Seokchon Lake cherry blossom festival in Seoul , South Korea

If you are living or staying in Seoul, Korea , this is the best time to go to cherry blossom festivals. Those pink and white flowers are absolutely gorgeous now. Many people choose to go to Yeouido island. However, if you are living in Songpa or Jamsil , Seokchon lake might be the best place to enjoy cherry blossoms.

If you go to Seokchon Lake, you have to go to Jamsil station exit 2 or 3. Then, you have to go south. 

There were many people to spend their weekends at the cherry blossom festival at Seokchon Lake. The cherry blossom flowers were in full bloom.

The trail around the Lake was surrounded by the cherry blossom flowers.

You can see Lotte World Magic Island from Seokchon Lake.

There is a bridge that connects Magic Island and Seokchon Lake but you can't cross it because there is a guard around it.

Everyone was busy taking pictures. 

There were some American soldiers at the cherry blossom festival.

American soldiers at the cherry blossom festival.

There was a music concert going on at the festival.

Another view of Lotte World Magic Island.

If you are circling the lake at the cherry blossom festival, you will notice that there is another trail upside.

You can also see the construction site of the Lotte World Premium Tower (the second Lotte World tower) from Seokchon Lake.

The clock tower at Seokchon Lake. It is already 6:25 pm.

A spectacular view of an evening glow.

How many SWAT teams are at the Boston bombing suspect hunt

As you know, the Boston Marathon suspect hunt was lead by a multiagency Joint Terrorism Task Force and you could see many SWAT team members in different uniforms. You might have wondered which SWAT team is from which agency. Let's take a look at some pictures.

First of all, these SWAT guys in these black uniforms are from the Boston Police.

Boston Police SWAT team

Boston Police SWAT

As you can see, these guys in the MultiCam uniform are from the Massachusetts State Police.

Massachusetts State Police SWAT

These guys in the olive drab uniforms are from the FBI

This is the famous scene you could see on the news about capturing the Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. 

As you can see, there is a ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) SWAT member on the left. He is wearing an olive drab uniform and a black helmet.

These SWAT guys in their ACU style uniforms are from the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council. 

The Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (Metro-LEC) is a non profit organization led by the chief executive officers of 41 law enforcement agencies and established for the purpose of promoting greater public safety by providing a working collaboration between law enforcement agencies that are located in the southeast and west region of Boston.

Metro SWAT

These officers in these olive drab uniforms with deltoid and axillary arm protectors (DAP) are from the Cape Cod Police Department

Cape Cod police SWAT team

How to set up a Youtube account and upload a video

Nowadays, you are able to watch Youtube videos everywhere on the web. However, you might have wondered how to make a Youtube account and share your videos with other people on the internet.

Here are very easy simple steps.


Step 1.

Firstly, you need to have a Gmail account.

http://sinkingfastball.blogspot.kr/2013/04/how-to-make-gmail-account.html

I explained how to set up a Gmail account in this link.



Step 2.

Now, you have to go to youtube.com . You can select the categories you are interested in.

Step 3.

You will see this congratulations message from youtube. Click the "got it" button.

Step 4.

Click the "upload" button on the top of the page.

Step 5.

Now, you need to submit your information including your name, gender, and birthday. Then, click the "continue to upload" button.

Step 6.

Your Youtube account is all set up now. You can now upload videos you like.

Click the "Select files to upload" button

Step 7.

Select a video file that you want to upload on youtube.

Step 8.

Select a title and briefly describe about your video.

Step 9.

Now, your video is uploaded and it is on Youtube.

It is easy and simple.

How to make a Gmail account.

Everyone is using Gmail these days because of the Android phone and Youtube. It might be very simple to set up a Gmail account but let's look at it for the people who don't have Gmail accounts yet.

First, you need to go to gmail.com. Then, click the "creat an account" button at the upper right corner.

You need to fill out your information to set up an account.

1. name

2. Your username (This will be your email address)

3. password

4. confirm your password

5. birthday

6. gender (male or female)

7. your phone number

8. your email addres

9. Your country

10. You have to check the agreement check box.

It is almost done now.

Click the "continue to Gmail" button

Now, it is all set up. You can write and receive email now. Click the "compose" button to write an email.

Travelling in Korea - Andong City Mural Art village

There have been some old slum towns in Korea that were formed in the 60s and 70s. As the country's economy grows, the government decided to redevelop them and many of these old towns were torn down.

However, some of these villages have tried to survive by renovating and redesigning themselves. Here you can see one of the villages that painted murals on their walls.

This town is located in Andong City, Gyeongsangbuk-do and called Andong Byuckhwa Maul (안동 벽화 마을) which means Andong mural village.

We first headed to Andong Station from Seoul. It takes almost 3 hours by train. Remember, the KTX doesn't stop at Andong. Therefore, you have to take the Mugunghwa Ho train.

When you arrive in Andong, you have to cross this street infront of the station.

After you cross the street, you have to turn right and keep walking.

When you see this gate, you have to turn right and walk for about 10 minutes.

When you see this byway, you are finally at Andong Mural Art Village.

There is a map at the entrance of the town. Don't worry about a ticket. It's free.

This is the first mural you will see at Andong Mural Town. It's an image of a typical Korean family.

A man delivering Chinese food on the wall. All the pictures here are quite humorous.

Azalea flowers. They are called "Jin Dal Rae" in Korean.

A mural on a wall that was painted by elementary school kids.

This art on the wall kinda looks childish and messy but quite cool too.

Yellow dandelion flowers. They are pronounced "Min dlrea" in Korean.

Former Korean president Roh Moo Hyun

Yay, sunflower murals. The painting is actually quite bigger than it appears on your computer.

There is a dog peeing at a telephone pole. This is quite funny.

Cute squirrels eating fruits. This town is very colorful compared to other Korean towns.

A butterfly, ladybug and flowers. This mural is very pretty.

Pink frogs on the wall.

This art village is quite colorful and very impressive. Of course, it is free too. However, one thing that was weird is that there are almost no one in this town. It was like 2:00 pm when we got here and we saw ZERO person in this art village. It was very quiet and it kinda felt like a ghost town.

It might be hard to find this place because there are no bus stops around the village and people don't speak English well around here. I don't recommend this place if you are a foreigner. 

However, if you really want to visit here, take a cab and say Andong Byuck Hwa Mauel (안동 벽화 마을) to the cab driver.