Trip to New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia(II)

Monday, November 28th 2011, we have witnessed the traditional family value is still alive in the heart of New York, Manhattan. The photo shows grandparents taking their grandchildren to school by walk early in the morning in the Upper West, west side of the Central Park, near the 94th Street Broadway. A grandmother is walking hand in hand with her granddaughters, while her husband walking alone beside with the little girls' backpacks in his hand.

Trip to New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia(I)

At eight o'clock in the morning on November 26, 2011, Saturday, my wife and I was in Incheon International Airport waiting for check-in process to be on-board a Korean Air flight to New York. The airplane serving the ICN-JFK route was a brandnew A380 with more spacious legroom and individual video system even in its economy class seats. Thanks to my son Kenny who works for the airlines, my wife and I am entitled to fly the airlines around the world almost free of charge, though limited to its economy class, subject to load i.e. space availability.

Ater a long and tedious 14-hour flight, we arrived at JFK Airport in New York around 10 o'clock in the morning on the same day local time. Since we decided to experience New York's public transportation system, we moved to upstairs to take the Air Train to Jamaica Station to transfer to Manhattan's Penn Station via Metro Line E for our final destination to New York Yankee's Stadium in Bronx.

Lake Park in Ilsan City

Fall has arrived in the Lake Park of Ilsan city, venue for the opening ceremony for the 89th National Athletic Meeting in October 2011.

A Trip to Soya-do Island

According to meteorologists, we had the largest amount of precipitation in this northwestern part of Incheon City during this summer, from June 1 to August 16, 2011, for the past 100 years. The total rainfall in this period was about 1900mm, far exceeding the average 920mm. The frequency was increased probably in its highest level as well, two rainy days (48 days) out of three calendar (77) days i.e. it rains 48 days out of 77 days so far in this summer.

The photos are taken last weekend from 'Soya-do' Island located 47.6km away from the heart of Incheon and just next to 'Deokjeok-do', 0.5km southeast of the island. The name 'Soya' is reportedly taken from the historic event that a Chinese general 'Soya (蘇爺) i.e. '蘇定方' stationed in this tiny island with his large army before joinging the so-called 'Shilla-Tang Allied Troops' in 660 A.D. to attack 'Backje' in the south and the 'Goguryo' in the north of Korean Peninsula, several years later, together with the local 'Shilla ' Kingdom.

The weather was mostly cloudy, windy and rainy as expected, unabling our team members to go fishing and other outdoor activities. But we were able to walk around the island through a trekking course available.

Foot Prints on the Sands of Time

Last weekend, Korean Memorial Day long weekend June 4-6 which marks the beginning of summer in this part of the world, my wife and I went to 'Muchangpo' Beach to leave our foot prints on the sands of time as we are supposed to do at this time of year.
Of course, I know the foot prints will be scorched only into my brain for a long long time possibly for the rest of my life.

The photo shows our own chalet simply established on the sands of 'Muchangpo' Beach last Sunday, June 5th 2011, around 11 o'clock in the morning. Thanks to the so-called state-of-the-art technology, we were able to communicate with the world in the chalet through our smart phones, as well as making phone calls, from this remote site.

A Trip to Deokjeok-do Island

Last Saturday, May 28th 2010, I was able to onboard an express ferry "SMART" departing Incheon Port on 8:40 in the morning to make a round trip to Deokjeok-do Island, for the second time since October 2000 together with a dozen of my old friends and their wives.

It took just over an hour for the ferry to arrive at the island's 'Jin-ri' wharf. After a short trekking through the top of 'Bijobong' mountain, we had lunch at a seafood restaurant near 'Seopo-ri' beach resort.

Misty Rain

It rains almost every other day here in this part of the world, northwestern part of Incheon City. The photo shows one of my favorite trekking routes up to Mt. Cheolma in my neighborhood shortly after the misty rain stopped last weekend.

I appreciate the rich natural and environmental resources available in my neighborhood since I can enjoy them whenever I want by simply changing my shoes with a bottle of drinking water in my hand if I can take a few hours from my daily routine.

