Flying to Seoul and Jeju-do, South Korea

This year started good with a Finnair flight Amsterdam – Helsinki – Seoul. It was the first time I flew with Finnair and it was a very pleasant experience. The crew was friendly, modern airplanes and the Helsinki Airport was small and easy to move around.

The Finnair entertainment system apparently uses Linux as its operating system.

During the flight you can select the view from a forward camera, or a downward camera. This was the first time I could see a take off and landing just like the pilot sees it!

 

We approached Seoul from the north west. You can see the island of Jeju-do (or Cheju) further down south.

 

Arrival at Incheon Airport

Getting around the airport is easy. All signs are also in English and many of the younger Korean people like to talk English.

Welcome to Seoul!

Seoul was actually just a stopover. We arrived in the morning at Incheon Airport, took a train to Gimp Airport and boarded a Jinair flight to Jeju-do. The entire trip took about 24 hours…

Train station near Incheon Airport

Before we boarded the plain to Jeju-do we ate some lunch

 

Example dishes at Jeju-do Airport

My first Korean food at Gimp Airport

At Jeju-do we ate one the local specialties: Okdomi

Okdomi
It is a ubiquitous and tasty a local fish that is semi-dried before grilled and has a gourmet taste.

 

Korean Coca Cola

Standard South Korean side dishes: kimchi, bean sprouts, spinach, and other stuff

Outside the restaurant: preparing cabbage for kimchi

Cabbage for kimchi

We ate the fish at the Bada Yechan Restaurant in Jeju-do.

iPhone 4 Photography Apps

The iPhone 4 is also a very good camera – 5 megapixels and most important small, light weight and I carry it always with me!

Here is my list of photography apps which I use to take awesome photos:

ProCamera
ProCamera replaces the standard Camera app on my iPhone for the following reasons:

• Faster startup
  ProCamera loads much faster when you exit the app and re-open it.
• Expert Mode
  You can set the focus point and exposure point on two different areas on the photo. In the standard Camera app the focus point is also used to determine the exposure. This is not always desirable.
• Virtual Horizon
  Helps you to keep the horizon level in your photos.
• Anti-Shake system
  ProCamera takes the photo will take the picture when you hold your iPhone still.

Pro HDR
I use Pro HDR to take photos with an increased dynamic range. Photos with extreme light/dark situations look much better when taken with Pro HDR. Pro HDR lets me tweak the end result, the HDR mode of the standard Camera app does not allow this.

Flickr
This is the official Flickr app. Good to do a quick upload, or to set the privacy level of a photo.

FlickStackr
I use FlickStackr to do some serious browsing through Flickr photos. Automatic caching of photos makes this app much faster then the official Flickr App.

Photo Wallet
I use Photo Wallet to download my Flickr photos on my iPhone. I can show the photos without being connected to the Internet.

The Photographers Ephemeris for iOS
The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) is a handy app to determine when and were the sun will come up and where it will set. I use this to plan my arrival times at locations where I want to shoot photos. There is also a free Windows version. I wrote about this version in my blog post ‘Sunrise and Sunset For (Landscape) Photographers’.

360 Pano
360 Pano creates panoramas in real time. Just start up the app, pan around and save the results. I got some pretty good panoramas with this.

Panorama of Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul, South Korea taken with 360 Pano
Click here to see a larger version.

Photoshop Express
I use Photoshop Express for those pesky photos which are rotated with the wrong side up when viewed, or to do a quick crop.

Instagram
Fast and fun way to share photos.

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The Seven Types of iPhone Owners

Which type of iPhone owner are you? I am ‘The Hacker’ type.

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Los Angeles Twilight Approach and Landing

Surfbum published this wonderful video of a low level approach and landing at LAX Airport during a fiery red sunset. The video below is 30 actual minutes compressed into about three minutes.

The video is taken with the Canon Powershot S95 compact camera. The Canon Powershot S95 has one of the largest sensors for a compact camera. Coupled with maximum aperture of f/2.0 (wide angle view) the camera can take some really nice photos and video during low light.

 

 

If you want to see it in real time / raw video, check out the video below

South Korean Toilet Traveller’s Guide

South Koreans like their technological gadgets and have apparently changed their toilets into gadgets too.

South Korean Toilet
Of course the seat is heated, but let’s take a look at the control panel.

South Korean Toilet Control Panel
I had no idea what the buttons did. There was no instruction manual! I pressed the blue button – a little nozzle pushed out from the back of the bowl to the front and happily sprayed water upwards. Closing the lid does not stop this (there is still room for improvement in the user interface…). Luckily the red button does what you expect – stop the water flow and retract the nozzle.
To prevent further accidents I left the other buttons untouched…
Back home I found out this toilet is a DoBiDos bidet. It is the Daelim DB-752NA, one of the bestsellers of the Korean firm Dobidos (www.dobidos.co.kr).
This is what the buttons do:
Top Button Group from left to right (low / medium / high setting):
Set Water Temp, Seat Temp, Econo function (set water and seat temperature to the lowest setting)
Coloured Button Group
Red – Stop
Blue – Wash function
Green – Bidet function
Grey – Dry function
Three Button Group right hand side
Move nozzle Front / Back
Middle button starts an automatic nozzle movement front-back giving a massage effect.
Lower Right Button Group
Set water pressure for the Wash and Bidet function

Konglish in South Korea

During my trip in South Korea I encountered some funny usage of the English language. This is called Konglish.

“To prevent losing your belongings, please do not put your personal items on a shelf. We apologize for any convenience”
Written on an airport luggage cart.


“Please, Keep out this room except for the responsible staff because it is the area preparing for housekeeping the rooms”
Sign placed outside a housekeeping room in a hotel in Seoul


“Present Food Coupon, Exchange Spoon”
Instructions in a restaurant


“If you have any inconvenience items, Please call near Staff”
Found on the wall in a toilet


“Description of the tree is available under or next to a tree. Will be reading a lot of help”
In a Bonsai park


“Have a feeling fine day”
In a train station


“Please don’t go up”
Sign on a hill of a Bonsai park


“Moving Forward”
Sign explaining the route through a Bonsai park


“We love having you here”
We are glad we are here too.


South Korea Seoul Toilet Instruction. No English text here, but still very funny.