We had big plans yesterday to spend a good part of the day on a Royal Asiatic Society tour of “Chosun Dynasty Seoul.”
Led by architectural historian Peter Bartholomew, the tour covers several of the capital’s famous palaces, as well as some family homes of the era’s aristocracy, and other historic sites. I know, pretty much everyone who’s spent a day in Seoul has already seen Gyeongbokgung, but seeing it with someone who can put the history in context—who, for example, knows that the lilies planted along the restored pond around Hyangwon Pavilion aren’t native to the country, or that the bridge there was rebuilt on the wrong side—adds a lot to the experience.
I’ve missed the past two opportunities, and was really looking forward to this one.
Unfortunately our plans were interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Namely, a good chunk of China’s Gobi Desert, which descended unexpectedly over the lower half of the peninsula on Sunday. We’ve already encountered the notorious Hwangsa, but this was ridiculous. To get an idea of what the dust looks like, you can check out some pictures at The Daily Kimchi and these from Busan Mike. (Unlike yours truly, they were willing to risk life and limb—or, at least full lung function—to bring you such grassroots journalism. They’re hard core.)
The dust levels were off the scale, greater than 1000 micrograms per cubic meter, as you can see in this image from the U.S. Forces Korea’s (USFK’s) yellow-sand monitoring website.
Anything above 800 mcg is considered unsafe for even healthy people. The city of Seoul and USFK both issued warnings advising everyone to stay indoors with windows closed, and air filters running.
Needless to say, we had a pretty boring Sunday. (Inside. Air filter running. Movies on the computer.)
By noon, the levels had risen to 1,234 mcg/m3, but started to fall in the early evening. David went to the grocery store about 10 p.m., when the website said the dust levels had returned back to safe levels. But, he still woke up with a cough and a headache today.
Some are predicting the Hwangsa this year will be worse than in previous ones, with the problems continuing to intensify as China continues to rapidly industrialize and its problems with deforestation and desertification continue.
I can only say that this is definitely affecting our perspective when it comes to deciding how long we will stay here—realizing that we’re lucky that for us it’s a choice—and I doubt we’re alone.
{ 7 comments }
Jon Allen 04.03.07 at 11:03 am
We spent the day inside too.
A friend who had been out said the city was eerily deserted, ‘like after a nuclear attack’ as he put it!
annamatic 04.03.07 at 2:14 pm
i must be completely oblivious… i really didn’t notice anything on sunday.
Tobi 04.03.07 at 11:01 pm
Atlanta was a “yellow” city last week too! The pollen count was unbelieveable, almost 6,000 a few days. (extremely high = 125). We FINALLY got a little rain over the weekend to tame things down, so today we’re at a resonable 675.
Gdog 04.04.07 at 12:50 am
I did not know about the “warning” as we headed out around 2:30pm. What did surprise me and I found odd was the lack of people on the subway, which normally is pretty busy on a Sunday afternoon. Even out in Dongdaemun we saw lots of people wandering about…some with masks and some without. Inside an “Olive Young” store the cotton masks were almost sold out. I had a headache today…most likely from the dust.
Cat 04.04.07 at 8:33 am
It is actually sometimes hard to notice the difference between the yellow sand and regular smog–especially on what you think are “cloudy” days.
I usually check the USFK yellow sand website every morning, but, if possible you should check it throughout the day.
On Saturday, it was rainy in the morning, but I went out in the afternoon to do some shopping. I checked in the morning and levels were almost non-existent. By around 4 p.m. they were already above 500 mcg/m, as the yellow dust blew in. The levels just got worse and worse through the night.
I remember getting back home and wondering why I was sneezing so much and had a headache. I checked the website, and that was it. If I hadn’t thought to check back in the morning, we probably would not have realized it either, until it was too late.
Felicia 04.06.07 at 9:26 pm
Hello!
Thank you for such a beautiful website.
I will be moving to South Korea very soon.
I would like to know, what camera are you using to take these gorgeous pictures?
Thank you.
Felicia
Cat 04.09.07 at 3:29 pm
Hi, Felicia,
Thanks for the comment! Good luck with your move.
About the camera: I use a Lumix DMC-FZ5. I bought it just before we moved here and I really like it a lot.
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