for their chair/to lie on as well as at least 1/2 a towel for possible spills, face sweat wiping, bathing suit changing, etc.


2)Sunscreen:  SPF is a personal preference, but I think we've all learned that SPF 4 should really be called 'NOSPF' or ' Burninabottle'.  I like to use a good 30 or over on my face, and a more moderate 15 on other areas to allow some sun-kissing but prevent sun-scorching.


3)Sunglasses/hat:  These items are listed together because they work together.  If you opt against the hat, choose bigger sunglasses. If you don't care for shades then get a giant hat - or, if you're lucky enough to live in Korea, get yourself a giant ajumma visor which doubles as a headband/visor/darthvader face cover. 


4)Party mat  or tarp:  Depending on which beach you'll be visiting, you may or may not need this.  If you are at an un-serviced beach you will need a non-sandy surface for your valuables as well as your comfort.  We picked up a lovely green model in Japan for about 5$. it folds up nicely and will be there when we need it most.


5)Reading material:  I prefer to stock my beach bag with light fare such as Archie comics, Cosmo magazines, and other mindless material.  The beach is meant for relaxing, not learning.


6) Water: This is an item that isn't usually kept in the beach bag, but should be put in the freezer/fridge the previous night.  Often the pre-chill makes little difference because the water reaches 50 degrees after sitting in the sun for 5 minutes, but it's worth a shot.


7) Money: If you should happen to forget any of the items listed above, any beach worth its salt (ha! a pun!) will have them for sale.  But,obviously if you are going to secluded area, money is not going to be much use so stock up on the essentials.


8) The Party Bag : (optional, but not really) This is Tim's department. Our original PB was a green one from Sobey's. Here we have a Korean HITE bag. The party bag is a medium sized insulated bag that, when filled with ice and beer, becomes Tim's #1 reason for going to the beach.  I like to mooch off the cold benefits of the bag and stash popsicles or water in it.  What you fill your party bag with is up to you. The possibilities are endless, really.


Stay tuned for the next instalment of 
'The Beach. Part Two: Things people do at Korean Beaches'

We went to Japan! (the second part)

After the rain


We took a little shelter at the hotel before setting out again on the second trip of the day. Anyone who knows me really well will be surprised at this, because I don't tend to like starting new activities after 2pm.... I'm a morning person!  However, our time was limited, and our activity list was lengthy, so we decided to go to Arashiyama, a small town outside of Kyoto known for its monkeys and bamboo grove.  

Monkey Mountain
A few transit flubs later, we disembarked in Arashiyama, a beautiful setting along the Oi river at the foot of rolling hills and a mountain with monkeys near its peak.  The Iwatayama Monkey park was a short walk away, and a bit of a trek up the mountain, but well worth the effort.  Just before we hit the clearing where the monkeys congregate, we heard a large noise in the brush, and looked up to see a pair of 30 lbs primates barrelling down the hill 15 feet away from us. 

Signs warned not to show the monkeys food, touch them, or 'look them in the eye'.  I'd by lying if I said I wasn't worried about getting my eyes gauged out by a wild monkey paw.... 

In the 'monkey area' were dozens of snow monkeys of all ages, ooo ooo oooing, as we all know monkeys do.  It was possible to feed them ( peanuts or apples) but only from inside a caged structure where they reached through the chain link to grab the food. 

I found the older guys pretty revolting, but the couple of babies that we saw were enough like Curious George to appease me.  The view was also nothing to scoff at.....

We made it back down the mountain, eyes intact, to see the bamboo grove, something that had been raved about by many other travellers, but that we both found quite underwhelming. Maybe we made a wrong turn? Or maybe we're just j j j jaded....

Biwa-ko
Sunday, our second last day of the trip, turned out to be my favorite of all.  Surprisingly (or not), this wasn't because we saw anything spectacular or experienced anything supremely cultural.  In fact, I'm sure that where we spent our day is on very few tourists' to-do lists, and I actually had trouble finding much information about it. However, I wanted a beach day, and a beach day I got. 

As Kyoto is not on any form of coastline, beaches were not easy to come by in the area.  Luckily, Japan's biggest (and oldest) lake, Lake Biwa, was an easy 40 minute train ride away.  We packed up our suits, bought a tarp from a beach vendor, and set up shop on the shores of warm, clear waters, atop a white, pebbly coast. 

Swimming and napping in the sun can be pretty stressful, especially when there are so many beautiful mountains in your view, but, somehow, we survived. 

Tim stole the camera away for a few gorgeous shots:

a baby turtle!

I also took my favorite picture from the whole vacation, just before we left for the day. 

after watching these japanese boys horse around for an hour, they finally got tired and sat in the water just like any other boys.

Sushi belt

That night we undertook the very Japanesely efficient task of eating at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in downtown Kyoto.  The place was packed, mostly with locals, and had a great vibe, though it was a bit stressful to feel like you were eating from an assembly line. I had eaten about 10 pieces of sushi before I realised it wasn't a race.

The system was pretty simple, but interesting:  grab a dish from the belt that looks good and leave the empty plate in front of you.  When you are finished, the staff tally up your bill by counting your plates.  If you have an extra drink, staff give you a special plate that represents the price of the drink.  

Following the sushi (3 activities in ONE day? Who AM I??), we took a stroll to the other side of the Kamo river straight into the setting of Memoirs of a Geisha:  Gion.  Gion is a very popular tourist destination as it is home to one of the most well-known geisha districts in Japan.  We didn't spend much time in the area, but enough to get a very romantic and mysterious vibe that I'm sure many people feel when walking through the streets, hoping for a glimpse of the elusive, white-faced geisha. We didn't spot any, but I'm sure we just weren't looking hard enough

Minamiza theater

For our final full day in the land of the Rising Sun, I had fully planned to go to Hiroshima. This had been at the top of my list since planning the trip, months ago. Unfortunately, when I looked further into the journey from Kyoto, and finally figured out the prices, the tally ended up being about 270$ and 5-6 hours of travel.  With that, we opted to go to a closer and cheaper destination: Osaka. 


Osaka
The day showed no mercy with more 36 degree weather, bright sun, and super high humidity.  Once in Osaka, a city of about 3.7 million (a figure which drops to 2.6 million at night, due to Osaka's status as an economic center of Japan), we hopped aboard a 120m high ferris wheel, just to check out the lay of the land. 

Osaka's aquarium is world renowned for having one of the largest tanks in the world, housing a whale shark, among other petrifying looking creatures.  Among them, spider crabs......

For our last stop in Osaka, we paid a visit to Osaka castle (a substitute for Himeji castle, Japan's best, which was under construction at the time).  The castle was beautiful, but slightly marred by a large elevator shaft built onto the side.  

In one of the most hilarious moments of the trip, I read about a time capsule that had been buried in commemoration of Expo '70, which the creators hoped would be recovered by people living in...... 6,1970.  That's right, in FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.  

Back to Gion, back to reality
After one more night in Kyoto, we woke on our last morning to pack and prepare for the journey back north.  I made a quick sight-seeing run back to Gion, as I'm in the middle of reading 'Memoirs of Geisha' and wanted some visual aids.  

I set off in search of 'Shinbashi', famed as 'perhaps the most beautiful street in all of Asia'. After finally finding it, I managed to stumble upon a movie set, and was quickly ushered through, obviously before I managed to snap any photos. Oh well!

far off view of the film shooting

I left Kyoto, unwillingly, with possibly even more on my Japanese to-do list than when I arrived.... guess we'll have to go back!

paws, fighting to stay.