A Trip to Southern California

On April 15th Friday in the evening, I was pretty busy in Incheon International Airport with my wife for preparing a check-in process for a flight to Los Angeles, the first trip to the city since late March 2002.

After a long and tedious 11-hour-flight, we were able to arrive at LAX late in the afternoon local time on the same day. It's sunny and breezy day in the city of angels as usual, and the terminals were standing in the same manner as in 1990's when I worked there. As we came out of the terminal gate, we got into a Dollar rent a car shuttle to their counter located nearby La Cienega Blvd to rent a mid-size Ford Fusion. Half an hour later, we took the famous 405 Long Beach Freeway southbound to exit at Hawthorn Blvd., exactly the same way of my commuter route to and from my place when I lived and worked there with my wife Rosa, my sons Kenny and Andrew and my young daughter Cathleen for five years in 1990's.

After making a right turn at the exit, we proceeded to Days Inn Torrance/Redondo Beach to check in. The photo shown on the top was taken from the patio of the room number 402 as soon as we completed dismantling of our luggages and washing hands. Then I made a phone call to my old friend 'BC' living a nearby townhouse to make an appointment for dinner.

In the morning of April 16th, Saturday, the second day of our trip, we headed to one of the biggest recycling center in greater Los Angeles area, located in Harbor City near Long Beach, to meet Mr. Park, one of my senior officers in the past, who owns and operates the center for more than 15 years to say hello. The center was pretty well organized and the business was booming.

Early in the afternoon, my wife and I were walking through a pier at Redondo Beach under the calm, peaceful and warm southern California sunshine. We could find many swimmers at the beach quite ahead of time from my standard. The photo, second from the top, shows my wife with many people enjoying sunbathing and swimming in the background.

After enjoying some seafoods at a restaurant along the pier, we moved to Torrance to meet my friend 'BC' and his wife at his 3-story townhouse located near Torrance YMCA. (My wife and BC are talking in front of his built-in garrage in a photo, third from the top. He has bought this townhouse at the price of $500,000 several years ago.)

Sunday morning, April 17th, my wife and I went to a nearby Catholic church to attend a mass and to say hello to some acquaintances afterward.

We checked out from the motel on Monday, April 18th, as scheduled to leave for Las Vegas, driving through Anza Avenue north and Sepulveda Blvd. east, turn left to Hawthorn 107 north to Artesia to proceed to 91 FW East to meet Freeway 15 to Las Vegas. It was a long and arduous trip from Torrance, California, to Las Vegas, 480 KM to be exact. Actually it took 6 hours, including 2 stops for lunch and fueling en route, for us to arrive at our destination Las Vegas Hilton, mostly through stony and mountainous desert areas. The photo, 4th from the top, shows a view of the Las Vegas Strip.

Las Vegas is still evolving from the city of gambling into the giant amusement park primarily through the Las Vegas Strip. The first thing we did after checking in our hotel, therefore, was to buy monorail tickets for two-days at the Hilton Station ($12 per person). Besides several famous night shows, there were some educational programs or exhibitions like those learning human bodies, provided by the giant pyramid of the Luxor Hotel, as well.

On Wednesday, April 20th, around 9:30 in the morning we were driving through Las Vegas Strip southbound into the Interstate Freeway 15 to San Diego. It took almost all day long for us to arrive at downtown San Diego from Las Vegas. My wife and I were able to talk a lot about our future, thanks to the time. Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, we changed our mind to go to Sea World Amusement Park and then return to Los Angeles, instead of staying in the city for the night. The photo, 5th from the top, shows the most famous attraction in the Sea World - killer whales "Shamu Show". After the amusement part closed at 6:30 in the evening, we started to drive to Los Angeles.

Getting Back On Track

Last winter was severely cold in this part of the world, breaking the typical 'cycle of three cold days and then four warm days'. Fortunately for all concerns, however, spring is just around the corner.

Personally I was pretty busy for the last 3-4 months, beginning the first part of October last year, for the implementation of the extension and remodelling project of a commercial building complex I own, unabling me to update any post during the period.

Now, I will be able to sit down on my chair in front of my small Netbook computer in my office to look around and take time to update my blog.