Monday, August 29, 2016

Sizzling Summer

Just after mid-August, it gets cooler and cooler. The scorching summer seems final to be over. Koreans are eventually relieved from the terrible heat and humidity. Actually, every time summer comes, many people like me sensitive to the heat and sweating a lot worry about how to spend the summer. Summer 2016 in Korea felt even hotter than last. The tropical nights and heat wave hit the country and people seriously struggled to cope with the heat day and night. Took some pics to memory the unprecedented heat in the summer of 2016. The temperature rose up to 42℃ outdoors on Aug. 14, as shown the above. 

Headed for Gyeongju on Aug. 12 to spend the summer holiday. It happened that the hottest area across the country on that day was just the ancient city, whose temperature was 39.4. The cool places downtown like air-conditioned coffee shops were packed with people to avoid the intolerable heat. Took a photo in front of Cheomseongdae 첨성대, an ancient astronomical observatory built in Shilla dynasty.

An American recalled his childhood in Korea about 50 years ago when he had visited Cheomseongdae. He left a comment on Youtube

"Wow does that take me back Steve!  I saw Cheomseongdae when I was 12, back in 1965!

My family went with another military family from Daegu in their van.  As I remember, the road was gravel all the way there.  Also funny - people constantly were trying to flag us down as they mistook the big American van for a local bus. Imagine their surprise when the "bus" stopped and it was full of Americans!"

Two US military camps have been located in Daegu. In the past, most of the roads in Korea just as the same one the American child saw were made of gravel, so they were so bumpy and rough. I also remember the bumpy and dusty road from Daegu to Gyeongju.